Month: August 2009

Gov. Tim Kaine announced yesterday  that additional state budget cuts will range from $700 million to $1.5 billion.

Kaine will have until August 19 to determine the exact amount of the cuts. He will announce exact amounts to all interested parties by Labor Day, September 7.

"While we’ve seen some positive signs, I’m not sure how much I’m going to take that into account in this adjustment," Kaine said.

Last month Kaine announced that higher education institutions, like UVA and PVCC, should provide plans for a 5, 10 and 15 percent budget cuts.
 

It’s a busy Thursday, and time is particularly short; I spent a good portion of the afternoon listening to the largely local New Legends of Streetball, Vol. 2 mixtape and, at 28 tracks, it’s a long listen. But, some items of note:

1. Local band The Hilarious Posters submitted music for a theme song contest for NPR’s Monitor Mix blog, a column penned by Feedback favorite Carrie Brownstein. The group is to be commended for avoiding some of the awful "mix" rhymes that some of the other candidates used, but still needs support. Vote or die, people.

The Hilarious Posters, "Not The Strut"

2. The Music Resource Center—harder, better, faster, and in Cincinnati? According to a press release from executive director Sibley Johns, the local music education and outreach center will open its Cincinnati affiliate tomorrow.The Cincinnati MRC, more than three years in the making, pays a nice tribute to its Charlottesville predecessor here.

3. Pantherburn performs at Fridays After Five tomorrow. Be prepared:

Pantherburn, "Fuel for Fighters"

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Creigh Deeds may not benefit from President Barack Obama’s help on the campaign trail.

According to the Washington Post, Deeds is trying to distance himself from the President on issues like health care and climate change. Deeds has “declined to take firm stands," writes Sandhya Somashekhar.

In a recent debate with Republican candidate Bob McDonnell, Deeds insisted he “is not running for Congress.”

Deeds was absent at two town halls dedicated to health-care because he did not want to get involved in initiatives brought forth by the President.

Perhaps voters who usually lean Republican but voted for Obama last November may switch back when voting for Virginia governor, the Post suggests.

Busy week around the C-VILLE office, which leads to tough decisions on late-night events; I missed the inaugural "Ol’ Dirty Bingo" night at The Box on Monday, as well as last night’s Black Moth Super Rainbow gig at Outback Lodge. Fortunately, Nailgun Media says that the former may become a monthly event. (Oh shimmy-shimmy-yeah? I hope so.)

And, lucky for me, local photographer/melodic Crotch Puncher/C-VILLE photo contest winner Billy Hunt shot some video footage of the latter. Word is that the Black Moth crew is a hands-on act, and the video seems to back it up. Touch me, I’m sick:

Black Moth Super Rainbow turns Outback Lodge into a roller rink slow jam. [Video courtesy of Billy Hunt—thanks!]

I just got back to the office after attending the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors meeting. Big agenda item of the day: The Supes voted unanimously to require developers and contractors to plant permanent vegetation on construction sites within nine months of a project’s start.

Why does this matter? The state does have erosion control regulations in place, meant to keep too much soil from running off those flattened swaths of bare red clay with which we’re all familiar. But, as county staff indicated in their report to the board, there’s a loophole in the rules that some developers have exploited. See, they’re supposed to stabilize areas that will sit dormant for more than 30 days. On the 29th day, then, if they just move some equipment and a little dirt around, they can say the area is technically not dormant and avoid planting grass or otherwise preventing erosion.

Require builders to wrap it all up within nine months, the reasoning goes, and that loophole goes away.

During the public hearing, a predictable division emerged: environmentalists on the one hand (like the Southern Environmental Law Center‘s Morgan Butler), supporting the proposal, and builders on the other hand (like the Blue Ridge Home Builders’ Association‘s Jay Willer) expressing reservations. Some of the most interesting comments came from Scott Elliff, a director of the Forest Lakes Community Association. That would be Forest Lakes, as in right across the road from Hollymead Town Centre, the swath-of-bare-red-clay that haunts this proposal like a ghost.

"We live downstream from Hollymead Town Centre," said Elliff. "We’ve been substantially damaged by the development process to the tune of $1 million or more." During three years when Hollymead was denuded, he explained, erosion from the site washed into the lake at Forest Lakes 28 times faster than it would in normal conditions.

Anyone else noticed egregious erosion in your neighborhood? What do you think of the supervisors’ vote?