The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - Reflection On 7-Yr Anniversary Of Aug. 12, 2017; Video Visualization: 303 Alderman Rd Project

Episode Date: August 12, 2024

The I Love CVille Show headlines: Reflection On 7-Yr Anniversary Of Aug. 12, 2017 Video Visualization: 303 Alderman Rd Project Is Lewis Mountain Ready For This Big Density? News Coverage On Downtown Mall Homeless CVille Area Community Responding To Homeless Review Of CVille Econ Dev Goals, DEI Focus Was It Arson? Investigation Into Vocelli Pizza Fire Richmond Times-Dispatch Ditches RVA Building 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. fantastic. The program is loaded with fresh content. Let me know when Twitter's live. I'm going to delete this current post and then wait for you to get it live again. What's that? Yeah, give us a relaunch, please. Thank you. I'm looking at it now. If you can get that relaunched, that'd be fantastic. Thank you very much. We got so much to cover. We'll talk about the August 12, 2017 70-year anniversary, offer some reflection on that. I want you to mark your calendars for 10.15 a.m. tomorrow. Sean Moore is going to be in studio here

sitting right next to Hootie Ratcliffe and I in the flesh on the Jerry and Jerry show at 10.15 a.m. Sean Moore, the greatest quarterback in UVA football history. I would say the large majority of the Wahoo fan base would make that statement. In studio tomorrow, 1015 a.m. Sean Moore, mark your calendars. We're going to show on today's program a video visualization from Citizens for Responsible Planning

when it comes to the six townhomes at 303 Alderman Road. CFRP did a fantastic job of putting a 90-second video, which they sent to us. We will play it on today's show. You're going to want to watch today's program. This is the definition of density. I think a phrase utilized in this video by CFRP was density synonymous with density you find with Brooklyn brownstones in the Lewis Mountain neighborhood, a Tony and Posh neighborhood on the city Albemarle County line. Get ready for this video visualization. On today's program, we're going to talk about the Daily Progress article written over the weekend, published on Sunday.

I thought it was fantastic. This article on homelessness in downtown Charlottesville and how the community is responding. You're starting to see the tide turn. Multiple folks are asking for the Twitter connection, J-dubs. If you can get that live, please. We're going to highlight on today's show the Richmond Times Dispatch leaving its downtown building. We have what I thought was going to be the paper of record for the Commonwealth in absolute disarray right now. I want to also highlight

on today's program the Charlottesville Economic Development Authority and its goals for econ development, its strategy, a strategy that includes some of these direct quotes, and this is Sean Tubbs and his community substack. Some of the seven strategies are partner to grow Charlottesville's BIPOC and diverse business LGBTQIA community through technical training. Focus on diverse, equitable, and vibrant businesses in Charlottesville. Support home-based entrepreneurship. Continue the business equity fund. Explore the creation of subsidized shared commercial space

on or near the mall. We're going to highlight these strategies and ask you, the community, what you think of the economic development authorities' approach to econ development. Fantastic. Now seeing it live on Twitter. Thank you very much,

Judah. The show is busy. Mondays are busy. Mondays are busy. There goes Beatrix Ost on the Market Street in front of our studio. Ginny Hu, Twitter is live. I know you would prefer to be on Twitter. Judah's got it up on Twitter. She leaves that comment. So you can now watch on Twitter. Judah, which headline will weave you in on a two-shot do you find most compelling before I start with my monologue? Let's see. I mean, it's hard to pick. We've got a lot of great choices today. I think it's really interesting seeing the visualization of how the neighborhood is going to change in Lewis Mountain. I think it's also sad that we keep seeing businesses getting broken into and vandalized. I mean, these are restaurants. These aren't like Amazon outlets where they've got deep pockets.

So it's a shame to see this kind of damage being done to small local businesses. Vicelli's Pizza on 29, a fire Vicelli's. There's a GoFundMe currently circulating with a goal of 10,000. I saw yesterday they had reached basically 25% of their goal of Vicelli's Pizza online. A family owns this pizzeria. Fire marshal active investigation in the fire that happened at Vicelli's Pizza with some speculation that it could be arson. Unbelievable in the city that happened at Vicelli's Pizza with some speculation that it could be arson. Unbelievable in the city of Charlottesville. So much to cover. We start,

if you put the first lower third on screen, a reflection of August 12, 2017. Walking to work today, looked over on 4th Street. 4th Street completely closed Heather Hire way. It's been blocked by public works here in the city with barricades on either side of 4th Street, barricades on the downtown mall portion. And when I was walking by, dozens of people paying respect to the Heather Hire mural that still has visibility and impact in this community.

