The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - Roughly 4,000 Licensed Businesses In CVille City; Why Does City Only Have 4K Licensed Businesses?

Episode Date: August 13, 2025

The I Love CVille Show headlines: Roughly 4,000 Licensed Businesses In CVille City Why Does City Only Have 4K Licensed Businesses? Zoning Ordinance Reconsideration Hearing Today Baggby's Opens "Brekky By Baggby's" Next Door Brown Lock & Safe Building For Sale On Market St ACPS Restricts Off-Site Lunch Leave To Only Seniors UVA Prof Leidy Klotz On I Love CVille, 8/19 1230PM Exec Offices For Rent ($350 - $2000), Contact Jerry 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.

guys welcome to the i love seville show my name is jerry miller thank you kindly for joining us wednesday afternoon in downtown charlesville today's show is pretty well rounded we have real state news we have development news we have politics we have local economy we have food and beverage and restaurants we have education and schooling and we have a big time interview lined up for the 19th of August with the UVA professor by the name of Letty Klotz. Trying to be the today's version of a newspaper. The final headline should be the reviewer and listener comment headline. That's the headline from yesterday.

Just a heads up there. Thank you for making that change. We would love to source your content ideas. So if you have any content that you would like us to discuss, send it to us. And we will analyze it and discuss it on the show. A good example of that is the Almaro County Public Schools restricting off-site lunch leave to only seniors that was sent to us by a mom within Almore County Public Schools. We'll highlight the letter that was sent to parent on the program today while maintaining the mother who sent it to us her anonymity and her discretion. A lot we're going to cover on the Wednesday edition of the show.

I'm very curious, something that came up at the end of yesterday's. interview. Yesterday we spoke with Conan Owen, and Conan is the owner of Sir Speedy of Central Virginia. In fact, I received an email this morning from Roy Van Dorn, and Roy Van Dorn in an email that highlighted a number of things to me, a very kind note from Roy Van Dorn, said he thought the interview with Mr. Owen was one of the best shows that we have done. I want to thank Roy Van Dorn for saying that. I echo what Roy Van Dorn said. via email, and I thought Conan Owen of Sir Speedy was absolutely fantastic, locally owned and operated Sir Speedy of Central Virginia, Judah. If you have a logo, they have an application

for it, window decals, signage, the banner behind me is Sir Speedy of Central Virginia. They're fantastic. I mean, he's absolutely fantastic. He's a Darden graduate. He's got direct mail. He's got pamphlets and folders and trifold pamphlets. You name it. He's got it at Sir Speedy. Roy Van Dorn, I'm going to respond to the email that you sent me. I have to. haven't had a chance to respond. I'm going to also ask you to join us on the program. I respect you, sir. I appreciate the hustle and chutzpah and moxie and tenacity, encourage that you and the plaintiffs are showing with this lawsuit with the city. Look, folks don't have to agree with what's happening. And in this particular case, I do agree with Roy Van Dorn and the plaintiffs. But even if you

agree or disagree with what the plaintiffs are doing with suing the city of Charlestville from a zoning standpoint. You have to respect that. This is one of the aspects of democracy and of government that's advantageous for Charlottesville and Al Morrow and the Commonwealth in our country. We're not in a dictatorship. This isn't communism. There's not iron rule. If you disagree with what the policy or the procedures or the protocols implemented by local government, there's opportunities for you to fight back, and that's what these plaintiffs are doing. So I respect that. Roy, I'm going to respond to your email and graciously and kindly welcome you on the show for what will be an open-ended interview if you're so kind to join us on

the program. I want to talk about something that came up yesterday in the interview with Conan Owen. I was flabbergasted by this statistic. There's roughly 4,000 licensed businesses in the city of Charlottesville, 4,000 licensed businesses in the city of Charleston. That took me aback. Conan Owen asked me yesterday, how many do you think there are? And I said, I did some quick thinking. I said, well, you can't base this on population because somebody like me lives in Almaro County, but has a licensed business in the city. And I said, and roughly 10,000 licensed businesses. He said it was 4,000.

I was flabbergasted and floored. I then, yesterday afternoon, I was playing, I was with some guys. It was kind of a networking business guys, movers and shakers. We were playing Padel and talking business, dotting the eyes and crossing the T's. And I asked some of the guys,

a handful of the guys that were in business, how many licensed businesses were in the city, of Charlottesville. I got 35,000 on the high end to like 14, 15,000 on the low end. And the people I asked this question are of our business owners. When I explained to them that that number was 4,000, they were as equally floored, if not more flabbergastened than I was yesterday with Conan Owen. So I'm going to ask you, the viewer, and listener, what do you make of the statistic that there is roughly 4,000 licensed businesses in the Seville and Seville City. And a lot of those licensed businesses are solopreneurs, their therapists, individual consultants. Some of those

