Month: May 2010

The C’ville Bubble Blog reports this morning that there are 11 foreclosure auctions scheduled for today—including one for the home of Michael Aked, Managing Director of the University of Virginia Investment Management Company. Aked’s home was purchased in 2007 for roughly $1.4 million, and is listed for sale at nearly half the cost. As the Bubble Blog points out, the May 26 foreclosure auctions amount to "$21 million of loss to mortgage lenders."

The sale is slated for 4pm today, on the steps of the Albemarle County Circuit Court. Be reminded, however: The issues behind such auctions are often resolved prior to the event.

Big changes are afoot at Random Row Books after a few visits from the Charlottesville Fire Marshall, according to owner Ryan Deramus. The bookstore has served as a de facto venue and general art space since it opened in October. One of the store’s first events was a Wordsmith Poetry Jam, for which Deramus secured a temporary high occupancy permit. Since then, he says, "I dragged my feet in pursuing a permanent permit, assuming that if I didnt have anything over 150 people, that would be cool."

But the building’s standard use permit allows 49 people. "I rent on a month to month basis, so I’m not going to renovate the space to meet their requirements,” says Deramus. “So I’m just going to comply." Upcoming shows from Damien Jurado and This Will Destroy You will be moved or cancelled. Film and poetry events will go on there as planned.

Some local bands will be upset to lose Random Row as a venue. "I think certain types of shows that no one else allows," he says, "some of the metal and punk stuff that doesn’t have another venue, is going to be left out in the cold."

Calls to the fire marshall were not immediately returned.

Judge Cheryl Higgins brought her Black’s Law Dictionary to Albemarle County Circuit Court this afternoon. Higgins flipped to the definition of "proceeding" as she explained why an order to seal search warrants tied to the death of fourth-year UVA student Yeardley Love would itself remain sealed.

In short, the order to seal the search warrants falls under the definition of a legal proceeding. The writ of mandamus [in PDF here] filed on behalf of The Daily Progress, Washington Post and others was not the proper means to unsealing the order; rather, because the order constitutes a legal proceeding, media needed to file a motion to intervene.

In a letter last week, attorneys for George Huguely, the UVA student charged in Love’s death, said that they were not involved in actions pertaining to the sealing of the order.

Representatives from Schnabel Engineering Associates on Tuesday showed Rivanna Water & Sewer Authority board members the early designs of a new dam for the Ragged Mountain Reservoir.

Two Schnabel spokesmen made the case that an earthen dam—essentially an embankment of compacted earth—would be a cost-effective option to manage the area’s water supply, and would not greatly disturb the reservoir’s neighbors once construction began. The new earthen dam would raise the reservoir’s water level by 45’.

Schnabel rep Randall Bass addressed concerns about the dam’s sheer size. Of the roughly 80,000 dams in the U.S. that are more than 25’ high, about 90 percent of them are earthen, according to Bass.

“If you have the earth, it is a lot cheaper to move dirt than place concrete,” he said—contrasting Schnabel’s plan with an earlier concrete model proposed by former dam designers Gannett Fleming.

The total cost of the dam would fall in the range of $28 million to $36 million, RWSA Executive Director Tom Frederick said. He added that the price tag could be lower if local bodies act quickly to take advantage of low construction costs.

“The construction market is highly favorable at this point,” said Frederick. “Most people believe that that’s going to continue for a few more months. Beyond that, it gets fuzzy. To some degree, delaying decisions could become more costly.”

However, Betty Mooney, a member of Citizens for a Sustainable Water Plan and a perennial critic of the water plan and of Frederick, urged RWSA board members to examine whether a lower-cost option will be sound, both structurally and economically, in the long run.

In 2006, RWSA asked the firm Gannett Fleming to start designing a new Ragged Mountain Dam. After suggesting a pricey concrete dam, to the tune of roughly $72 million, Gannett Fleming’s project was halted in 2008. After a team of independent consultants found that a dam could be constructed for “substantially” less than Gannett Fleming’s estimate, RWSA hired Schnabel last September.