I'm going to reflect on my personal story when it came to August 12, 2017. If you know downtown Charlottesville, you know the studio is on Market Street. It's on the corner of 4th Street and Market Street, our studio, right next to the grocery store on Market Street. My wife and I, then she was my,

no, we were married then. Married and had a very young baby. Our oldest was born in March. Actually, she might have been pregnant at the time. I think she was pregnant at the time and he hadn't been born yet.

And I mentioned to my wife that I, you know, frankly speaking, I lied to her and she still holds this against me. She did not want me to go to downtown Charlottesville. After August 11th, when we saw Nazis stampeding, marching, terrorizing the grounds of the University of Virginia with lit tiki torches, screaming the nastiest of rhetoric about Jews while stomping through the grounds

of UVA. We woke up on August 12th still shook and terrified. I knew that A12 in downtown Charlottesville was going to be a monumental day. I knew it was going to be an ugly day and a potentially dangerous day. At the time, I was a member of ACAC downtown. I mentioned to my wife, I'm going to go to downtown Charlottesville to work out to get some of the stress out of my body by doing some cardio and some working out.

I skipped the gym that morning. And instead, I went to the I Love Seville studio. I was worried about the community. I was worried about people in this town. I was worried about friends in this town. I was worried about a storefront that had I Heart Seville and I Love Charlottesville all over its windows when out of town protesters and Nazis were going to be literally a couple of feet from where we do business. It was a nerve-wracking morning and afternoon. As I parked around ACAC downtown the morning of August 12th, I walked from where Ickes Park is to our studio on Market Street, four or five blocks. And as I'm walking the blocks, I see what appeared to be soldiers, but at closer look, the soldiers did not have American flags on their chests. Instead, they had Nazi and Swazka

tattoos on their arms. They had machine guns in their hands. They were dressed in camouflage, clearly angry, and clearly chanting some of the nastiest stuff that you can imagine. I make my way from Ix Park down South Street over to Water Street, and when I cross the parking lot from South Street to Water Street, the pay parking lot where you put quarters in the machines, I guess now it's a machine where you can pay with your card, I really start saying or seeing that this was going to be a dangerous situation. As I crossed the paid lot over to Water Street by Mono Loco, where Moe's used to be, where Uma's is now, I see more Nazis, and I start seeing people really angry

in different fashions of people, basically screaming at each other while holding machine guns, while wearing camouflage and bulletproof vests. I get on the downtown mall. It's a ghost town. I recognize no one on the mall. I cross the downtown mall. I get on Market Street.

That was the eye of the storm. The eye of the storm was the three or four blocks on Market Street and Court Square Park. In that two hours that I was on Market Street, at the peak of terror, I saw some of the nastiest, some of the worst hate I'd ever seen. I heard people screaming the N-word. I heard people screaming the N-word. I heard people screaming horrible things about Jews. I saw aggressive posturing with machine guns in hand.

I saw bottles being thrown. I saw chemicals being thrown. I saw the police in a no-win situation. Hundreds of people in a couple of block area and the police trying to maintain a perimeter. The longer I stayed in that two-hour window on Market Street, in the eye of this A12 purchase protest, the more I realized that this was about as dangerous a situation as I could be in at that point in my life. I ended up leaving. I took the walk down 4th Street a mere 90 minutes or so before James Fields drove a car into people

killing Heather Heyer. Seven years ago, maybe the darkest day in Charlottesville history, save except for maybe the raising of Vinegar Hill. As we reflect on the seven-year anniversary, we realize the community is still healing and is not close to being done healing. As we reflect on the seven-year history, the seven-year anniversary,

we realize that a lot of the problems we have today are problems that were a part of what came to light on August 12, 2017. We have a community of extremely wealthy people and a community of extremely poor people. We have a community that's rapidly gentrified in the 24 years I've been here. Rapidly gentrified. Become extremely, much more homogenous than it once was.

