The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - Tourism Generated Nearly $1B In CVille & AlbCo In '24; AlbCo Tourism=$587.2M; CVille Tourism=$402.6M

Episode Date: September 10, 2025

The I Love CVille Show headlines: Tourism Generated Nearly $1B In CVille & AlbCo In ’24 AlbCo Tourism = $587.2M; CVille Tourism = $402.6M City Tourism Dollars Were Down In 2024 Vs 2023 Restaurant Tourism In CVille & AlbCo Was $348.8M City Approves $1.2M For Downtown Mall “Clean Team” Dino’s Pizza No Longer Leasing At Pro Re Nata Ready To Invest In F&B or Experiential Biz (DM Me) Exec Offices For Rent ($350 – $2600), 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.

Welcome to the I Love Seville Show. My name is Jerry Miller. Thank you kindly for joining us. Good Wednesday afternoon to you. A lot we're going to cover on the program. How about City Council and City Hall approving 1,200,000 smackaroos of your taxpayer dollars for a clean team, a clean team. out of Louisville, Kentucky.

You heard me correctly. Charlottesville, City Hall, City Council, $1,200,000 for a firm in Louisville. And this firm in Louisville is going to clean the downtown mall. And Chief Kautchus, the police chief of Charlottesville, the George Clooney of policing, fantastic human being, has indicated, if you spend this $1,200,000 on a clean team from Louisville, Kentucky,

and you don't approve the camping and storage ordinance for the homeless, then this clean team out of Louisville, Kentucky, will literally be cleaning the downtown mall around the homeless population that is camping on the mall and around their possessions that are being stored on the downtown mall. That's like, at my house, we have a German Shepherd named Max. He's about 100 pounds. He likes to lay down on the living room carpet in the main room where we're watching TV and we're hanging out on.

My wife, she'd bust out the Dyson animal vacuum, super deluxe vacuum, and she would literally be vacuuming around Max the 100-pound German Shepherd instead of asking him to move from the carpet to vacuum the entire carpet. That's what this clean team is going to be doing, ladies and gentlemen, with this ordinance not being approved. We'll unpack this on today's show. We're going to talk Dino's Pizza and Pro Renata no longer being in business together. I know both the owner of Pro Renata and Dino's Pizza extremely well. Dr. John Shave, the managing partner and the, I call him primary owner, lead owner of Pro Renata. There's an ownership group there.

And Dino, front of the program as well. both John and Dino, friend of the program. Dino, I actually saw yesterday. Hachshaj. That's close. I was looking at real estate yesterday with Dino. They no longer are in business together at the prorenotic prosa location. I'm going to talk about that on today's program.

And I'm going to talk about it with gloves on, with delicate gloves on, because both men I respect and I admire. but it is a topic that fits what we do on the program in talking about business and the economy and what's going on. We'll talk on today's show, tourism dollars. How about this statistic for you? Tourism in 2024 generated nearly $1 billion in revenue. Visitors in Almaro County and the city of Charlottesville spent nearly one billion, and the exact number, ladies and gentlemen, is $989,800,000 in 2024. That's a visitor spending. Almorel County carried the weight with $587,200,000 in 2024. The city of Charlottesville down in tourism dollars collected

in 2024, verse 2023, the city down. This is another metric for Charlottesville, Virginia that suggests, ladies and gentlemen, that the city is facing headwinds. In the first quarter of this year, 2025, this according to a report released by the Chamber of Commerce, in the first quarter of 2025 versus the first quarter of 2024, city tax collections were down two plus percentage points. Almore County was up. I think every other jurisdiction, I think, except for Nelson County was up. I'll find that link. Neil Williamson put

this on my radar. I'm going to ask you the question. We know the answer. Why is tourism down in Charlottesville in 2024, ladies and gentlemen? Down nearly a percentage point year over year. Do we not think it's going to be

down in 2025? Greer Ack and Back, Travis Wilborn, yours truly. These are folks that know the market inside and out, Greer Ackinback, the head of the executive director of Friends of Seville, the downtown lobby group, Travis Wilburne, one of the most savvy and sophisticated hotel years

and lodging entrepreneurs. He owns Stay Charlottesville, for example, where he's connecting tourists with luxurious short and long-term rentals in the area. Travis was the previous owner of Old Metropolitan Hall, before he sold that business to Stefan Freeman. I'm very curious to see what happens with the event space old Metropolitan Hall in the downtown mall

since Stefan Freeman, the retired venture capitalist, has now shuttered Little Johns and now Bonnie and Reed and has failed to open draft tap room. Do we have any kind of financial struggles going on there with that restaurant group? And how does it

