The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - Upzoning Lawsuit In Arlington Co Starts Today; Biden Opens Campaign Office Outside CVille

Episode Date: July 8, 2024

The I Love CVille Show headlines: Upzoning Lawsuit In Arlington Co Starts Today Biden Opens Campaign Office Outside CVille Save Mel’s Cafe GoFundMe Halted, What Now? New School Names Going Into Effect In August New Meadery Now Open In Albemarle County Moderate-Severe Drought Continues In VA Bigger CVille Stain: VEO Scooters Or Meals Tax? 2 UVA Tennis Players Alive At Wimbledon 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, and thank you kindly for joining us on the I Love Seville Show. It's wonderful to connect with you through this network. We air our content on every social and podcasting platform possible. And we talk about Charlottesville. We talk about Elmore County. We talk about the intersection of real estate and business and politics and life here in a 300,000 person market that is dynamic and fluid and complicated. We have a market that is, before our very eyes, changing at a rapid clip. I've been a resident of Charlottesville and Alamaro County for 24 years in August. So in a month and change, call it six weeks,

I will celebrate my 24-year anniversary of being a taxpayer and citizen in Charlottesville and in Albemarle County. I came here as a first year at the University of Virginia. I stayed. I've launched a handful of businesses, married a wonderful woman, raising two boys. And we plan on calling Charlottesville and Albemarle County, Central Virginia, Ivy, the home of ours for maybe the rest of our lives, that's the expectation. So we like to follow storylines because we're immersed with parenthood and business operation. And we are of the mindset that the more diligent we follow storylines and the more focused we are at keeping our pulse to the community,

then the better parents we are and the better business owners we are, the better bosses we are, the better landlords we are, the better consulting we can provide our clients, whether it's in the real estate, the business acquisition, or the revenue growth silos of business that we live in.

Today's show embodies that. I was on my email today, and Neil Williamson shot me a message, copied Keith Smith on it this morning, and it's a Washington Post story about a lawsuit that's taking place right now in Arlington County. And I found the Washington Post coverage, A, fantastic. B, the similarities with what's happening in Arlington are almost a mirror image of what's happening here in the city. So we'll unpack that on today's show. highlight the fact that Joe Biden, the incumbent, the president, has a campaign office that

is now open outside Charlottesville. I believe it's in Branchlands, Judah? Yeah, on Incarnation Drive. On Incarnation Drive. As Judah very astutely and succinctly pointed this out, do we find irony, sad irony, that a man is opening a campaign office in a city that he continues to politicize and use in political rhetoric, but has never visited the city since taking office or since running for president, now running a second term? I want to talk about that with Judah Wickauer, chat about it with you, the viewer and listener. On today's program, we'll highlight that Mel's Cafe, it's GoFundMe, to save Mel's, now that Melvin Walker, its namesake, has passed away, it's been halted. The GoFundMe, well short of its $20,000 goal, stopped at $10,223 by the organizer.

It was disabled a handful of days ago. So I asked you this question, what happens to the $10,223? With GoFundMe, Judah, if it does not reach its milestone, does the money get refunded? And then the second part of the question is, they were very clear in the description of the GoFundMe that we need this money to reopen Mel's. Are we now of the mindset that Mel's Cafe is forever closed? We'll talk about that on today's program, in particular with the real estate on the chopping block, on the for-s sale market. Other topics on today's show, we'll talk about new school names going into effect in August. One of them in particular I find, can I say cheesy? The Trailblazer. Was it Venable that's getting

rebranded to Trailblazer? I believe so. So we're going to go from Venable to Trailblazer. Yeah. Venable Elementary School will become Trailblazer Elementary School. What is worse? Was it Sutherland that was rebranded Lakeside, and there is no lake at the school in Albemarle County called Lakeside. I mean, help me understand that. Make it make sense. We're rebranding a school

Lakeside, and there's no lake next to the school. And now we're calling an elementary school Venable Trailblazer, naming schools after sports utility vehicles, Trailblazer Elementary. We're going to talk on today's program a bigger stain on Charlottesville. The Vio scooters. Vio, is that right, Judah? Vio, Vio, Vio? Vio, I think, yeah. Or the meals tax.

The meals tax or the Vio scooters. I saw today I had lunch at Vita Nova. I often grab a slice of pepperoni. Love seeing Louie and his father at the Venable Pizzeria in the downtown mall. Venable? It was a joke. And I saw one of the signs on the door that said, Meals tax is out of control.

