The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - Q1, 2024 Retail Numbers Up in Central Virginia; How Do We Fund Downtown Mall Improvement?

Episode Date: May 21, 2024

The I Love CVille Show headlines: Q1, 2024 Retail Numbers Up in Central Virginia How Do We Fund Downtown Mall Improvement? Jewish Student Files Suit Against UVA, Pres. Ryan Gov. Youngkin Vetoes Skill Games & Other Bills Teacher Appreciation: Mr Gillespie & Mrs Chiesa Is Your Bodo’s Bagels Order Legit Or Cringe? What Are Top Sandwiches Around Central VA? Grad Balloons Brighten UVA Children’s Hospital 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.

Good Tuesday afternoon, guys. I'm Jerry Miller. Thank you kindly for joining us on the I Love Seville show. It's a pleasure to connect with you through the I Love Seville network. Thank you kindly for watching and supporting and commenting and interacting with the show. It means the world to Judah and I. Our studio is in downtown Charlottesville on Market Street, less than two miles from the University of Virginia,

and a block removed from the courthouses of Albemarle and Charlottesville, a block off the downtown mall, about 30, 40 feet from the Charlottesville Police Department. We're kind of smack dab in the middle of everything. Had a fantastic, a brief, but fantastic sighting today. I would call her a local luminary. Vanessa Parkhill, the Queen of Earleysville, was on 4th Street in her car as I was doing the two-hour shuffle. And yes, for those that watch the program, I don't often overstay my two hours as the cost of doing business with parking around here.

This particular morning, I was within my two-hour window of parking my car in downtown Charlottesville. Vanessa was at the traffic light of 4th and Market. We made eye contact. We said hello, Vanessa. It was great to see you for a brief second in downtown Seville. I want to ask you, the viewer and listener, what's your Bodo's Bagels order? Are you creative with your order for Bodo's Bagels? Do you tow the company line, or do you play it straight, or do you play it... I don't want to say lacking creativity,

because I often get the bacon, egg, and cheese, or the sausage, egg, and cheese, and maybe that is a boring, boring order. But the reason I get it so many times is because it's consistent, it's priced right, and it's great. For example, Kevin Yancey likes a double bacon, egg, and cheese on a salt bagel. And Bill McChesney likes a deli egg on wheat, chicken salad, and sprouts on everything. Philip Dow is listening to us in Sarasota, Florida. I want to say hi Sarasota, Florida.

I want to say hi to Sarah Wise, who's watching the program, and say hi to Roger Voisinet and Phillip Dow and all you guys that make this program even better. We'll segue your Bodo's Bagels order into what are some of your favorite sandwiches in the Central Virginia market. I'll tell you what, the Cuban sandwich I had yesterday has got to be on that short list. It was fantastic. And it was from, was it the Witch Lab? Yeah, next to the

code building. Mr. DL, thank you for watching the program on the Facebook group. A lot we're going to cover on today's program, including the retail numbers that were released by the Chamber of Commerce. Louisa County, an incredible year-over-year spike in retail tax data. We'll put that in perspective. Alamaro County, year-over-year, a nice little spike, but nothing like the 19.23% we saw in Louisa. Charlottesville, Augusta, Fluvanna, Green, and Waynesboro, flat. I want to unpack the Chamber of Commerce retail sales data. It's based on tax

revenue collected for the first quarter of this year versus the first quarter of last year on this program. I want to talk on today's show about Governor Glenn Youngkin dropping the hammer on skill games. You go to those gas stations, Judah, kind of the off the beaten path gas stations, the mom and pop gas stations, the class B and class C gas stations, and the retail, the skill games are completely gone. Yeah. Completely gone. Young Ken is not having it on his watch. More on that in minutes on today's program. We'll talk a positive story as grad balloons brighten the UVA Children's Hospital. I have a buddy whose oldest son is at the UVA Children's Hospital for about a week. And I ran into my buddy yesterday. I'll protect their privacy. I won't utilize their name. And he was relaying to me, he goes, you know, you haven't had a heavy heart or known a sense of uncertainty or sadness

or fear till you see your four-year-old little boy on a hospital bed with tubes coming in and out of him as he's wheeled away from you, mom and dad, in a hospital with the doctors and the nurses saying, we're not sure when he's going to come back home to you. And here it is a week later, and their little boy, a four-year-old, is still at UVA's Children's Hospital. He highlighted that the nurses and doctors are giving him amazing care and trying to do whatever they can to make him feel at home. But as this dad is relaying this firsthand experience and this troubling experience, to me, I couldn't help but feel just an array of emotions, you know, empathy and sorrow and fear and compassion. And I wanted to hug my buddy. I wanted to pray for my buddy just so much. And I think the

parents that can watch the program, you feel things so differently when you become a mom or dad. Even if it's your friend's children, you feel their pain. So I want to talk about that side of life and parenting. And I want to talk about the last day of school. Our son right now is at Wild Rock on a field trip on his last day of school with kindergarten graduation tomorrow. I want to highlight teachers that have been impactful, one in particular on me. Judah's got perhaps one or two that he'll highlight, and then a teacher that's been impactful on our family's life, in particular our six-year-old