impact the brands that are currently in operation? I sidetrack. I'm sidetracked here. these are the metrics I know in 2024 tourism in the city of Charlottesville was one percentage point more significant the output one percentage point better no excuse me in 2023 versus 2024 it was down a point in 2024 I would expect tourism will be down even more in 2025 we're going to unpack that on today's show we're also going to unpack on this program ladies and gentlemen the impact of our restaurants locally there's so much we need to cover on the program i also want

to encourage you the viewer and listener if you have a concept a business model concept for downtown charlesville that is either an experiential business concept or a food and beverage concept restaurant, alcohol, brewery, anything like that. And you want a position on the downtown mall. Reach out to me because we're pursuing my firm a space downtown that is significant. And we will be willing to work with you with grace period on rent and create a situation. where you can have long-term success. You're going to say to me, Jerry, you're talking about tourism revenue being down.

You're talking about the struggles of the turmoil with the houseless or the homeless. Why would we open downtown? I sincerely mean this. I am as bullish in Charlottesville as I've been in a long time. And I'm bullish because the 50-year anniversary of the pedestrian mall is the next year. I know City Hall is going to do a big to do about it. And I think we're at a tipping point when it comes to this homeless population. 240 or so houseless individuals, and I think folks are starting to listen to this program

and how these 240 folks are dictating the pace and tempo for this community, and that's not right. Did we get that ordinance passed last week? No. But when that conversation starts happening, and this coming Tuesday, there's 20 or 30, 40 of us have been invited to a question and answer session with Juan Diego Wade and police chief, Mike Conchus, where I'm going to straight up ask Juan Diego Wade, the mayor, what he was possibly thinking with tabling that shelter ordinance. I'm going to be very pointed with our mayor in a public setting

in front of a room of very influential, heavy-hitting, wealthy people. That's Tuesday at 8.30. Giddy up and get ready for that. A lot we're going to cover on today's program, ladies and gentlemen. We'll talk Dino's and pro-Ranata. that relationship is no more. I know both owners well. I consider both owner's friends,

and I admire both Dino and John with the brands that they have designed to develop. They're phenomenal contributors to our community. I would expect you will see Dino and his red food truck trailer in a strategic location in the very near future. And I know what John and the pro-Ranata team

are doing with transitioning the Dino space to Hopps' Kitchen is a reflection of how efficiently that John Shab and his team pivot into new directions to keep the positive momentum going with their Crozay brewery that we've dubbed the Disney World of Crozai. Am I saddened to see move through Dino's pizza and pro rena not continue this profitable lucrative and most importantly a relationship that is that is great for anyone that visit that brewery am i sadden to see that that relationship uh you know break yes i am

but that's the nature of business and it's not personal and now we will watch both entrepreneurs decide the next direction for their staff and their business models. And I think both have found directions that are going to be extremely positive with what they have going on. We have a lot to cover on the program today. The Wednesday, September 10th edition of the I Love Seville Show. I am working on a business deal, so I will get off air at 1.30 Sharp today. Please hold me accountable to that. because I have in-person here at 145.

I want to give some love to Conan Owen, the CEO of Sir Speedy of Charlottesville and Central Virginia. If you have a logo and you need visibility for it, signage, window decals, direct mail, trifolds, pamphlets, the banner behind me, the step-and-repeat banner behind me is Conan Owen and Sir Speedy of Central Virginia. He's the guy you call. He's a Darden graduate.

and Sir Speedy, Central Virginia and Charlesville is locally owned and operated. I got a programming note for you. Next week, the I Love Seville Network is on vacation. Judah is gallivanting and hobnobbing with the rich and famous in the outer banks for the week. Yours truly and his family also going to enjoy some R&R and some quality time. So the I Love Seville Network off next week, Monday through Friday, for a well-deserved and well-earned vacation. Judah with his family hobnobbing in the Outer Banks, me and my family hobnobbing with an umbrella drink and cocktail in hand. All right, a lot we're going to cover.

Judah, I go to you on a two-shot. Where do you want to begin today, my friend? I had a conversation yesterday with Jeff Gaffney who watched the show. He said the two of us compliment each other well on air, me with the high energy and the up-tempo, and you with the methodical, even-keeled measured response. $1,200,000 on cleaning the downtown mall with a firm out of Louisville, Kentucky. Janice Boystervillian already highlights, geez, Louise, spend the $1.2 million locally. if the extent of what these people are doing from an ambassador program is cleaning the downtown mall

and having a presence downtown, take that $1,200,000 of taxpayer resources and do it locally. I are a team. I mean, good Lord. Yeah, it's crazy. I mean, we've already got, I would imagine we've got people that are, you know, taking out the trash on the downtown mall. We see it, parks and rec? Yeah, we've got teams out there. Sometimes they're driving service vehicles on the downtown mall not too long ago.

