The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - Parking Czar Brown Has Sweetheart City Deal; Parking Public Utility? Should City Own Parking?

Episode Date: August 6, 2024

The I Love CVille Show headlines: Parking Czar Brown Has Sweetheart City Deal Parking Public Utility? Should City Own Parking? City Error In Not Building 2nd Market St Garage? Mark Brown: Who Has More Leverage Over City? 2 Office Condos For Sale In Water Street Garage Lewis Mountain Neighborhood Road Infrastructure Virginia Tourism Spending Hits New Record High Non-Profit News Outlet Launches In Richmond Read Viewer & Listener Comments Live On-Air The I Love CVille Show airs live Monday – Friday from 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm on The I Love CVille Network. Watch and listen to The I Love CVille Show on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, iTunes, Apple Podcast, YouTube, Spotify, Fountain, Amazon Music, Audible, Rumble and iLoveCVille.com.

Thank you. Mark Brown. I am responding to text messages in real time on what we are about to talk about on today's edition of the I Love Seville show. Like the show, share the show. Market Street camera, there you see Lloyd Snook walking by. Did you catch him in the Market Street cam? No. Maybe we'll catch him on the way back. The tail end. A tail end of Counselor Snook. A lot we're going to cover on the program, including the sweetheart deal that parking czar Mark Brown has at his disposal. We'll talk, is public parking, should it be a utility in downtown Charlottesville? A public utility, as opposed to a privatization, a tool to earn revenue for private parties. We'll talk on today's program a topic that brought up briefly yesterday. Who's got more leverage over the city of Charlottesville

than Mark Brown? Maybe it's Corrin Capshaw. I want to unpack that story on today's program. I want to highlight that there's two office condos for sale currently in the Water Street Garage. Speaking of parking, speaking of the Water Street Parking Garage, there's two retail office condos that are currently on the market. I'll give you the nitty-gritty. I'll relay a conversation I had with a former Lewis Mountain neighborhood resident this morning when it comes to 303 Alderman Road. Is it 303? I think that's what it is, right? 303 Alderman Road? Yeah, 303 Alderman Road, is it 303? I think that's what it is, right? 303 Alderman Road? Yeah, 303 Alderman Road and future development in the neighborhood.

It's not just about traffic and quality of life. The Lewis Mountain neighborhood is not set up for heavy vehicle traffic. Like, have you driven through Lewis Mountain? It's not situated for heavy vehicle traffic. We'll talk about that today. We'll talk tourism in Virginia hitting record highs. I mean, tourists and travelers spent, according to the Richmond Times Dispatch, 33.3 billion. Market Street Camp.

Did you catch them? No. In Virginia last year. Man, it's just a slow-moving camera, that Market Street Camp. Did you catch him? No. In Virginia last year. Man, it's just a slow-moving camera, that Market Street Camp. $33.3 billion in Virginia last year, a nearly 10% increase over 2022, according to the Virginia Tourism Corporation. We'll talk those numbers. Tourism at an all-time high in the Commonwealth. And ladies and gentlemen, on today's edition of the I Love Seville show, we'll highlight another nonprofit news outlet birthed.

This one for the Richmond area. This one, a former Richmond Times Dispatch staff writer and editor and some colleagues from Virginia Mercury teaming together to launch the Richmonder publication. That's the next news outlet to launch in the capital of the Commonwealth. So much to cover on the I Love Seville show. We're live wherever you get your podcasting content. We'll give some props and some love to Pro Renata Brewery. If you have any photos you can put on screen of Pro Renata. We have an interview set up tomorrow with Dr. John Shave, the owner of Pro Renata,

Brian Combs, one of the key lieutenants at Pro Renata. And we'll talk about the growth, significant growth of the Pro Renata brand into downtown Stanton, into the Shenandoah Valley. Pro Renata, the Disney world of Crozet, they've hired a new brewery, a new brewmaster. They are optimizing the model. They've invested almost a million dollars in brewery equipment. Think about that. New brewery equipment. They're getting in the development game. And ladies and gentlemen, remember, they try to do a lot of this at their Crozet location, but they were at loggerheads with the Board of Supervisors when it came to the water supply needed to expand their operation. And now it's Alamo County's loss. It's Stanton's gain.