who's wrapping up kindergarten. So a lot to cover on the program. Today's show is going to be news. It's going to be entertaining. It's going to be light. It's going to be, we hope, entertaining and enlightening for you. We want to give love to Otto Turkish Street Food. They're on Water Street. If you have not had an opportunity to enjoy Otto Turkish Street Food on Water Street, you're missing fantastic cuisine. It's all made fresh, day of, to locally owned and operated. And whether lunch or dinner, the price is right. You'll have leftovers, and I'm sure you'll leave with a hankering of wanting to come back. Let's weave Judah Wickhauer into the mix on a two-shot. The director, the producer, the broadcaster, Judah Wickauer. You talk about kindness. I want to put this man's kindness, Judah Wickauer, into perspective. His parents

are out of town and Judah's house sitting for his mom and dad. His mom and dad have an Airbnb on their property. I hope I'm not speaking out of turn. I don't think I am. And at this particular Airbnb, the guest had I don't want to call them pallets, but huge trays of Kadova leftovers. Yeah, basically catering tinfoil catering tins. I think when I showed you yesterday, it was a little bigger than the actual size. It's significant.

Yeah. I mean, there's enough meat in that thing to probably kill my dog. So Judah finds this Qdoba. Well, they contacted my parents when they left because they were here for the graduation weekend. Oh, that's why they were here. They were here for graduation. That makes sense now. Yeah.

So they probably had a graduation get-together. Yeah. There were like three cars parked outside, parked in the driveway. That makes perfect sense now. So they have plenty of Kedoba left over. They contact your parents. They let them know. Hey, I've got this food.

If you want it, take it. My mom contacted me. Said, hey, they got this food. If you want it, take it. So most folks in that scenario would say, oh, I got food for a couple of days and then probably throw it out. Not Judah Wickauer. Judah Wickauer gets the food and he decides I'm going to pass this blessing on to others. And he proceeds to let me know yesterday, hey, I'm going to have some kadoba.

Would you like some? I'm like, sure, I'll take some kadoba. He walks into the office today after spending last night preparing shepherd's pie with the kadoba protein for my wife and I for dinner and our two sons. And we are coming home today. Let my wife know she's extremely excited with shepherd's pie, courtesy of chef Judah Wickhauer. Not only did he do that, but he realized by looking at our company calendar, we had a meeting this morning at 9 a.m. with Ann Kibler and Nate Kibler. Ann and Nate are about to launch a new show on the I Love Seville Network. It's their announcement to make. So they'll make the announcement of what the new show is going to be. It'll be Tuesday afternoons with a replay on

Sunday morning. And he knows that Ann and Nate have four kids, triplets and an eight-year-old boy, triplet daughters. And he says, you know what? I think Ann and Nate would appreciate this with four kids at home. And he gives the kadoba platter from the UVA graduation to Ann and Nate for dinner, and they were taken aback by his kindness. And I watched today in real time, as someone I've known for almost 14 years, 14 years this summer. This gentleman has started working at this firm. And I watched him bless our family with dinner tonight, shepherd's pie, courtesy of Chef Judah Wittkower in his kitchen. And then

bless another family, this family of six with dinner this evening. So I don't know. There are days in your life where the feeling and the acts of kindness are more palpable than others, more tangible than others. And today is one of those days. And I think it's crept into the rundown of content we're going to cover today, which you will see as the show matures. I want to talk news first, and I want to talk about the retail numbers for Central Virginia, this courtesy of the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce, Sasha Tripp, the interim CEO, Sasha? Oh, interim chamber, the chamber board chair. I think

she's filling in as they find a new head of the organization. Anyway, here's the nitty-gritty. This will be in the traditional news cycle tomorrow or the next day. The Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce announced its analysis of 2024 Q1 data for retail and internet sales in all seven Central Virginia localities. It's tracked by the chamber. So this is 2024 Q1 versus 2023 Q1. Charlottesville, Alamaro County, Augusta County, Fluvanna County, Greene County, and Waynesboro each collected more retail sales tax in the first quarter of 2024 versus the same period of 2023. We saw growth in all those localities. However, Augusta, Fluvanna, Green, and Charlottesville and Waynesboro were basically flat. The true winner,

the true winner in the first quarter of this year versus the first quarter of last year was Louisa County. The percentage increase for Louisa, 19.23% year over year. Alamaro County was second at 5.41%. Charlottesville, Augusta, Fluvanna, Green, and Waynesboro were flat. Basically, very little growth there. Year over year in totality, the localities combined 730,000 more in retail tax this quarter versus last quarter.

I want to ask two questions. I look at this data and I have two questions. Question number one, why is Louisa County year over year a 19.23% increase in retail taxes collected, retail and internet? The second question I have is, why are Charlottesville, Augusta, Fluvanna, Green, and Waynesboro flat? You jump in when you want to. I'll offer some perspective as well. I've talked on this program, as you're putting lower

thirds on screen, that Louisa County right now, the 2024 version of Louisa County, is essentially what we saw with Crozet 20, 25 years ago. 20 to 25 years ago, you saw Crozet in a very different light than you see Crozet right now. You saw Crozet 20 to 25 years ago, and saw Crozet in a very different light than you see Crozet right now. You saw Crozet 20 to 25 years ago, and I've been in this community 24 years this August. You saw Crozet as very blue collar 20 to 25 years ago, very country, very community, very small, very pickup truck, farm boy. I remember when Steve Isaacs was the football coach of the Western Amaro Warriors football team, and he ran a single wing offense. He would talk about his offensive line, the guys that open up the holes for the Warriors to run the single-wing attack, a single-wing attack led by Brian Leskinek at the time.

