r/Charlottesville

This is the North American wheel bug. Found him sucking the life out of a mid-stage lanternfly this evening. It’s nice to know I’m not out there fighting the battles all by myself!

If your power's still out you're probably getting a notice that it'll be fixed when they get shamrock cleared by 3. But there's another huge tree down on the lines on Briarcliff. I've called Dominion three times to report and ask when they're gonna send someone out. Everytime I've called the person was confused and thought the only downed line was the one on Shamrock. Please call Dominion to report this cause for whatever reason they can't seem to understand that there's two trees that knocked out power lines in the same area. The number is 8663664357 and when you go through the phone tree you say "report" and then "emergency" to report the downed line. Hopefully if a bunch of people call they'll actually come fix it instead of leaving hundreds of people with no power or AC during a record heatwave

I took last week off from writing these blurbs for r/Charlottesville because there wasn’t too much happening. We’re still in a lull, but there’s always something happening and I slim this down from a longer newsletter I write. Fewer blurbs this week but please ask questions to get a conversation going.

SALES TAX REFERENDUM SEASON BEGINS
For years, only a handful of localities in Virginia have had the ability to hold a referendum to see if voters will support a sales tax increase to support school construction. Legislation to extend that to all failed to make it out of a divided General Assembly in 2022 and again in 2023. Democrats took both chambers that year and the last governor, a Republican, vetoed the legislation. Permission has been granted through the budget process and now we’ll see what localities give it a shot. Locally, Fluvanna Supervisors began the process of asking the Circuit Court on July 1. Louisa will take the matter up on Monday. (learn more)

CHARLOTTESVILLE SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION
The finishing touches are being made to Charlottesville Middle School, a $92 million project that saw the renovation of Buford Middle School into an expanded facility that can accommodate 6th grade. That’s just the beginning of a series of additional projects such as a new early learning center and renovations of the high school. If Charlottesville voters approve the referendum, that will be $15 million in revenue for school construction. WIll that free up spending for other projects? Lower tax rates? (learn more)

LOUISA ZONING CHANGE FOR SHELTERS
Technically the zoning code in Louisa County is called Land Development Regulations. About a year and a half ago I wrote a story for C-Ville Weekly about efforts to change them to allow churches and other places to house people without homes to stay overnight in cold weather. Last August, the Planning Commission recommended changes to create a “humanitarian shelter” use. Louisa Supervisors will take that up on Monday. 

Two smaller things:

• The Charlottesville Tree Commission will get an update Tuesday on construction of a pending development in Fry’s Spring even though they have no say on the matter. (learn more)
• The Louisa Planning Commission will continue discussing ways to slow residential growth at a work session on Thursday. (learn more)

Please ask questions. I can answer procedural stuff and do this work to share information. I want to know what people are thinking.

like I get it you gotta market your business but holy moley I don’t need to feel like you’re literally peering into my living room

Storm last night took tree limbs down at Pen Park. ☹️

Hi,
we’re four guys, and we’ve put together Westminster’s restaurant scene in an app called Vota. The concept is simple: you see two places side by side (for example Famille vs. Kachina Southwestern Grill), you choose the place you’d rather go to, and the ranking updates instantly. The more people vote, the more accurate the list gets over time. There are still a few duplicates here and there, but I’m continuously cleaning up the data.

Here’s the iPhone version, with categories that actually fit Westminster’s food scene:
https://apps.apple.com/app/vota-restaurant-ratings/id6744969212

And here’s the Android version (finally live):
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.vota.app

P.S. I’m not from Westminster (I live in Gothenburg). I’m not collecting data, not selling anything, and the app does not use AI-generated content. I’m posting in a few different subreddits because we now support more regions, and I genuinely want honest feedback from people who actually know the area.

Really bad damage in Fry’s and Johnson Village.