The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - That's A Wrap! No Hitches At UVA Graduation; Will Pro-Palestine Protests Stop During Break?

Episode Date: May 20, 2024

The I Love CVille Show headlines: That’s A Wrap! No Hitches At UVA Graduation Will Pro-Palestine Protests Stop During Break? Are More Seats Coming To The Downtown Mall? Parking Meters & Smaller Cafes To The Mall? Best & Worst Changes For The Downtown Mall Downtown Mall: The Skybar Opening As “Monks” JR Hadley & Michael Geismar Opening Monks The Point Church Buys Mount Zion For $1,300,000 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 Monday afternoon, guys. I'm Jerry Miller. Thank you kindly for joining us on the I Love Steve-O Show. It's great to be with you on a glorious and gorgeous afternoon where the students are leaving Charlottesville. Traffic, less congested, the UVA corner, a welcoming, hospitable, enticing, free of 18, 19, 20, 21, 22-year-olds and graduate students. We can go to Mellow Mushroom, my son's favorite restaurant. He loves the pretzels, Judah, our oldest son.

Loves the pretzels. And we can go to Mellow Mushroom without navigating 20,000 to 25,000 UVA students, making the experience a little dicey. When you have an 18-month-old in a stroller and you have to find a parking space? No. Pull the stroller and the heavy basket out, the heavy seat out, put it in the stroller and weave it around the corner

and the grounds of the University of Virginia. We'll talk graduation. It seems graduation, Judah, went off without a hitch. Now, you had bad rain and terrible weather, and you had soggy conditions. Was the rain that bad on Saturday? Are you on a two-shot, or are you the voice of God? I am the voice of God. Was the rain that bad on Saturday? It was pretty damn soggy, yeah. It was pretty bad. But in the grand scheme of things, soggy conditions and some rain instead of tear gas

and militant police forces and encampments. I mean, that would have been something interesting to talk about on Monday. But I don't, for the sake of the talk show, want to have militant police forces and students being tear gassed. Neither do I. Pepper sprayed, I should say have Milton police forces and students being tear gassed.

Neither do I. Pepper sprayed, I should say. There were what? Was it a couple dozen UVA students that walked out when President Jim Ryan started speaking? The problem with these couple dozen pro-Palestine UVA students that walked out when Jim Ryan was speaking, they did the coordinated walkout when everybody else was walking in. So no one could really tell the couple dozen pro-Palestine UVA student protesters from those that were filing into graduation ceremonies.

Were they even graduates? Who knows? The biggest question is this. Will pro-Palestine protests now come to an end? That we have summer break and it's time to travel, work on our suntans, close some bars down, chase some guys and gals, maybe get some Sbarro's at the mall,

some crushed ice, at a diner, and enjoy the next 30 to 60 to 90 days of summer break as wild and free University of Virginia students, students not consumed with Eastern political warfare and instead living the lives of, what, teenagers on summer break. We'll talk about that on today's program. I want to talk downtown Charlottesville today at the Charlottesville City Council meeting.

Counselors, including those that are watching the program, will hear from a committee, and the committee will offer suggestions of how to improve the downtown mall. Sean Tubbs has fantastic reporting on this. Sean Tubbs in his Charlottesville Community Engagement Newsletter. These suggestions are nothing new. You appoint a committee, and the suggestions they're making are suggestions we have heard, at least I have, over my 24 years of being here, except for one. And that's the shrinking of cafe space

for restaurants and their outdoor seating. And the committee is under the impression if you minimize the outdoor eating space, the cafe space with the restaurants downtown, you shrink the spaces, the walking flow will be much improved, which will drive quality of life for the most important eight blocks in the city of Charlottesville. I'm going to unpack this on today's program, because from my standpoint, you are, is it cutting my nose to spite your face? Is that the phrase? No, it's cutting your own nose to spite your own face. Cutting your nose to spite my face? No. Cutting his nose to spite her face? It's all one person. Cutting your nose to spite your face. My nose should be cut down. I mean,

look at this honker right here. Cutting my nose despite my face. Help me understand this. The committee is going to suggest to downtown Charlottesville, let's shrink the cafe space to improve downtown when the restaurants and the cafes are the primary reason folks come to downtown Charlottesville. Help me understand this. Let's diminish the amount of seats available for people to dine on the most important eight blocks of Charlottesville to make the most important eight blocks in Charlottesville better. Make it make sense. We'll try on this program. I'm going to count on you, because from my standpoint,

this makes no sense whatsoever. We'll talk a new restaurant that's opening on the downtown Charlottesville, on the downtown mall. J.R. Hadley and Michael, I hope I'm not butchering your last name, Michael Geismar, one of the head honchos at QIM.

