Tag: Crescent Halls

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Hollowed-out halls

Exterior photo Crescent Halls, an eight-story tall tan apartment building with 105 units
Thanks to activism and leadership from the residents of Crescent Halls, long-overdue renovations will begin this month on the public housing apartments. PC: Skyclad Aerial

For more than 20 years, Crescent Halls residents have been speaking out about the intolerable living conditions in the public housing apartments, including leaky laundry machines, broken air conditioners, sweltering heat, sewage flooding, busted elevators, bed bugs, and cockroaches. Charlottesville leaders vowed in 2010 to redevelop the 45-year-old complex for seniors and disabled residents—along with other public housing communities across the city—but plans repeatedly fell through.

Thanks to persistent activism and leadership from the people who live in those communities, change is on the way. Last Wednesday, Crescent Halls residents broke ground for long-overdue renovations, which are expected to be completed by October 2022.

“Everybody deserves not just housing to go to, but housing that has been created with intention and with love,” said Mayor Nikuyah Walker at the ceremony, where she was joined by several other local and state leaders. “Once we understand that and act on that, then we start the process of showing people that we honor them…[and that] promises that have been broken for decades are finally being fulfilled.”

Over the next 18 months, the 105-unit building will be fully revamped with new heating, cooling, electrical, lighting, plumbing, sprinkler, elevator, and security systems. Appliances, cabinets, bathrooms, windows, common areas, outdoor spaces, and the parking lot will also be upgraded.

Renovations on the eight-story structure will begin April 30, and it will be conducted two floors at a time. While their floor is under construction, residents will be relocated to temporary housing, paid for by the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority. The renovations will cost $18 million.

Crescent Halls isn’t Charlottesville’s only major public housing project currently underway. In March, the city kicked off the redevelopment of the South First Street complex, which will see more than a hundred new units and various amenities added to the neighborhood over the next few years. 

Last week’s ceremony began in front of Crescent Halls with a moment of silence for more than a dozen residents, including Richard Shackelford, Eve Snowden, Edith Durette, and Curtis Gilmore, who fought for the building’s renovations but passed away before they came to fruition.

“The most precious time for me was just being able to sit in the community room here with the gentlemen who really worked hard to get this done,” said resident Audrey Oliver. 

“They knew painting, carpentry, plumbing—they knew all of that,” she added. “They never even got to see this stage of it. That’s heartbreaking for me.” 

Brandon Collins, lead organizer for the Public Housing Association of Residents, reflected on Charlottesville’s painful legacy of urban renewal, which resulted in the destruction of several thriving Black communities, and forced many Black residents to move into public housing in the ’60s and ’70s.

“We hear a lot about Vinegar Hill—but it also happened here on Garrett Street, and that was the birth of this building,” explained Collins. “[Crescent Halls] was sold to the community as this grand, amazing thing that was going to happen for seniors in our community. And I think for a short time it was that. But federal and local divestment, and the challenges of systemic racism and disrespect in this community has led to a really hard slog at Crescent Halls.”

People shouldn’t have to wait for decades for their basic needs to be met

Mayor Nikuyah Walker

In response to the city’s failures to upgrade its public housing communities, PHAR worked with hundreds of residents to create a positive vision statement in 2016, stressing residents’ desire to lead the redevelopment process. In 2019, the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority approved a partnership between PHAR and several developers, getting the ball rolling on the redevelopment of Crescent Halls and South First Street.

At the ceremony, state Delegate Sally Hudson lauded Charlottesville’s leadership in resident-led public housing redevelopment, not just in the state but nationwide.

“Across the country, there are communities that are disinvesting from public housing [and] shifting more and more control out of the hands of the community and into private hands,” she said. “You really are not just leading our community—you are leading Virginia.”

“It was hard [and] painful work because there’re so many decisions that seem like obstacles,” said Collins to the residents who spearheaded the redevelopment process. “But y’all were reasonable about it and had a vision and here we are today—getting ready to break ground on something that many people in this community said would never happen.”

“[The renovations] are going to be noisy. The housing authority’s got earplugs for you,” added Collins. “We’re here to help you through this difficult process.”

Walker criticized the city for not listening to residents’ calls for help sooner.

“People shouldn’t have to wait for decades for their basic needs to be met. That happens when a community doesn’t own its responsibility,” she said. However, “I’m thankful to be a part of a community who, even though we did not get it right for a long time, finally has come together to get it right and make the commitment.”

The mayor also encouraged residents to voice any needs and concerns throughout the renovation period.

“Pick up the phone and call,” she said. “It’s not a pressure. It’s not us doing you a favor. It’s not charity. It is our responsibility.”

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If you build it: Despite pandemic, land use projects moved forward in 2020

City Council agreed in October to contribute $5.5 million in a forgivable loan to support the first phase of the Piedmont Housing Alliance’s redevelopment of Friendship Court, the 150-unit downtown public housing complex that was built in 1978. PC: Grimm + Parker Architects

In a year where many of us followed guidelines to stay at home, the skies of downtown Charlottesville were marked by cranes building new spaces for the 21st century. In their shadow, projects to provide more affordable units moved through the bureaucratic process required to keep them below-market. Before the clock strikes 2021, let’s look back at some of what happened in 2020.