Viewer and listener Chad Wood was a part of that backfield as well. He talked about his offensive line as being some good old country boys. Now you look at Western, and that school has the moniker Stab West, Sands-Belfield West, because it's almost as much private school as it is public school. The academics back that up. The socioeconomic demographics back it up. Heck, the cars and trucks in the parking lot back that statement up. 20 to 25 years ago, Crozet was sleepy. Far Downers was there. Was it Uncle Charlie's that was on the corner, if memory serves correct? I think that's what it was. A bar that I used to go to back in the day. There was not much but the Brownsville Market in Crozet. Now we drove by there and my wife and I went to King Family Vineyard over the

weekend for an event. We brought the boys and we were taken aback by the density, the housing density, taken aback by the commercial development, taken aback by the traffic, taken aback by the types of vehicles that were driving around. Crozet in 25 years is dramatically changed. That's what you're going to start seeing with Louisa County. There's a neighborhood in Louisa called Spring Creek that has 600 to 700 lots left to be developed that still can be developed. This is a gated community that's right next to the

interstate, right next to restaurants, right next to amenities, and within a short drive to the city of Charlottesville and the epicenter of employment. Similarities to Crozet. Crozet has Old Trail. Crozet has 15 to 20 minutes from the epicenter of employment. Crozet has proximity to the interstate. Crozet has proximity to a bypass. Spring Creek and Louisa County. Louisa County has got Spring Creek. Crozet's got Old Trail. They each have interstate. They each have bypass. They each have proximity to the epicenter of employment. Louisa today is what Crozet was 20 to 25 years ago. So when people ask how are these 19.23% increase in sales tax collected year over year in Louisa, it's because Louisa is the hot spot right now. It still has a level of affordability in central Virginia that Albemarle County and the city of Charlottesville cannot match. You can still find in Louisa County houses with a three on it, a four on it, a five on it.

If you really were close, you could probably find some houses in the $200,000, upper $200,000 range. Is it going to be that way for long? It's not, ladies and gentlemen. You've got Amazon coming with $11 billion for data science campuses all over Louisa. And as Amazon comes, and as 1,200 direct and incremental jobs come, and as folks realize that affordability right now is available in Louisa,

you're going to start seeing the early stages of momentum and growth like we saw in Crozet. Crozet right now, if you're looking for housing, you're probably spending $800,000, $900,000 and up. Maybe 2x what you're spending in Louisa. That's the big storyline for us today. The year-over-year sales tax growth collection for Louisa County from a 19.23% increase, 19% in change year over year. The second story is the fact that Charlottesville, Augusta, Fluvanna, Green, and Waynesboro have flatlined. I wonder why they flatline. I want to focus on Charlottesville in particular. What's going on with Seville?

What's going on with the city? Is it the politics? Is it the crime? Is it the lack of affordability? Is it the fact that we're at capacity with housing? Is it the fact that Charlottesville may be coming an Airbnb epicenter? Is the fact that Charlottesville may be coming a second home epicenter for wealthy families that have second homes that want to be close to UVA is the fact that baby boomers are replacing family households in the city of Charlottesville. When baby boomers, one or two people, take the housing stock over for families with kids, less money per household is going to be spent with the locality just because there's not enough bodies or heads in the house. And then when they buy a second house to use as an investment property,

that doubles down what you're just talking about. There you go. Because they're not around the city year-round. You're seeing Charlottesville in real time very much change with its socioeconomic demographics and really from a usage standpoint. We're also in a period of high inflation. Or not high, but we're in a period of inflation where a lot of people don't have a lot of money. So compounding the fact that we've got a lot of, like you said, retirees buying up homes and pushing out families, the city getting less affordable, so families

moving outside of the confines of the city, and those who are still here having less money to spend. Aaron King, I can't wait to highlight your Bodo's bagels order and your favorite sandwiches. Aaron King knows what's up. Georgia Gilmer, I can't wait to highlight your Bodo's bagel sandwich order. Put it in the feed. I will relay it live on air, and then we'll talk some of our favorite sandwiches. We want to know why the city of Charlottesville year over year is flat with its sales tax revenue collection. We're further away from COVID.

You're further away from the pandemic this past quarter versus the first quarter of 2023. That would suggest more retail tax collected. Although during COVID, a lot of people were getting government assistance, so they had money to spend. That's a fair point. Although not a whole lot of it. The flip to that would be more people can leave their house and go spend their money at storefronts and elsewhere. Yeah, but we all know that people aren't going out and spending more money right now. I mean, not... Is the person that lives or the family that lives in Charlottesville, where if you're buying a house, it's pretty damn close to a million

dollars for an entry point, are they really concerned with inflation? We're talking the wealthy of the wealthy here in the community, in the region we live in. Yeah, but they're also not going out and they're also not going out and hanging around the downtown mall.