licensed businesses could be tied to one individual that has multiple LLCs with real estate holdings. So really that 4,000, if you kind of think about it, is even less. You know, somebody like me has a handful of LLCs in the city. So I want to talk. about that on the program today. We'll welcome Judah Wickhauer and on that. I also want to talk some business news and the fine folks at Bagby's sandwich shop on the UVA corner have, you know, more than a year been trying to open a spot right next door to them. And the spot right next door to them was the home of the, was it Blue Ridge Country Store? And Blue Ridge Country Store was for a long period of time owned by a husband and wife. And right around COVID, the pandemic,

in that window, Patty and her husband sold Blue Ridge Country Store to one of their vendors. And that vendor proceeded to run Blue Ridge Country Store into the ground and basically cause the Blue Ridge Country Store to go essentially bankrupt. I've been told that there's still a number of creditors that are still chasing money tied to the second owner of Blue Ridge Country Store, just poorly operating the business. So the team at Bagby's decided to take over the lease of Blue Ridge Country Store, not to continue it as Blue Ridge Country Store, but instead open an offshoot of Bagby's. And finally, that space, ladies and gentlemen, is open, and I'm excited to that because I know John,

the operator and his son are really good people. They work hard. They serve a great product. The food is delicious. It's my wife's favorite cookie, the Bagby's chocolate chip cookie. It is now open next door to Bagby's. It's called Brecky, B-R-E-K-K-Y, Brecky by Bagby's. Well, they'll serve breakfast, coffee, have a salad bar, and do grab-and-goes. I would imagine they're going to use their restaurant next door to create a grab-and-go scenario on the left. So Bagby's is expanding. in. Any time on the downtown mall that you have businesses expand in the most important eight blocks of the region, that's calls for celebration. So that's what I want to do here. I want to weave Judah Wickhauer in on a two-shot. First go to the studio camera, then two-shot. A lot I want

to cover. Logan Wells Claylow, Welcome to the broadcast. Bill McChesney, Olivia Branch, the Queen of Keswick. We love the hats. Olivia Branch, that your team at Keswick Hall, brought to us at the studio. Olivia, they're great. I wear my hat all the time. I sincerely, sincerely mean that. The white hat I wear all the time. Jerry Rackleff got the gray hat.

He was also very pleased to receive that gift from your team at Keswick. Thank you, Olivia Branch. You're the absolute best. Tidbits that came up, there were so many of them yesterday on the I Love Seville show. So many of them yesterday, including a new, new tenant in the old Eljo's location. Natalie's dress shop.

So many of them that came up yesterday in the Conan Owen interview like the hotel that is burnt down on Barrett's Road. They're now doing something with it.

One of the tidbits that came up yesterday was Conan's Comet. That's only 4,000 roughly licensed businesses in the city. I was philabbergastin. I also said toward the tail end of the show yesterday, and this was kind of lost in the shuffle, but the city council of Charlottesville is going to have a discussion in September

with, I don't know what the right terminology here is. I don't know if it's policy. I don't know if it's a new law that can utilize or leverage. But Charlottesville City Council is going to discuss on the dais in September the opportunity to try to clear up the downtown mall in some of these public spaces from the houseless or homeless population and how they're going to be able to do it is utilizing I think Trump is pushing this forward

the opportunity for local jurisdictions to take the possessions of the houseless or homeless who are camping in a public setting like the downtown mall. So those two things I want to discuss. I want to remind the viewers and listeners that Professor Lettie Klotz is going to join us on August 19th, UVA professor on August 19th on the I Love Seville Show at 1230 p.m. Lettie is the author of the book Subtract. Did you see the email from Neil Williamson to you and I about the recommend, we should get a response back

to Neil, you and I about the book subtract and the recommendation. He says he's about 100 pages into Letty Klotz's book. And he says he's reminded much of Malcolm Gladwell's books as he reads subtract, which is a compliment to the author Letty Klotz. The author, Lettie Klotz, got our show thinking a couple weeks ago about the 40-hour work week in Charlottesville. You and I are significantly in opposition, or maybe that's not the best description of what I'm trying to say is like just on a completely end of the spectrum with the work week. I've said this is now a community of 60 hours a week of work. You're adamant. It's a 40-hour-a-week community. I'm not adamant.

I don't so much push back on your assertion is ask you when, you know, when does that escalate? Yeah, and it's a fair assertion. It's going to continue to escalate if you live in a community that is coveted and the cost of living is going to go up and compensation does not match the escalating cost of living. So something's going to have to give either. You're going to have to work more hours to maintain your current quality of life. or figure out a way. And I'm not talking you in general. I'm just talking viewers and you specifically, but in general, folks are going to have to work more hours to make more money. So we'll talk about that with Luddy Klotz, the UVA professor

on the 19th of August at 1230 on the I Love Seville Show. How about if you put this, there's two lower thirds that you can put on screen. And John Blair, I'm curious your thoughts. Coden Owen, I'm curious of your thoughts. George Gilmer, Rob Neal. I'm curious of your thoughts on this. Betsy Nugent, James Watson. I'm curious of your thoughts on this. David Riddick, I'm curious of your thoughts. What do you make of the stat that there's roughly 4,000 licensed businesses operating in the city of Charlottesville,