They were cutting trees down. It seems strange that I appreciate the fact that somebody is going to clean up the human and animal excrement, but I hardly feel that requires a $1.2 million expenditure. Mike conscious to police chief. Janis Boyce Bois Trevillian puts this comment in the comment section. Boylan Heights announced they will be closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays from now on. Is that true? Janus Boyce Trevillian, I have no reason to doubt you.

I'm in the trust but verify business. Can you send me something? Oh my God. I see it now. It's on the Instagram. Boylan Heights on the UVA corner will be closing on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. This is as I can. iconic a bar on the UVA corner as you will find. Janice Boistervillian, thank you for putting that

on my radar. We'll table that for now, but that's going to go into the city and tourism dollars and spend being down in 2024 versus 2023. That's going to go into sales tax collection being down Q1, 2024 versus Q1 2025. Chris Engel in the Office of Economic Development in Charlottesville City Hall, Sam Sanders, the city manager, you got a problem on your hands. You got a problem on your hands. Put the lower third on screen if it isn't in about $1.2 million. Here's what we know. I'll set the stage for you, the viewer and listener.

City Hall and city council have approved. They've awarded a contract to a Louisville, Kentucky firm called Midat Services. And this contract is for basically ambassador services on the downtown mall. and the idea for this is to enhance the mall experience for residents, businesses, and visitors. And the scope of work required for this is up to seven days a week of service, hours to be determined based on seasonal need, and likely to start with five days, with eight to ten hours per day of coverage. Duties will continue throughout the year, including inclement weather. The city reserves the right to relieve the ambassadors of their duties if inclement weather prohibits services, from being completed in a safe and effective fashion.

One of the services provided is cleaning and sanitation services, litter and debris removal, including leaf pickup, pressure washing, graffiti response, and human and animal waste cleanup. This is the piles of poop that are on the downtown mall. Human poop, ladies and gentlemen. This is safety and hospitality, safety outreach, such as providing directions and other downtown mall information,

business check-ins, relationship building, and assisting with public concerns as appropriate. Support for downtown mall area events, other duties and projects that are mutually agreed upon between the contact administrator and the contractor and comprehensive data collection, capture the interactions with the public stakeholders, services perform, property conditions, and ambassador performance. Data collection. I got more on this for you. This in the Seville Weekly today. So what I try to do is I try to talk with a lot of.

of people. Today I loan, I had four face-to-face meetings with business owners and connected people. Two of those face-to-face meetings were on a piece of real estate that we're considering purchasing, showing them the real estate. Those two meetings would extremely well, had upside and potential. The other two were me sitting down with a business owner and an elected official to talk about where we're at. What can be improved upon. I then take these in-person meetings and I try to read as much as possible. Data, all the news outlets. And today's CIVO Weekly, for example, there's a story that cites data provided by Travis Wilburn. Travis Wilburn is the proprietor of stay Charlottesville and stay Charlottesville is an organization that's really good

Travis is a great job real smart guy he connects uh visitors and tourists with with um short and long-term rental scenarios uh not just Airbnb here people but he's connecting people with short and long-term rentals uh locally he's also the guy that's now running and managing the south street in Travis Wilburn friend of the program he's citing cell phone traffic data collected through an AI aggregation service. This data shows that in 2024 visits to the downtown mall were 2,458,68,68.67. In 2017, so 2017 versus 2024, in 2017, that was 3,456,844. So, call it a rough estimate, a million, a million dollar downslide with visits to the downtown mall from 2017 to 2024 roughly a third

that's a tremendous downslide okay that puts daily average visits in 2024 at 6,736 people verse 2017 of 9,470 people significant slide yeah now the Office of Economic Development Chris Engel and his staff will point to a vacancy rate in downtown Charlottesville. And that vacancy rate, this is an important number for you to, for you guys to remember, is about 3.5% the vacancy rate in downtown Charlottesville. I push back on Chris Engel, the vacancy rate is 3.65%. I push back on Chris Engel and that 3.65% by saying you're filling the downtown mall with entities that shouldn't be on the downtown mall.