QIM, the established, I would say, hedge fund here in Charlottesville and Central Virginia. He's the president of the fund. J.R. Hadley, a friend of the program. J.R. known for Boylan Heights. J.R. known for shows. J.R. Hadley known as a man with the Midas touch. I hope J.R. is watching this program. I'm a huge fan of J.R. Hadley.

A fantastic golfer, J.R. Hadley. A man with a beautiful fiance, J.R. Hadley. A man who's got the Mid minus touch when it comes to entrepreneurship, except for perhaps his investment in the ill-fated champion hospitality restaurant brewing group. This man is one of the partners of a soon-to-open restaurant on the downtown mall called Monks, M-O-N-K-S, in the old Sky Bar location. The ABC permit is now up on the window. This was put in front of me over the weekend by number two in the family, John Blair, who I have significant respect for. My wife and I, this morning with our youngest son,

walked up and down the mall a couple of times, and we enjoyed sandwiches from a new place. I think it was called the Witch Lab. If you have not been to the Witch Lab, and I'll tell you what and where in a matter of moments, it is called the Witch Lab. In fact, Judah, why don't I send you some photos? Oh, my wife has the photos. Sweetheart, if you're watching the show, can you text us, text me and Judah those photos? Can you text me and Judah those Sammy pics so Judah can put them live on air? Group text.

You might be getting those photos come again. We walked by the Sky Bar and saw the ABC permit ourselves. I'm excited for what JR is going to do here. He understands food and beverage. In fact, what business does JR frankly not understand? JR also owns a, what do you call it, JR? He has dumpsters. He rents dumpsters to people who need dumpsters for job sites. I think it's called B&L dumpsters. Is that what it's called, JR? So we'll talk about that on today's program. We'll also talk about

the Point Church buying the Mount Zion Baptist Church location, which I would say is pretty much close to being the entry point of downtown Charlottesville. The old Music Resource Center for $1,300,000.

A very busy show today. If you want to put the first lower third on screen $1,300,000 a very busy show today if you want to put the first lower third on screen if you could please and that is that's a wrap no hitches at UVA graduation fantastic she sent the photos for the sandwiches

they are texted to you Judah these pictures are fantastic sweetheart these are excellent photos. All right. Put the lower third on screen. Get those pics in if you can so we can show them. We also got to give some love to Otto Turkish Street Food. Otto Turkish Street Food on Water Street, if you want to show some of those pictures, a partner of this program. If you need a lunch or dinner suggestion, Otto Turkish Street Food on Water Street is delicioso. Locally owned and operated.

The food is made fresh every day. It's priced extremely reasonable. It's on Water Street. There's a parking lot right across from it where you can park and go pick up your food. It's the best. The best, the best, the best. Auto Turkish street food. J-dubs. First, lower third, that's a wrap. No hitches at UVA graduation. What did you make of what happened their movement? Did it extinguish

the flames? And has the chapter that we've called the spring semester, is it officially closed with pro-Palestine protests on grounds at the University of Virginia. I would imagine the last part is definitely true. I mean, I can't see, I'm sure there are some students that are going to be at UVA for the summer, but I can't see them putting a whole lot of effort into more protests. Meanwhile, you've got to remember when the, uh, when the encampment was broken up by Virginia state police, it was just about the same number of people as this is. It was, you know, a couple dozen. I mean, remember there were what, 27 people arrested and half of them weren't even, I mean, not exactly half of them. More than half were students.

Yeah. But you're right, faculty and community members. Not by a whole lot. Yeah. And so I don't think this is ever a very, I don't think this is ever a massive movement at UVA. And while there may have been some passion for it, I don't think it was ever going to be... I think what happened with the Virginia State Police was almost an anomaly. I mean, nothing really adds up about it.

Amen, brother. And so... How they handled a meager protest became the story. Yeah. Instead of the protest itself. It was literally a nothing burger until they made it. Until they tear gassed students and used the police as a military. Pepper spray.

Pepper spray. What's the difference between pepper spray and tear gas? I mean, one is a chemical agent, one is... Okay. I respect you tremendously answering that question. You're right. Pepper sprayed students. They made it a story.

I've made the same mistake. No, but they made it the story. Yeah, yeah, exactly. As opposed to ignoring the story, they made it the story. And we don't... Obviously, there could be ulterior motives and behind the scenes that we don't know. I'm hopeful right now, today's show is the last that we talk about for a long period of time of this topic. And see it in the Charlottesville news cycle.