It's out of our hands. Please pay with cash as well. Because if we need to process a credit card, we've got to tack on 4%. So it's an extra 4% on a $4 pizza with the credit card, which I don't mind paying. I never have cash on me. And they're straight up saying,

this meals tax nonsense is out of our control as well. You've seen those signs as well. Yeah, I've seen them. We'll talk severe drought conditions. I cannot remember in my 24 years of this living in this fight and fair community, the conditions being this dry. Yeah. And two Virginia women's tennis players alive at Wimbledon. I watched the Emma Navarro Cocoa Golf match yesterday at Wimbledon. It was on television. I'm sure you watched that one as well, Judah. Emma Navarro was dominant, dominant in beating Cocoa Golf, the number two seeded player at Wimbledon.

All right, why don't we, are we on a two shot, my friend? Not anymore. Let's go on a two shot. You've been phenomenal on this program. Viewers and listeners, give the show a like and a share if you could. Do us the favor of liking and sharing the show. This is a link, an article in the Washington Post. If you want to read it, it was published today. And the headline is, counties and states are ending single family zoning. Homeowners are suing. The sub headline is this. A trial over Arlington's missing middle policy in northern Virginia shows how the fiery debate over the suburban planning ideal is moving from city halls to courthouses.

Here's pretty much the gist, Judah. Much like Charlottesville, Arlington County has a housing affordability crisis. The median house in Arlington County is a whopping $760,000 plus last year, the median home price in Arlington. Only going to get higher, only going to get more expensive. Arlington clearly has acknowledged they have a missing middle issue. And much like Minneapolis, much like places in California and in Portland, Oregon, they are proposing or enacting more housing density through looser zoning. Now, some of the folks that are in the community of Arlington that have lived there for decades are galvanizing and are suing Arlington, saying that we bought our houses decades ago in these neighborhoods

because the zoning was single-family detached R1, and that's why we spent all this money to be in those neighborhoods. Because we wanted peace and quiet. We didn't want to be on top of our neighbors. We wanted quality of life, they say. who bought her house, a four-bedroom Cape Cod, in the D.C. suburb because of its low-density neighborhood, because it's a low-density neighborhood. She's been there two decades. I want to highlight one paragraph of this story

and then open it up to your conversation. This is from the Washington Post. I'm going to read it verbatim. Much like in other communities, upzoning has sharply divided residents into two camps. The renters, the racial justice advocates, and the urbanist groups who say loosening the zoning would undo racist laws and open up a tight real estate market. On the other side of the fence, longtime homeowners who warn that upzoning and loosening the zoning would overwhelm neighborhood infrastructure. That paragraph is Charlottesville, Virginia in a nutshell. In a nutshell right there.

I want to play maybe a little yin to the yang because I think you may be of the mindset that the loosening zoning and the added density is a welcome relief for Charlottesville. I don't want to assume if that's what you, you know, I'm not trying to say this is the stance you should take. I'm of the mindset and I've been very clear here that I'm all for everyone having a slice of the American dream home ownership, but we must prioritize infrastructure like schools and roads and transportation,

vehicle traffic and quality of life at the same priority level that we prioritize new housing stock. So I'll stop. The show is yours. Anywhere you want to go. Judah B. Wicker. Well, I thought this was interesting. David Gerk, he's in a group called Arlingtonians for Upzoning Transparency, obviously lobbying against the missing metal,

talks about the fact that, anecdotally, most existing permits cover single-family houses that are located on smaller lots near the metro and are set to be turned mostly into buildings with up to six apartments. Such projects are easiest to finance, but they are also likeliest to bring even more people to an already crowded area and cause, as you're talking about, schools, sewers, and streets to burst at the seams. Most crucially, he says, they are not likely to produce units that are any more affordable than the smaller homes already in those neighborhoods. And he goes on to say, we're seeing that there's no purpose to this other than to increase numbers of people and make builders rich. I think that's an interesting perspective and one we should maybe keep in mind as we move forward with these new zoning rules in Charlottesville. Ginny Hu, thank you for the retweet. Kevin Yancey says hello.