We have a community that is still searching for its identity and still struggling with its past. We have a community that is trying to figure out a way to heal. And part of that healing process is the removing of statues, the renaming of parks, the renaming of schools, a mural on 4th Street that honors a woman that has fallen during the protest, a free speech wall. And frankly, it's how we are handling the homeless and houseless population today. Frankly, it's how the Charlottesville Office of Economic Development is trying to manage its goals for driving the economy forward.

The City Office for Economic Development that utilizes taxpayer resources to fund its people, its workers, uses taxpayer resources to drive its agenda and its goals, has a plan for economic development that's basically centered on diversity, equity, and inclusion. The plan of the Economic Development Office, in a lot of ways ways is a plan that was birthed or a plan that was manifested or a plan that was influenced during A12 2017 or started at A12

2017. The town we live in is forever going to struggle with what happened seven years ago and made national and global news. I'll close with this. Part of healing is understanding what you do,

what you've done that's been terribly wrong. Acknowledging it and trying to move forward in a way that is more fair to the community across the board. Perhaps that's what we're doing today. Do we have a long way to go? Many in the community would say absolutely. Will we forever, will we be able to forget or get beyond A12 2017? I don't think so. Seven years like that. Still fresh in my mind. If you want a two-shot, Judah Wickhauer,

if we get lower thirds on screen, anything you want to add to this? No, I think you said it better than I could have. It was a, obviously, a day that, like you said, we're not going to soon forget. All right. On a day like this, it's challenging to go to other news items, but that's the point of the talk show and why you listen. So we go to other news items to keep you informed with what's going on.

As I highlighted to start the program, Sean Moore, UVA quarterback, in studio tomorrow at 10.15 a.m. We've talked 303 Alderman Road on this show. A local builder, Evergreen, paid $835,000 for a ranch-style house in the Lewis Mountain neighborhood. We now know that Evergreen is going to destroy that house, raise that house, and has paid $835,000 for basically the dirt for land. $835,000 for a piece of land in a posh and tony neighborhood, a third of an acre, ladies and gentlemen. How would you characterize Citizens for Responsible Planning? Citizens for Responsible Planning is a lobbying group in Charlottesville that is the antithesis of the Livable Charlottesville

lobbying group. Livable Charlottesville, co-chaired by Matthew Gilligan and Stephen Johnson, have done a very good job of being top of mind with the news cycle, with politicians, and with stakeholders. Livable Charlottesville does a great job of utilizing social media to do what we call organize, strategize, and galvanize. Charlottesville Citizens for Responsible Planning is the antithesis of Livable Charlottesville. They are made up of stakeholders. They are made up of key personnel in the community, but they have not gotten the same brand recognition that Livable Charlottesville has. They're not utilizing social media to stay top of mind, but they're still doing important work because they're offering a different

perspective of what the new zoning ordinance could do to our city. And one of the key players for Citizens for Responsible Planning has put together a visualization of what 303 Oldobin Road is going to look like. That visualization was sent to us. We are going to play it now on the show, and then we're going to offer our perspective on what's coming down the pipe for the Lewis Mountain neighborhood. Do you have that video and sound ready to go, Judah? I do. Okay. The sound is important as it's got a narrator. That audio level may need to be turned up just a bit for the viewers and listeners to hear. Let's go ahead and play this visualization for 303 Alderman Road with the right lower third and three, two, one, now. This is another in CFRP's ongoing series on visualizing Charlottesville's rezoning.

Today we're going to be taking a look at the first new RB project under the new zoning in the Lewis Mountain neighborhood. The project will take place at 303 Alderman Road, the site of what is currently a modest single-family home. The plans are prepared by Schimpf Engineering whose FEMA map revisions almost allowed 245 apartments to go in at 0 East High Street in the floodplain. The plan calls for six townhouses 40 feet tall and covering just under 50% of the lot which is about a third of an acre. And as permissive as RV zoning already is,

this project is still going to require an administrative modification for massing. We'll take a quick look at the intersection of Alderman and Miner as it looks today, and then we will show a simulation of how it will look with the new project. Bear in mind that we're only simulating scale, position, and massing as best we can, and not the architectural details which are unknown at this time. You can see that this project is quite a bit taller, denser, and closer to the road than the houses in the neighborhood. Also, each unit will be larger than a typical Charlottesville house and consequently probably

more expensive. With 18 dwelling units per acre, it's as dense as Brownstone, Brooklyn as a point of comparison. We'll close with a static shot of the Alderman Road walk down the street. Thanks for watching. All right, that's a video visualization, which I think is fantastically done by Citizens for Responsible Planning. I appreciate them sending that to us. I watched this video visualization late last night

and I was taken aback by the impact of these six townhomes on a street that is otherwise neighborly and somewhat quiet. These clearly are going to be, I'm choosing my words carefully, noticeable, a landscape intrusion. You have to ask yourself this question.