Maybe the committee wants to change that, and we'll get to that. John Blair, we're going to get to your, well, actually, this is from a previous show here. I want to know this before I get off this topic. And Deep Throat, I'll get to your comment here in a matter of moments. Are we seeing the usage within Charlottesville, the citizen within Charlottesville, become one of second home owners here, not primary residents,

become one of even more Airbnb usage, become one of baby boomers replacing families because the boomers have cash on hand from the sale of a house so they can afford to buy in the most expensive market in the region. Families cannot afford it, so they're being pushed out. So maybe you have 10.2 square miles of houses that are boomers with retirement savings, as opposed to families that are just scraping by. Are we seeing a community that is not as committed to local support because they're more nomadic or

the citizen is newer to the city. Maybe they have ties to UVA and they're passionate about the university, but not necessarily passionate about Charlottesville itself. There are a lot of people in this community that have ties to the University of Virginia and may be passionate about orange and blue, but are not passionate about Charlottesville. There's a difference there. For me personally, I was passionate about the University of Virginia before I became very passionate about the city of Charlottesville. And now I would say my passion for the city of Charlottesville has superseded my passion for UVA. But first it was UVA passion that led me to fall in love with Charlottesville. And I would bet a lot of the people that are moving here are passionate about UVA because of the four years they had in Charlottesville as students or graduate students.

And they get nostalgic, they wax nostalgic about moving back here because they have the ability to work hybridly or remotely from anywhere, from an ISP. Then they have to start falling in love with Charlottesville. And when you fall in love with Charlottesville, you realize that Charlottesville is about support local. It's about supporting the little guy. It's about bypassing the chains for the local business. It's about saying no to the online, the Target, the Amazon, and saying yes to the shenanigans, yes to the animal connections, yes to the whimsies, yes to the Virginia shops, when you go see Patty Zeller or Tiffany Smith,

that animal connectioner to Virginia in person. So as the demographics are changing, and they're changing very rapidly, and they've been amplified by the pandemic, the culture and the commitment to the city has changed. And that could be reflected in what is year-over-year flat sales tax revenue collection. Let's go to number one in the family, Deepthroat. Let's get his photo on screen. Deepthroat, I'm going to do an email introduction with you, either later today or tomorrow, depending on how quickly and busy the schedule is.

It says, Louisa is probably partly due to a population jump. 6% increase in population from 2022 to 2023. Assume that continued in 2024. Charlottesville City is still losing population. Louisa is the Crozet of 20 years ago, 25 years ago. The population is booming in Louisa. In 10 or 15 years, old school Louisa is going to say, what happened to Mineral? What happened to Zion's Crossroads? They're going to say, what happened to our county? And they're going to say that because

people are coming in by the hundreds, if not the thousands, to live. And Charlottesville's affordability issues are Louisa County's gains. And the families with the groceries to buy, the toys to get for birthday parties, the sports equipment to purchase, the bathing suits and the swim caps for swim team, the rackets for tennis and squash, the gloves, the bats, the backpacks, and the baseballs for Monticello Little League practice,

those purchases are heading across a jurisdictional line to Louisa. Yeah. Oh, man. Albert Graves, let's get his photo on screen. And if you want to see where you stack up in the viewer and listener power rankings, iloveceville.com forward slash viewer rankings. Albert Graves is valued number seven in the family. He says Louisa profits because it serves more than just one county. And those counties don't have the shopping amenities that Louisa offers.

And Louisa is more convenient than the other localities. He's calling out Fluvana there. What's the largest neighborhood in central Virginia? By rooftops? Do I know this answer? You should know this. This is covered so much on the show. I will be slightly disappointed if you don't get this. Oh, yeah. Lake Monticello? Yeah, I'm not disappointed. I would have been very disappointed. I had to think about it.

When you ask about neighborhoods, I think about Charlottesville. Lake Monticello is roughly 4,300 homes. Remember that. It's going to be a pop quiz on another show. The largest neighborhood in central Virginia by rooftops is Lake Monticello, roughly 4,300 homes. Okay? The second largest neighborhood is Forest Lakes,

Albemarle County, 29 north. Third largest neighborhood is probably Old Trail. After that, it's anyone's guess. Glenmore's got roughly 950 rooftops. Spring Creek, when it brings 600 to 700 new rooftops online, is going to be competing with the top three, top four position. But Albert Graves makes the comment on Twitter, and let me respond to his tweet right now.

I mention this live on air. Thank you for watching. He makes this comment. He goes, Louisa is capturing the retail sales tax collection of counties that surround it. If you live in Fluvanna at Lake Monticello, where are you going to shop? You're probably going to go to the Walmart or Lowe's.

Where are you going to eat? Probably're probably going to go to the Walmart or Lowe's. Where are you going to eat? Probably El Mariachi or Rett's. All you have to do is drive, what is that, 15? To get into Louisa. And now you're capturing, you're taking data away from Fluvanna. That's why, you don't want the lion's share of how Fluvanna County covers its yearly budget. Drive-thrus. No.

What type of tax is the lion's share of the Fluvanna County budget? Retail. I don't know. Is there retail in Fluvanna? I'm explaining that Fluvanna Countians are leaving Fluvanna to go to Louisa for retail purchases. You're talking about rooftops? Yeah. Over 90% of Fluvanna County's budget

is taxes on real estate because they don't have a boatload of business or retail or restaurants. They're going into other counties to do it. And as a result, Fluvanna is putting downward pressure on homeowners, and if they're not careful of that, they're going to gentrify Fluvana. Great point right there from Albert Graves.

