Date Archives October 2005

Northern VA taking CAAR’s lead on affordable housing

It’s a start – Such a program would be geared toward county employees — including teachers, firefighters, police officers and nurses who make too much to qualify for Montgomery’s affordable-housing program but not enough to buy a house or condominium at market rate, Silverman said.CAAR started a similar program last year….  Providing housing for those who provide the integral community services should be a top priority for all municipalities….  That said, government should not be looked to to provide the solution for the affordable housing crisis, but should look to help facilitate public-private partnerships.  We all benefit when police, firefighters, nurses and teachers can afford to live down the street rather than 45 minutes or an hour away.

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APF, Bird Flu

Jim Bacon says:Tim Kaine has gone astray.  He’s taken a populist, NIMBY-like position here.  The problem in Virginia isn’t “out of control” growth, and the solution isn’t giving local governments the power to nix proposed developments that will generate negative traffic impacts.  Kaine’s proposal would simply give local governments power to block projects without enouraging them to make the kinds of positive changes they need to make.APFs are good in a theoretical vacuum; in practice, they simply don’t work.Bird Flu preparations.

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Redistricting in Albemarle County

WINA and the DP have their roundups, but I think the best commentary is that provided by Brian Wheeler, the only member of the Board who blogs about his governmental experience.  I did a search on Google that was for the following words:lessons in humility, school redistrictingWould you believe of the over 9,200 hits the number one item was a story about redistricting in Albemarle County schools in 1993.  It was written by a mediator who used the Sutherland middle school redistricting as a case study in conflict resolution.What got me searching for insights on humility was a bible verse:Matthew 23:12 – Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
I want to talk about humility, not humility we might possess before a God, but rather humility before an immense community challenge like redistricting.Brian seems to feel that the best interests of the entire community were not represented.  Agree with him or not, that he has the conviction and intestinal fortitude to stand for what he believes is the right path for the County is commendable.

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Jack Jouett BoS Debate

The forum this evening was attended by only about twenty people, due in large part to the high school football games that were rescheduled from Friday to today.Dennis Rooker and Christian Schoenwald disagreed on many aspects of how Albemarle is and will grow….  First and foremost, Dennis Rooker stated that the Old Trail development in Crozet is an almost perfect model of how a new urbanist development should look….  Are they really going to sell so many homes almost 50% current market value?  What kind of kooky deed restrictions are they going to have?Cvillepodcast should have the forum posted later this evening or tomorrow morning.

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