Do I think this topic is going to manifest itself in the news cycle again? I do. But I see it in this regard, how Jim Ryan handled it, and as Youngkin's appointments become more proficient or prolific on the board, prolific on the Board of Visitors, we will see this as leverage with Board of Visitors appointees by Glenn Youngkin utilizing it against Jim Ryan to change the culture of UVA. But I think the pro-Palestine protest itself and the movement on grounds at UVA is now over, as students are now working on their suntans, summer breaking in the Outer Banks, in the Florida Keys, working on summer jobs and internships,

and chasing their summer crushes for the next 90 days. And ladies and gentlemen, I'm ready to turn the page. I know Jim Ryan's ready to turn the page. His page isn't close to being closed, but for this community, the chapter, I think, is about to be closed, and it's certainly already written. Warrior AG, thank you for sharing the show. Vanessa Parkel, Philip Dow, welcome to the broadcast. Viewers and listeners, let us know your thoughts. Put them in the feed. We'll relay them live on air. The graduation weekend, as far as we know, completely off without a hitch. The worst part of graduation weekend was the rain and the weather. There was a dozen or two dozen UVA pro-Palestine

protesters that got up when Jim Ryan spoke, but they got up in protest at exactly the same time people were filing into graduation and no one could tell anyone apart. That's the story. Next topic as we move on. Are more seats coming to the downtown mall? Are parking meters coming to the downtown mall? And will we, this is the biggest issue, will we see the cafes and the outdoor seating shrunk and consolidated and the city charging the restaurants

more for outdoor seating in said cafes? All those stories are going to be presented, those suggestions presented to council today by a downtown mall committee. Sean Tubbs has excellent reporting on this. We'll also talk about J.R. Hadley and Michael Geismore opening a new restaurant in the old Sky Bar location. It's going to be called Monk's. A lot of downtown news today. Let's talk first, more seats coming to downtown Charlottesville. You're vastly and significantly, hugely in favor of adding more seating to the downtown mall. Yeah, definitely.

I mean, why not? I think it was ill-advised taking them out in the first place. Ill-advised. Wow. Them fight words if you're Joan Fenton. Joan Fenton would be punching you in the, the proverbial punch in your face here. Go ahead. Come at me, come at me, Joan. Let's say Joan is, I don't want to age Joan, but Joan is older than you. She is one of the most prolific downtown owners. A lot of people on the DL don't realize that Joan Fenton is a very prolific downtown mall owner with buildings on the downtown mall itself. And I believe has three businesses that are currently active in an operation tied to her purview, Joan Fenton. Go ahead, Judah Wicker. I mean, did taking out seating on the downtown mall really decrease the number of houseless people on the downtown mall?

I don't think it probably did. No. I'll give you, to your credit, it did not. In fact, the houseless individuals in downtown Charlottesville are at their most prolific or dense point right now than I've ever seen it in 24 years. And the seating is as little as possible I've ever seen in 24 years. So you have a strong argument that you're making right now. Yeah. And so I think putting it back, uh, I, you know, I can understand if they, if they're all using the, uh, the mall mall seating but there's so little of it and i don't see it being uh i don't see it being taken up or uh monopolized by the houseless population

and so i don't think well i disagree on that you do i push back on that i mean how many when she led the charge along with um a few other influential people, the Downtown Business Owners Association, an association I was previously a part of, I have seen considerably less influence with the Downtown Business Owners Association of late. Furthermore, we've seen the emergence of another association, a nonprofit called Friends of Seville, that's doing yeoman's work. In fact, I think you had the head of Friends of Seville on Today y Mañana this past Thursday, to Greer Achenbaum. Achenbach. Achenbach, thank you. She was on the program. So Friends of Seville, this non-profit, is now the association, if you may, of downtown. Ludwig Kuttner, very influential behind Friends of Seville. Very influential. Some would say the shot caller of Friends of Seville. Ix and his foundation, some of the key financial supporters of Friends of Seville. In fact, one of the first things

Friends of Seville did in downtown Charlottesville that made a mega splash, my wife and I were talking about it this morning, was the wrapping of the Dewberry Hotel. Yeah. That was Friends of Seville's first big splash. And if you look at who funded it, because it's listed on the Dewberry Hotel, it was Friends of Seville, Ludwig's X Foundation, and even Johnny Dewberry, as Bloomberg called him, the extorting, no, no, they called him the emperor of empty lots. I added the extorting emperor of empty lots to the Johnny Dewberry moniker, the guy who grew up in Waynesboro, the former quarterback

of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, and now a real estate developer out of Hotlanta, Georgia. Friends of Seville and Ludwig are the drivers of much of downtown Charlottesville quality of life improvement or what they're trying to do as improvement. Today and before city council, a committee is going to speak, not Friends of Seville, a different committee, an appointed committee, is going to speak before council on ways to improve downtown Charlottesville. And what they are going to present to council as suggestions are metered parking meters on the streets around downtown. Judah's going to offer his perspective on this because our studio is on Market Street, and we, when they tried to roll this out some years ago, had a, what would you call it, a park,

what would you have called that thing that people had to register? That people had to what? People had to register when they parked their car to get their tickets. Like a parking computer tower that people had to go to to input their license plate, use their credit card, get some kind of ticket.