He also says Crozet was once a factory town that boasted two world-known factories in Acme Visible Records, which specialized in metal works and file cabinets that were in most schools and offices in around America. And then there was Del Monte Conagra that specialized at the TV dinners and pot pies. He says Western Admiral High School has always had the prep student body, especially from Ivy and Garth Road area. Now it's almost the entire student body that is of the prep status. And so the moniker of Stab West is put on the school. But with the growth in Louisa also comes the growth of personal property taxes that will also eventually have the same effect that it has in Crozet, and gentrification will begin

and force the blue-collar workers out just like it has in Crozet. Bam! Albert Graves all over it. There it is. That's what we're saying. Louisa County is Crozet from 20 to 25 years ago. And as the middle class and as the upper middle class is gentrified out of Charlottesville City and Alamaro County,

it still has to stay in the area because of family or jobs. And as it's still staying in the area because of family or jobs. And as it's still staying in the area because of family or jobs, it's finding other pockets around it. And Louisa's the primary pocket it's finding. And as the upper middle class and as the middle class heads to Louisa, it's putting pressure on blue collar. And next thing you know, blue collar is going to get pushed out even further. And that's when Buckingham becomes in vogue. And then next thing you know, Blue Collar is going to get pushed out even further. And that's when Buckingham becomes in vogue. And then next thing you know, Buckingham County is Tony and hot.

And that right there is the cookie crumbling of gentrification. The dominoes of gentrification. You're seeing it in the retail sales tax data. Good stuff from Albert Graves today. He says, this is a great stat from Deep Throat. Listen to this. If you look at retail sales tax collections across the Commonwealth of Virginia in totality,

in the state of Virginia, the first quarter of 2024 versus the first quarter of 2023, this quarter of this year, Q1 of this year, 1.7% up in the entire Commonwealth. Louisa is up 19.23%. And that's not even including what's going to be coming, the $11 billion from Amazon, ladies and gentlemen. Louisa's carrying the team. Carrying the team.

They are the team. They are the team. Philip Dow says, good info. He says says one main issue with all the growth around Charlottesville, Seville will outgrow its infrastructure. Seville cannot handle the traffic. What I found here in Sarasota, Florida is they have traffic. They prepare for it. During rush hour, I have not encountered any backups because of the infrastructure. Seville's population, a lot of people aren't talking about this. Good stuff from the Queen of Ivey, Kate Shartz.

She says, Lake Monticello, Judah. Lake Monticello. Chuck Ramey says, you guys are on fire today. Thank you. Thank you, Chuck Ramey. A lot of people don't highlight this. This is a dirty little secret that a lot of people aren't talking about. Charlottesville's population is falling.

Yeah. Ladies and gentlemen, the population of Charlottesville is falling. That shouldn't be a surprise. No one talks about it. You know why they don't talk about it? Because they want it to be sunshine and rainbows. This is from another viewer and listener. I'd be curious year over year adjusted for localized true basket of goods CPI.

Basically measuring same store sales for number of widgets sold, not gross revenue. This would show shopping patterns and consumer choice better, looking back on yesterday's downtown mall discussion. Year-over-year adjusted for localized true basket of goods CPI, basically measuring same-store sales for number of widgets sold, not gross revenue. You know what he's saying by that? Go ahead.

The sales tax collections year over year were higher this year. But are we higher this year because the widgets cost more this year than last year?

Is it the same amount of widgets purchased in Q1 of last year versus Q1 of this year? last year? Is it the same amount of widgets purchased in Q1 of last year versus Q1 of this year? And if it's the same amount of widgets that have been purchased, they just cost more this year, of course you're going to get more sales tax collected. That's what he's saying.

Yeah. And then he said... If inflation has caused prices to go up, then obviously the sales tax is going to provide more. I'll take it a step further. I'll take it a step further. Is it an actual true sign of a healthy economy if the same amount of widgets in Q1 of last year versus Q1 of this year were purchased. If you collect more tax revenue, but you're buying the same amount of bananas or the same amount of steaks or the same amount of baseball bats or the same amount of

squash rackets or the same amount of swim caps last quarter versus this quarter, is it a sign of a healthy economy? What's the answer to that question? I think that's where it's helpful to look at multiple years where you can see the effect of things like that. Is it a sign of a healthy economy? I would say generally not. The answer is absolutely not. Absolutely not. Because last year versus this year, wages went up.

Last year versus this year, fuel went up. Last year versus this year, housing went up. Rents went up. Interest rates went up. Credit card debt went up. Student loan debt went up. Last year versus this year, housing went up, rents went up, interest rates went up, credit card debt went up, student loan debt went up. So if you're selling the same amount of widgets year over year, you can make a legitimate argument that the economy is in the dump. The pooper. The pooper. I mean, I would say that it's lucky that the sales numbers haven't gone down, if all those things are true.