Vanessa Parkhill, hello. Sherry Wilcomb, thank you for liking and sharing the program. We have a group of homeowners in the city of Charlottottesville that are currently suing city hall yeah saying they did not do their due diligence when approving the new zoning ordinance we have a large contingent in the city that say loosening the zoning is only going to create more expensive housing and i'm on that side of the fence i've highlighted 303 alderman Road in the Lewis Mountain neighborhood, a rancher that was purchased for $835,000, and I've encouraged the community to follow what happens with that piece of property very closely.

You very astutely last week talked about the trailer park on Carlton that has an offer of $7 million in place, a trailer park that can be chopped into smaller lots with single-family homes and is frankly going to do the opposite of creating affordability for people that need it. We are going to push out 60 families that are in trailers on Carlton, and they are going to be replaced, these 60 families in trailers on Carlton, by either apartment towers, condominiums, or expensive single-family detached homes. We had Roger Voisinet and Richard Price on the program a handful of weeks ago. They're doing a development in Woolen Mills. This team, Richard

Price, Roger Voisinet, and a local builder probably will be first to market when it comes to utilizing the new zoning ordinance for development and for increased density the homes that they're going to bring to market on a tiny lot in woolen mills three or four additional structures will be priced in the high six hundred thousand and will take more than a year and change close to two years before they can come to market so three perfect examples of how loosening the zoning code to create more housing stock and density is not creating affordability.

The point of today's conversation, Logan Wells-Claylow, thank you for watching the program, is this. What's happening in Charlottesville, this nuanced element, is happening in Northern Virginia, in Arlington. And I am not a fan of the phrase, I told you so. But if the trailer park sells for $7 million

and 60 families get pushed out of their trailers deep into the outer counties of Central Virginia because they can no longer afford the last level of affordability in Charlottesville, trailer parks. And if a rancher in the Lewis Mountain neighborhood goes back on the market at a million two, a million three, a million four, somewhere in that vicinity, a million five. And if Rogers and Richards, Woolen Mills development comes on the market right around 700,000 for three or four 1,500 square foot homes on an unfinished basement, then when do we start saying, we told you so?

When do we start saying, hey, council, you listened to a very vocal minority and you got bad advice. You got bullied on the pulpit, bullied on the dais, and as a result, look at what's happened to the housing ecosystem. I think in the case of Roger Voisinay, at least there, we're actually seeing more housing stock, even if it doesn't immediately improve affordability. Whereas I think the problem that we talked about with the trailer park and the problem I see overall is that, I mean, like you said with the house. 303 Alderman Road in Lewis Mountain.

Yeah, that, I mean. The upzoning just made the acquisition price more expensive. Yeah, and you believe they're not going to tear it down and build apartments. They're probably going to fix it up and sell it for more. I was never going to say of the mindset apartments. Well, whatever. But the point I'm getting at is that I think it likely that the houses that are going to be targeted for this type of conversion are going to be in the lower income neighborhoods. Because they're, A, going to be cheaper. B, possibly more...

Cost of acquisition is more affordable, that's what you're saying. Yeah, and possibly in worse shape, so it makes it more feasible to just tear it down and build something in its place, whereas larger homes are less likely to be as run down. And two, as prices rise and people are paying more in taking on more of a tax burden for their properties, a lot of the lower income areas where houses have been passed down through generations, those are going to be the ones where people can no longer afford to pay the taxes. And I'm more likely to, you know, end up putting those houses on the market where a developer would, you know, be happy to snatch them up and start doing something. So I don't see this helping those neighborhoods

as people get pushed out. Judah Wittkower, on point again. Well said. I'm sharing the Washington Post article in the comment section of my personal Facebook page. I will share the Washington Post article in the thread. This show is airing on in Twitter in a matter of moments. Neil Williamson, his photo on screen, please. The president of the Free Enterprise Forum. I don't know if you realize this, but 60%... Let me make sure I have this number correct, Neil. I was on your website before the program.

We need to support the Free Enterprise Forum. We need to donate to the Free Enterprise Forum. It's fundraising season at the halfway marker of the year. The Free Enterprise Forum is a lean organization with one full-time employee, Neil Williamson. Each year, the Free Enterprise Forum must raise more than 60%, not over, should be more than 60% of our annual budget from private contributions. So here's a call to action from yours truly to support the free enterprise forum with its fundraising efforts because Neil Williamson is a steward for this community and a government watchdog.