Six townhomes of this size and lack of setback from the road, what kind of impact do they have with the units around them, the housing around them? Does a project like this raise the value of other parcels in the neighborhood because of the potential of what could be done there? Or does a project like this lower the value parcels in the neighborhood because of the potential of what could be done there?

Or does a project like this lower the value of other parcels in the neighborhood because of the landscape intrusion and the potential traffic cluster it creates? We don't know that. It's difficult to predict. I'm asking asking this question and if you cue the video video visualization one more time without the narration on it i'll talk over the video visualization are you able to do that yeah okay fantastic do the video visualization and allow me to talk over it please let me know when that video is going if you live in the neighborhood or considering buying a home in the neighborhood and these six townhomes are down the street

in your backyard or right next to the street of the house you're considering purchasing, do you look at this as a potential quality of life inhibitor? He's got the video on screen. If you're a current homeowner in Lewis Mountain, do you look at this as opportunistic?

My land can become this as well, so I can get top dollar for my home. Or do you look at this as a potential inhibitor for the sale of your home? Because when these come to market, when construction starts and the project is finished, people are going to ask the question, do I want to live next to these things? These are all fair questions without me throwing shade. We're looking at the new zoning ordinance,

this project with Evergreen, and the new zoning ordinance with the Richard Price, Roger Voisinet project and Woolen Mills as the first two in the new zoning ordinance. I would say what Roger has done with the Woolen Mills project, what Roger is doing with the Woolen Mills project, what Roger is doing with the Woolen Mills project,

is a much better reflection of what is good for his respective neighborhood. His respective neighborhood, he's building four additional structures on a single-family detached house lot. And those four additional structures, very similar in feel to the current structure, so they don't landscape intrude. I test intrude. This is something totally different. Go back to me in a one-shot.

In fact, put yourself on a two-shot, too, because I'm sure you've got some perspective to offer here. I want the community to hear this, and I want to be on the record with this. I am by no means throwing any shade at all at Evergreen, the builder. I think the builder did what the builder was allowed to do by government. Government said, you can do a single family detached house can become this now. As the video visualization described it, can have the density of Brooklyn brownstones. Evergreen said, okay, if you're allowing us to do that,

let's go ahead and do it. We'll pay $835,000 for the land. We're going to tear down the house. What's the tear down of the house? $35,000? $50,000? Then you've got a piece of dirt, a third of an acre. Depending on the quality of construction, what do you say the quality of construction is? I'm having a conversation with Deepthroat about this right now. Maybe you call it,

he says $300 a foot. Three stories, 900 net square feet floor plate, 400 square foot of ground floor garage, 2,500 square feet per townhome. 2,500 square feet times 300 per square foot. You're looking at 750,000 build cost then you got some realtor fees you got some land costs you got some debt debt service you can very easily see how each of these units when the builder is pot committed if it's quality construction is 900,000 their cost when you have 900,000 in your cost and you're doing this kind of risk what do you come to market at?

do you come to market in the neighborhood of the C&O row houses the row houses between Beer Run and Market Street has anyone seen the row houses between Beer Run and Market Street? have you seen those? they're very Brooklyn Brownstone-esque.

Those units are trading those beautiful townhomes with rooftop decks and garages. These will have garages as well, are trading between $1.3 and $1.6 million all day, every day, and twice on Sunday. Those Brooklyn Brownstones between Beer Run and Market Street, some of them have elevators in them. They are some of the sexiest construction. But what those Brooklyn brownstones have done, they built a community of brownstones. They didn't put a square peg in a round hole,

a neighborhood of single-family detached houses brooklyn brownstone six of them that stand out like a sore thumb are we looking at six units that are going to have to come on the market at a million a million fifty or a million one for the builder and developer to basically satisfy or accommodate or manage their risk on this project? How can you really come in at $975 or a million dollars when your hard costs on each of these units, construction, land, carrying, realtor fees, closing costs are $900,000 a unit. You sell them at $995,000, you're looking at $95,000 profit per unit times six, $570,000.