You would have, we had a ticket. We had a firsthand view out of this studio of watching people try to use this machine and whether or not they should use it or not. And people were left flummoxed almost every time parking in front of their studio, in our studio. So we'll talk about the parking, the meter parking around the streets. We'll talk about bringing the seats back. I'll cut to the chase. Livable Charlottesville, Stephen Johnson and Matthew Gilligan with the urbanist, what do you call it? I'm drawing a blank on this. Urbanist lobbying group, Livable Charlottesville.

Gilligan and Johnson are the heads of. They're pushing the seats on the downtown mall. They're going to get this. They're going to get this despite the old guard of Charlottesville not wanting them. They're also pushing for more public restrooms on downtown Charlottesville. Livable Seville is. The question about parking meters is something we should cover. And I think the most controversial topic is the suggestion that the lots the cafes on downtown Charlottesville should be shrunk that is going to be a talking point that raises the ire of every downtown mall restaurant owner you're rotating those lower thirds first the seats I will bet you a bottle of booze,

and this is going to be hard to prove who wins this bet, that when these new seats are added to the downtown mall, and they're in storage right now. The city has them in storage. But when these additional seats are added to the downtown mall, I'll bet you a bottle of booze, I'm not sure how we can figure this out, that the houseless population are the ones most taking these seats.

How we prove that, time will tell. Why the seats were taken out, Joan Fenton said the houseless population, in particular around Central Place, where Zocalo and Petit Poix are located, and the Juice Bar, the houseless population was using the seats as meeting points to deal drugs.

I think that was a lot of, and the juice bar, the houseless population was using the seats as meeting points to deal drugs. I think that was a lot of, you know, witch's tale, or like hyperbole, kind of in the same category of Tim Longo and the UVA administration going, there were four outside agitators dressed in all black that were troublemakers, and we feared them, and we thought that they were going to cause trouble at this pro-palestine protest so we had to pepper spray the students and militar militarize the police fenton what she was trying to do with those seats are where the drugs are dealt get them out of here it's the same thing it's like shock jocker what How do you characterize that? Some sticker shock? Some hyperbole? Yeah, it's...

Scare tactic. That's what it is. Scare tactic. Scare tactic. Put the seats out there. Let's see what happens. Enough people want the seats. The seats have been gone for so long.

Put the seats out there. Let's see what happens. Will the seats get the houseless population from sleeping in doorways to then cornering the seats? Probably. Put the seats out there. Okay?

You have beef with the seats? You want to see the seats? I have more beef, I think, with the seats than you, but you want them out. I just think it would be nice. I mean, they have a policeman pretty much assigned to the mall now full time. I'm not expecting that the policeman is going to kick them off the seats. But maybe say, hey, look, we want to keep the seats.

You want to keep the seats. Open up the seats for other people to sit in them. Especially when it's busy. We've talked about the seats so much. Just put the damn seats on the mall and let's see if it has any impact at all. They're movable. If the experiment doesn't work, you take the seats out again. This is the two topics that are going to create the most friction

are the following. Parking meters on the side streets. Should the meters be out there? The saying is this, the thinking is this, people like Judah and I are patrons of the downtown mall. People like Judah and I work downtown. We're here 7.30 to 7.30 in some capacity. I start my day earlier. Judah's often, I start my day earlier than Judah. Judah's finishing his day later than me. So in some capacity, I mean, probably 7.30 to 6.30 is the most accurate window for us. The argument is made, people like Judah and I are not shifting our cars as much. So we're taking parking around the side streets, which isn't making it difficult for people to go downtown, or at least it's creating perception of difficulty. Okay. And the parking meters would solve this in some capacity.

I would push back on that saying the ticketing that's happened in downtown Charlottesville has upticked considerably. There's more ticketing for staying in your parking spot, the two-hour spot in downtown Charlottesville now more than ever. And I've been downtown for 16 years. Some people like me say it's the cost of doing business. I caught some flack about this from one of the meme accounts about saying I park in a two-hour spot longer than the two-hour window. And I just take the parking ticket.

It's $20. I don't see how you can give someone flack for that. You're paying the fine. The law says if you park here more than two hours, you get a $20 parking ticket. So if you choose to stay more than two hours and you get a $20 parking ticket and you pay the fine, you're creating revenue for the city

and you're staying within the laws of the city. If that's the way the city has things set up, then you're... Not doing anything wrong. And if I get 10 parking tickets a year and that's $200 a year, some would say that's the cost of doing business. It's working as intended. It's working as intended. If they didn't want it to work that way, then they would change the way it works. Exactly right. But I call flack for it, saying it's the cost of doing business. But it is what it is.