He says more housing everywhere for everyone. Deep throats photo on screen, please. Number one in the family. He says much like Charlottesville, Arlington did not do the requisite analysis of infrastructure impact. We cannot debate merits until we have good analysis. Nobody Arlington hired or Charlottesville hired did any quality analysis. The effect of upzoning in other places has been price compression. Luxury gets built and helps restrain luxury price growth, but that production is enabled by scraping starter homes and fixer uppers that would be the first rung on the property ladder for folks. The cheap end of the market thus gets pushed up. The dummies,

this is deep throat talking here, but I have to caveat it. The dummies in Livable Sievel and on council analyze to the extent they analyze it all at too high a level of aggregation. It's not about what happens to property prices, but rather what happens to the affordable end of the market. That's the point that you've made. That's the point I made three years ago. All this is going to do is cannibalize the entry point. Yeah. All it's doing is making more housing stock more expensive. Yeah, definitely. And we already know that it's unlikely that a lot of developers are going to rush into Charlottesville trying to build large portions.

What was it? If you build more than eight? Well, let me go. I'm going to go to my email. I'm going to type in affordable housing into the search bar of my email. I sent myself an email so I can have this. The affordable housing requirements in the city of Charlottesville.

10% of units on developments that are greater than nine. They must be tied to area median income at the 60% clip for 99 years on rentals. So who in their right mind would build a project? Mr. Williamson has highlighted this as well the inclusionary zoning requirements for projects greater than 9 units are so obscenely restrictive I'm not even going to use the word restrictive

so piss poor economically sound that no one would build not a single person that I know in the development community would crack that nine unit. Right. Especially not after what happened to Chris. Dot the I's and cross the T's before we go to the next subject, my friend. I mean, this will be interesting to see what happens. I don't know how much this or any of the other lawsuits will affect each other. But once we start getting verdicts, I don't know if that's the right word for...

Outcomes? Yeah. Once the outcomes start coming in, it'll be interesting to see if that does affect other areas where similar lawsuits are ongoing. Here's the last question I have. John Blair, I'll get to your comment in a matter of moments. If this ends up backfiring, and we point to the Carlton Avenue trailer park, $7 million. We point to 303 Alderman Road. We point to that Woolen Mills starter home that's going to be turned into three or four additional structures that are flirting with $700,000 each, 1,500 square feet, no finished basements.

When do we start having enough empirical evidence or empirical data to say, this is a trend? Those folks were wrong. And everything they campaigned for or lobbied for for years was so incorrectly wrong that they now have lost legitimacy and credibility for any other campaigning and lobbying moving forward. Maybe a better take is do we start planning for how to turn this around when that time comes? Bill, Brian Pinkston has called, Counselor Brian Pinkston, Vice Mayor Brian Pinkston has called it a living, breathing document that can be changed. Perfect example of this, of what I just said. The folks that championed this for years, that may be as night and day wrong as you

can possibly imagine. It reminds me of our son. He's six years old in the swimming pool. He likes to joke around and be like, daddy, help me. Daddy, help me. Daddy, help me. When he's in the swimming pool. I said, son, you don't scream or cry for help in a swimming pool ever, unless you need it. You don't joke around with that. And I recount the story of the boy who cried wolf to him. And I said, one day, if you keep asking for help in the swimming pool, we may ignore you because you've done it for so many times up until that point. And the day you need it, we may not turn and look. And he's slowly understanding that. Is it a similar, Is it a similar lesson learned with,

oh, let's do this, let's do this, let's do this, let's do this, let's do this, let's do this. If you don't do this, you're this. If you don't do that, you're that. And eventually we have to say, hey, you've already burned your credibility. You've already used up your equity in the tank. We're going to ignore you now.

Now the base doesn't want to help because they're worried that... When does it get to that point? Who knows? John Blair's photo on screen. Jerry, these mass rezonings in cities are a prime example of the silliness of relying on pure abstract economic ideas

without considering practical considerations. In the abstract, it is true that a greater supply should meet demand, and as demand is met, the price signal should drop. Housing activists have tried to apply this abstract principle to land use. As with all abstractions, there's a problem. Housing activists only looked at the idea of boxes, houses,

when they said greater supply should drop the price of the box. But they failed to account that increasing the amount of boxes you could build on land, the price on land would rise. When the price of land increases, the price of the boxes increases. The land price increases canceled out and added more cost to the box than the simple abstraction of increased supply of the boxes the price has to drop. Perfectly said. What he's basically said is they've made the land more

opportunistic, which makes it more expensive. All right. Viewers and listeners, our next topic. Next lower third on screen, if you could, please do to be with our. I want to spend two minutes on this topic. Okay? Only two minutes on Joe Biden.

