More free for you
Thanks for mentioning the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library in your article “Something for nothing” [January 3]. The Monticello Avenue Computer Lab is indeed a wonderful place to get free Internet access. Your readers might also like to know that Central Library has free wireless service for those patrons carrying around their laptop.
Yes, it is true that Ninja Yoga meets in Central Library’s McIntire Meeting Room. There are also lots of other nonprofit and community organizations that meet in the library’s three meeting rooms. All meetings are free and open to the public and everyone’s invited to check them out and learn what is going on in our community.
We also encourage everyone to use the library’s free online databases that give access to thousands of magazines and news sources. The databases are available 24 hours a day from home, work, or school. All you need to use them is a library card—and that is also free.
John Halliday
halliday@jmrl.org
The writer is director of the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library
Cheap attempt
How tragic that your cover article “Something for nothing” suggests that the way to do so in Charlottesville is to mooch off the rich. As a single mom, longtime C’villian and deranged bargain hunter, I eagerly opened to this article touting “frugal tips” thinking I’d find valuable advice from a trusted source. The only “value” I found was a few references to local businesses—commendable—though you sadly miss many opportunities on this front.
Instead, you recommend stealing food and entertainment from major hotels. Never mind that hardworking people making the food in these hotels have to fight for a living wage. Why not use that energy spent “running from the guards” to work for their cause? Especially since most of them don’t have laptops, much less time to drive around looking for unsecured wi-fi like your so-called poor person does. Same goes for Darden. Maybe it’s naïve to think that a few dollars saved on pilfered coffee might trickle down to UVA’s working class, but at least it’s an example of, well, thinking. And in addition to jobs, Darden and the School of Law bring educated diversity to our community—for that priceless gift, I’m glad to let them keep their own coffee.
Your article is directed at people who either “make minimum wage” (although, as I point out, not so useful for them), or who are “too busy writing experimental theater to go to work.” What about the huge number of us who have decent jobs, work hard and still can’t afford to live in this town? For those, I’d like to point out the many coupon books on sale from organizations such as Hospice, the Boy Scouts, etc., wherein you can find amazing deals on everything from free fancy meals to oil changes (from friendly local mechanics to boot!). Sure you have to shell out a bit (a little planning involved here—like keeping track of hotel guards’ schedules). But then you save hundreds. Best of all, you can be a cheapskate and do right in the world!
I have long despaired in he influx of fluffy money into this town, and its effect. (How many lipstick and gelato stores does one town need in two blocks? Although we could use more family diners.) I welcome folks with less money and more good ideas (cheapskates, we call them). But the kind you describe should not be welcome in any self-respecting town.
Megan Gillespie
Charlottesville
Nothing’s wrong with “Nothing”
Erika Howsare’s article “Something for nothing: 12 ways to beat the system” was comic relief in an overpriced town. To add to Ms. Howsare’s sage advice, travel aboard the free trolley is climate controlled for year-round comfort and follows a route convenient to many of the locations mentioned in the article. Also, using a free computer in the library, you can join freecycle.org and find Charlottesville in “US Southern Groups.” This is the best local resource for all kinds of free stuff (and you can give your stuff away too). Now, does anyone know what to do about the high housing costs?
Janette Martin
Charlottesville
Goal oriented
It is my understanding that UVA charges for admission to men’s and women’s soccer matches. There are still a large number of sports at UVA that do not charge admission. Those sports alone could make an interesting article.
Gary Westmoreland
Schuyler