And I highlight the Charlestville Redevelopment and Housing Authority. The CRHA shouldn't be on the downtown mall. I highlight Operation Hope, where it's an organization that assimilates convicts into society. That's on the downtown mall. I don't think that should be on the downtown mall. So the vacancy rate at 3.65% is not an indication of a healthy downtown. Go ahead.

You also have places like restaurants, the Nook. The Nook's the one that I know 100%, but the Nook, I believe, used to stay open from, you know, they'd serve breakfast in the morning and they'd be open, you know, through the evening into dinner. Now I believe they're closing at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. You were talking earlier about lost tax revenue on the downtown mall. It's not just, you know, business is leaving. It's business is not staying open as many hours. Businesses cutting hours.

Janice Boylan Heights puts this on our radar. Boylan Heights on the UVA corner is now choosing to close on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Yeah. James Watson, who I trust, Janice Boyce Trevillian's photos should be on screen. James Watson, who I trust tremendously, he sent me a direct message. And this Virginia guest house, which is a 220. 23,000 square foot hotel and conference center on the University of Virginia's Ivy Corridor. This UVA guesthouse, which is nearing opening, it's going to be more than just a hotel.

It will be a dynamic destination for visitors, faculty, students, and the local community. 223,000 square feet. How are they, James Watson says, how are they going to staff this? People are having staffing issues now. How are they going to staff this? Great question from James. Watson. So why you watch this program is we use long-form content to try to tackle a story from every angle. The initial headline that you're going to see on like the 11 o'clock news,

and they're going to give 15 or 30 seconds to is tourism brought in nearly $1 billion to Charlottesville and Almaro County in 2024. That's the headline you're going to hear. They're going to give you 15 seconds of it. But the meat and potatoes of this story is this. Charlottesville City in 2024 versus Charlottesville City in 2023, tourism was down 1%. And when Charlottesville City's tourism,

these lower thirds should be on screen, please. When Charlottesville City's tourism, ladies and gentlemen, in 2024 is over $400 million, you with me, and that's in 2024, and you're down 1% versus 2023, then you're talking about a delta or a slippage of literally $4,5 million here. We're not talking like pocket change. We're talking the city in tourism in 2024 is down 1% versus 2023. That, ladies and gentlemen, is somewhere between $4 and $5 million deficit in tourism

dollars not collected. Then what we need to do is we need to take this tourism story and we need to compare it or combine it, Chamber of Commerce, Charlottesville, tax dollars collected. Gosh, Neil Williamson, if you were watching, if you can send me that

link. Oh, I found it. God, I love Google. Google's so nice. I'm doing this in real time. So I'm going to combine it with this. And I'm going to put this on screen for the viewers and listeners. I'm just going to, maybe this isn't the best idea. Holding the laptop up here, can they see this?

Really, we should have this shown on screen. Can they see this? Point it at the other camera. Is that better? No, when you pointed at the camera, tilt it a little bit down. All right, you know what? This is ridiculous.

I'm just going to tell you it in person. It's rough. Charlottesville City retail report the year-over-year local tax revenue compared with 2023. The only jurisdiction in the chamber footprint, Augusta, Almaro, Charlottesville, Flavanna, Green, Louisa, Waynesboro, the only one down, Charlottesville. The city of Charlottesville, ladies and gentlemen, in the first quarter of 2025, was down, correction on that. I'm looking at the first quarter 2025 retail report, and the first quarter 2025 retail report

highlights Augusta, Almaro, Charlottesville, Fluvana, Green, Louisa, and Waynesboro. Charlottesville was down 2.53%. Fluvana was down, and Louisa was also down. So I'm taking the tourism metrics that were just released, and the tourism metrics that were just released, the legacy media is going to say tourism drove a billion dollars. Well, that's all fine and dandy. But the real story is that in the city of Charlestville, the tourism dollars were down 1% versus 2023. And then we compound that concern with 2025 numbers. And in 2025, the first quarter of the year, we understand that the sales tax revenue and the first quarter of this year versus the first

quarter of 2024 was down 2.53%. The halftime report, which is the second quarter data, should be released like this week. If the data for the second quarter of this year in the city is also down, then we have a benchmark or a trend line. It's not an anomaly or is it aberration? It's a trend lined. You got the economic, Office of Development trying to smoke and mirror us with a vacancy number, and that vacancy number is 3.65%. But what he's not telling you, Chris Engel, is some of the business that are filling storefronts on the mall versus the businesses that were filling storefronts on the mall before COVID. What's he also not telling you is that businesses locally are either because