Siri, set a timer for two minutes. Two minutes. Counting down. Set the stage due to wick hour. Well, as most of us know, Biden has been, I mean, Biden has been using our city's name in his campaign for quite a while. He used it as his reason for campaigning against Trump in the last election, and he's talked about it.

I mean, he brought it up again most recently on the debate. And now he has opened a campaign office just outside of Charlottesville. I don't know if he will come and visit. I don't know if he'll come visit Charlottesville. I don't even know if he will come and visit. I don't know if he'll come visit Charlottesville. I don't even know if he'll come and use this campaign office. It's already in use by several other Democratic politicians in our area. And I think it's just interesting that... All right, here's the story in a nutshell with 45 seconds left on this topic. Joe Biden is using

Charlottesville like a chess piece. He's now opened a campaign office in Charlottesville and he has not visited Charlottesville. He used Charlottesville as the motivation to run for his first term. He's using Charlottesville as political fodder in the first debate. Joe Biden has a campaign office in Charlottesville and has not visited Charlottesville. A-12-2017.

It's not in Charlottesville. Branchlands. It's Charlottesville. Albemarle County. That's the urban ring. Call it Charlottesville. Okay. Why has the man not come to Charlottesville

if Charlottesville is so important to him and his campaign? That is a fair question. Do you agree? Yeah, that's a fair question. I'm not really sure what he would do here, but yeah. Why has he not come to Charlottesville? Next topic, Judah Wittkower. I'm going to get to some previous comments. Carly Wagner, her photo on screen. In Northern Virginia, there's a 1% added tax for each sale

for congestion relief and another 1% for WMATA. That's 2% they get for infrastructure for each and every sale. So she's highlighting that additional density in Northern Virginia is a clear-cut 3% additional driver of tax revenue. Neil Williamson, for what it's worth, the new zoning ordinance went into effect in February 2024. Neil Williamson is giving us perspective there, saying we don't have the deepest of runway

for empirical data. That's what that comment means. And I respect that comment from Mr. Williamson. He also says perhaps the first step is to repeal the inclusionary zoning regulations. I think that's a fantastic first step. He's highlighted that on the Free Enterprise Forum. The inclusionary zoning requirements

tied to area median income and the 99 years are so obscenely stupid that you've got to change that first if you're going to have any kind of impact. Carly Wagner says the progressives always campaign for helping the less fortunate, but a few decades on, how have the policies functionally helped? Bingo, Carly Wagner. Strong comment from CWAGS right there. Love the comment, CWAGS. Lisa Costolo wants to join in on the lawsuit. How does she sign up? And she says, in Charlottesville, they rounded up all the support for upzoning from everyone in the city who does not live in the targeted areas.

My neighborhood was targeted. No one asked me or my neighbors anything. And she lives in Cherry Avenue. She wants to be included into the lawsuit. Viewers and listeners, you guys make the show special. This is a sad story that we predicted would happen. The third lower third on screen, please. What's up?

The Mel's Cafe GoFundMe to save Mel's Cafe with little pomp and circumstance has been halted and disabled. When the GoFundMe was launched,

with significant pomp and circumstance, after Mr. Melvin Walker passed, it gained NBC29 and Daily Progress and Seville Weekly media coverage, CBS19 media coverage, and coverage on this fine and fair talk show, the I Love Seville Show. Now, myster 19 media coverage, and coverage on this fine and fair talk show, the I Love Seville show. Now, mysteriously, quietly, the GoFundMe has been shuttered. I have a number of questions.

Does this mean Mel's Cafe is permanently closed? The second question, I think you have the answer to this. If they don't hit their $20,000 goal, which was their milestone, they're at the halfway marker, $10,223, does the money get returned to donors? It does not. The money does not get returned to donors?

Nope. What's different about GoFundMe from other types of programs like this is that, and I'm reading from... Their policy page? Basically, yeah. Even if you don't reach your goal, you can withdraw every cent minus the transaction fees. I mean, do you want to touch that topic? I mean, I think the question is... You're a more diplomatic person than I am. Do you want to touch that topic of $10,223

in GoFundMe donations raised in the immediate timeline or the immediacy of local institutions' death portrayed in a way to save the restaurant, the GoFundMe disabled, now $10,223 on hand. Somebody's got that money. I think a good question is what is it going to be used for? Is it going to help keep Mel's Cafe open? And

if not, are the donors entitled to getting their money back? Will the money be sent back to the donors? Yeah. Is it a fair question to ask? Definitely. Do you think it's a fair question?