It's the Shenandoah Valley's gain. All those stories and more tomorrow on the I Love Seville Show. Pro Renata, an impressive operation that we encourage you to support and to patronize. Judah Wittkower on a two-shot will weave you into the mix. City Council meeting last night, the last item on the agenda. Parking in a sweetheart deal for the czar of parking, Mark Brown, the former owner of the Charlottesville Ice Park. He may still own the Whiskey Jar building. I'd have to check the GIS on that.

Own the Whiskey Jar building when Escafe was next to the Whiskey Jar. Mark Brown knows one speed when it comes to business. I saw Mark this morning on the downtown mall, and that speed is go, go, go, go, go. We're talking 1,000 miles an hour all the time. We had Rory Stolzenberg, a planning commissioner, speak before council, Judah. We had Dave McNair at the DTM offer commentary on this. I saw a fantastic Reddit thread with Rory Stolzenberg and Flaky Molasses. Love that handle on Reddit when it comes to this situation. I'll read a paragraph or two from David McNair's The Charlottesville DTM.

If you're not subscribing to the DTM or supporting the DTM, we very much encourage you to do so. This is Dave McNair's words. Then we'll get Judah's words. Then we'll get my words on the talk show. Then we'll open it up to you, the viewer and listener. First, Dave McNair of the DTM. subscribe to him, does a hell of a job. I actually saw Dave McNair yesterday afternoon with Roger Voisinet on the downtown mall. It's great to see him. And the fabulous Cliff Fox, commercial broker, had a nice conversation with all the fellas yesterday.

So this is Dave McNair's words on his website, the Charlottesville DTM. On Monday night, Charlottesville City Council saved the absolute worst for last, reluctantly voting to approve something none of them wanted to approve and something that will cost taxpayers millions for decades to come. Indeed, you can watch the truly painful proceedings below. In 2014, developer Mark Brown bought the Charlottesville Parking Center, which would end up giving him sole ownership of a 99-year ground lease. The Charlottesville Parking Center in the city entered into 1991 for what would be home to the Water Street parking garage. That lease has recently required the city to pay Brown $415,000 a year to keep providing parking capacity downtown. But a clause in the lease allows Mark Brown to adjust the rent every 10 years. And in 2024, Mark Brown demanded $2.4 million a year from the city,

not wanting to be locked into paying Mark Brown $2.4 million a year for the next 67 years. Jesus. With similar bumps in price every 10 years, the city attempted to negotiate with Mark Brown. Dave McNair further reports, as Chris Engel, the city's director of economic development, explained last night at the city council meeting, the deal they worked out goes like this. The city will start paying Mark Brown $1.8 million a year, and it will increase by 3% every year or the annual inflation rate.

Then in 10 years, there will be a one-time increase of 15%, followed by the yearly increases, and in 2044, the city will be given an option to buy the ground lease at its estimated value. As Chris Engel put it, that would allow the city to get out of the ground lease 47 years early. This is the last two paragraphs I want to read to you from Dave McNair, then Judah Wickhauer's perspective, my perspective, and the perspective of you, the viewer and the listener. Very curious of Deep Throat's perspective here. Very curious of John Blair's perspective here.

Two more paragraphs I want to read. As Charlottesville citizen, Rory Stolzenberg, my words, he's also a planning commissioner, back to Dave McNair's words. As Charlottesville citizen, Rory Stolzenberg pointed out during the first public comment period, the city would be paying Mark Brown an estimated $70 million over 20 years. And it could cost as much as $95 million to buy

the property in 2044, making it, quote, one of the biggest expeditions in city history, Rory Stolzenberg said before council last night. Last night, Vice Mayor Brian Pinkston, with a pained look on his face, seemed to speak for everyone on the dais when he said, quote, it sounds like we're making what was a really, really horrible deal marginally less horrible, end quote. All right, that's Dave McNair of the DTM. Fantastic reporting from Dave McNair. Judah Wickhardt is going to jump in with some commentary. I want to highlight this. Paying Mark Brown an estimated $70 million. How do we get $70 million over 20 years if they're paying $1.8 million a year? Well, remember, it was negotiated. It was renegotiated. That was initially what it was

going to be. Okay, so he was commenting before the... And they still need to buy the property. They need to? Are you going to continue down this road? Are you going to put an end to the misery? I mean, okay, so let me, help me understand all this. Are we contractually obligated to pay him? Yeah, there's a contract. Okay. There's a deal in place. No one anticipated one owner of the Charlottesville Parking Center. Mark Brown,

a savvy business person. Okay, I saw you today, Mark. You're going to hear about this you're going to watch this Mark when I initially covered the Charlottesville parking wars when Mark Brown was going toe to toe with the city lawsuit, counter lawsuit Mark's mom reached out to me

via email I can still search my inbox and find an email response from Mark's mom about the Charlottesville Parking Wars as we modicured them, a brand that gained traction with legacy media. Mark is aggressive. Mark knows one way, which is his way.