They're saying there's potentially more revenue to pick up if you have the metered spaces. That could be true. They still have to enforce it, what people don't realize. Yeah, somebody has to go and check all of the... There it is. All the meters. Now, you do get the upfront revenue of paying for the space. What do you mean? You would go to a parking tower or scan a QR code

and pay to park there. And if you stay past what you've paid for, you could get a parking ticket. So they have a new incremental source of revenue here. The upfront money of paying to park in the space. You know, if they're going to use one of those credit card machines, kind of like the one that they've got, you know, they've got one over at... Kind of like what you see at Dairy Market.

Yeah, that's what I was going to say. Over at Dairy Market, there's one down by the elevator. The South Street lot? The elevator at the parking lot right next to us. Oh, yeah. Yeah, absolutely. The Market Street lot. They've got a machine that you just do everything that way. I would say – if they're going to use something like that, I would hope that they're going to get rid of ticketing. No, no, no.

I would imagine they would still ticket. No, that's horrendous. If I thought I only needed two hours and I paid for two hours and I went five minutes over and I came back and had a ticket, I would be livid. Judah, this is what's going to happen if they don't ticket. People are going to go to the QR code or the parking tower

and they're going to pay for 30 minutes and they're going to stay there for two hours. Well, that's the thing. They still have to enforce the time stamp. You should have to clock out. It should basically be like setting up a tab at a bar. You don't close out your tab until you close out your tab. So when you come back and say, hey, I'm leaving, it charges you for the time you've used.

And that might even be better if you're not forced to pay for an extra half an hour that you didn't use. I mean, time would... We'll see how they... Like, if you use it for 45 minutes, you're not getting charged for an entire hour. But you're also not getting ticketed if you, by accident, stay longer than you expected to.

Let's go to John Blair leaving a comment here. Got Deep Throat and John Blair, one and two in the family watching. Vanessa Parkhill watching. Ginny Hu watching. Bill McChesney. Phillip Dow. Some key members here watching. Albert Graves.

Jerry, the committee's report is fine as far as it goes. We can agree or disagree on various suggestions. However, the problem with the report is that it does not seem to acknowledge that the mall is now in a much different context. For example, Ix and Dairy Market have completely changed the context of the mall's place in Charlottesville. I wish there had been some discussion on how to integrate and complement the mall and those other two major spaces. Fantastic comment. No doubt. You make a legitimate argument that downtown Charlottesville

has more consumer competition than ever in the history of downtown. I'll make that comment. We have the most expensive housing prices in Charlottesville and Alamaro County right now in the history of Charlottesville and Alamaro County. We have the highest student loan debt in Charlottesville and Alamaro right now in the history of Charlottesville and Albemarle County. We have the highest student loan debt in Charlottesville and Albemarle right now in the history of Charlottesville

and Albemarle. The highest credit card debt in Charlottesville and Albemarle in the history of Charlottesville and Albemarle. We have the most competition for downtown Charlottesville consumer in the history of downtown Charlottesville. Significant headwinds for any shopping district. Debts, ridiculous. Cost of living is ridiculous. Student loans, ridiculous. And then the competition for these eight blocks is ridiculous.

Because the dairy market, barracks, Stonefield, Ix, just to name a few. Plus, the younger consumer preferring to enjoy their food through third-party app and their tidy whities or their bathrobes like Judah does. That is not true. I don't have a bathrobe.

That was good. Tom Powell says your idea makes sense. So it won't happen. I think the parking tickets are going to happen. That's terrible. So you don't think they're going to ticket the cars that stay over?

No, you're probably right. I'm just saying it's... They towed Tom. Tom's the founder of the toilet. He's just saying it's... They told Tom. Tom's the founder of the toilet. He's watching the program. We should get Tom's photo on screen. Tom, if you're at a parking lot and you pay, for instance, the dairy market lot, and you pay for parking at the dairy market lot, Judah.

Is this Tom Powell? Tom Powell. Yeah. Judah, if you pay for parking at the dairy market lot, and you go over what you have allotted, and you don't put more money in the parking tower, or you don't re-up on the app that you're there, your card can get towed.

Yeah. Your card can get towed. There are signs all over that says, you will get towed. I know. How is that any different than what will happen in downtown Charlottesville? So you think I'm right?

I'm sure you're probably right. I just think it's terrible. I know. But they're looking for incremental sources of revenue. They probably just found one. Put some meters out there. Try to manage the perception we have a parking issue.

Get some upfront revenue for parking spaces. And then we'll still get the $20 revenue for the tickets on the back end. I think they'd actually make more my way. No, I think they could. I think if you were charged until you

actually left... But how can they prove that you left? Because if you scan the thing with your phone and you've got an app, then you just, when you're ready to leave, you obviously don't want to keep paying, so you sign out. Why can't you check out

while you're ripping a Happy Meal at Miller's? You could, but what would be the difference? You check out while you're ripping a Happy Meal at Miller's? You could, but what would be the difference? You'd check out while you're ripping a Happy Meal at Miller's and then they don't have the $20 ticket. How would they get the car to move? Someone's always going to find a loophole. There's going to be a problem no matter how you do it. That's why they're going to $20 ticket people.