From my standpoint, the risk-reward for half a million dollars just isn't there. From my standpoint, the risk-reward, you'd have to come in well over a million. So what have you done here? You know who's really won here? It's the city. The city took one unit and turned it into six. That one unit, the rancher, when purchased and remodeled, would have probably sold at $1,500. These six are going to sell somewhere between $1 million and $1.2 million, I bet you.

They get the tax on six units versus one. They get all the application fees. They get a guinea pig doing it first. So other people see proof of performance. City is the winner here. Lewis Mountain is not a winner. The Lewis Mountain

neighborhood ain't a winner here. Evergreen's a winner. If they get a million one all day, every day, and you're getting 200K a unit profit on six units and you're walking with a million two, Ever, every day, and you're getting 200K a unit profit on six units, and you're walking with a million two, evergreen's a winner.

I thought the visualization was fantastic. No doubt. I thought the efforts from the Citizens for Responsible Planning was commendable. There has to be a yin to livable Charlottesville's yang. And it looks like it's that organization. a lobbying group that is, I would say, pro-strategic growth as opposed to build the density and let the infrastructure follow. Yeah. And if you're in the Lewis Mountain neighborhood

and you just saw this visualization, how many of you are now incentivized to sell your houses sooner than later? If I was a residential realtor, I would be aggressively, aggressively marketing my brand to Lewis Mountain homeowners with perhaps a link to the CFRP, Citizens for Responsible Planning, video visualization saying, this is what's coming. I just want to let you know, if you have any questions, here's my card. And that's all you have to do to get a meeting. Here's the video link of what could happen. If you have any questions about this,

I'm happy to answer them. Here's my card. And then you have your icebreaker. 100% agree, Roger's project is much more in scale. Roger's project, Roger is a resident of Woolen Mills. He's the mayor of Woolen Mills. He's been in Woolen Mills for decades. Roger is Mr. Charlottesville. I hope Roger Voisinet is watching the program. Roger, are you watching right now? He watches a lot of our shows. He's doing a project that is four houses that are synonymous with the house

that's currently on the piece of land. 1,500 square foot homes with unfinished basements. Trying to sell them in the neighborhood of high sixes, he said on our show. Just under 700,000. These are six townhome towers at a million plus. And I am not throwing shade at Evergreen. They are doing what is inbounds. They're following the zoning.

They're following the zoning. They're business people following the rules to maximize profit. But when you have an organization like livable Charlottesville or activists bullying council to create zoning, like we have today, loose and lax, the result is a million plus townhome towers.

And say what you want more supply. This is the response going to be, and this has already been the response from Livable Charlottesville. Hey, the new zoning code worked. We got six townhomes in place of one. That's more supply. What is not being reflected is the population is growing very fast, and those that are sprinting to city limits and Albemarle County limits are extremely wealthy. Those that are higher family household income than the 124,400 HUD

family household income. How does the household income increase in 2022 versus 2023 from 123,300 Judah in 2022 to 124,200 in 2023? Add more people with more money. Households that are making more money. And who can afford something like this? I got a genuine question for you. If you're OG Charlottesville, if you're OG Charlottesville, are you going to want a $1.1 million

brownstone in Lewis Mountain? Or would you take the same amount of money and buy two and a half to three acres in Ivy, Western Alamaro, or Keswick? The folks that are going to buy these six units are not OG Charlottesville. They're New Guard Charlottesville. Yeah.

I can see that. Viewers and listeners, let us know your thoughts, and we'll relay them live on air. Dan Pettit, Jania Hu, Neil Williamson, thank you for watching the program. Vanessa Parkson, thank you for watching the program. Vanessa Parkhill, thank you for watching the program. Any perspective you want to offer Judah Wickauer before we go to comments? I like a lot of things that happened in Charlottesville. I feel like if there was more, if there was more of a plan, more of a vision for how this

is going to work, how it's going to change things, how we want it to change things, instead I feel like they just kind of, I don't know, let a bunch of kids lose to play in the yard and nobody's really watching what's going on. And so we end up with things like, you know, the city stopping certain projects and letting other projects go. And only time will tell. Phillip Dow in Scottsville is asking about the parking. Parking in the rear, each of these units will have garages. So that is one highlight point that it's not necessarily on-street parking.