Yeah. If I donate money for a specific... Cause? I would want to know that that's what the money was being used for. And if the money couldn't be used for that, I would want my money back. There it is. Hopefully, they'll find a use for it.

How can the use not be saving and reopening mouths? It's got to be that. Hopefully, that's what it will be used for. But if they needed $20,000 to save and reopen mouths, and the campaign was stopped at $10,223, we don't know they needed $20,000.

They said that in the copy. Did they say that we cannot keep this open without $20,000? It says... Exact words. With this being such a sudden situation, we were asked in the community in which Mr. Walker loved and who loved him dearly to make contributions

so we can get things back up and running and continue what he started 30 plus years ago. All donations will go towards trying to keep Mel's Cafe doors open. So it doesn't specifically say that they need $20,000 for a specific... All donations will go towards trying to keep Mel's Cafe open.

Yeah. I'll let you, the viewer and listener, determine how you want to look at this storyline. Next headline, my friend, Judah B. Wicara. Which one is it? Is this the Trailblazer Elementary? I want to spend two minutes on this and not a single second over two minutes.

Tell me when you're ready to do this. New school name. Siri, set a timer for two minutes on this and not a single second over two minutes. Tell me when you're ready to do this. New school names. Siri, set a timer for two minutes. Two minutes. Counting down. Go, G. This one's crazy. I mean, you've already talked about Venable being changed to Trailblazer

Elementary School. Clark Elementary School is going to be renamed Summit Elementary School. And, I mean, this one is completely understandable. Charlottesville Albemarle Technical Education Center, KTEC, will be renamed the Charlottesville Area Technical Education Center. Okay. I'm cool with that one. Yeah. Well, because Charlottesville now owns it, and it's not in a'm cool with that one. Yeah.

Well, because Charlottesville now owns it, and it's not in a joint venture with Albarr County. Yeah. So just changing the A from Albarr to areas, fine. It's both fine and smart. And strategic. They don't have to change the sign, at least not in terms of the acronym.

Judah's in the branding business. Well said, my friend. How about taking elementary school and naming it after a sports utility vehicle? Does Chevy, the Chevrolet, get its logo on the school? Is this named after a 4x4? Is a publicly traded company

underwriting the rebranding efforts of Venable? I'm joking, obviously. My favorite rebranding of all of them is the rebranding of Sutherland Middle School to Lakeside Middle School. You call a school Lakeside. You'd think it would be beside a lake. But it's not next to a lake.

Please make it make sense. How do we call a school lakeside when there is no lake next to the school? Yep. And now we're naming elementary schools after sports utility vehicles. Do I need to spend any more time on

this? There's five seconds left. Four, three, two, one. I can't talk anymore about that. The next topic, Judah Wickauer. Let's see. A new meatery opening up. Is this Mr. John Kluge's meatery? Is it? I don't know.

Set the stage, please. Let's see. Thistle, rock. Oh, it is. Mead. Do you know what? I wish him nothing but the success. Nothing but success.

Do you know, have you ever had meadery? mead is made with honey yeast and water and it's the oldest alcohol known to humankind the co-founder and ceo of thistle rock is john kluge the son of the late see a billionaire with i i think his father was a billionaire? I think his father was a billionaire. Thistle Rock. Do you know about mead, Judah? I know a little bit about it. I certainly wouldn't call myself an expert. I welcome the addition of Thistle Rock to the Keswick Alcohol Trail. Out there with Keswick Vineyards and Castle Hill and Patch, another stop on the Keswick Trail. Welcome, John Kalugi.

Wish you nothing but success. I appreciate the fact that they're a nature-first honey and mead company. Obviously, anybody that knows even the slightest bit about mead, which is about where I am. I know nothing about mead. Is that it requires honey. Okay. Honey requires bees. You've probably seen in the news somewhere over the last few years the trouble that bees are having

and the efforts of people to keep hives and bees going strong. And I think a business like this will not only do that, but it will also provide people in our area a, I don't know, a learning, a place to learn about that type of thing as well. Maybe some new jobs. Some additional tax revenue for Albemora County, incremental revenue. Carly Wagner highlights

the added density in northern Virginia makes jurisdictions richer as well. More people, more units, more taxes, 100%. Carly Wags, C-Wags. Jason Howard on Rio Road, his photo on screen, that inclusionary zoning requirement, 10% tied to 60% AMI for 99 years, sounds like something that will guarantee small projects with a higher price point. Fewer units means less stress on infrastructure.