They would actually make more, though, if they were charging through the end of someone's time being there. Because the other way, you're right, they may get some $20 tickets, but how many people are going to skate by on like 15 minutes, a half an hour, 45 minutes at the end of the day. Yeah, a lot of people don't really write. When technically they could still ticket you for being in the same spot for too long. But we all know that the parking guy gets off the clock. Yeah.

So if you're the two-hour window, if you park at, what do you say? The guy gets off the clock at 5. If you park there at 2.45, 2.30, you're probably golden. Yeah. Because the guy's getting off the clock at 5 and he's pulling into the garage at 4.30?

So exactly the same thing. You're going to end up with somebody, you're going to end up paying someone to drive around and check every one of those. But they're already paying for that person. It's not new overhead. They're already paying for that person. Yeah, but would they have to continue paying for that person?

I think the person that drives around and gives the $20 tickets, like 20 X's their salary. 30, I don't know the exact number. I can assure you the $40,000 person that's driving around and slapping $20 tickets on people's cars is 20, I don't know the exact number, but significantly covering their salary. Significantly covering. But we're getting into the weeds here. The topic that we should really be focused on is the committee today is going to present to council the shrinking of cafe space. I need you to help me make it make sense. This is, and correct me if

I'm wrong, this is cutting my nose to spite my face. This is what the committee is presenting to council, cutting their nose to spite their face when it comes to downtown. Let's take the cafes, the outdoor seating for downtown Charlottesville, And we want to shrink them, reduce seating, and we want to charge the restaurant owners more for said cafe space. Are they, they want to do both of those? That's the suggestion. Man. Shrink them and charge them more for the space.

I mean, that's clearly terrible. There goes Fabian Kutner, one of Ludwig's scions right there, rocking the man bun. Did you see the man bun? Are we going to get him on? No, he just went past. I'd say he's a local luminary, Fabian Kutner. Friend of the program, Fabian. I was texting him today.

How do you, okay, this is, I'm going to get out of your way. I would say the primary driver of people to come to the most important eight blocks in Charlottesville is the restaurants. And if you shrink the cafe space, shrink the seating with the idea it's going to make better feng shui, let's get the feng shui better on the downtown mall, the traffic flow, the foot traffic flow by making the cafes minimized and it'll be better quality of life. That's the committee's reasoning. I say, what the hell are you absolutely thinking? If you shrink the cafes, there will be less seating. If there's less seating and you charge more, you're going to irritate the restaurant

owners and you're going to irritate the restaurant owners at a time where they can barely survive. They can barely survive because labor is extremely expensive. Cost of goods is extremely expensive. The downtown mall's got more competition than it ever has before. Third-party apps are creating a consumer that would rather eat on their lazy boys while while watching Selling Sunset and their Tidy Whities like Judah's eating his Thai food. I totally missed whatever that, I don't know what that was. You watch the show Selling Sunset on Netflix while sitting on your Lazy Boy,

your leather Lazy Boy recliner and your Tidy Whities. They're creating the third-party apps that consumer of people that want to eat inside. Don't forget the big tub of cheesy poofs. And all the orange powder collecting on my chest hair.

And your beard. And then Liza cleans you up. That's a... I took it too far. Yeah, that's too far. You took it too far.'s too far I'll stop talking make it make sense why in the heck would you shrink the cafes so first off

charging the restaurants more is obviously just a major debag move I mean that's just if you want to make money, then just come out and say, hey, we want to make more money,

and we're going to stick it to the business owners of the downtown mall. As for shrinking the outdoors... At a time where they're already raising the meals tax on them. They're already screwing them by increasing the meals tax. They're already getting more money from them. As for shrinking the space, see, here's how I see it. There's... Dude, you're going to have a lot of enemies if you rationalize shrinking the spaces. Go

ahead. As I said before, I don't go to the downtown mall all that often during the busiest times. I have walked up and down the mall after work here, so we're talking 7 o'clock, 7.30. And some of the restaurant seating, outdoor seating spaces do get pretty filled up? Pretty filled up? Vanessa, go ahead. But do all of them? Yes. You're saying all of them get filled up? Let's shrink alfresco dining at a time when we're still post, freshly post-COVID. Let's shrink alfresco dining on a pedestrian downtown mall where people choose to come downtown to eat outside let's shrink outdoor dining at a time when there's waiting lists for the restaurants in downtown charlottesville let's shrink outdoor dining and remove seats when

restaurants have more headwinds than they have in a very long time. Let's shrink outdoor dining and charge more for said shrinking outside dining. Let's shrink outside dining, charge more for said shrunk outside dining while raising the meals tax at the exact same time. Let's shrink outside dining, charge more for set outside dining, while raising the meals tax, while seeing Ick's, Dairy Market, Barracks Road, Stonefield, and Midtown stronger than ever. And let's do all this when third-party apps are encouraging people to eat their Thai food and their hamburgers and their grilled cheeses and their pizzas in their tighty-whities on their lazy boys while watching Netflix at their house.

