Today’s Patreon-fueled shout-out comes from a patron who wants to say:
“Vote. That's it. Just vote. Vote early. Take your friends to vote early. Vote in person. Vote early! Did I already mention that?” I think he did.
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There have been another 1,021 cases of COVID-19 reported by the Virginia Department of Health today, for a cumulative total of 121,615. There have been another 32 deaths recorded for a total of 2,612 to date. The statewide seven-day average for positive tests increased to 7.7 percent today, up from 7.4 percent yesterday. In the Thomas Jefferson Health District, there are another 15 cases and no new deaths reported today. The seven-day average for positive tests was not available at recording time.
The University of Virginia reports another eight cases of COVID-19 today, with six of those being students. That brings the total number of cases since August 17 to 123, with 89 of those students. UVA returns for in-person classes a week from now, on September 8. (UVA COVID tracker)
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With the pandemic entering its sixth month, thousands of Virginians face eviction as the economic slowdown has put so many out of work. Governor Ralph Northam announced yesterday a $4 million payment to the Legal Services Corporation of Virginia to hire more attorneys to represent those who will end up in court to challenge eviction notices. A moratorium on evictions expired on June 28 and was reinstated in August. That now runs out again on September 7. In the meantime, there are a lot of pending cases.
“Ten thousand eviction cases were docketed in Virginia courts from mid-July to August,” Northam said. “The Virginia Poverty Law Center estimates some 230,000 eviction cases could be filed through the end of this year.”
More than a million Virginians have filed for unemployment benefits since the pandemic began. The Northam administration has created a Rent and Mortgage Relief Program that has $50 million in funding, including $450,000 in the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission. Still, many of the eviction cases will proceed, and Northam said hiring more attorneys can help affected households navigate the process.
“Legal Aid makes a real difference if you’re facing eviction,” Northam said. “In fact, when Legal Aid attorneys represent people in eviction proceedings, 72 percent have successful outcomes.”
The $4 million payment consists of a $2 million repayment from IKEA for unemployment benefits its employees received from the state when stores were shut down in the early days of the pandemic. The other half comes from the proceeds of taxes on skills machines in Virginia.
For more on the state of evictions in the state of Virginia, read this August 31 article by Ned Oliver in the Virginia Mercury.
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Local sales tax collections are up sharper this year in the communities that surround Albemarle and Charlottesville, but the city’s revenues have declined. That’s one conclusion drawn from the Free Enterprise Forum’s Retail Report for the second quarter of 2020.
Forum President Neil Williamson and former Chamber of Commerce president Tim Hulbert analyzed data collected from each community and found that local sales tax revenues increased by 18.5 percent in Fluvanna, 18.5 percent in Greene and 24.3 percent in Louisa. Albemarle collected one percent more than in the second quarter of 2019, and Charlottesville’s sales tax collection was 11.6 percent less this year over last year.
The report states that one factor is a reduction in people commuting to Charlottesville and spending money in their home communities. Another theory is that dramatically fewer people were in Charlottesville as a result of the closure of the University of Virginia in March.
“As enterprises continue to pivot their business models to accommodate social distancing and other COVID-19 realities, we are hopeful that the economic rebound we see in some localities becomes a region wide trend,” Williamson and Hulbert write in the report, which also attributes some of the higher numbers to the recent Supreme Court decision mandating localities to receive sales tax from online purchases made within their jurisdiction.
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In nine days, the Charlottesville Business Innovation Council (CBIC) will finally hold its annual awards gala, just three months after the pandemic caused the May event to be canceled. Each year, the CBIC gala honors tech companies and innovators in the community and this year’s event will be a little different. The gala will be held electronically but not on a regular Zoom call. Instead, participants will be seated at a virtual table and can interact and network with their seat mates. Heidi Tombs is the co-chair of the CBIC Gala.
“We were looking for the virtual solution to put on this event,” said Heidi Tombs, co-chair of the CBIC Gala. “We were really looking to capture some elements of the gala that our attendees have given us great feedback about in the past and two of those essential elements are connecting with our local innovators through Innovators Row and being able to network, whether you are looking for your next job opportunity or looking for investors or just looking to connect with other people in your industry who can help you make your way.”
Awards include Business of the Year, Partnership of the Year, and the Social Good Award. Review the finalists on the CBIC Gala website. This year’s event is open to admission on a pay as you can basis. The event takes place on September 10 beginning at 5 p.m.
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There are three meetings of note coming up today that might be of interest. The first is the Albemarle Board of Zoning Appeals, which has a routine public hearing on a sign for three new buildings coming to Pantops at the corner of U.S. 250 and Route 20. As a reminder, these are a Wawa, a self storage unit, and a 122-room hotel. (meeting info)
Next, the Albemarle Planning Commission will have a work session on Crozet’s future land use map, and specifically a discussion about what is known as “middle missing” housing. That refers to structures with multiple residential units, such as duplexes, fourplexes and other forms.
“They are referred to as “missing” because they have typically been prohibited from being constructed by zoning ordinances across the United States and are typically a more affordable option than single-family homes due to the cost of land,” reads a handout that county staff made for participants in the on-going Crozet Master Plan update.
Finally, Charlottesville Mayor Nikuyah Walker will join Charlottesville Police Chief RaShall Brackney on a new episode of Charlottesville 360, the city’s in-house talk show. This conversation begins at 5:30 p.m. (details)
A couple of corrections. Yesterday the newsletter reported the incorrect daily figure of new COVID cases for Virginia. The correct number was 847. In addition, in the Week Ahead newsletter I stated that a planned unit development project had already been approved, when in fact the item has not yet been scheduled for a public hearing with the Planning Commission and City Council. These items will be corrected in the archive.
September 1, 2020: More legal aid for those facing eviction; sales tax collections increase in surrounding counties