September 22nd, 2011 issue #1038
September 22nd, 2011
Corridor cleaning: Strings attached to 29 Bypass money
When Secretary of Transportation Sean Connaughton told the Metropolitan Planning Organization July 27 which Charlottesville and Albemarle projects he'd recommend funding in addition to the Western U.S. 29 bypass, many may have overlooked his letter's last two paragraphs, in which he laid out what Albemarle is expected to do in return: come up with a plan to limit access on the rest of U.S. 29.read moreGreen light: Why not sync every signal before Bypassing?
Can you imagine zipping up U.S. 29 north through green lights and reaching the airport in a matter of minutes, so efficiently that, wait, we don't need this new $436 million, forest-cutting, mountain-moving road that just been revealed to cost double earlier estimates? Okay, maybe that's not in the wildest imagination of planners.read moreNot political? Boyd names bypass terminus committee
Sometimes it seems there's nothing local governments love better than to set up citizen task forces. That's why it was so out of the ordinary to hear a rash of criticism when Rivanna District Supe Ken Boyd called a press conference to announce an advisory group for the soon-out-for-bid-yet-undesigned Western 29 bypass northern terminus.read more
4Better Or Worse
The week in review
Most clueless board: The Commonwealth Transportation Board. In late June, VDOT's own engineers peg the cost of building the Western Bypass as $436 million, nearly double th...
The Dish
Oktoberfest at Horse & Hound
Once again, Horse & Hound Gastropub is gearing up for their Oktoberfest celebrations starting September 17 and ending October 28. They'll have a special German menu and...Paint the farm delicious
On Saturday, October 1 paintings of local farm animals will meet local foods to benefit local farms. Local painter Nancy Bass, whose unique images of farm animals have been...VIDEO TOUR: Blue Mountain Brewery expands
Question of the Week
Real Estate - $old
Beta days ahead?
7/25/11 Julie Peters to Kenneth Pederson, 1243 Cedars Court, Unit A5, $85,000, Charlottesville David & Kathleen Madison to Teresa McGill, 1139 St. Clair Avenue, $200,00...Real Estate - On the Block
Inside out: Colonial uses outdoors for living
Address: 2333 Whippoorwill Road Neighborhood: Whippoorwill Hollow Asking: $449,900 &nb...Real Estate Property auctions
Property auctions
September 27 at 10am at the Charlottesville Circuit Court Property: 118 Longwood Drive units A & B Debtor: Victoria L. Scott Original amount owing: $188,000 Bidder brin...
Art Features
Wild kingdom: Dimock lets the animals loose
Did you hear about the Egyptian Cobra that escaped from the Bronx Zoo last spring? While people panicked that a poisonous snake might turn up on their doorsteps, one Twitte...
DR. HooK
Busy bee: A doctor's work is ... always interrupted
“Popularity breeds contempt.” Boy George says that before he sings “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?”I was never popular growing up in my hometown in Ohio, so I never...
Movie Reviews
Visceral, disturbing: 'Straw Dogs' remake better than the first
This new version of Straw Dogs is a reasonably close adaptation of the 1971 film by Sam Peckinpah. Change the location from England to Mississippi, change a mathematician i...
Music Features
Bong passers: Wavves the new John Williams?
Wavves is the brainchild of Nathan Williams, a San Diego stoner specializing in punk rock best suited for smoking and skateboarding. His first two albums were buzzed-about ...
News
$499 question: Does Council candidate even live in the city?
At the Jefferson School groundbreaking September 14, the topic of conversation sometimes seemed to be less the milestone the historic school had achieved, but instead the f...
Caravati charged: Former mayor arrested for spouse assault
Details of the incident that resulted in a domestic violence charge against former Charlottesville Mayor J. Blake Caravati did not emerge Friday, September 16 when he appe...
Hoop-rolling at Monticello
Monticello's famous West Lawn harked back to the earlier days depicted in a famous watercolor as youths tried "hoop rolling," a venerable pastime, during the annual Harvest...
Naked emperor? 'Glitchy system' triggers call for school leadership change
In the wake of the Hook's recent cover story Glitchy system: Inside the student software debacle, which examined the County's purchase of a faulty student information syste...
Snap: Jefferson School collects big checks
The long-anticipated Jefferson School renovation officially kicked off September 14 with the ringing of a school bell by a former student and donations of $67,000 to the $1...
Thanks for the road
Here's a sign you don't see everyday around here. Town Center Drive opened in March and connects U.S. 29 just south of Hollymead Town Center to Dickerson Road near the airp...On Architecture
Snuffed out? Fire ban puts a damper on UVA tradition
A tradition as old as the UVA Lawn itself was recently snuffed out, at least temporarily, as University officials announced last week that students living on the Lawn and t...
The Brazen Careerist
Barnyard basics: Life lessons from a chicken farm
One summer, when I found myself with no job and no plan, I panicked and took a job on a chicken farm in the French countryside. I told myself the job would look good on my ...
Sports Doctor
Boxing's new low: Choice of Cortez sealed Ortiz' fate
Boxing has never been pretty. The blood turns a lot of people off, but die-hard fans (required, with such a dearth of talent in most divisions) know that boxing’s violenc...
Strange But True
Awesome! Simple act of yawning hard to explain
Q. Even the most mundane-seeming acts of an average day are anything but. Does that include yawning? –R. V. Winkle
Online only
Table of contents
COVERIn sync?What must Albemarle do to get the Western bypass built? What is corridor cleansing, and what does it mean for you? And what's with Ken Boyd's private comm...
Letters
Schilling concocts Dem capitulation
Rob Schilling’s article on the Democratic City Council primary [August 25: "Game over: Whites 2, blacks 0 in Democrats' firehouse primary"] comes up with such whopp...Schilling opined without asking
Regarding Rob Schilling’s imaginative essay [August 25: "Game over: Whites 2, blacks 0 in Democrats' firehouse primary"]:
Black and White
Three chieftains
These three members of the CFD– Battalion Chief Pete Sweeney, Volunteer Chief Tom Yenovkian, and Volunteer Assistant Chief Jessie Sexton– were part of the 9/11 ...
Full Stories List for September 22nd, 2011 issue #1038
4Better Or Worse
Black and White
News
Art Features
Real Estate - $old
Sports Doctor
Photophile
Cover Stories
On Architecture
The Dish
Strange But True
Music Features
Online only
Question of the Week
Real Estate Property auctions
Real Estate - On the Block
The Brazen Careerist