This makes no sense, ladies and gentlemen. And if I was the Virginia Tourism Lodging and Restaurant Association, I would be extremely organized, galvanized, and strategized right now. Because this presentation is happening today before council. And the lobbying group that backs hotels and restaurants and food and beverage and tourism, they need to get their voices heard before this gets any more traction. Vanessa Parkell, her photo on screen, the Queen of Earliesville. Nothing makes sense, Vanessa Parkehill says, about shrinking cafe space. Clearly the people supporting this

have not tried to get a table on a weekend night. Bingo. Vanessa Parkhill, a woman of reason. Bill McChesney, his photo on screen. Do they still have the table vendors on the mall? Yes, sir, they do. Mr. McChesney, the mayor of McIntyre. The table vendors have to pay a, what's it called? Some kind of, I forget the name of the fee they pay. We had to pay this one time when we were selling I Love Ceebo shirts on the downtown mall. Not a vendor fee. It's like a vendor fee. There's a specific name for it. We'll just call it a vendor fee. Rob Neal watching the program. Let's get Rob's photo on screen. Less outdoor seating plus higher food and beverage tax plus bigger hassle and cost to park.

What a storm of headwinds for business owners and locals with lots of options where it is easiest to pay. There it is, a man of reason. This is what Rob Neal just said. This is the brand they're trying to create. The free parking spaces you're going to have to pay for. The taxes you pay to eat there are higher. The seats are less. The waiting line is longer. Make it make sense.

There's something under the ground in the gases that creates craziness. We're helping. Yeah, we're helping. We're helping. We're helping downtown. Speaking of downtown, J.R. Hadley. Thank you, John, for putting this on my radar.

J.R. Hadley in conjunction with Michael Geismar. I hope I'm not messing your last name up, Michael. The president of QIM. He's been the president for two decades plus of QIM. J.R. Hadley, an experienced and savvy food and beverage guy. They're opening a restaurant in the old Commonwealth Sky Bar location. It's called Monks, M-O-N-K-S, if you want to put that lower third on screen. Monks, I'm excited about.

J.R. Hadley has the Midas touch. I hope he hears about this. Fantastic golfer, Mr. Hadley. Beautiful fiance, Mr. Hadley. So-so taste in NFL teams. He's a Pittsburgh Steelers fan although I love Mike Tomlin huge Mike Tomlin fan

someone who grew up in Williamsburg and went to William & Mary Tribe games Mr. Hadley has had success in real estate investment he's had success in restaurants with Boylan Heights as an owner operator he exited Boylan

Heights sold his position in his ownership state he's had success in remodeling Mr. Hadley has had success in dumpsters props to JR for finding a niche with dumpsters that can be rented and delivered to your job site. I think he's going to have success on the Sky Bar. The Sky Bar location is so sexy and has so much potential. And when Commonwealth Sky Bar was at its best, when it was at its best, it was run by Alex George, Aaron King, Justin Butler, and Kirk. What is Kirk's last name? Is it Kirk Smith? Kirk Smith. When Kirk Smith, Alex George, Justin Butler,

and Aaron King were running Commonwealth Sky Bar, and they had two beautiful bartenders on the Sky Bar, including the Bulgarian Beauty, Frank was serving tables, was a front of the house server. They were the downtown hotspot. They had great

food thanks to Alex George. They had a great cocktail scene, bar scene. They had a great night life. Great spot to meet ladies, great spot to meet guys. They had, it seemed like multiple businesses or revenue streams running. You had the bar, you had the restaurant, you had the Sky Bar, and then you had Nightlife. Yeah. It was fantastic. There's no Sky Bar in Charlottesville. And a great brunch, too.

They had a fantastic brunch. We launched the brunch program for Sky Bar. Our marketing had to line out the door. Erin King still brings that up with me when I see her. There's nothing on that side of the mall. That side of the mall is close to the pavilion.

First restaurant you're pretty much seeing when you're leaving a concert or Fridays after five. Hell, you can listen to music from the Sky Bar. Sitting outside the Sky Bar with a drink, listening to the concert. It's right next to the Water Street parking garage and the Market Street garage. I mean, you're literally within walking distance of both garages.