Yeah. I would imagine we will see more units come on the market in the Lewis Mountain neighborhood. We saw a rush earlier this year and at the tail end of this past year as folks that followed the news closely. Hilary Lewis Murray did a talk show on this network before she moved. I believe she's in Nashville now. I remember chatting with her. She was the head of the neighborhood association and speaking before council when the head of the neighborhood association who's speaking before council against the zoning ordinance chooses to put the house on the market and leave the neighborhood that's a stakeholder in the neighborhood that understands what's coming down the pipe and she's a savvy sophisticated businesswoman who saw what was coming down the pipe.

And she got top dollar for her home prior to the NZO impacting the neighborhood. Crazy times we live in. Spencer Pushard, thank you for watching the program. Mr. Belmont, Jehu Martin, thank you for watching the program. Mr. Belmont, Jehu Martin, thank you for watching the program. Realtor Logan Wells-Claylow, watching the program. Ray Cadell says, thank you for following the new zoning ordinance so closely. We appreciate you, Ray Cadell, and happy birthday. Ray Cadell is a realtor. We love when you offer commentary on the program. Got the local newspaper watching us as we speak.

I would encourage the local newspaper watching the program to take this video visualization or 303 Alderman Road and add it to the news cycle of the paper of record for our community. I think the community would find it valuable. Local TV stations that are watching as well, this is a storyline that you should be covering, please. It's the next headline, Judah Wittkower. Next headline is news coverage on downtown mall homeless. What would you say?

What would you say is the most pro homeless digital venue in central Virginia. The most pro homeless champion of the homeless pro homeless digital venue, social media platform, digital venue in Charlottesville or central Virginia. Any digital, I mean, I guess I would say Daily Progress. Is that what you're going for? I don't know.

Social media. Social media. That's a newspaper. Yeah. Social media. All right, I'll answer for him Reddit it's either Reddit or Twitter of any of the digital platforms

social media platforms Reddit or Twitter are the most pro homeless plight there was an article published in the Daily Progress over the weekend pro-homeless plight. There was an article published in the Daily Progress over the weekend that was excellent. I want to highlight the author's name.

Her first name is Emily. Emily Hemp Hill. Fantastic coverage here. I would consider submitting this for a virginia press award consideration emily hemp hill august 11 2024 the headline people are afraid charlottesville businesses call on city to round up homeless many in the city horrified and disturbed by inhumane proposal this article was published on the 11th of aug and then made its way to the Reddit messaging board. And the Reddit messaging board has overwhelmingly talked about how the homeless population has negatively impacted the eight blocks in the city.

In fact, one comment that has 115 upvotes. This is one comment in a thread that has, how many comments are in that thread? 91 comments in this thread. The top comment in this Reddit thread with 139 upvotes now. I was going to say, it's a little more now. I'm going to read this comment for you. This is from Aquapanda24 on Reddit. In response to Emily Hemphill's newspaper article on the houseless population impacting the downtown mall. Here's the Redditor's comments, words from the Redditor.

Quote, it's a tough problem. I work on the downtown mall. Here's the Redditor's comments, words from the Redditor. Quote, it's a tough problem. I work on the downtown mall and it has absolutely diminished post-COVID. In addition to higher numbers of homeless, the aggressiveness and theft have gone up. One of the new trends is to sit down and eat food off people's plates if they have their back turned. Drug use is also way more apparent with guys openly shooting up on 4th Street and in front of the transit center. Also, cue the new woman with obvious mental health issues who sits outside of City Hall saying she'll stab the demons around her. A lot of people with families actively avoid the downtown mall at this point. They don't want to be harassed or let their

kids see guys with needles in their arms. This doesn't even touch the aggressive panhandling that has kicked up hard the last few years downtown and at major intersections. The solution isn't easy. There are shelters and city programs to help, but most have hard, no drugs or alcohol policies, plus the individual has to want to help. That's very hard for some. Finally, this person says, the downtown mall is public property. It's way harder to just kick people off. It's not like people above mentioning UVA in the rotunda. The police can't just fix it. The homeless are still legal citizens and are due the same due process and protections as anyone else. Now, that's the Redditor's comments.

