There’s only a few days left until Christmas, but there’s still time to shop online and support Black-owned businesses in Charlottesville. Today’s Patreon-fueled shout out is for you to check out a curated gift guide for several Black-owned businesses. You can see the link in the newsletter. This includes apparel from Dop3 Fashion to gifts from the Hive. Check it out today, and show your support.
On today’s show:
The Charlottesville Police Civilian Review Board finishes out 2021
Three major commercial purchases have taken place in Charlottesville this month
The Charlottesville Area Community Foundation hands out some awards
Southwood park gets a name
Since the last newsletter went out on Thursday, the Virginia Department of Health has reported another 18,388 cases, with a seven day average of new cases today of 3,791. Today seven-day average for positive PCR tests is 11.4 percent, down from the 11.6 percent reported on Thursday.
The Blue Ridge Health District has reported another 318 cases since Thursday, and the trend is more cases in the outlying counties. For instance, Louisa County has added 59 cases in the past 5 days, compared with 41 in the city of Charlottesville over that period. Nelson has also had 41 cases reported, and Greene has had 34 cases and Fluvanna has had 28. Albemarle, the most populated locality in the Blue Ridge Health District, has had 115 new cases.
Over the weekend, news coverage surfaced that the latest epidemiological model put together by Biocomplexity Institute at the University of Virginia predicts a surge of 98,000 cases a week in Virginia in the first week of February. The reproductive rate was reported at 1.394 on December 14, with 1 being a number that health officials have said we don’t want to be over.
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The final meeting of the Charlottesville City Council happened last night, and we’ll have more from that in the next few newsletters. In fact, the next two weeks will include information from meetings I’ve not had a chance to get to yet. That includes the Charlottesville Police Civilian Review Board, which met last Thursday. The public comment during Thursday’s meeting of the Charlottesville Police Civilian Review Board gave a chance for people to discuss recent events.
“I want this to be a community engagement session instead of a real public comment in light of what’s been happening in our community the past few months and recently and to give people who want to look at us a liaison between the community and potential police misconduct and a liaison with the city departments that,” said Nancy Carpenter.
The CRB has been asking for a separate attorney to represent its interests, as opposed to someone from the city attorney’s office.
“That is still in negotiations so the city has identified a law firm and the procurement office in that law firm are still working out the numbers so hopefully some time in the early new year we will have the legal representation,” said James Watson, the CRB’s chair.
Carpenter said she wanted the law firm to be able to review the upcoming ordinance changes that will be made to reflect new state legislation on civilian review board.
“The law firm that is going to support us is really only scoped out to support us in the event that we’re conducting a hearing or there is some type of conflict in something that we basically see one way and the city sees differently,” Watson said.
The People’s Coalition, a project of the Legal Aid Justice Center, has offered to provide this legal advice on behalf of the CRB.
Watson said the CRB has received a total of eight complaints since July, six of which are closed. One of the complaints is from the man at the center of a recent controversy between the Unitarian Universalist Church and Charlottesville Police Chief RaShall Brackney. Go back and read that here.
“We’ve sent Mr. Hoffman saying that if he would like us to pursue a hearing pertaining to his complaint that we could do so,” Watson said. “I’ve been advised that when we get these complaints and we come on this meeting, you know, we are just limited in what we can talk about in these cases that are under Internal Affairs investigations while those investigations are being conducted.”
The city is seeking applications for a vacancy on the CRB. The deadline to apply is January 22, 2021. Click here for more information. City resident Tracy Hopper told the CRB that she feels the position needs to be filled as soon as possible.
“And I support any and all of your efforts to encourage City Council quickly, as soon as possible, because I’ve been following all the changes with the legislation and also the history of the board to start with, and you guys have a lot of work to do and you need as many people as possible to help you,” Hopper said.
The vacancy was not filled at Council’s meeting last night.
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A shopping center on Preston Avenue in Charlottesville has changed hands. The two acre Preston Plaza has sold for $6.5 million to a limited liability company based in Charlottesville. The shopping center was built in 1968 according to the city’s property records. The property was assessed for just under $5 million and the address associated with the new owner traces back to the company PBM Capital, which has offices in Charlottesville.
In another commercial sale, a two-story office building in downtown Charlottesville constructed in 1994 to house National Optronics has been sold to a limited liability company. In November 2018, Charlottesville Tomorrow reported that the property would be redeveloped by 100 Avon LLC as a mixed-use building. Now the property has been transferred at a price of $4.5 million, or about 10 percent less than its assessed value.
The historic warehouse that houses South Street Brewery and several offices has been sold to a company called West South Street LLC. 106 South Street sold for $3.28 million on December 7, or about 39 percent over the assessed value of $2.35 million. The same LLC purchased the building next store in November 2019 for $1.4 million.
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Four area nonprofits have been awarded three grants to allow them to expand their operations. The Prana Fund at the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation has announced $22,847 in all.
The Prana Fund is a creation of Karyn and Brice Smith, who seek to support initiatives that
“Integrate environmental education and the visual arts through hands-on educational opportunities for children living in Charlottesville and/or Albemarle County.”
The Rivanna Conservation Alliance and Lighthouse Studio will work together on a project called “Telling Watershed Stories through Film” for Albemarle County middle-school students who speak English as a second language.
The Murray Community School will receive funding to expand its “grab and go” kits for science, technology, engineering and math (STEAM). Their Saturday Series of workshops have not been held due to the pandemic.
Finally, Camp Wildrock will get funding for a summer day camp with city elementary schools.
“By immersing themselves in the wooded areas behind the schools and parks within walking distance, children will develop a feeling of connection and concern for nature in their own community” reads the description.
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Residents have named a new park that will be part of the redeveloped Southwood Mobile Home Park. Habitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville announced that Five Pillars Park will be named that way to reflect values espoused by University of Virginia basketball coach Tony Bennett. According to a press release, Bennett recently met with residents who are helping design the first village. Those pillars are “humility; servanthood; passion; unity; and thankfulness.”
As part of the first village, fifty current Southwood families are getting assistance with their finances to save up for new homes. Habitat purchased the land in 2007 and the Albemarle Board of Supervisors rezoned land for the first phase in August 2019. Construction on the first homes is expected to begin this upcoming summer.
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December 22, 2020: COVID cases continue to grow; Three big commercial transactions in Charlottesville this month