Perhaps. It also shows the lack of vision of those who put it together. John Kluge, nothing but success. Open Thursday through Sunday. Two quick items out of the notebook. The moderate severe drought continues in Virginia. My grass is begging for water.

This is, I've been here 24 years, one of the longest stretches of drought-like conditions I can remember maybe ever. Yeah, I think the rain we got on the 4th of July was a blessing. It was a huge blessing. Think about all the people, not just in terms of the drought, but think of all the people setting off fireworks. Possibly, I mean, that could have been terrible. Smokey the Bear says, if you set off fireworks when it hasn't rained for four weeks, you're

going to burn your house down. Or somebody else's, which is even worse. We need some rain. Second to last item out of the notebook that we'll spend some time on, what is a bigger stain in Seville, the VO scooters or the meals tax? But there's two UVA tennis players still alive in Wimbledon. I watched Emma Navarro beat Coco golf in convincing fashion yesterday. The number two seated Wimbledon Coco golf, Emma Navarro beat her like a drum, picked her apart like Thanksgiving Turkey.

At one o'clock today, and I think the match is underway, Danielle Collins is playing. She's the 11th seed. She's playing the 31st seed. I can't say the 31st seed's last name. I can't say Danielle Collins and USA. Let's go Team USA. There's two UVA alum that are playing in Wimbledon for what is maybe the most prestigious trophy in tennis.

Two of them still alive. We have an abundance of riches with our athletic department. We'll talk about this on the Jerry and Jerry show tomorrow. The last topic, Judah Wickauer, put it on screen, the VO scooters versus the meals tax. What is the bigger stain on Charlottesville, the meals tax or the VO scooters? I mean, this is a clear cut answer,

right? Yeah. I mean, when you, when you put the question that way, it's, uh, it's, it's hard to not go with the meals tax. Yeah. I mean, the VOs are a pain. They're a stain. It's, they're a stain. You know, a lot of people use them and I think the problem is, you know, I don't know how you get people to be more… Consideration? Yeah, to be more considerate and responsible. Leaving your scooter like… Blocking the sidewalk in an intersection on private property? I don't think that's the fault of Vio necessarily.

Well, interestingly, Vio is the one that pays the fees. So when a scooter is parked illegally or parked improperly, improperly is a better word. When a scooter is parked improperly around Charlottesville, you can use the city app. Like, I think it's called My Charlottesville, the app. Yeah. And you can report it. And if Vio does not get the improperly parked scooters move within one hour, Vio gets fined by the city.

$100 per improperly parked scooter. So if you think Vio is a scourge on Charlottesville, like the bubonic plague or like scurvy, is Vio the scurvy of Charlottesville? You report the scooters in the MyCharlottesville app, and if they're not corrected within one hour, Vio gets popped a C-note. Every C-note is a move to push Vio out of the city.

Do we want to push them out, though? I see no benefit of Vio. Okay. What's the benefit? Some additional tax revenue? A little bit of transportation? Accessibility? Yeah. The users of VOs around the city are utilizing them in some of the most dangerous capacities I've ever seen. Utilizing a city, utilizing a scooter with no helmet or body protection that goes 25 to 30 miles an hour as if it was an effing vehicle. Whisking in and around traffic without a seatbelt, a helmet, or any kind of body protection whatsoever. I would be terrified if one of our sons used a VO scooter.

In particular, after hours, even worse, after some tomfoolery, some revelry, and some adult spirits. Now, to Judah's point, let's cut to the chase. The meals tax is absolutely out of control. We're talking with the state tax, the meals tax, we're talking over 12%. Was it 12.5%? 12.3%? 12.5%?

12.3. 12.3%, Judah. Yeah. That's insane. 12.3%. I'd like to see, I haven't taken a look at any other areas, but I wonder how that measures up across Virginia and then outside of Virginia. Well, it's only going to create Almar County to raise theirs to match it.