Back to me and Judah here on a two-shot. I've been in the Charlottesville community for 24 years. Came to Charlottesville as a UVA student. Stayed in Charlottesville as a 20-something young professional. Continued in Charlottesville as a 20-something young professional, continued in Charlottesville through my dating years and through the start of multiple businesses, decided to make Charlottesville a home when I encouraged my wife to move from Manhattan and finance

to come to Charlottesville and Alamo County for wedding and children. And now we have roots here and we're going to be here for a long, long time raising our kids. In the 24 years I've been here, there's been a number of plights, a number of problems, a number of precarious positions. The history of Charlottesville when it applies or comes to racism, gentrification and housing affordability. The University of Virginia buying up property and changing the landscape and tenor of our community. Government overreach. From my standpoint, all problems, precarious positions, plights for our community. On that short list has got to be the houseless and the homeless. And I want to emphasize this so no one can take what I say out of context.

We can have empathy and sympathy for the homeless population by offering them a hand up, not a handout, but a hand up. A hand up through shelters, through rescue facilities, through donating money to the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank, through supporting the Haven, the Blue Ridge Area Coalition for the Homeless, by encouraging taxpayer dollars

to create homeless resources like a campus that offers bathrooms and shelters and computers and clothing, laundry facility, resume building facility, drug and alcohol counseling, mental health counseling and support. We all should encourage that. And we can have that position while also maintaining the same position while also maintaining the position

that downtown should not be the epicenter for the houseless. We can say we need to figure out a solution for managing the houseless population on the most important eight blocks in the region by creating a campus that's not in this area, a campus that is created in joint venture with Alamaro County, county funds, and city funds. Whether Alamaro County wants to realize this or not, what happens in downtown Charlottesville, these eight blocks, directly impacts tourism in Alamaro County. From 2017 until 2023, this was presented by Friends of Seville to City Council. We've seen a million less visitors on the downtown mall. Cell phone data, utilized IP addresses, one million

less people in downtown Charlottesville. Albemarle County must realize that it is in the same bed, lying in the pillow right next to the city in the bed, under the duvet in the California King, the city in Almaro County, and they have the same problem before their eyes, the same problem right in front of them, and that's the eight blocks are deteriorating mightily. People come to Albemarle County

because of the mall in the city of Charlottesville. And Charlottesville right now does not have the land. A landlocked 10.2 square mile city does not have the acreage or the plot to build a campus of this magnitude or significance. It's got to be in joint venture capacity with Alamaro. And I'm not saying it's an even 50-50 split. Maybe it's the city is buying the land from Alamaro County at a reduced rate, and Alamaro County is contributing part of the build-out costs to this facility. Maybe it's figuring out with the Charlottesville area transit how to get this new campus that's created on the transit line. But if we continue to allow the eight blocks of Charlottesville

to become a den of shooting up heroin, of people sitting down in restaurants and taking food off people's plates when they're al fresco dining, an area where my wife and her friends, 35-year-old women, are afraid to come to Charlottesville for happy hour for drinks.

This is going to have catastrophic impacts and effects for the region, and that includes Albemarle County. Boards of Supervisors, I'm speaking to you on this. If this is not on your agenda or on what you're hearing from the county supervisor and his staff, from Jeff Richardson and his staff, then Mr. Richardson is not doing his job correctly. This is an issue that's become county and city points of concern.

And when you start seeing the tide turn on Reddit against the houseless population, perhaps the most liberal digital media platform out there, is now saying this is a catastrophe, a calamity, then you realize how bad

it's gotten. And I'm going to say it again. I hate to keep bringing this up here. The same organization that pushed the new zoning ordinance is the same organization that is pushing public park, houseless has a right to be here in the public park on these eight blocks. It's the same organization. Eventually, council needs to buck up and balls up and say,

look, man, you ain't the only voice. Something needs to be done. Comments coming in. Let's go to one on LinkedIn on the new zoning ordinance from John Blair. The problem with the zoning ordinance is this. You are 100% correct that what little additional density that will result is geared towards very wealthy people. But will you even hit replacement level housing production now that no one will build 10 plus unit developments? Here's a more realistic solution. Why didn't the city just concentrate the upzoning on one or two corridors? I'd offer that a massive upzoning on one or two corridors? I'd offer that a massive upzoning on the High Street and River Road corridors would have been more beneficial

than what is likely to result. Is anything with fewer than 10 units going to be geared towards family incomes of less than 100k per year? Excellent comment. Excellent comment. Said it better than I could. This via Facebook Messenger. Jerry, please keep this anonymous for me. How much has your new Ivy home appreciated due to the 303 Alderman situation? I would assume many people flip a coin between living in Lewis Mountain or Ivy Proper. Now Ivy Proper single-family detached homes just got a lot more appealing for residents looking for a prior primary home and not an investment or second home.