Sounds familiar. I think that's a jab at me I would never Mark knows one speed which is a thousand miles an hour Mark expects to wit in just about everything he does To say he's tenacious is an understatement

I watched him when I was a member at ACAC Downtown running around the track of the indoor ACAC Downtown facility. He had his daughters there. They were running the track getting some exercise. He was running behind them on the track, barking for them to get their knees higher and to run faster. Oh, man. As we were all working out and watching the events play out.

We bank at the same location, had beverages multiple times at the previous Peloton station, have friends in common. Wilson Ritchie, the late Wilson Ritchie, not a fan of Mr. Mark Brown, the landlord of his whiskey jar, with the condition the building was kept in. Mark saved the ice park.

Saved the ice park. Then proceeded to, some would say, not run the ice park in the right way. The reality was he was the owner of the ice park. Mark owned Yellow Cab of Charlottesville at one time. Sold Yellow Cab of Charlottesville to one of his top lieutenants, Will Vanderlin. Yellow Cab of Charlottesville no more.

Some would say Mark exited Yellow Cab of Charlottesville, no more. Some would say Mark exited Yellow Cab of Charlottesville at the exact right time. At a time when key contracts were being lost by the company. At a time when Uber and Lyft were gaining market share quickly and Yellow Cab at Charlottesville did not have the technology to maintain its share and transportation in the city and in Alamaro County and in Central Virginia. Mark Brown did a very savvy, made him very savvy move during the Charlottesville parking wars a decade ago. He brought Dave Norris in the mix, former mayor of Charlottesville, front of the program. Dave Norris in the mix former mayor of Charlottesville Dave Norris made some negotiations on behalf of Mark Brown

and the city was an intermediary Mark Brown hired a high powered law firm to flex their muscles on a government institution that lacked legal muscularity, if you may. Mark understands the concept of being a bully. Whether you like it or not,

a lot of times bullies in business win. There's a reason the saying goes, the nice guy finishes last. You would not call Mark a nice guy. I'm not trying to throw shade on the man. I'm describing his business, skill set, his tactics, his acumen. He's an extremely successful guy.

I mean, Jesus Christ, look at this. He's getting, what's the number from Dave McNair? $1.8 million a year. The city will start paying Mark Brown $1.8 million a year. It will increase by 3% every year. Then in 10 years, it's going to pop 15% on the compounded 3% over the last 10 years. That 15% will be followed by yearly increases until 2044. Someone do the math on that. Deep Throat, that's right up your alley. What's he walking for? What's he getting paid through 2044? Let me know that number

if you could, deep throat. And then the city has the option to buy the ground lease at its estimated value. What's going to be the estimated value of that ground lease then? It gives the city an opportunity to get out of the ground lease 47 years early. Dude gets paid every year until 2044 and then gets a sack of money with the exit on the ground lease. The city better effing buy that ground lease. Buy the ground lease. I asked the question yesterday on the talk show. Who in this community has more leverage over the city of Charlottesville than Mark Brown?

Well, that brings up the question, how much is it worth to cut free? I don't follow what you're asking. Try it in a different explanation. Okay. I keep hearing or reading statements about decisions being made. But if they're contractually stuck in this, what decision is there except what they did, which is try to make a bargain. Try to deal with the guy. They made the best of a horrible situation.

Yeah. The best they could with what they had. Right. Some say turning lemons into lemonade. They turn lemons into urine. Okay. They turn lemons into piss. How is that a better thing?

At least you can drink it versus having the lemons. I mean, that's basically what happened. Oh, man. If you need to survive, you do what you got to do. I think you need to work on your metaphors. If you need to survive, you do what you got to do. And the city's just trying to survive here. The only person I can think of that may have potentially more leverage over the city is Corrin Capsule.

Okay. And he doesn't execute or utilize leverage in this kind of capacity. He does it more in joint fashion. Whether it's the Ting Pavilion, the Intellis Pavilion at the time. Whether it's the many restaurants that he owned at one time.

