Today’s Patreon-fueled shout-out comes from an anonymous supporter who wants to say - "We keep each other safe. Wear a mask, wash your hands, and keep your distance."
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In this unprecedented election, results will be counted in Virginia until Friday, but enough returns are in to reasonably draw certain conclusions. For one, Democrat Joseph Biden has defeated incumbent Donald Trump in Virginia, with 53.65 percent of the vote to Trump’s 44.5 percent. That’s with 2,580 of 2,585 precincts reporting, though a dashboard on the Virginia Department of Elections website shows the percentage of absentee ballots cast in each district.
In the 5th District, 88 percent of the received absentee ballots cast had been counted by 8:44 this morning. Republican Bob Good defeated Democrat Cameron Webb 53.4 percent to 46.3 percent. In a statement, Good said his victory was one for “the conservative values that founded and sustain this nation, for biblical principles, the sanctity of life, religious liberty, free market capitalism, and the importance of faith and family.”
In a concession statement, Webb said the campaign was a “battle of ideas about how to best serve the district.” He congratulated Good and said he looked forward to “continuing to engage with him as we move forward from this election in a unified way.”
In the 7th District, Incumbent Abigail Spanberger was about 800 votes behind Republican Nick Frietas as of 7:51 a.m. As in-person votes were counted, Freitas took an early initial lead but Spanberger drew within a couple hundred votes as absentee ballots came in. The 7th District is listed as having 89 percent of absentee ballots counted, though a disclaimer on the VDE site reads:
*Please note these statistics may not take into account all surrendered absentee ballots*”
Mail-in ballots have until noon Friday to be received by local registrars in order to be counted. Chris Piper is the Commissioner of the Virginia Department of Elections.
“Virginia is going to count every single vote,” Piper said. “The ballot can be received postmarked by election day, can be received in the office of the general registrar’s office by noon on Friday November 6 to be counted.”
Localities have until Tuesday, November 10 to certify their results. The state Board of Elections will meet on November 16 to officially certify the results.
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The Virginia Department of Health is reporting another 1,157 cases of COVID-19 this morning, bringing the seven-day average for new daily cases to 1,297. The seven-day average for positive tests remains at 5.7 percent for the second straight day.
In the Blue Ridge Health District, there are another 14 cases reported today with four from Albemarle, seven from Charlottesville, two from Fluvanna and one from Greene. The seven-day average for new daily cases is 16 and the seven-day positivity percentage for PCR tests 2 percent.
The UVA COVID-19 tracker shows 32 active cases as of yesterday with 14 of those students.
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Tourism has the potential to become more local as the country continues to contend with the global pandemic, but industry businesses will need support to make it through a tough winter.
“For the next two years, we are anticipating that people will continue to travel more domestically and that’s great news for us as a destination because we are so centrally located and near large cities,” said Courtney Cacatian, the executive director of the Charlottesville Albemarle Convention and Visitors Bureau. “We’re a small city and a rural destination simultaneously so we have a really good mix of things that people want to do right now.”
Cacatian told the public policy committee of the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce that many spent the summer satisfying their desires to move around.
“American travelers are feeling a bit more settled in than they were especially last spring and prioritizing relaxation and trying to decrease their stress and travel is one of the ways that people do that,” Cacatian said.
However, Cacatian pointed to survey research that showed more confidence in travel during the summer months, but rising COVID cases nationwide as well as colder weather has reversed that trend.
“We’re anticipating that we have hit the peak for October for how many visitors we’re going to get until the spring,” Cacatian said. “October is usually a peak for Charlottesville and Albemarle but the lows are anticipated to be much lower this winter. We just don’t know exactly how low they will go.”
In September, Albemarle County opened up a grant program called Safe Spaces and Places to help businesses pay for ways to continue operating through tents and heaters. Charlottesville businesses that receive grants can also use funding for that purpose.
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Today in meetings, the Charlottesville Housing Advisory Committee meets at noon. The agenda states that there will be a discussion of housing strategy to date. There are no other materials but I have a couple things they might consider discussing. (meeting info)
Last month, Council approved agreements for how $8.5 million in capital funds for affordable housing will be used by the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority and the Piedmont Housing Alliance.
Yesterday, the consultant overseeing development of an affordable housing plan and the completion of the city’s Comprehensive Plan released drafts of their work. They are asking the public to take a look and make comments through December 2. Take a look at the website.
The Albemarle Board of Supervisors meets at 1 p.m. One topic on the agenda is a discussion of how new civic spaces in the county’s urban area. That topic will come up when Supervisors get an update on the Rio Road form-based code. Rachel Falkenstein is a planning manager with the county and she said the plan is to help guide Albemarle transition to a more urban place.
“Our current network of streets in Rio 29 is pretty limited to two main roads, that’s Route 29 and Rio Road and then Berkmar Drive but other than that there really aren’t many public streets in Rio 29 so we’ve tried to figure out a code to get new streets but do so in a way that is flexible because we’ve heard that’s important to people,” Falkenstein at the October 22 meeting of the Places 29-Rio Community Advisory Committee.
Other items include the regional legislative agenda and a public hearing on amendments to this year’s budget.
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November 4, 2020: Good beats Webb; Biden carries Virginia; 7th District results still being counted