12.3% in the city. Good God. Any closing thoughts from Judah Wickhauer did you see the GoFundMe with Joe Thomas yeah I did see it Joe Thomas the broadcaster who purchased a Stantonian radio signal previously employed by Monticello Media

has launched a GoFundMe I got nothing but respect and love for Joe Thomas he was my boss for a short while, Joe Thomas. And in his GoFundMe, he says, I'll read it verbatim, help Joe keep serving Virginia's community. My name is Joe Thomas, and after a 37-year career in radio broadcasting, my wife and I purchased a radio station of our own earlier this year. This is an exciting time for us and nerve-wracking as we try to serve our community and help the businesses of our area. Stay at Waynesboro Harrisonburg through advertising, but that's not why I'm here. While trying to generate business supporting

sponsorships, I find myself the subject of a lawsuit and with what revenue we have started to generate needed to go to employee pay and operating costs, I need to ask for your help with my mounting legal bills. I cannot get into specifics of the scenario that leads to the suit. Out of concern, it might further inflame the grievances that led to it in the first place. He's 60 years old, he says. He says, I do know that sometimes relationships do end up like this. I mean, are we reading through the... Are we interpreting this as an insinuation that George Reed's Monticello Media is suing Joe Thomas? Is that the interpretation here? Sure.

Is that the most logical interpretation of what's happening, would you say? I'd say that sounds pretty logical. Sounds pretty logical, right? Probably had a non-compete in place. He's going after advertisers that Monticello Media also went after in a radio market that somewhat has some overlap. He says in a Facebook post, Joe Thomas, eight hours ago, hopefully this covers the legal bills. And if we raise more than we need, we will hold a nominating process to pick

the local nonprofit that we will gift with extra money. From my experience, you're always short on your estimation when it comes to legal bills. Also, it's crazy to say this, $10,000 with legal bills is not a ton of money when your representation is charging $350, $450, $500 an hour. And you may see this, I'm just spitballing right here. You may be seeing a little bit of bullying, legal bullying here, where Monticello Media realizes that it could bleed a potential competitor who made them lose face in the media, literally and figuratively. And maybe they can bleed them in the court by mounting legal bills at a time when startup capital is crucial to Mr. Thomas' success.

And that's unfortunate if that's what's happening. Because the best situation was probably to create a joint venture with Mr. Thomas' new media company, widen your radio signal coverage area, and target more regional advertising dollars. Create a revenue share of some capacity. That's good business. Having a small, a David and Goliath brouhaha where David's going to have to get a slingshot and a couple of pebbles to survive does not make Goliath look good in any capacity. Nora Gaffney says this.

People are very confused about saving the bees. We are not trying to save honeybees. They are not native to the United States. We are trying to save native bees. Keeping honeybees can be harmful to native bees, Judah. It's complicated and worth some effort and study to understand. That's why folks are planting native gardens to support the native bees. That's a good point.

Bill McChesney. Sounds like the same thing that happened to W-R-E-N. Mr. McChesney, the mayor of McIntyre, thank you for watching the program. Nora Gaffney, thank you for watching the program. So one last thing. This is an interesting... I found an article.

This is from 2012. In 2012, visitors to Minneapolis, Minnesota, this is from 2012 in 2012 visitors to Minneapolis, Minnesota paid the highest combined meals tax of 10.77% that was the highest in the country Minneapolis, the same place where upzoning originated the same place where upzoning originated.

The same place where upzoning originated. Ginny Hu watching the program. She says this. I love when Ginny Hu watches the show. She says, on Twitter, Joe has already over half of the requested amount. Joe already has more than half of the requested amount on GoFundMe. He stated that if extra is raised,

there will be a nomination process for local nonprofits. I saw that. And she definitely interprets it the way that Monticello Media is suing him. That's unfortunate. I used to work for Monticello Media. All right, that's the talk show. We did well.

Judah, you did well. He's been excellent. Give Judah Wickower some props. It's got to be the haircut. What was the guy, the super strong guy who cut his hair? Samson. Samson. Samson.

Had the opposite effect with you. Reverse Samson. We've got a reverse Samson. Samson. Had the opposite effect with you. Reverse Samson. We've got a reverse Samson here. Now all I need is a, what is it? A reverse Samson. A donkey's jawbone and... A slingshot and a couple pebbles, a few fish and some loaves of bread,

and evidently a bunch of native bees and some honey. There you go. Mixing your Bible metaphors. For Judah B. Wittkower, my name is Jerry Miller. It's the I Love Seville Show. So long, everybody. I like the Bible metaphors.