of expensive labor, but probably because they don't have the foot traffic, are cutting their hours. The example you used, Judah, was the Nook. Yeah. And those hours cut how? I used to, I used to stop in there in the afternoon, like 4 o'clock. Now they close at 3. I was like, the first time I saw it, I was like, what's going on? Now Boilin Heights on the UVA corner choosing to close on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Yeah. There was a time, I went to UVA. 2000 to 2004 the quarter always hopping

choosing to close on Tuesdays and Wednesdays you would never have thought about that but that's what Boylan Heights is choosing to do because they're basically saying on Tuesdays and Wednesdays we don't have the customers and we're losing money

they'd stay open if they were making money no doubt they'd probably stay open if they were breaking even just to keep the routine or the habit of kids coming to the Boylan Heights. But to say you're closing on Tuesdays and Wednesdays is an indication they were losing money on those

days, in the red. So please, data can be presented any way in particular by people that are working for a jurisdiction that their job or their responsibility is to

drive economic development. And if the data is presented, whoa, one billion dollars in tourism, whoa, Charlottesville, over 400 million in tourism, whoa, the vacancy rate on the downtown mall is just 3.65%. We're doing a great job. You say no. In 2024, tourism dollars were down one point versus 2023. I'll bet you 2025 is going to be worse than that. You say no. That vacancy rate, 3.65% is not an indication of a healthy downtown mall. You say, no. You say, hey, what about the first quarter in 2025 versus first quarter of 2024 in sales tax collection? Why are you down two and a half points? What's going to happen in the second quarter of 2025 versus the second quarter of 2024? Can't wait till Neil Williamson in the Free Enterprise Forum publishes that report. When's that report coming out, president of the free enterprise forum, Neil Williamson? And now you've got one of the most whack-a-do stories I think I've talked about in a long time.

The city choosing to allocate $1,200,000 in smackaroos to a firm from Louisville. Why give $1,200,000 to a firm from Louisville to clean the downtown mall? When the police chief is straight up saying, if we don't pass this camping and storage of possessions ordinance, then we're going to be paying a firm in Louisville $1,200,000 to literally clean around the bodies and the personal belongings of the people that are sleeping and loitering in downtown Charlottesville. That's akin to the Miller family and their Dyson vacuum, vacuuming around the German Shepherd on the family Oriental rug.

Instead of nudging Max the dog and saying, Max, move, go on the deck here so he could vacuum the carpet. or going into the playroom and cleaning the playroom with a vacuum or a duster without picking up the toys. I had a conversation today with a CPA. This was in the 11 o'clock hour. It was a busy meeting. Four in-person meetings, one with an elected official, two that are considering leasing space that I want to purchase,

and a third with a business owner that's trying to, another meeting with a business owner that's trying to grow market share. Then on the phone with our CPA talking about what's going on locally and while on the phone, he said, you know, thank God for folks like Corin and Jaffrey,

Corrin Capshaw and Jeffrey Woodruff, and the money that they're involved, investing locally and what they're doing to drive the economy. But he's like, you have two or three bad cycles of leadership. That'll supersede any kind of influence and investment that a capsule or a Woodruff will do locally. And are we concerned we're in the middle of one of those now? Like, guys, help me understand this. This is like the scales of justice here, right? You know the scales of justice, how are they tipping? Like, which, which where are they going to tip here? Like, you have on one side of the glasses have full or positive scale of justice, you have the

50-year anniversary of the mall, you have the talk about this camping ordinance, you have millions of dollars spent on a cleaning crew or an ambassador program on the downtown mall, right? You have people finally fed up with the quality of life downtown. You have significant amounts of money going to be allocated to this 50-year party to celebrate the anniversary of them all. On the other side of the scale, the negative side of the scale, you've got non-profits locally that are literally strong-arming Charlottesville into designated camping sites. My concern is this is Field of Dreams. If you build it, they will come. But not the Chicago Black Sox or Shoeless Joe Jackson.

It will be houseless from outside the area coming here. because the word is going to get out that Charlottesville's building tent towns for everyone to enjoy and supplying tent towns with infrastructure. That's on the negative side of the scale. The negative side of the scale is the labor piece. I mean, goodness gracious, businesses are cutting hours left and right, the tariff piece, the cost of goods piece. The negative side of the scale is this mounting credit card debt. The average American stretched financially.