Take it a step further. What does it say about, ladies and gentlemen, we're unpacking the chamber numbers. The chamber has to paint things in a certain light. Why does the chamber have to paint things in a certain light? Because they want to keep business

here. It's the evangelist of the business community. What does it say that Charlottesville, Augusta, Fluvanna, Green, and Waynesboro are flat year over year? They're flat year over year in a time of epic inflation. If year over year the sales tax revenue collected is flat,

did it really go down? Because they had the boost of inflation. Here's the thing. What's the thing about stats? They don't lie. I don't know. It depends what you want. You can manipulate a stat to say whatever you want. Stats lie all the time. Ask sleepy Joe Biden. Ask Donald Trump. John Blair, number two in the family.

Jerry, the football comment about Western amuses me. I'm going to link for you that school's tennis schedule this year. Do you know who they played? Sidwell Friends, one of the 10 most exclusive private schools in the entire nation, the Western Alamaro tennis team played. The idea of Western producing any of the blue-collar kids you need to play football makes me cackle. Here's the link to that schedule. I know the number one player on the Western Alamaro tennis team. His name is Gordy Fairborn, and he is a fantastic human being. I hope this gets back to Gordy. I saw him yesterday.

Gordy most likely is going to be the individual squash champion at the Boar's Head and the individual tennis champion at the Boar's Head, and I think he plays number one on the Western Alamaro tennis team as a senior, and he's a multi-time state champion tennis player i'm looking at the tennis schedule that western almero boys varsity tennis plays they have a scrimmage on the calendar for march of this year against saint christopher's you're talking like a thirty thousand forty thousand dollar a year school sidwell friends who john blair just talked about. They got Norfolk Academy, a match against NA. I played Norfolk Academy when I went to Walsingham Academy

and the TCIS, the Tidewater Conference of Independent Schools Norfolk Academy. They got Collegiate of Richmond on their tennis schedule. The Western Alamo tennis team is playing Powerhouse Private Schools, St. Christopher's, Sidwell Friends, Norfolk Academy, and Collegiate. You're talking prep schools that have tuitions that are north of $50,000 a year in total package. A public school. That's a microcosm of the Stab West moniker. The show's on fire today. You're on fire today, Judah. Thank you. On absolute fire. This comment comes in. I've befriended two people over the past couple months at the gym who have

moved here to work remotely from Bethesda. They didn't relocate to Crozet or Seville. They relocated to Louisa. The folks across from where we live both work remotely from an ISP for D.C. area firms. Both three kids, two kids in prep school, a third soon to be, and they work from an ISP in their basement. It's 117 and we've got a lot we want to get to. I really want to get to that teacher appreciation story. Headlines. What's the next one? I want to get to the Bodo's order. I want to get to the sandwiches. I got

a lot on my afternoon schedule here. What's the next headline, J-Dubs? We're kind of all over the place. You want to just, I mean... Let's go to the downtown mall funding. We'll save the Jewish student file suit against UVA and President Ryan

potentially for tomorrow and Governor Glenn Young can veto skill games and other bills because I want to talk teacher appreciation for Larry Gillespie and Holly Chiesa and I want to talk about my Bodo's bagels ordering the top sandwiches around town we might have to save the Grad Balloons Brighton UVA Children's Hospital for tomorrow as well you were on just too much of a roll to start this program.

Can we please go with, my friend, funding downtown mall improvements? All right. In yesterday's city council meeting, which we prepped you for, we prepped you if you watched this show, we let you know that there's a committee, there was a committee that was put together, 17, 18, 19 people, and this committee presented via city council to city council ways to improve the downtown mall. They talked about putting parking meters on the side roads.

They talked about putting better lights on the downtown mall. They talked about potentially closing the roads of 2nd and 4th Street, although they shied away from that. They shied away from that. They talked about shrinking the cafes for better foot traffic. Why you would cut on the seating at the restaurants makes no sense to me. I covered that yesterday. This came up in the city council meeting. Mr. Freeze of Dunlora in Albemarle County, the head of neighborhood development services, I believe he's now one of Sam Sanders' lieutenants as an assistant city manager.

He's presenting to council, Sam Sanders, the city manager's also offering perspective. And he's saying, if you make these changes in downtown Charlottesville, like adding more seating and more benches to the mall, we're going to have to figure out a way how to fund it. And either Sanders or Freeze said this, it's going to be really expensive.

Make this make sense to me. Make it make sense. We are going to make downtown better for you, but you're going to feel pain in the short term to make downtown better in the long term. You're going to pay for it by taxes increasing. At the same time, the meals tax went up. At the same time, the personal property tax went up. At the same time, the personal property tax went up. At the same time, the credit card debt is the highest in American history, and student loan payments are back again, and mortgages are highest than they've ever been, and housing values are the highest they've ever been, and rents

are at the highest they've ever been, and groceries are at the highest they've ever been, and gasoline's at the highest we've ever been. We're going to tax you a little more because we want downtown to be better five or ten years from now. Dude, I'm all for capital improvement projects. But how about we read the room? Let's read the room. I see the Johnson family over there

just trying to pay for groceries. I see the Smith family over there just trying to pay for groceries. I see the Smith family over there just trying to fill their gas tank. I see the Greer family over there just trying to get clothes for their kids to wear. I see the... I'm running out of last names. The Timothy family over there trying to just pay their credit card payment. I see the Longs over there just trying to make their mortgage.

I see the Stevenson family over there having their landlords jack up their rent 15% year over year. Let's add a little more on there and tax them some more so we can make the downtown mall better five years from now. Come on. Make it make sense. Make it make sense.