Schnabel’s earthen dam design will be on display during a RWSA public information session at 6pm on June 1 at CitySpace in the Market Street Parking Garage.

I’ve noticed on more than one occasion that our fridge here in the office is a lot colder than my fridge at home. I take stuff out at lunchtime and get surprised by how chilly it feels in my hand.

Well-chilled office eats.

A thorough investigation revealed that the Official Alt-Weekly Fridge has a temperature control, front and center on the top shelf, and that it was turned to the colder side of the dial.

Those marks say "Cold" and "Colder," with "Normal" right in the center. Guess we’re "Abnormal."

I took it upon myself to turn it down to Normal. We’ve never been stricken with a horrible disease after eating out of our home fridge, so I don’t think I’m putting my fine co-workers in danger.

And perhaps we can save a little energy. Ask Mr. Electricity has some good advice about fridges, including tips for getting the most efficient performance from a fridge. "Fridges set 10 degrees lower than needed (or freezers set 5 degrees lower than needed) can increase energy use by as much as 20-25%," it says. I haven’t performed the temperature test to find out exactly how cold is cold here at C-VILLE, but I think we can stand to warm things up slightly.

Meanwhile, at home, we have got to figure out a place to put our fridge that isn’t right next to the stove. Duh.

How cold is your fridge?

As part of this week’s cover story about women in local music, I caught up with Wendy Hsu and Carey Sargent, two women who loom large over the local music scene. They play in a few bands together, including Dzian! (a Taiwanese garage rock cover band), the Pinko Communoids (a soft noise rock band) and the Grapefruit Experiment. Check out an exclusive video of the band performing on a recent afternoon at the Bridge below.

Read more about the music of Sargent and Hsu in this week’s cover story.

Last year, we went kind of nuts preserving food. In fact, nuts are about the only thing we didn’t preserve. Going into the winter, we had something like 33 quarts of tomatoes, lots of pints of jam, some canned beets, many pickles and salsas, and a year’s supply of garlic. We had more spaghetti squash than we ever could have used (there are still half a dozen hanging around), too much frozen pesto, and some frozen raspberries that I completely forgot about until last week. We froze cabbage soup and we dried hot peppers.

It’s a good feeling to be well stocked, and I love having so many ready-to-go gifts on hand. In the best cases, we had enough to give some away and still make it to that point in the following year when the same food will come back in season.

Which brings me to the present moment, when we’re still eating our way through last summer’s stash even as spring foods reappear. It’s made for some odd meals of late, with combinations of ingredients that are not found together in any season. Example: frozen corn and edamame in the same salad with fresh asparagus. Or: canned tomatoes as a base for a kind of unofficial gumbo that also included fresh carrots (and local sausage, which is happily a year-round treat).

Seasons collide!

And now we’ve re-entered the preserving season, in a nice gentle way, by freezing strawberries from the last three weeks of the farmer’s market. I enjoy the way all these foods knit the year together, and how seasonal eating gives us so many signposts for the passage of time.

Anyone else have food hanging around from last summer? (Or have a killer spaghetti squash recipe?)

After the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library (JMRL) was saved from a few tough decisions (and possible branch closures) by another year of level funding from Albemarle County, the organization isn’t taking any chances. In a press release, Library Director John Halliday announced that the JMRL would increase a few fees in order to offer the same services for another year.

"The Library Board realizes fines and fees may discourage some library users, but the library needs to keep its budget balanced," says Halliday in the release. The fee for overdue books will increase for the first time in more than 30 years, from 10 cents to 25 cents. Interlibrary loans—"books borrowed from libraries outside the regional library system"—will carry a charge of three dollars "to offset postage costs."

"With increasing library use, increasing costs and a tight budget, the Library Board needed to take steps to cut costs and increase revenue," says Halliday. The release also notes that the library experienced its busiest year in 2009, but works with an operating budget lower than that of the average Virginia library.