A hundred percent conversation I had conversation I had with my wife 12 months ago. This conversation right there literally had this conversation with my wife. I said the new zoning ordinance is going to drive massive value to Albemarle County urban ring neighborhoods, in particular, Albemarle County urban ring neighborhoods that are HOA'd, where their bylaws and their covenants restrict upzoning or supersede the upzoning, new zoning ordinance regulation. I literally said that to my wife probably 18 months ago. I said, you look at the neighborhoods in the urban ring or the neighborhoods in the city of Charlottesville that have HOA's, covenants and restrictions, those look at the neighborhoods in the urban ring or the neighborhoods in the city of Charlottesville that have HOAs, covenants and restrictions. Those neighborhoods, the values of those neighborhoods are going to uptick dramatically.

Because those covenants and restrictions will supersede this new zoning ordinance. And if you can get as close to the city county line in an HOA neighborhood, you're in a catbird seat. I think the top catbird seat in Central Virginia, I want you to hear this, I think the top catbird seat in Central Virginia when it comes to real estate

values is from the IV provisions until the 240-250 split on Ivy Road where it becomes Crozet. Crozet to Ivy Provisions. The 240-250 split to Ivy Provisions

is going to be the Capert seat. Mark it down. On the record, mark it down. Bob Yarbrough, I appreciate your comments. We'd love to talk about this with you, Bob Yarbrough. Vanessa Parkhill, does Seville's negative impact of homelessness on the mall cause problems for Almore, or is it good for outlying businesses? I'll bet your wife still goes out with friends. She just avoids the mall and visits the bar

at the Kimpton Hotel, Selvage Brewing, Pro Renata instead. That's a fair point, Vanessa Parkhill. That's what she does. Vivace, Selvage, Millroom, Kimpton. That's what she's doing. Dooners. Eventually, though, the eight block

conundrum is going to creep and crawl into the county. I have a 1.30 p.m. It's 1.29. There's a handful of topics we didn't get to today that we can save for tomorrow. My 1.30 p.m. is literally outside the door. What are the headlines we didn't get to that we can cover tomorrow? We've got review of Seville Econ dev goals. Oh, my gosh. We've

got to talk about this. The DEI focus. God, I wanted to talk about this today. That could be the lead for tomorrow. Charlottesville Economic Development Authority, their econ development goals are... They start off the list with DEI, which, you know, honestly, I think is admirable, but can't we just say that that's a part of what we want and not explicitly point it out on every document? Talk about that tomorrow. We'll also talk about the Richmond Times-Dispatch leaving downtown Richmond, the building it's been in that has its name on the building. Been in this building forever. Richmond Times Dispatch is crumbling like aged Gouda.

Any other topics? Does Gouda crumble? Gouda crumbles. Is that a crumbly cheese? Yeah, it crumbles. You haven't gotten Gouda crumbles? What cheese crumbles? What cheese crumbles?

We got... Siri, what cheese crumbles? We got... Siri, what cheese crumbles? You got feta, ricotta, blue cheese. Ah, you know what? I confused Gouda with blue cheese. You held me accountable. Excellent contribution to the program. I'm not a big Gouda fan, so I wasn't 100% sure.

Gouda's my favorite cheese. I had Gouda last night. Crumbled like aged blue cheese. You're 100% right. Gouda does not crumble. It comes in block form. Yeah. Thank you.

I thought it was more like a cheddar. I'm thinking of blue cheese crumbles on top of a salad. Blue cheese is a stinky cheese. I love cheese. It's one of my three favorite foods. Krispy Kreme, donuts, bacon bits, and cheese. Any kind of cheese? Any kind of cheese. Blue cheese, it's stinky.

Yeah. All those topics and more on the Tuesday edition of the I Love Ceevil show. Sean Moore in studio at 10.15 a.m. So long, everybody. Thank you.