Mas Tapas, Blue Light Grill, just to name a few. The development he does with Riverbend. The influence he has with Red Light. Music Today. And bringing music to the, top-notch music to the community. His influence with Dave Matthews. Only person I can think of.

Mark utilizes his leverage in a very different way. Mark is utilizing his leverage in a bully fashion. He's letting everybody know, I am the biggest you-know-what in the room. If you don't like it, I don't care. We're going to do it my way. And the city took it. Right?

Yeah, a long time ago. Right. And I want to highlight this because I see a counselor watching the program. This was a hand that was dealt to counsel. Right. Counsel is not responsible for this hand. They're trying to make the best of the hand that was dealt to them. Deep Throat, I appreciate that. I'm going to get to his statistic. What he said, Mark Brown's going to get paid just for the ground lease. Just the ground lease payments. $55 million he's going to get for taxpayers, Mark Brown. Just the ground lease yearly payments.

$55 million, assuming inflation runs under 3%, deep throat. That's why you're number one in the family. You're making the program better. I'm going to get to your other comments here as well. That's before the lump sum. Yeah. No one anticipated when the Charlottesville Parking Center was created that one individual was

going to control the parking center. Is that just because he is the way he is? If there were more people, they wouldn't have had the, what? He did nothing wrong. I'm not saying he did. He bought the shares that were out there. I had a conversation yesterday with Hall Spencer on the phone. Huge fan of Hall Spencer.

My neighbor now, Hall Spencer. Former founder of the Hook weekly award winning publication. Former owner of the Jefferson Theater, Hall Spencer. Multiple building owner, Hall Spencer. Former co-founder

of the Seville Weekly with Blair Kelly and Bill Chapman. Pushed out of the Seville Weekly, now Hall Spencer. Then starts the Hook newspaper. Now he's a courts reporter for the Daily Progress. People don't realize that the courts reporter for the Daily Progress, Hall Spencer, in award-winning multiple dozens of Virginia Press Awards, professor of media at James Madison University at one time.

People don't realize the guy we're reading that does court reporting in the Daily Progress is one of the best in the Commonwealth at what he does. And at one time, this guy owned the Jefferson Theater, another building on the downtown mall, was the publisher and the editor of The Hook and the co-founder of the CVO Weekly. A extremely successful individual was the publisher and the editor of The Hook and the co-founder of the CVO Weekly,

an extremely successful individual and one of the oracles of Charlottesville, Hawes Spencer. At one time, The Hook and Hawes owned a share in the Charlottesville Parking Center. This is public record. Mark realized that if he cornered and took control of the Charlottesville Parking Center, that he would basically own what should have been a public utility.

When the Water Street Parking Garage was created, when it was birthed, when it was the vision of downtown stakeholders, it was a way to keep customers coming downtown. It was a way for the downtown community to offer a parking solution that competed with Barracks Road Shopping Center. When Wendell Wood helped develop Barracks Road Shopping Center, everyone downtown was terrified of barracks road when stonefield came to market everyone downtown was terrified of stonefield when fifth street station down avon in in in in in fifth street extended where the wegmans is when that came to market everyone was terrified downtown of fifth street station why if you're downtown and you're a stakeholder,

are you terrified of Barracks Road? Why, Judah, are you terrified of Stonefield? And why, Judah, are you terrified of Fifth Street Station? If you're a downtown stakeholder, you got this. Because those places you don't have to worry about driving into neighborhoods and searching for a parking spot. Because they have parking. They have a parking lot right there.

So when they launched the Charlottesville Parking Center, when they created the vision for the Charlottesville Parking Center, a joint venture with downtown stakeholders, it was to have parking for the most important eight blocks in the city. And never when this was created did anyone envision the Charlottesville Parking Center and this ground lease being controlled by one person, let alone one person with the tactics and personality of a voracious pit bull that hadn't been fed in three or four days. And that's what we have.

Viewers and listeners, I'm going to get to some comments. I asked Deep Throat to offer some perspective on what the city is going to be paying Mark Brown. On just the yearly payments, assuming inflation is under 33%, $55 million, ladies and gentlemen, $55 million. And that's before the 2044 option the city has to buy the ground lease at its estimated value. Deep Throat, what do you think the estimated value of the ground lease in 2044 is going to be? He also says this, John Blair, I'm going to you next. Deep Throat says this, this deal is nonsense. The city's analysis is non-existent, as Rory pointed out in the council meeting last night. Worse, they have shown zero legal creativity.