What was the stat you gave Judah Wickhauer on the food strapped? Oh, it was, I believe food prices in Charlottesville are causing issues for something like 50% of Charlottesville residents. Rising food costs are leaving roughly half of Charlottesville in debt. So that's on the negative side of the scale. So what I try to do with our business and our counsel to clients and with, you know, buying and selling real estate, lease in real estate, is I try to like have a feel or a pulse of what's going on to try to like hedge risk, right? So like part of me is like, it's a good time.

to buy, right? Because Charlestville may be at a bottom. How long we say at the bottom, I can't predict. My hope is this 50-year anniversary and this mounting pressure from Friends of Seville, from Travis Wilburn, from the police chief, from the business community. Money spent on an ambassador program shows that that bottom point of Charlestville is not going to going to be extended for long. I hope. Had the ordinance had been improved last week, I would have been even more bullish because I know that bottom point wouldn't have been as long. It was tabled indefinitely. So say it's a good time to buy. Is it a good time to lease, though, once you buy something? Maybe you get a good price on something to buy. Goodness gracious,

how challenging is it going to be to lease something then with these conditions? That's the kind of stuff that I worry about. Next thing I worry about is with their clients that come to us for council to grow and gain market share. Everyone's saying to me the labor thing. Everyone's saying to me the tariff thing. Everyone's saying to me the cost of goods thing. Everyone's saying to us the consumers are penny pigeon and tighter than ever. Everyone's trying to do more with less.

Everyone's trying to do more with less. Everyone's saying, I need to lean into technology, an AI, to help offset the labor piece, but I don't have the capital or the know-how or the nuance or the sophistication to do it and roll it out. Everyone sees that someone like a McDonald's has got the kiosces, and now they're running restaurants with a fraction of the labor they used to have. But then everyone says, but that's McDonald's. They're global. Everyone is concerned about local leadership.

I mean, this is like Sam Sanders, you watch this program. City manager Sam Sanders, dude, this is like, this is on you, dude. This is you having to take the bull by the horns and being like, we're going in this direction. This ain't, this, this, this, this, this, this Q&A when, when Juan Diego Wade and the police chief on Tuesday at 8.30 in the morning, you know what Juan Wade's going to do at this police chief and this Q&A with the police chief? He's going to, it's going to be word salad from Juan Wade. That's too bad. It's going to be word salad. You, we got to build a low barrier shelter. Got to build houses. We've got to build more houses. We got to turn red tape into green tape. You think he'll bring that up?

We got to get the permitting process a little bit more frictionless. Streamlined. Streamlined. We got to get this new zoning figured out. We got to support our business community. We got to support our houses. It's going to be word salad from the mayor. I, you watch this program, Juan Wade, I challenge you today to have an action plan on Tuesday morning when you present before a room that is a good chunk of your tax base.

An action plan, Juan Wade, of palpable, tangible, actionable strategies from here until the end of the year, for the first and sixth quarter of next year and for all of of 2026 and the 50 year anniversary of your mall, I challenge you one way to present an action plan instead of coming to this meeting on Tuesday and your fraternity Greek lettered sweater with word salad and causing all of us in attendance to regret why we spent a Tuesday morning in an auditorium listening. because if it's word salad in a Greek monogrammed fraternity sweater on your chest and no action plan in place, I will be disappointed that I spent my most value of commodity,

my time listening to you, sir. What am I missing here? And then we'll get to your comments, viewers, and listeners. You know what downtown needs? Downtown needs experiential businesses. Downtown needs opportunities that cater to kids and families. Downtown needs a reason for moms and dads to bring their children to the mall. Comments coming in faster than I can keep up.

The I Love Seville Show is the water cooler of conversation, the water cooler of content in Charlottesville and Central Virginia. We'll highlight the Vermilions, John and Andrew Vermilion on East High Street. Charlestville Sanitary Supply is three generations of family, and Charlestful Sanitary Supply is run by a family of the Vermilions that are five generations in Amaral County. online at Charlesville Sanitary Supply and in person on high street

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support the businesses that you want to see make it another 61 years and boy oh boy is that one Bob Seffick watching the program. He says this is a great conversation. Randy O'Neill says that clean team, that $1.2 million with the clean team, the Louisville firm, is RFP fraud, request for proposal fraud.

I don't buy that. It's requests for proposal fraud. I look at it like this. the city approves $1,200,000 to have people clean the mall and be ambassadors of downtown Charlottesville. Chris Engel on economic development, why don't you do some economic development and say, this $1.2 million is ready to go. Let me find a firm locally that can secure this $1.2 million economic development, as opposed to going to Louisville, Kentucky.