and some of those 4,000 licensed businesses are the same operator, the same person or entity with multiple LLCs? So you're saying it's less than 4,000, well, it's less than 4,000 people running those 4,000. I don't really have any frame of reference. How many businesses would you expect to be in, and Charleston. Philip Dow, your thoughts. William McChessney, your thoughts on this. I thought it would be significantly more. I thought it would be significantly more. And Coden Owen is researching how many licensed businesses are operating in Almore County. Remember, Almore County's economic development priority or mission or goal is to take commercial and industrial tax collections, business collections, from 11.3% to closer to 20%. Yeah. So I would imagine one of the ways, going to increase Almaral County's tax collections tied to business from 11.3% to closer to 20% is by growing the pool of businesses. It seemed that would be easier to me than expecting

the businesses that are operating now to expand their market share and the corresponding top line gross revenue that comes with expanded share. So in regards to the city of Charlottesville, do we start asking the question, is there enough activity or movement from economic development? What is the role of economic development, Chris Engel in City Hall? What is the role of the economic development team in Charlottesville? How conducive and welcoming is the city for business operation? Because if you bring in more business, you bring in more money. If you bring in more business, that's economic.

development, which is incremental tax revenue. Now, what you do with that tax revenue, so far the precedent is spend, spend, spend, is that precedent alleviate stress and pressure from taxpayers on other line items or other types of taxes collected, perhaps. But 4,000 licensed businesses in Charlottesville strikes me as a minuscule amount. And perhaps that 4,000 number is tied to the small geographical footprint of the Charlottesville. area, 10.2 square miles. Perhaps it's that. Perhaps it's tied to the fact that rents are extremely expensive in the city of Charlottesville, especially commercial rents, commercial rents extremely expensive. Perhaps it's tied to the cost of living in Charlottesville being extremely expensive. So people

are choosing not to launch their business here because it's expensive to live here. Perhaps it's tied to the labor pool. It's challenging to find labor, especially hourly labor. especially blue-collar labor, especially front-line labor. I think all those are factors. But what is the true underlying cause of only 4,000 licensed businesses in the city? Jason Noble says, perhaps that may not be an accurate representation of businesses operating as a due business as under only one business entity, a DBA under only one business entity. There could be some of that, Jason, but I also want to highlight an operator like myself has multiple LLCs in the city. So that 4,000 could also be inflated.

You know, you have Jerry Miller Real Estate 4 LLC, Jerry Miller Real Estate 5 LLC, LLC is created with real estate purchases. So I think that 4,000 could be inflated from that regard and also somewhat deflated Jason Noble from your regard. But I appreciate your comment. William on McIntyre says how many businesses have jumped the city-county line in the last several years. I wonder that. And Conan is getting that information right now. And hopefully he sends it to us. He sent me the Excel sheet with the licensed businesses in the city. And evidently, that's public record. And I can see how that would be a valuable baseline of intelligence for businesses, especially someone that's in the marketing and graphic design category like Conan is with Sir Speedy,

where he could do direct mail campaigns to the businesses to position his business top of mind with their business and any kind of marketing collateral needs they may have. Barbara Becker-Tillie, welcome to the broadcast. Randy O'Neill, welcome to the broadcast. James Watson says this. James, is your business licensed in the city or is your business licensed in Almaro County? He's a talented consultant, James Watson. I believe also a double who James Watson. He says, isn't that about a one to 12 ratio in terms of businesses to population plus

some of that population are people under 18? So maybe he says that's in line with expectation. Charlottesville City population, let's see. Deep throw, I'm curious of your take on this. Charlottesville City population in 2024 was 44,464. 44,464. So let's go with 4,000 licensed businesses. That's 1 in 11.

Roughly 1 in 11. And to James's point, some of that population is some 18 years old. So maybe that's a healthy, is that maybe a healthy number? I was taken aback with the number, and I'm curious, and I wanted to have that conversation with you, the viewer, and listener today. Maybe that's a healthy number. John Blair's got comments I wanted to share something with you about your show

and I think Conan's appearance yesterday plays into this last night a UVA professor whose politics would be would best be described as very liberal told me that they have three sources of news in Seville Reddit for just overall gossip news Sean Tubbs for local government news and the I Love Seville show for business news I don't think this person is a personal fan of yours

but even they had to admit that they do look at your headlines and opening monologue every day to find out what's going on business-wise in Charlottesville and Amoural. Thank you. I appreciate that, John Blair. I appreciate you passing on that message. We hear that a lot. We hear that a lot.