This is Deep Throat talking. We've got councilors watching the program right now. Deep Throat. He says the city has shown zero legal creativity. He says, I have read the condo bylaws. There is no restriction on transfers. The city could just sell their condo units to the clapping man and let Brown collect from him. The city is not the counterparty of the ground lease.

The condo association is deep throat says this number two if the city has to accept the crazy appraisal that supports a 1.8 million ground lease payment then it ought to make the assessment reflect that basically you have brown's appraisal at near 40 million and the city has the ground assessed at $5.6 million. How is this going to play out? The city is going to walk away from the option in 2044, and Mark Brown ends up owning it all for a one-time payment of $1.5 million, adjusted for inflation. The city would be crazy to exercise the option. It would be buying the ground at a crazy price in the parking spaces at $14,500 per space. Brown, on the other hand, gets to buy the spaces at $2,000 per space if the city doesn't exercise the option. The city will not buy out the ground

lease and will walk away in 2044 by not exercising the option. He says this at a 4.5% cap rate. If it exercises the option, it pays Mark Brown $80 million. I am not convinced that in 2044, the city walks away from this option. Deep Throat says there's no way in hell in 2044 at 4.5 percent cap rate, the city's going to give Mark Brown a lump sum of $80 million. I am not certain on that. That's where we disagree. But if they don't buy, then they continue with this deal or whatever he... If they don't buy at that point, Mark owns the parking center. And as Deep Throat highlighted, he gets it for $1,500,000. So he doesn't own all of it yet? I'm not sure

I fully understand this. I'm sorry. Okay. Let's go to some other viewers and listeners. Let's go to John Blair, watching the program right now. Comments are coming in quickly, as they should. He says, Jerry, I want you and Judah to think about this. As you know, I'm a free market oriented person,

so I have no problem with a business person making money. So this is more of an observation about the City of Charlottesville. Last fall, the Council paid Bo Carrington and Wendell Wood $5.9 million for the High Street property. Last night, the City paid $70 million to Mark Brown. Last night, the City also gave authorization for up to $7.8 million to be paid to three separate LLCs for the mobile home park. I bet you know at least one of the individuals who would profit. No criticism of these individuals, but the city has shelled out $83.7 million in less than a year

to some of the wealthiest people in the region. Just an observation. 100%. 100%. 100%. The city also bought property from CRHA, the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority, which the CRHA

then parlayed those proceeds into buying one of the key buildings on the downtown mall. Now we have a Redevelopment and Housing Authority headquartered in the key buildings on the downtown mall. Now we have a redevelopment and housing authority headquartered in the dead center of the downtown mall that's going to close at 5 o'clock Monday through Friday, not be open on the weekend, and have clientele that goes to the building

that is not synonymous with the customer base of the merchants and the storefronts and the restaurants of the Crown Jewel 8 Blocks downtown mall. Put succinctly, it brings absolutely nothing to the downtown mall. Judah was the sickness. I effing love when you're like that. You are looking at... I'm not reading that comment deep throat.

I may agree with you, but I'm not reading that comment. Now I've got to go look. You're looking at one of the... Philip Dow and Ginny Hu, thank you for the retreat. What's the definition of a boondoggle? Waste money or time on unnecessary or questionable projects? Is this a boondoggle? I thought you were going to ask if all of these were.

Is this a boondoggle? What's the definition of a quagmire? An awkward, complex, or hazardous situation? Is this a quagmire? Yeah. What's the definition of, and if you have littles in the car with you, I encourage earmuffs right now. If you have children in ear sight, I encourage you to put earmuffs on your kids for the next five seconds. I'm giving you a three-second head start. This is a quagmire. This is a boondoggle. This is a shit storm. A quagboggle? One person wins. Population of Charlottesville is what? 47,000? What's the population? 45,000?

Something like that. Charlottesville population, 2022, 45,373. One person wins, 45,373 in the city lose. Because guess who's paying? Downtown Mark Brown. Is that his new nickname? Is it going to be the Charlottesville Parking Star or is it going to be downtown Mark Brown? Downtown Mark Brown's got a little swank to it, right?

A little flair. I mean, dude, in some ways you've got to be like, do you give the guy some props? No, seriously, in some ways do you give the guy some props? Yeah. He's making out like a bandit, right? He's going to get yearly payments to 2044 of $55 million, and then at 2044 may be able to sell to the city at $80 million.

