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Crooks Caught?

Happy thanksgiving; hopefully these are the guys … received this email this morning:

I just wanted to let you all know that our detectives and officers have just arrested two individuals that have been linked to a large number of the burglaries and shed break-ins throughout the county. Though we may not be able to clear each case individually, we feel very confident that they are the people responsible for terrorizing our community for the past few months.

Happy Thanksgiving to each of you and your families.

Captain Gregory Jenkins

Albemarle County Police Department

Blue Ridge Division Commander

1600 5th Street Suite D

Charlottesville, VA. 22902

Office:  434-972-4041

[email protected]

Thanks, Albemarle County Police!

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Safe Routes to School delayed. Again

One day, the Safe Routes to School might get funded … I’m tired of writing about the delays, and I know Crozetians and the folks at the County just want the darn improvements finished (and started).

Trevor Henry with Albemarle County emails:

The Safe Routes To School (SRTS) bids were opened Thursday afternoon and unfortunately came in over staff’s construction estimate again even though there was significant scope changes in the plan from the previous bid, including adjusting the alignment of the sidewalk to remove ~ 350 ft. of ACSA water line relocation.

The bids were  ~$70K above the latest estimate and exceed the 25% difference in bid to estimate required by VDOT to allow the project to proceed. Staff utilized recent construction cost information from local projects and the VDOT cost database prior to confirm the cost estimate going to bid.

Staff discussed the bid results with VDOT and have  been informed that if the county can find the additional funding and justify the cost increase VDOT will support the grant funded project to move forward.  Staff is currently conducting the bid analysis are planning to request the funding increase at the January BOS meeting that if approved by the BOS and VDOT will allow the project to move forward in early spring.

Background.

With the coming budget cuts in Albemarle, I’m of the opinion that this may be a hard sell.

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Western Albemarle High School gets high ranking in new study

Western Albemarle High School was ranked the 24th best school in the state of Virginia. 

Matter of fact, the entire Albemarle County School system received an A+.

My opinion: despite the collective high rankings, schools are competing. With each other, with schools around the state, and around the county.

 

School quality matters for a lot of reasons, not least because school quality directly impacts property values – and school quality is one of the very few things in which home buyers do not compromise.

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CCAC Meeting – 19 November 2014 Recap

Big Crowd at the CCAC meeting - 19 November 2014

As usual, lots was discussed at this evening’s Crozet Community Advisory Council meeting.

  • Streetscape is nearly finished (celebration at noon on Thursday 20 November)
  • Safe Routes to School progress
  • (some) 250 improvements are funded
  • Big discussion about future economic development, strategy, efficiency.
    • What role should the CCAC play?
    • What is the CCAC charge?
    • Should there be subcommittees to be more proactive in the community?
  • What is the future of Crozet?
  • Should there be an ombudsman?
  • RFPs will be going out for the old train depot & the basement of the Crozet Library
  • The wind energy project was quite interesting.

Click through, scroll all the way to the bottom, read up and get informed.

 

I’ll post an update whenever the Charlottesville Tomorrow story is up.

 

Thankful for the wi-fi at Crozet Library – it made tweeting from my computer possible vs tweeting from my phone. 🙂

Scroll all the way to the bottom and work your way back up.
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CCAC Meeting 19 November 2014

Should be fun well, interesting (and hopefully Storify will work this time for the recap).

CROZET COMMUNITY ADVISORY COUNCIL

The Crozet Library, Crozet Wednesday,

November 19, 2014 from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

Agenda

1. Agenda Review. (Meg Holden – CCAC chair)

2. Approval of Minutes.

3. Project Updates/Information:

– Introduce Emily Kilroy and new CCAC members

– Streetscape updates/issues and celebration, safe walks to school, Harris Teeter Crossing

– Update on Barnes lumber closing – Frank Stoner

– Discussion of CDC presentation and brainstorm development issues and ideas per email I sent earlier from Dave Stoner (Jim’s edit: read that email)

– Wind energy business update and overview – Rich Pleasants

4. Items not listed on the agenda.

5. Announcements.

6. Future Agenda Items.

 

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Crozet Angel Tree 2014

Last year’s Angel Tree was a great success. This year, there are still people in need. Lisa Ebanks writes (bolding mine):

“Each Christmas season the counselors at Crozet Elementary, Brownsville and Henley partner with Crozet Baptist church to provide warm clothing for children in need. This year there were 240 children identified, up from the 225 that our community served last year. We have been able to fulfill the needs of these families as a community working together and spreading the word. Please consider “adopting” an angel or a family of 2,3 or 4 children. This is a great teaching moment for children or an awesome team building project at a place of employment.

Please contact Lisa Ebanks at [email protected] to be matched. Let’s work as a community to keep these kids warm this holiday season.”