And please help me understand. If you hire people locally with this $1.2 million to be the ambassador, won't they be better ambassadors at the downtown mall than people from Louisville that don't know what the downtown mall is about. They have to clean trash, clean graffiti, clean feces and urine, collect data, and be champions of eight blocks,

the eight blocks. Economic development, keep that money locally. This seems like such common sense to me. Is it common sense really? Or is it not common sense? Like I'm asking you sincerely, is it common sense because I work in business? Or is it common sense, actual common sense, and these people are just like... It seems to me like it would be common sense to keep the dollars in the city,

keep the hiring in the city, more jobs for people here. I mean, there's probably a chance that the Kentucky company will hire people out of Charlottesville. But still, we're paying a company potentially, I mean, it would be nice if somebody could figure out what it would cost to bring this in-house. Vanessa Parco says her photo on screen, I guess City Council thinks that the houseless population deserves to have a housekeeper too. Conan Owen, his photo on screen, UVA should start a hospitality school to staff the new hotel, the forum, and various event spaces, and institutes that they're launching. Georgia Gilmer says many restaurants, bars have traditionally been closed on Sundays and Mondays. Boylan is opting to close on Tuesday and Wednesday and looks to be open all other days.

A restaurant like Boylan is not going to close on Sunday and Monday because of NFL football. NFL football and Sunday and Monday are big. big-time drivers of business. They're closing Tuesdays and Wednesdays because there's not much sports on this time of year. That's why they're choosing Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Conan Owen says delivery apps have created so many more options. That's why corner eateries are being impacted. They're being cannibalized by the gig food delivery space. Vanessa Parkhill, the Louisville contractor, was won a request for proposal.

Unfortunately, no one else chose to fill or chose to bid on that RFP. The Louisville firm was the only one. And that's a disgrace. That's a disgrace because that shows that it was not properly marketed and advertised. If city council and city hall, if Chris Anko had said,

Here's $1,200,000. We need a local firm to clean the mall, clean graffiti, and be ambassadors of the ball. If people knew that, they would have said, put me in the pot for this $1,200,000, because it's $1,200,000 and times are tough. Yeah. Anything else that you want to add to this?

Judah Wickhauer? No. Look behind, look beyond the head. Headlines. Comments continue to come in. Mandy Shea Cromby. Is this your first comment, Mandy Shea Cromby? If it is, thank you for watching the program. I believe it is. Your show, Jerry, is the only thing keeping my hopes alive for our wonderful city. Please tell me an ordinary citizen how I can best support your message. The only hope for our downtown is to get city officials to listen to your show and your perspective. Here's a crazy thing. I know, I see them watching. The city

Hall, the folks at City Hall, City Council, and Supervisors, they watched the show because we see them watching. They reach out to them. I met with one of them today. They watched the show. The Q&A on Tuesday inspired or a result of our

interview with Kachas in part last week. They watched the show. They just are, this is what's, they're afraid that the activists in the community will bully them.

They're not the only ones. That's the sad part. And you can't, I think you've got to... Thank you, Mandy, Shay, Coromby, for watching the program. She says it's her first combat. And Janice Boyce Trevely and says, Mandy Shea is exactly right about your show. Our show with Judah.

Make your point, and then we'll go to Dino's and pro-Ranata. I was going to say you've got to cut the City Council some slack on the stigma of of being being influenced by by the kinds of people that come into

the city council meeting and jeer at someone who has a different view than they do. Greer Ackinback laid it out very clearly at the very beginning of what

she had to say, which was that she represents a lot of people, who are afraid to show up in a city council meeting because of exactly what she experienced and exactly why the city council is afraid to even quiet someone who's being as disrespectful as was shown towards Greer Ackhamack. They weren't disrespectful.

Judah makes the point. They were disrespectful to the chief of police. They were disrespect to everyone. And the city council didn't stop them. And all Juan Wayne said was please, please, please, please. And you can call them out for it, but I think I would be a little bit afraid of those people in that auditorium as well. Those of us in attendance on Tuesday for the Juan Wade, Mike Cottius, Q&A, anytime Juan Wade talks, should we heckle? Should we interrupt him?

No. Should we hurl slurs? Because that's what he allowed happened last week, to happen last week. But the difference is on Tuesday is the folks in that room on Tuesday, too much class to do it. That's the difference. All right. Last topic of the program.

Dino, friend of the program, talented restaurateur. I hope you're watching the program, Dino. Talented restaurant tour. John Shabe, friend of the program, fantastic businessman, pro ronata. There was a split. Dino's and Moothru, Dino's owns the Moothru rights to this territory. It's a franchise. He owns the Moothru rights to this territory.