And I'm not convinced, not convinced, that the city doesn't buy in 2044 $80 million. Just to finish this. At that point, what's the Charlottesville budget? The Charlottesville city budget per year? I should know this. Is it like $250 million? What's the budget? Physical year 2024 budget. What is it? You know that number, Judah? We should know these off the top of our heads, like bing, bam, boom. Someone let me know what the budget is for Charlottesville City. Do you know?

Gosh, I know that. I'm frustrated. I'm extremely disappointed with myself that I don't know that. And I'm trying to scroll through this in real time to find it. Can someone tell me what the yearly budget is for Charlottesville? You got it. Can someone tell me what the yearly budget is for Charlottesville? You got it. $240 million. I said $225.

It's $240. Thank you, Deep Throat. And 2044, what's the yearly budget going to be? $500 million? Was it 2X? 2X is by 2044, the way we spend? Possibly. Say it's $500 million. Okay? What's that? 13% of the budget? 15% of the budget? 16% of the budget, probably. 10% is 50. 5% is 25. That's $75 million.

I would not be surprised in 2044. 2044, is Michael Payne still going to be on the council? Is Natalie Ostrand still going to be on the council in 2044? That would be 22 years from now. This is Michael Payne's top income stream. Michael Payne, from the basement of the house he grew up in,

it, all right. That's not nice. I apologize. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, counselor. I apologize. I'm sorry. That's not nice.

Thank you for, hold me accountable, please. Please hold me accountable. I'll try. In 2027, they're 2X-ing the salary to $34,000 from the $18,000 it is now. I published this tweet yesterday on the show. A 2027 salary of $34,000, Judah, is synonymous with the $18,000 salary that they were making in 2018.

You're saying it's the same thing? Same damn thing. All the activists in the community are saying, oh, we're going to up the pay on city council. And we're going to take it from $18,000 to $34,000 in 2027, the year 2027. Who is going to be able to make $34,000 a year and afford to live in Charlottesville in the year 2027?

Yeah. When the average family household income is $124,200, according to HUD. $34,000 in 2027 is akin to the $18,000 in 2018. Because we had COVID that made housing get out of control and drive an influx of hybrid and remote workers to the city. What's a biblical reference? When we had a flock of people come to a certain location? Are you thinking of something specific?

Come on. You're the biblical genius. Flock of people to a certain location. From the Bible. You got this. Noah's Ark? Oh, the Exodus? Thank you. Noah's Ark where giraffes and hippos and chimpanzees going two by two up a plank

to an ark that docked in Crozet. The Bible is a big book. I know the book pretty well. Seems like you do as well. I thought you did. Let's get a couple chimpanzees and a couple hippos and a couple elephants and a couple Labradors and let's let them walk a plank and get on an ark and dock it in Crozet. You get that reference? Did it have to do with, was it Evan Almighty? Gosh, Judah's on effing fire today.

You're all over the place. You're on fire today, Judah. Neil Williamson, property owners have rights. 100% Neil Williamson. Get his photo on screen. Neil Williamson is, I love Neil Williamson, property owners have rights. 100% Neil Williamson. Get his photo on screen. Neil Williamson is, I love Neil Williamson. I love, seriously, I sincerely mean that, Neil. There's a few people I can think about that I would want to belly up to a bar with.

It's Neil Williamson. He says, property owners have rights. And he says, I love Bible study with Jerry and Judah Wickauer. Do you want to tell them about the Exodus, Judah? I was raised Southern Baptist, educated in a Catholic school, and grew up in a Jewish neighborhood. I'm a religious mutt. Mom had us at Sunday school at 10 a.m., big church at 11 a.m., Sunday lunch in the community room. There's Sean Tubbs right there walking by.

You get Sean Tubbs on screen? Did you get him? Oh, yep. You got Sean? Can't miss that hat. Sean Tubbs wearing shorts, a short-sleeved shirt and an Indiana Jones hat. And were those Teva sandals he was wearing?

Was that an Indiana Jones hat, really? I'd say that was an Indiana Jones hat. All right, you want to call it a safari hat? I think we need a closer look. Sean Tubbs. Someone text Sean Tubbs to tell him to walk back here. I'll text Sean Tubbs to tell him to walk back here. I think we need to assemble a committee.