What's the quote? What's the quote? Councillor Payne had asked, I don't know if that's still the case, speaking about apparently all the benches have gone into storage somewhere. And I guess Charlottesville City Council doesn't know where they are. But he says, I don't know if that's still the case. Is there any plan to actually put additional seating on the downtown mall at this point? And to which James Freeze, deputy city manager of operations, says, that's kind of how you make it a welcoming space. You're in favor of the seating on the mall. Okay.

Imagine this. You have people undesirable for, you know, some people find them undesirable. You've got these people using benches, seating on the downtown mall. So you take away the seating so nobody can use it. Now, what if you had added more seating so that there was seating for the people?

I think you're going to probably have more of the houseless population on the mall. Okay, but at some point... And then people are going to be like, Jerry, you S... You S-O-B. You've got no feelings for people. But are they really...

Are all the houseless population, are they all going to come and sit on chairs on the downtown mall? Let me ask you a question. In central Virginia, a 300,000 person market, if you were houseless,

where would you hang out? I mean... Where would you hang out? Just be straightforward. Not long-winded. Just cut to the chase. I would hang out close to wherever I could get easy access to food. Okay, and where can you get the easiest access to food? I mean,

there are multiple places, but obviously a lot of them you choose Haven. Around the downtown? Yeah. The largest concentration of soup kitchens and easy access to free food. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Right? Okay, follow-up question.

As you're waiting for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, you have time to kill. What would you do with your time? Use the internet? Hey, there's free internet on downtown mall. Stay out of inclement weather. Get in the air condition when it's hot. Or get in the heat when it's warm.

Or stay out of the rain when it's raining. Hey, there's a public library that's humongous. And you've got a bunch of stuff where you can read and places you can sit. Hey, you want to make some money? Where's the largest foot traffic population where you can ask folks for money? Downtown. What point are you getting to? My point is we've created a,

we've added, we've created a, we got a kitchen and we got a pot and we're putting in all the ingredients in a pot. Free internet. Foot traffic for people to ask for money. Free breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Free place to hang out with air condition and heat and out of the rain. Now benches and places to sit.

We're throwing all the ingredients in a pot to create a houseless campus. And it's the eight blocks we called it Altaimo. And I'm not trying to be a D-I-C-K. I'm not trying to be a D-I-C-K. I'm trying to take all those ingredients from the pot and get all those ingredients and build an actual campus with infrastructure where you've got counseling and addiction services and cots and beds and you've got internet and you've got heat and you've got air condition and you've got showers and you've got resume building. But

putting all those ingredients into a pot and saying it's on the downtown mall is the definition of idiocy. It's short-sighted. It's short-sighted. And you put more benches on the mall, what do you think is going to happen? Come on.

Do you think you're going to have Daddy Warbucks sitting in that bench? Okay, first of all, I think you're nuts. Because there are seats, the few seats that are left on the downtown mall are not, 100% of the the time inhabited by houseless people. A large percentage of the time they are. And more so than not.

We can walk down the mall and do an eye test if we'd like. My wife and I did it yesterday. We could do an eye test if we want. And I'm not trying to be a D-I-C-K. I mean, I'm not saying that you are, but I mean, you're essentially saying don't do anything to the downtown mall

until we take care of the house population? I mean, is that the answer? Do not improve the downtown mall until we find somewhere else for the house population to go? Raising the taxes at a time where the average consumer has more economic headwinds than maybe at any point of their lives, any point of their lives right now, more economic headwinds.

And doing quality of life improvements like a downtown project, capital improvement, that they're not going to reap the benefits of for five or seven years is only going to give them more headwinds. But isn't that something, isn't something that we've talked about, the idea of city council not looking forward? It's not a good position to be if you're a local government. It's a lose-lose position. It's like Buford school reconfiguration. Let's reconfigure a school to the tune of $60, $70, $80 million. $60, $70, $80 million. We want this middle school to get better. But by the time it's finished, the people, the kids that would have benefited from it are gone.

I can't afford to live here anymore. Because we're raising the taxes on them to live here, so $60, $70, $80 million improvements are being funded on the backs by the children we're trying to help. They're funding the improvements of schools on the backs through the children we're trying to help. The only people that are going to get

the Buford School reconfiguration improvements are the wealthy that move into this municipality. Same thing for the downtown mall. Let's make the downtown mall better. It's going to be better in five to seven years. Five to seven years with the economic headwinds in front of us, ain't the people going to be able to enjoy it?

Fair enough. Got Daddy Warbucks and Mommy Big Stacks. Couldn't think of a better name. I'm running then. Sorry. Terrible names. Bodo's Bagels Order. What's your Bodo's Bagels Order?

I'm going to get to some of the viewers and listeners. I got a two o'clock. I usually go with a deli egg on everything or a bagel with cream cheese and lox. Bill McChesney says deli egg on everything or a bagel with cream cheese and lox. Bill McChesney says deli egg on wheat or chicken salad and sprouts on everything. Kevin Yancey, double bacon, egg, and cheese on a salt bagel. Philip, salmon and cream cheese. Georgia Gilmer, lox, herb cream cheese, red onion on an everything bagel.