I think the community wants something on that side of the mall. We'd love to support something new. The only thing missing from this was Laura Foner running the kitchen, and I think J.R. tried. And I think in the bottom of the seventh inning, bottom of the eighth inning, maybe it's the bottom of the ninth inning, depending on who you talk to, she beelined to common house. And that's executive chef position position as opposed to running this kitchen

for jr and michael i think these guys are going to eff and kill it i would love it monks jr i believe you're watching the program right now i would love to see tvs everywhere for viewing sports. Downtown desperately needs, especially with Stefan Freeman taking forever to open Draft Taproom. The new Bonnie and Reed sign just went up. He owns Stefan Freeman, Bonnie and Reed. Yeah, I saw the fish.

Yeah, he's got the fish sign up. That's a very aggressive fish on that window. Did you see it? Yeah. It's huge, that new signage on Bonnie and Reed. He's going to combine the Vitae Spirits tasting room with Bonnie and Reed and have people that are waiting at Bonnie and Reed either before or after their meal enjoy spirits at Vitae. He bought Vitae Spirits. He also owns Ace Biscuit and Barbecue. Bonnie and Reed.

Owns Draft. I don't know when Draft's going to open. When Draft opens, that's going to be even better for Sky Bar. Getting that side of the mall up and running is good for Charlottesville. Oh, yeah. What's not good for Charlottesville is this committee that presents tonight before council saying, we want to put parking meters on the side of the road. We want to shrink the cafe space, the outside space,

and we want to charge the restaurant owners more for said space at a time when we're increasing the meals tax and the downtown mall has more competition than ever before. What the actual F? Monks do it in elevated, approachable, cocktail, restaurant, sports bar. TVs for viewing sports. All the NFL packages.

Red zone, ticket, baseball package. JR is a diehard UVA fan. It's going to have a UVA theme. He's going to kill it. Can't wait to open. I'll be there to support it. Family and I will. You got the photo for the witch lab?

Yeah. We heard about this over the weekend. There's a gentleman. I didn't get his name he is a kind kind Puerto Rican gentleman he was blasting Latin music when we walked in this morning this was at like 9am

and we were looking for a breakfast sandwich I ordered a ham egg and cheese on a is it ciabatta roll? That's what it looks like. Ciabatta roll. Put that photo on screen. It was $5.

Oh, man. This sandwich was $5. That's great. It was amazing. It's called, my wife sent me the names here, La Bodega, the $5 sandwich. Ham, egg, and cheese on a ciabatta roll for $5.

It was effing amazing. She ordered the Cuban sandwich, which was called Ybor City. One of the best Cuban sandwiches I've ever had. I think that was $14. Then we got a freshly baked huge chocolate chip cookie. All in, I think it was $22, $23. It's called the Witch Lab. It's in the code building right next to the water fountain.

You walk into the code building. Instead of going in, you look behind you, and they have some retail spaces. The Witch Lab is legit. I think it's a one-man operation. Support this guy. He was fantastic. Looks great. You would love the $5 sandwich.

Yeah, no doubt. I love a good ham, egg, and cheese. It was one of the best I've had. Outside of a slice of pepperoni pizza from Vita Nova, what can you find that's $5 in downtown Charlottesville that's going to fill you up? Right. The Vita Nova pepperoni slice is $4.09.

This was $5. All right, last item out of the notebook. The Point Church, as you get the lower third on screen. The Point has purchased the Black Mount Zion Baptist Church, historically Black Mount Zion Baptist Church, historically black Mount Zion Baptist Church that is over on Ridge Street, 105 Ridge Street, has an assessed value of 1.7 million. The Point Church bought it for 1,300,000,

25% lower than the assessed value. The Point Church is going to move its operations there that's the old music resource center I think this is a great spot for the Point they're going to have to figure out the parking situation with their congregation like anything downtown but the visibility for the Point Church is significant

we've got a good deal here too is significant. We've got a good deal here too. A million three for this building. Heartbeat of Charlottesville. For the Point Church with this acquisition. All right, that's today's program. Appreciate all the viewers and listeners like Dylan's Rule and Ginny Hu for watching the program.

Anything you want to add? Got some fresh news out to you. Gave you some analysis on what's clicking. Vanessa Parkhill says, if Monks becomes Charlottesville Steelers bar, I'm there regularly on game days. Lots of us here in Charlottesville Steelers fans.

I would not be surprised if it becomes the Steelers bar because of JR's influence, Vanessa. I would not be surprised with that. I bet it does. All right, it's a Monday edition of the talk show where this show airs on all social platforms and wherever you get your podcasting content.

Judah Wickauer was on point today, per usual. My name is Jerry Miller. We encourage you to try Otto Turkish Street Food on Water Street. We love it. He loves it. Locally owned and operated. Try it for lunch and dinner. You're not going to be disappointed guys. You will not be disappointed.

So long everybody. Take care. Thank you.