I'm texting Sean Tubbs right now. Do you think we can get Sean Tubbs to walk back down here in front of the studio camera? What do you say the chances of him walking back and do this? Hey, Sean. If he responds, man, I don't know. Okay, hey, Sean. Are you telling him you're going to put him on camera? Turn around and walk back down

Market Street, please? We want to know if you are wearing an Indiana Jones hat. Should I ask him that? What would you call the hat you're wearing? What do you call the hat you're wearing? What do you call the hat? You better not miss him on the Market Street cam. Better not miss him. My finger's on the button. I just texted him that. Let's see if he responds. Charlottesville Community Substack, one of the best reporters out there, Sean Tubbs. This is what I also wonder. What is parking going to look like in 2044? Kevin Higgins asked this question. I wonder how electric vehicles will be supported or impacted by this deal with Mark Brown. Like, is that going to be an epicenter for electric vehicle charging?

Will Mark update the infrastructure for electric vehicle charging? Does he have any reason to? Great question. Does he even care if people park there? Sean Tubbs says, a poop head who doesn't belong here hat that's what he called it and I got bubbles coming that's not, no that's not him my point is this you're looking at someone who has

the most leverage over the city that anyone I can think of except for maybe corn capsule over the city that anyone I can think of except for maybe Corrin Capsule. And how Corrin utilizes his leverage is not in such

bully tactic fashion. Ted Horne, thank you for watching the program. CEO of Martin Horne. Oh, man. You go to the Market Street game, is that truck going to hit that car sorry squirrel stephanie wells roads is laughing at you over there judah wickhouse she's giving you some prompts i think that was when i uh made the comment about what about you About what? About you. Oh. Which one? The one where I said, oh, that sounds familiar. Dude, to run a business, I'm going to say this, okay?

To be a number one at a business. Oh, he just hit that car. He did. Did you see it? To be a number one at a business, you have to have a personality that is not rainbows and sunshine. I mean, a business needs a general. And generals may not always be nice, but they keep the outfit in the unit moving forward in the right direction

for the betterment of the unit in the outfit. Different generals go about it different ways. I'll give you that. And not all generals are easy to work for. I'll give you that and not all generals are easy to work for I'll give you that as well alright you probably are looking at the biggest boondoggle is this the greatest boondoggle or the most significant

quagmire in Charlottesville city history quite possibly that's a great question for John boondoggle or the most significant quagmire in Charlottesville city history? Quite possibly. That's a great question for John, who knows the history of Charlottesville better than I do. Bill McChesney, this is a great, great one for you, Bill McChesney, Mayor of McIntyre. Is this the most significant boondoggle or quagmire in the city's history? Neil Williamson, that's a great question for you. And I'll also highlight this. Remember at the start of COVID when the activists in Charlottesville were saying that the city should not have built the Market Street garage in place of the Guadalajara and the Lucky 7 on Market Street.

The city owns the Lucky 7 and the Guadalajara. And there was talk to significantly strengthen its position with Mark Brown, a negotiating position, that it was going to build a parking garage opposite another parking garage. Then you have the Matthew Gilligan gang say, what? Parking. We don't know the future of parking. You're going to build a garage across from another garage.

You're going to build a garage in front of a garage that is empty a lot of the times. Right? There's my 130 right there. I should text her. Hold on. I think we said 130. And the reality is this.

Had that garage had been built, literally doing three things at once. And I'm waving to my 130 right there. Had that garage had been built, the negotiating position for the city would have been significantly greater. But the fact is they still have a contract. They still have to pay him, right? Whether they build a parking garage or not. If you had another garage, would you be more willing to get aggressive? Do you see Charlottesville City Council getting aggressive? Would council getting more willing to get into a lawsuit dr rashal brackney the former police chief of the city of charlottesville

sued the city of charlottesville asking for 10 plus million dollars and said you fire me because I was a black woman. That's why, the basis of our lawsuit. You know what the city did during that time? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Called her bluff. They let her attorney in the high dollar suit from the Johnny Cochran law firm,

an odd pick for an attorney, the Johnny Cochran law firm, an odd pick for an attorney, the Johnny Cochran law firm, get in front of city hall behind a podium and throw shade all over local government. And the city did nothing. Called her bluff. Yeah. No payout. Did nothing. Why did they do nothing?

Because she didn't have any leverage. Because the city had the leverage. They knew that her suit was frivolous. What does the city not have here? What does it not have here? Leverage. Because there's only two parking garages downtown. Okay, but are you saying that if they'd built a parking garage...