And we try to be equal opportunity employers when it comes to content. And it comes to... I would love to sit here and talk content that's specifically the economy, business development,

and real estate because that's the line of work I'm in. But I intentionally try to divers the content verticals to make the show well-rounded for viewers and listeners, even though it may selfishly not create the fully optimized deal flow that business development and real estate content could create for the show. When it's all done selfishly, the idea is to be the water cooler of conversation, which creates deal flow for our true profit centers with the firm, which is not this, but we just

enjoy doing this. So viewers and listeners, what is your take on 4,000 licensed businesses in Charlottesville City? These are other questions I would have. How many licensed businesses were in Charlottesville City in 2019 before COVID? How many licensed businesses were in Charlottesville City in 2015, approximately 10 years ago? Have the licensed businesses in Charlottesville City diminished and number or increased in number. If you had to place a bet on that, what would your bet be, Judah?

If I had to place a bet, I'd say that the number of businesses has gone down. Me too. But I might also guess that the numbers started to dip back up if it hasn't already, if it hasn't already equalized again. This is what I'm going to do. Deep Throat, I have your personal email.

I'm going to send you the licensed business Excel document now. He's a wizard with Excel and stat. I'm going to send you the licensed business Excel document. It's in your inbox now. I'm literally tasking Deep Throat who's a brilliant man, FYI, C attachment. I'm tasking Deep Throat who's a brilliant man, with an Excel document that's now in your inbox, Deep Throat.

Take a look at that Excel document and decipher some analysis or come up with some analysis or commentary on what's in your inbox that we can relay today or tomorrow on the I Love Seville Show. This is public information. This is public information. Conan Owen, who was the source of this information, he asked City Hall for this document. He said, look, I can freedom of.

information act request you or you can just provide the document for me and they provided the document for him i would imagine after this show there's going to be a lot of people asking for this document and city hall is going to be like damn it jerry okay but this is valuable information conan whose photo should be on screen said maybe compare the number of businesses and the population to blacksburg or harrisonberg or lynchburg that's great comment conan owen another comment would be maybe compare Charlottesville's licensed businesses to Chapel Hill. What is Chapel Hill, North Carolina, a population? Chapel Hill's population is 64,000. Sixty-four thousand people. What would be the best comparison to Charlottesville? Do you think viewers and listeners from a population standpoint?

Chapel Hill's a pretty darn good one. How about Asheville? Asheville's population is 94,000, a little bit bigger. Chapel Hill, I think, is a pretty on-point comparison. What do you think, John Blair, on that? Comparison point for Charlestville with licensed businesses. I'm very curious to see what Deep Throar thinks about this. He adds these comments already, and I think he's looking at that email. He says, let's see here.

Look at this, already valuable information for number one in the family. For the entire United States of America, there's 33 million licensed businesses. So 10 to one population to license business ratio. That's kind of in line with Seville right now. We're putting it at 11 to 1. Okay, so that's in line. The other distortion in Sevo would be that the huge nonprofit sector in Charlottesville erodes licensed business potential.

And he also highlights the University of Virginia and UVA health, potentially eroding the base of licensed businesses because people are taking a safe job working for UVA or UVA health. So that's a very good comment right there. That's fantastic analysis from number one in the family. He's saying that with UVA and the University of Virginia health system being such significant employers that the employment they offer to so many people that's considered safe employment, unrisky employment, you know, health care, retirement, safe employment, that that's going to erode the entrepreneurial pool of people pursuing licensed businesses. And then he also compares it, contrasts it. with the United States,

33 million licensed businesses, roughly a 330 million populated country, 10 to 1 population to licensed businesses where Charlottesville's 11 to 1. So maybe it's higher then. Yeah. Maybe it's higher. The take I'm coming from here

is that Charlottesville has this mystique to it, this genusay qua to it, of wealth, of innovation, of creativity, of novelty, of technology, of the pursuit of, I'd say the pursuit of wealth in the American dream here in Charlottesville is woven into the fabric a lot of, certainly of Charlottesville. And I think because many in this community have found a successful pursuit of

professional creativity or work or wealth, that it's clearly driven the median household income upward, was it 125,800 according to HUD. And it's also created a significant wealth gap. Yeah, no doubt. And because of that wealth gap, you have people like, you know, activists like Jamel Bowie of the New York Times saying that people's homes should be torn down and that he's working in cahoots, his words not mine, with Charlottesville City Council to figure out a way to tear down the home of Roy Van Dorn. and who's one of the people suing the city of the new zoning ordinance. Deep Throat says UVA plus UVA health is like 28,000 direct jobs,

mostly in the urban ring, which has like 100,000 jobs. So that's good intel from him. That's a conversation starter for your cocktail party this week or this weekend. Philip Dow and Rob Neal have comments coming in. Let's get Rob Neal's photo on screen. He's a super smart guy. Rob Neal, the biggest JMU football fan, I know, huge college football fan, savvy and sophisticated businessman, Rob Neal.

He says, 4,000 seems reasonable like James Watson said. I'm also curious if deep-throat can pull any comparative data of business licenses per capita with peer cities. Also, I'm curious if expensive localities have higher or lower licenses per capita. Great questions from Rob Neal. I have those questions as well. So James Watson got the party started. Did you give James some love, his photo on screen?