One of my big disappointments in Bodo's is no egg bagels. My wife despises the fact that they microwave the eggs. They microwave the eggs? The eggs are microwaved. Despises that fact. That it's a microwaved egg. Are you sure about that? It's microwaved.

For the deli egg? Or just for the regular egg? I mean, regular egg is microwaved. I haven't had a deli egg in a while. I would imagine the deli egg is microwaved. Aaron King, my order has been the same since middle school. Smoked turkey on everything with cheddar, tomato, and mayo. Hot.

Aaron King knows what's up. And she said the best sandwich out there is the ruminant hollies. The Farmington from the markets, the Tiger Fuel markets, the Cuban Pickle Crisis from IB Provisions, and the Feast Pimento Cheese with bacon and tomato. Damn, Aaron, that sounds delicious. I'm going to add to the best sandwich ranking

the Old Dirty Biscuit from Ace Biscuit and Barbecue, the Cheesesteak Sub from Fabio's, New York Pizza. The croque monsieur. Croque monsieur or croque madame? Croque monsieur. From Petit Poix.

I love the Keswick from Bel Air Market. You know the madame has an egg too. Oh. I'll try that one. I love the Keswick from Bel Air Market. You know the Madame has an egg too. Oh. I'll try that one. I love the Keswick from Bel Air Market. The Cuban sandwich we had from Witch Lab on the downtown mall is amazing. They got a $5 ham, egg, and cheese

at the Witch Lab. I really hope the Witch Lab is getting some business. That's absolutely amazing. A lot of great sandwiches out there. I want to close the show. Any great sandwiches you want to do? You want to throw? Nothing crazy. I mean, everybody's mentioned obviously the Tiger Market sandwiches. Everybody's got their own favorite. I think mine is the Ednam. I used to like going to the Nook and getting a cheese sandwich with ham and tomatoes. Those were really good.

But there's so many good places in downtown Charlottesville that it's hard to pick just one and it really depends on my mood I like that respect I'm forwarding you a voicemail from a client I'm doing like five things at once right here who uses voicemail? I'm sending you a voicemail.

This client leaves a voicemail. He pays us so he can leave a voicemail. If you're not paying us, don't give us a voicemail. He's paying us, he can leave a voicemail. All right, teacher appreciation. Today's the last day of school for our six-year-old. So I wanted to highlight two teachers that haven't had an impact on our lives, me personally and our son. Me personally, there was one

teacher who taught me math for three years. It was pre-algebra, either pre-algebra or algebra, algebra two trig and pre-calculus. And this was Larry Gillespie. Larry Gillespie was a teacher I had in eighth grade, ninth grade, and eleventh grade. And the school I went to, eighth grade, was in the same building as high school. It was eighth grade through senior in one building at Walsingham Academy in Williamsburg. And Larry Gillespie was a teacher of mine for three years. And I was a terrible, terrible, terrible teenager. I did very well in school, but I did not have to do a lot of work. I was able to retain a lot of knowledge in the class, which allowed me to skate by from homework, test prep, anything like that. And because I was able to retain knowledge in the class and pick things up, I was very misbehaved, a teacher's nightmare. And I often responded the most, the best to the male teachers because either they were intimidating or they were matching the alphaness that I was

trying to command while in a classroom. And he, Mr. Larry Gillespie, oozed alpha-ness. So I was often more behaved in his class than others. As a result, I learned from him not just about pre-calculus and algebra and geometry and trig and whatever. I learned life. For instance, on every test that we ever took, he had us write the acronym DWYGD, which stood for do what you got to do. And if we wrote DWYGD above on the top of every test paper, we got extra credit. That's how important it was to him. And he said, do what you got to do is a mantra for your life. And it's a mantra I use every day as an entrepreneur and as a business person. Do what you got to do that day to get the job done. Do what you got to do that day to make your clients happy. Do what you got to do that day to achieve the

goals you're pursuing. I will never forget Dwight Goode. Do what you got to do. Mr. Gillespie, who's since passed away, I just saw his obituary online, was born in 1937. He continues to influence me to this day as a father of two and as a 42-year-old man. I also want to highlight Holly Chiesa, my son's kindergarten teacher. Today's his last day of kindergarten, and they are currently on a field trip at Wild Rock. Mrs. Chiesa has had an incredible impact on our son's life. He entered kindergarten as a shy and nervous and somewhat intimidated young man because he was going to a brand new school, a school that had a lot of students that were previously in that school as pre-k for students so they all knew each other he was new to the school and while he's completely blossomed and opened up now

at the time he was very apprehensive and i've seen firsthand as our son has learned to read and and and is doing his letters and his does the alphabet and numbers, and he's adding, and he's subtracting, and he's got a passion for books, and he follows the rules, and he's kind, and he's put others first, and he's understood the concept of being third. Being third is about putting others and your faith before yourself. And I cannot wait to see this foundation that Ms. Chiesa has put into place be the momentum for so much growth for him as he kind of heads through elementary school.

So Mr. Gillespie and Ms. Chiesa, I applaud you and I salute you and we are so forever grateful for you. Sincerely, sincerely mean that. That's today's talk show. He's Judah Wickauer. My name is Jerry Miller. Thank you kindly for watching us

on the I Love Seville show. So long, everybody. I will be back here