Dino's and Moothru no longer are pro-Ranata. Pro-Ranada now going back to a former food and beverage partner with Hop's Kitchen. Dino now looking for a spot in a location for that fabulous red trailer and food truck. First, my thoughts on this as someone who knows both men well, respects both men, does business with both men, admires both men, patronizes both men's operations, pro ronata and Dino's patronize. It's unfortunate, but it's part of business. And this is the nature of business.

I think what you saw with this is how both men respond to some adversity. John substitutes a new food and beverage operation immediately, so there is no downtime. Hop's Kitchen has a rendezvous or a part due with a previous food and beverage partner at Pro Renata with Hopps Kitchen. Dino, you're going to see this guy immediately respond by having his truck and trailer in an extremely visible space. I'm not going to say where. I am going to say this was my counsel, the location where it's going to happen. It's going to be extremely visible and extremely profitable.

A location that I suggested should happen. You see why these men are. are successful with adversity, they complete, they immediately pivoted, they innovated, and they solved the problem. John needs food there. It's craft beer. If there's food there, people stay longer to drink the craft beer, which is the profit margin. There also has to be food there, I believe. I don't think that's true. You don't? No. Are you sure? Yeah. You sure? Rockfish doesn't have food at their Preston Avenue location. DeCyfer has very few food operating

You're thinking of a bar And if it's choosing to serve liquor and booze That it needs to have a food and booze ratio Not with the breweries, it's different Some breweries like Hardywood on West Main Street Serve no food You ordered the food across the way and you could bring it in But he does know that he should have food there

Because if he has food there People stay sticky longer which means his taps continue to be pulled and $8 beers, $9 beers, are enjoyed, and that's his profit margin. The food at these locations in some ways is a lost leader. I'd like to see as a strategy, this is just one man's opinion, a businessman's opinion. You make the food in this 2.0 venture, this Hops 2.0 venture, you basically go with the Costco model of selling the food at cost,

like the rotisserie chicken, the pizza, the hot dog, something that is like almost a break-even, very little profit on the bone. The rotisserie chicken, I think, is a lost leader for Costco. Literally, like, they lose money on it. I don't think they've raised the price $5.99 or $6.99 on that rotissory chicken in a decade plus. But if John does something where he makes the food almost break-even,

that will be a draw for people to stay there and have those taps continue to be poured and beer to continue to be drunk. He's done a really good job with the playground, the music scene, and the sports bar. He's got a captive market, a deep pocket in market with Ultrail and Crozay. He's built an excellent operation,

but the food piece is going to be critical. Curious to see what happens if he starts doing $3, $4, $5 burgers and very affordable price points there. For Dino, this could be a blessing potentially in disguise, because if that truck or trailer, I'm not going to say where, but if that truck or trailer

materializes in a location where it's like extremely low rent because it's a food truck or trailer and there's a couple of spots some of them we've talked about on this previous show hint hint hint you're talking about overhead for posting that truck or trailer that is like peanuts per day which would mean pizza which is a high profit margin business becomes even more of a high profit margin business i think after the split with the benefit of hindsight when we look about look at what happens that this is going to be an opportunity for John to fine-tune things even more at Pro Renata and for Dino to make even more money with this truck and trailer. Mark it down. That's why you watch

and listen to the show. And viewers and listeners, I'm going to close with this. If you have someone locally or you know of someone locally that wants to bring an experiential business to market or a food and beverage business to market, And they want to do it downtown. We are looking at space right now to purchase. And there's a spot in the space that we're looking at that is prime for either experiential or food and beverage. And I believe that we are at rock bottom in downtown Charlottesville. And the upside for downtown Charlottesville significant here.

And we're starting to see indicators that we're on the upswing. The camping ordinance being discussed, this $1.2 million for this ambassador program, the 50-year anniversary of the mall next year, and the fact that Chris Engle needs to get off his tail to do some economic development locally, and he's feeling the heat. I think we're on the cusp of going up. And we can offer, if you have this experiential business or this food and beverage business and you want to do it in a primo spot downtown,

we can offer some upside when it comes to the lease and some grace period rent my DMs my texts my email my inbox is open that's the show we're off next week on vacation he's hobnobbing with the rich and famous in the outer banks my family just enjoying some much needed R&R I got to hear it in the early 7 a.m. hour. Until I sat down to do this show at 12.30, I did not. Doing this show is almost a break. I haven't gone to the bathroom yet. Yeah. All right. That's the show. Judah Wickhauer, Jerry Miller. I love C-O. Show.

Thank you.