Rob says that 4K seems reasonable like James said. And then Rob adds this. I'm also curious if Deep Throok can pull any comparative data of business licenses per capita with peer cities. I would look at Chapel Hill as a peer city. What peer city would you look at, John Blair? I respect your opinion on that topic right there very much. What you would call John Blair a peer city to Charlottesville. And then Rob also says, I'm curious if experience.

localities have higher or lower licenses per capita. I would love to know that. The cost of living at a locality, does it drive more entrepreneurship and business development and business creation, or does it diminish entrepreneurship and business development and business creation? You would think it would drive it because wealth means you have the financial. financial resources to take a chance and launch something knowing 80% of small businesses fail in their first three years. But it might also

indicate people that don't need to start a business to make money. Because they already have the buddy, and also could be an indication 100% right, and also Judah could be an indication because of the cost of living, you can't find the labor to operate the business. Yeah. Right?

Yeah. So I would love to know that. Philip Downs got a comment. His photo on screen, the mayor of Scottsville. I would say the businesses have decreased over the year because of what was said concerning city taxes, rent, and labor shortages. I would like to know how many businesses have gone out of business and have jumped the city county line. I would love to know that. I would love to know this data. In the last 10 years, has Charlottesville City lost business licenses or gained?

And in the last 10 years, has Almaro County lost business licenses or gained? I would love to know that. Randy O'Neill, Conan Owen, I would love to know that if you get that data. Randy O'Neill, what businesses have the highest local tax rate? Many licenses may not pay a service tax. The Democrats have been trying to pass a state tax on businesses historically not charged for certain services. Randy O'Neill, we appreciate your comments. Thank you for watching the program.

This is what I like about the show. Deep Throat says this spreadsheet that was sent by the city is tough and is going to be annoying to clean because weirdly they have the same header all over the place. I noticed that as well, deep threat. I was hoping that you had an Excel hack that I did not have as Excel is not my forte. John Blair says, as a comparison city, I think Harrisonburg is the most apt comparison. These are John Blair's words. Here's why.

Chapel Hill is now fully part of the Research Triangle. Ten years ago, there was a tiny bit of geographic separation from Roll. in Durham for Chapel Hill, but it's no longer the case. Furthermore, John Blair says, I don't think Blacksburg is a good comparison either because Blacksburg and Montgomery County is a total population of 99,000 because Blacksburg is a town and it is, and it is included in the Montgomery County population number. Seville and Albemarle have a population of 160,000. Harrisonburg Rockingham has a population of 134,000. Great stuff from John. So he says Harrisonburg is a legitimate comparison. He says Charlottesville, Albor County, collectively,

population 160K, K. Harrisonburg, Rockingham collectively, population 134K. John, I give you a flying chest pump right now if you were here. And Harrisonburg and Charlestville, both college towns. So he says Harrisonburg's the right comparison here. Deep Throat, the state of Virginia, has 850,000 businesses, which is a little lower per capita than Sharps. Charlottesville, little lower capital, little lower per capita than Charlottesville, the Commonwealth of Virginia with 850,000 visits. So that's good knowledge right there. So Conan, if this is what I would love to see and it would make a great topic for a future show.

Conan, I would have this topic with you on a future show and source commentary and questions from the viewers and listeners like Rob and James and Philip and Bill and Deep Throat. we should compare and contrast the data if it's readily available how many businesses were officially licensed 10 years ago in Almaro County, how many businesses were officially licensed at the start of COVID in Almore County, and how many businesses were officially licensed right now in Almore County, and the same three periods for Charlottesville, 10 years ago in Charlottesville at the start of COVID and right now business licenses. I wonder if share is being lost in the city to the county. I cannot imagine a world where the county is losing share to the city. I'm not 100% sure on that, but I cannot imagine a world where Almaro County is losing license business share to the city.

I think the city would be losing licensed business share to the county. examples of that would be vacancy rates although the vacancy rate in the city is still pretty low I think that vacancy rate is a smoke and mirror metric because they highlight a minuscule vacancy rate on the downtown mall but no one can say the downtown mall is healthier now than it was before COVID because some of the tenants that have filled the vacancies on the downtown mall are tenants that should not be on the downtown mall and frankly are not business Parks and Rec is operating in the old, is it Bashir's spot, right? Or is that Operation Hope, the nonprofit that assimilates convicts into society?

That's Operation Hope that's in the old Bashir's? Yeah, I think Parks and Rec is underneath the overhang by the... Oh, you're right. The parking garage. The Market Street Parking Garage. Then you have CRHA that bought the old Vita Nova. Was there an escape room? building.

Comments continue to come in. Let's go to Conan, who got this conversation started. It's not fair, deep throat, he says, to compare the entire state. Look at the number of corporate headquarters in the beltware area. Huge headcount, few licenses. So Conan Owen offer a little pushback on deep throats, Commonwealth-wide metric. Georgia Gilmer, her photo on screen, she says, not sure what year this info is from, but the Chamber of Commerce had this info on their website.