They would have had more leverage, yes. That he would have just dropped a suit rather than... They could have pursued potentially a different path. Said, hey, you know what, Mark? We got this Market Street garage over here across from the other Market Street garage. We feel parking's in a pretty good place. We're going to get more aggressive with our negotiation with you.

We don't want to uphold our contract? Maybe we're going to try to break this contract. Maybe we're going to let it go to law. Let it go to a lawsuit. Maybe we'll let you bleed a little bit with attorney fees. You want to hire those $595 an hour attorneys and rack up 1,000 hours, 2,000 hours, 2,500 hours? Okay. Does that sound wise against the type of person you've been describing?

Type of person that I've been describing keeps score one way. How do they keep score? By winning? Commas and decimals. You talk to folks, I'm not even talking like 1% wealth. I'm talking like the top 1% of the 1%. They keep score with commas and decimals. Decimal points. It's not about how much because it'll never be spent. It's about waking up and looking at the scorebook

which is commas and decimal points. Put the comments in the feed. I'll relay them live on air. Deep Throat says that this council did have options legally and it was afraid to pursue them. He also says the existence of an excess of parking would cause an appraiser to decrease the appraisal ground under the existing garage, the appraisal value of the existing garage, and that would reduce the ground lease.

So if we had a glut of parking. If we had another parking structure over there then that parking structure has less value Neil Williamson offering some comments and so is Bill McChesney the mayor of McIntyre I have a 130 here some of these topics we're not going to get to today I do want to get. Some of these topics we're not going to get to today.

I do want to get to some of these comments though. Neil Williamson says this, I would argue the manner the city negotiated the revenue sharing deal was more impactful than the parking garage situation. So Neil Williamson is highlighting a more significant or influential boondoggle or quagmire for Charlottesville was the revenue sharing agreement with Albemarle County. I respect that, Neil Williamson. I think you are correct. Bill McChesney says the city should deny the Charlottesville Parking Center a permit to install electric vehicle charging stations. What do you think? Do you think the same city that's paying $65,000 more for electric buses instead of diesel buses,

the same city that's prioritizing electric buses that don't have the same geographical territory capabilities of covering routes, the same electric buses that, according to a study in Austin, Texas, break down, what, half the time? What was the stat? It was like 50 or 52 percent the stat from the Austin, Texas article with the Austin electric fleet in comparison to the diesel fleets. Anyway, you think a city that prioritizes climate change like the city is doing right now would say no to electric vehicles, installation charging stations?

I don't think so. Just my two cents, though. Anything you want to add on this, Judah Wicow? This is a great statement from John Blair. Anything you want to add on this, Judah Wicow? I'm just curious if we think that, you know, we talk a lot about how much council is paid. We talk about creating career politicians.

Do we think this would have been treated differently if we had career politicians on council rather than people that are riding two horses, keeping a job and being on council?

That's a great question. That's a great question. They may have had more time. We've had people asking about or talking about the fact that there were no, there was very little done in preparation for this. Sam Sanders pushed back on that in the council meeting. He said it may appear, the city manager, it may appear to the public that little prep is done or this was a hasty decision. But in reality that they have considered every single angle here,

is what Sam Sanders said. That makes sense. John Blair says Vinegar Hill, the raising and destruction of Vinegar Hill, is the Charlottesville's biggest boondoggle in its history. Vinegar Hill, where the Staples office supply store is, where the Chabin used to be located, now Vision

Barbecue, home of a historically black community, businesses and residents destroyed during urban renewal. And then the residents funneled in disgusting fashion to public housing. Yeah.

That's a great comment from John Blair. Tomorrow's show, we have the pro Renata team, including ownership. They're going to tell the story of a local brand that is booming and just grabbing market share left and right. Augusta, Stanton, Albemarle. They're in the development game. They're in the music game. They're in the beer making game.

They just hired a brewmaster from another beer brand that is incredibly talented. They're in the entertainment business, the family business. They're hiring. This is one of the fastest growing brands and companies that we have in central Virginia. The owner is going to sit across from me and we're going to do the flip book of Pro Renata. This is the Tuesday edition of the I Love Seville show. His name is Judah Witkower. He's fantastic.

And my name is Jerry Miller. Thank you kindly for joining us. So long, everybody. Good job, sir. Thank you.