Charlottesville Chamber of Commerce. Charlestville is considered a medium city with the population of 102,016, and 16,470 businesses. 167 in 2018 were added to the Charlestville Chamber Commerce Business Directory, which was less than 2017, which had 194. The economy of Charlestville employs 65,188 people and has an employment rate of, unemployment rate of 3.6%. Some of the largest industries in Charlestville are professional services 803, restaurants 564, entertainment agencies and bureaus 443. So if there are 16,000 plus businesses, why don't they all have licenses? The chamber number, Georgia, I will say this. Charlottesville is considered a medium city with the population of 102,016,

that obviously is not a Charlottesville population number. Because we know the population of Charlottesville is not that high. And I also would be hesitant. And Georgia, I love the comment. I love when you watch the show of Georgia Gilmer. I think you're extremely valuable viewer and listener. I sincerely, Georgia, love when you watch the program.

I also am hesitant to utilize the chamber membership as a baseline for comparison because I know that chamber engagement, is diminishing, especially with the middle-aged millennials and younger that are business owners. The Chamber has a plight on its hands, a challenge on its hands right now. How does it reinvent, revitalize, or rebrand itself? And part of its strategy to reinvent, revitalize, and rebrand itself is the sale of its headquarters here on Market Street across from our studio right now.

and to become more of a hybrid or fluid chamber that is tied to mixers and cocktail hours and events that people can do at their leisure as opposed to asking folks members or prospective members to visit a brick-and-mortar downtown. Now, they still have a brick-and-mortar. James Watson says, compare it to State College, Pennsylvania, compare it to State College, Pennsylvania, and Burlington, Vermont as comparisons. And James Watson said, comments are coming in quickly here.

Vanessa Park Hill, the State College Pennsylvania comparison is right up your alley as a Penn State graduate, Queen of Earlysville. And Conan says, the chamber is more than the city. I think that is city plus county on both population and businesses. I do as well, Conan. Back out the 4,000 in town means 12K in the county.

So Conan's saying if the chamber baseline is 16, you're talking 12,000. 12,000 in the county. So a 3x, a 3x delta with the county. Al Morrow County population, 117,313, Judah. 117,313. Write that down. Almorea County population, 24. Charlottesville city population. I just, 44,000, 764. So, close to 3x population difference and a 3x

business license delta I find this fascinating absolutely fascinating comments are coming in quickly here let's see what else we got Deepthroat God I knew he was going to be you're an asset to the show

Deep Throat I know you have quality of life at the Montana Ranch, but I like when you're in Charlottesville watching the program and making it better. Sincerely mean that. He says, I think I have found SBA data by county on business count will let you know. I think it is a bit stale. 2022, the latest. By count in Virginia, 99.6% of businesses by count are small businesses. The SBA data shows 248 food and beverage businesses in Charlottesville. Does that sound right to you?

Wow, 248 food and beverage businesses, according to the SBA data in the city of Charlottesville. Does that sound right to you, viewers and listeners? Does that sound right to you? 248 restaurants. 248 licensed businesses, according to the SBA, licensed food and beverage businesses. I don't have a baseline for that. Does that seem right to you, James or John? Or any viewer and listener?

That seems low to me. So that's what? That seems low. According to the SBA, there's 248 food and beverage businesses in Charlottesville. And he says it shows another 280 in the category, food and accommodation. I wonder what the distinction between food and beverage and food and accommodation are. Are food in accommodation, food in lodging?

Are there 280? They're not 280 hotels in the city. I wouldn't think so either. 280 hotels and been at breakfasts? That's a good question. food and accommodation. Is that vineyard winery? But there's not many of those. Brewery. Fascinating discussion today on the show. All right. It's the 116 marker and we got somebody coming here at 1.30. So we've got other content we want to get to. I want to continue this discussion on the program tomorrow and Friday, viewers and listeners.

We will aggregate the content that's coming in, the feedback that we're getting from the viewers and listeners now and pass that on to you. But I have other items I need to get to. All right, what's the next headline on screen? Is it the zoning? Yes, zoning ordinance reconsideration hearing today. Can you put the lower throat on screen? Do you want to set the table? Judge Worrell has...

Oh, yeah, that's right. Beneficently allowed... That's the first time that word's ever been used here. Thank you. That's an SAT word. He's allowed the... He's allowed the city's lawyers to make their apology and... Gentry Locke right now is on its knees.

I mean, I don't know. With hat and hand. Begging the judge. Yeah. For grace and a second chance. On its knees right now. And they're getting the second chance. Whether we like it or not.

Whether people feel it's warranted or not. I think in terms of the questions put before the court, it's good that they're being allowed a reconsideration hearing in terms of the outcome that some people may want. It's either good or bad. Some people appreciate the fact that the city is not down and out on the zoning ordinance yet. but obviously the people that brought the suit to court are I would guess not very happy.

Yeah. So we'll reach out. He sent us an email, Roy Van Dore. I'll respond to his email. He gave his props for the Conan show yesterday and gave us props for having his back with the Jamel Bowie threat. Yeah. That was just nuts.

They just deranged behavior by the New York Times columnists utilizing a social media platform where he has nearly 700,000 followers to suggest he's working in cahoots in conjunction and backroom dealing with city council to tear down bulldoze Roy Bandoren's house because he's suing the city and the news because of the new zoning ordinance yeah a a columnist a a person who's an activist who has a massive platform because of his position at the new york times not necessarily because he's earned it is putting on the internet that someone's home should be torn down

because he doesn't disagree with what they're doing. It's a crazy world we're living in. A crazy world we're living in. Roy emails us thanking him for having his back and giving props to the Conan interview. I will respond to him about coming on the show next week. Conan has this, that number that deep throat gave, the 248 food and beverage businesses,

and another 280 in food. and accommodation, yes, that could be accurate when you consider food trucks and catering companies. And then John Blair also adds, does that food and beverage include people who are solely catering or food trucks? 248 seems a little low to me as well if it includes those two types of enterprises. So two, I mean, three really, three of the smartest guys in this viewer and listenership. James Watson's adding to the four of the smartest people in this listenership and viewership.

John, Deep Throat, Conan Owen, and James Watson talking about that 248 number. All right, so we'll have news. I don't know how soon the judge is going to respond. It took him forever to move initially. It took him forever to announce that the deadline was missed, so he's tossing everything out. and the and this and this court is not the end it's not like the uh they were close to a a decision uh when this all took place so getting the uh getting this getting everybody back in the court is not uh i don't believe going to produce a uh the judge's decision

yeah today or even any time soon um i hope he moves a little quicker than he did last time if I had to guess I'd say we're not going to hear the end of this until a year from now if we're lucky all right next headline bagby's it's a double-decker headline the fine folks at bagby's and bagby's are really good people no doubt it's a father's son over at bagwee's bagby's gourbet sandwich shop you know John La Panta I think is just a stand-up guy. He's always in the restaurant.

Sun's always there. They're always there. No doubt. Grinding. The food's good. The sandwiches are great. The chocolate chip cookies are my favorite in town. He's been there forever at Bagby's.

Absolutely forever at Bagby's running a locally owned and operated lunch counter, sandwich counter. Yeah. Not open for dinner. I believe they closed in the 3 o'clock range. Yeah, 3 o'clock. is right. And they take over more

than a year ago the lease where Blue Ridge Country Store was located. Patty and her husband ran Blue Ridge Country Store forever. Patty, front of the house, her husband, back of the house. Extremely successful

Blue Ridge Country Store. Great salad bar. Phenomenal salad bar. Known for their salad bar. I don't even know where else you find a salad bar in Charlottesville. I don't think there is another salad bar. in Charlottesville. And there used to be two salad bars on the downtown mall. There used to be a salad bar across from the entry to where Commonwealth Skybar was. Oh yeah. On that side street where Bill Nichman's entry is. What side street is that? Is that fifth? Is that fifth street off water street? There was a salad creations there. I helped fill that space after it closed.

Long story short, Patty and her husband sold the rich country store to one of their vendors. Their vendors in about a year's time ran the business into the ground, owed money to creditors left and right. I think it was a bankruptcy. Pretty damn close to it, but owed money to everybody, still owes money to people, just basically walked away from the lease, gave the keys back. John takes over the lease and more than a year ago comes up with the concept of a breakfast joint, a to-go joint, salad bar concept. And finally, it looks like it's open. more than a year's time. He's had extreme and I've talked to him personally about this. You say it's going to be a salad

bar again too? It's going to be, it's called Brecky, B-R-E-K-K-Y, and the lower third is on screen if you could. Breakfast, coffee, salad bar, and grab and go. It's now open 7.30 a.m. to 3 p.m. And I've spoken to him first, first-hand, 518 East Main Street.

He's had significant labor issues here. With his point of contact, to run this business basically quitting right after vacation and the bottom of the seventh inning of this sister restaurant or sister business opening. But Brecky by Bagby's is now open next to Bagby's gourmet sandwich shop, breakfast, coffee, salad bar, grab and go.

Here's a locally owned and operated businessman who's doubling down on the downtown mall, so props and kudos to him. Next headline, what do you got, Judah Wickhauer? next we have brown lock and safe and and just speaking of locally owned and operated john vermillion is five generations in almore county and andrew and john vermillion john's son is andrew they run charlesville sanitary supply their business charlesville sanitary supply is three generations strong the vermilions are five generations in almore county locally owned and operated on high street

and online at charlesville sanitary supply dot com any salesman sanitary supplies, keep it local at this business. I'm serious. Free delivery locally. Free delivery locally, ladies and gentlemen. No reason to shop anywhere. Free delivery locally. They keep our family swimming pool crystal clear blue. They have a mechanic on site for vacuum fixing and for pool robot fixing. Charlottesville Sanitary Supply. Now, I was driving down Market Street late last week. I meant to talk about this late last week on the show, but I forgot about it. There's a real estate sign, McLean Faulkner, real estate sign in the window of the Brown Lock and Safe building on Market Street next to Common House. Yeah, the last time I was there, they were locked. The lights were

off. I was like, I looked in a few of the windows, saw a couple people in there, and I guess they saw me because one of them came around to a, they had like a bay door open and they're like, hey, come on in this way. William McChesney adds some, this is what I love about the show. You just said this and Bill McChesney, his photo on screen, said Brown Lock and Safe recently announced no walk-ins, appointment only. Appointment only. Appointment only for a place like Browns is going to be challenging. I mean, you go, we go into Browns for the primary. purpose of getting keys made for the 24 rental properties we have. Right? Yeah. Appointment only, no one's going to do that. How often do you call a key place and be like, hey, I need to get a key made.

Can I come by in a half an hour? So William McChesney says it's now appointment only. I would not say that's a healthy indicator of the business, just my two cents. Think about this, viewers and listeners. The Brown's building is for sale. The common house building is for sale that's next to it. And Jeff Levine owns the Artful Lodger space, that shopping center where Artful Lodger is, and the, what's the livery stable? And we found out yesterday that posture studio from Conan Owen, we found out yesterday is moving to the Don's florist spot. So if there's a developer out there, and, you know, maybe it's him, you got common house for sale,

Brown's Lock and Safe for Sale. This is a headline that should be on the show tomorrow. If you can write this down. This will be a lead headline. Brown's Lock and Safe is for sale. The building next to it, common house is for sale. And Jeff Levine owns the Artful Lodger,

livery stable, posture studio shopping center where he's building a hotel in its steed. That you're talking assemblage is prime opportunity. Especially with the common house building for sale. Unbelievable. Unbelievable upside and potential there. Bill says call John Mayo and he will come to you for locks and keys. All right, it's the 128 marker.

I have somebody coming at 1.30 today. What other headlines do we have on screen? Any? Oh, yeah, the school one. ACPS. I got this from a mom, and I'm respecting her anonymity. She sent me this, a key mover and shake in our family. Monticello High School, seniors only for lunch release.

And you have to have your parents sign a senior-only lunch-release agreement. The letter, and I'm reading it verbatim, the privilege of leaving Monticello High School, Campus for lunch is available to seniors, 12th grade senior students. With parents or guardians permission, seniors may apply to leave during lunch every day of the week at accordance with restrictions below. Almar County Public Schools are not responsible for the student when off Monticello High School campus. Vehicle passenger permission and monitoring are my responsibility. MHS will not supervise students when the student is away from MHS. Seniors will be required to have their own senior lunch release pass with them.

lost or misplaced senior lunch release passes will not will be replaced once wow if student helps another senior who does not have a student lunch release pass or an underclass student leave monticello high school during lunch periods the pass will be revoked for the remainder of the school year any violation of school rules during the senior lunch release could result in the suspension or revocation of the senior lunch release pass the student is responsible to returning to class on time parents guardians maintain authority to suspend or revoke student senior lunch release pass. I like this from Almoreal High School. A.P. I would imagine, this is the Monticello High School letter. I would imagine the Western Almoreal High School and Almore High School letters are the same. I like these

moves from Almore County Public Schools. I have been extremely critical of Almore County Public Schools of late. I've been extremely critical when they removed the school resource officers, extremely critical with discipline issues, extremely critical with performance and SOL scores going

south, and they still are. I've been extremely critical of Matthew Haas. I've been extremely critical of the one-party school board and its blind ideology or its unfair ideology of considering both sides. I've been extremely critical, ladies and gentlemen, of so much of ACPS. But in the last week, we've seen Almaro County Public Schools say we're bringing school resources back, school resource officers back, and ACPS is back in session. It was not announced in the last week, but it was actualized in the last week. In fact, I think today's the first day. It has metal detectors.

It has people checking for guns and weapons. And now seniors, they must sign a release and lunch release is restricted to seniors only and not underclassmen. And they're busting balls on if you take a junior, sophomore, or freshman with you on senior release, you can have your pass revoke. ACPS is getting some kind of common sense.

I guess And still the guillicons of the world I remember being free to go out to lunch when I was in high school. And still the Gillicons of the world are hating on local schools to have metal detectors and SROs in schools. Because they have them? The Gillicons of the world, Livable Seville,

are hating on Charlottesville Public Schools and Amar County Public Schools for bringing back SROs and having metal detectors because they say it's a pipeline to prison. I think that's the most ridiculous thing in the whole world. You know what's a pipeline to prison? Creating trouble, breaking the law and misbehaving, not walking through metal detectors or getting to know your school resource officer. Creating a pipeline to prison is passing children that should not be passed before they've learned how to read and do math. That's a pipeline of prison. Social promotion. Yeah. How do you keep that child out of

trouble when they don't have any path forward. Judah Wickhauer, drop in knowledge. That's the Wednesday edition of the show. Thank you kindly for joining us. We're back tomorrow with more analysis and commentary on Charlesville, Almore, and Central Virginia for you. Thank you for watching the program. So long. Thank you.