Public housing

After years of planning and complaints of decay from residents, Charlottesville’s government took steps to renovate the city’s public housing stock. In October, City Council agreed to spend $3 million to help finance the renovation of Crescent Halls and the construction of 62 new units on an athletic field at South First Street. A date for groundbreaking has been postponed several times, but officials with the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority hope it will occur early next year.

At the same meeting, council also agreed to contribute $5.5 million in a forgivable loan to support the first phase of the Piedmont Housing Alliance’s redevelopment of Friendship Court. The 150-unit complex was built in 1978 in an area cleared by urban renewal. The first phase will see up to 106 units built on vacant land along Monticello Avenue and Sixth Street SE. The loan dictates that the new homes must be made affordable to people who earn less than the area median income. As with CRHA, there’s no set date for groundbreaking yet.

Also this year, a firm hired to complete an overhaul of Charlottesville’s Comprehensive Plan unveiled a draft of an affordable housing plan that calls for $10 million a year in city investment in similar projects. The draft also asks “to bring diverse voices from the community into decision making structure of the City and partners it funds.”

As the Comprehensive Plan edit process continues, affordable housing advocates hope to reform the zoning ordinance to make it easier to build more housing units without seeking permission from council. This conversation will spill over to 2021, as work on the Comprehensive Plan continues and as voters prepare to elect or re-elect two members of City Council in November.

Downtown towers

Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of square feet for offices and other commercial uses are under construction. The largest is the Center of Developing Entrepreneurs, which is being erected on Water Street on the site of the former Main Street Arena. The triangle-shaped nine-story building will include a public courtyard, retail area, and incubator space intended to grow new businesses. Completion is expected by August 2021.

On Second Street, within sight of the CODE building, a nine-story office building called 3Twenty3 nears completion, despite a crane collapse in early January. The structure is ready for occupancy and tenants include Manchester Capital, CoConstruct, and McGuire Woods.

Not too far behind is the new headquarters for Apex Clean Energy, an eight-story timber-built structure on Garrett Street designed by Charlottesville-based William McDonough + Partners. Ground was broken in October 2019 and the building could be completed by the end of 2021.

Elsewhere in Charlottesville, Albemarle County hired Fentress Architects to design the $45.2 million renovation of the judicial complex in Court Square. The new general district court complex will be shared by both localities. Construction on the court building won’t begin until at least 2022, but the project is already drawing plenty of attention, as the city continues to move forward with the planning process for a parking structure at Market and Ninth streets to support the new facility.

A previous City Council bought the Market Street parcel in January 2017 for $2.85 million, and the current plan is to build a four-level parking structure with 300 spaces and 12,000 square feet of commercial space. Opponents have argued the structure isn’t needed and the city could invest the $10 million price tag in other projects, including affordable housing. The city says the new spaces would provide enough inventory to allow the nearby Market Street Parking Garage to be retired and redeveloped in the decades to come. The hulking parking garage is among the biggest decisions council will need to make as it hashes out a capital budget for next year.

What about Albemarle?

Albemarle County is also working on a new affordable housing plan. The draft calls for zoning changes that would allow for thousands more units to be built compared to the existing rules. This year, however, the county Board of Supervisors has not approved two projects that would have added to that number. In June, concerns about traffic left the board deadlocked on a vote that would have seen 328 units built on 27 acres at the northern end of the John Warner Parkway. In early January, super­visors are expected to take a vote on a rezoning for 130 units to be built near Glenmore. Neighbors cite traffic concerns for their vehement opposition to the project.

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In brief: Public housing progress, Trump rally trouble, and more

The Friendship Court redevelopment is scheduled to take place in four phases over the course of seven years. Phase one, indicated above, will begin in the fall. PC: City of Charlottesville

Do-over

Multiple public housing developments in Charlottesville are one step closer to getting a badly needed makeover. At its Monday meeting, City Council unanimously approved two ordinances regarding the redevelopment of Crescent Halls, South First Street, and Friendship Court.

The Piedmont Housing Alliance will take the lead on the first phase of Friendship Court’s redevelopment, while the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority will head the work at Crescent Halls, as well as the first phase of South First Street.

In this year’s budget, council allocated over $3 million to CRHA for its projects. At its meeting this week, council needed to approve the funds again into a community development corporation operated by CRHA. Constructing and redeveloping Crescent Halls and South First Street will cost an estimated $34 million in total.

Once redeveloped, Crescent Halls—which houses mostly seniors and people with disabilities—will have 98 one-bedroom, and seven two-bedroom apartments, as well as improved accessibility and amenities. At South First Street, CRHA will renovate the existing 58 units, and build 142 new ones.

For Friendship Court, PHA plans to build 35 new multi-family homes and 71 new apartments off of Monticello Avenue. Forty-six will be set aside for current residents, while others will be available to people making between 80 percent to less than 30 percent of the area median income.

Construction on Friendship Court is expected to begin in the spring.

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Quote of the week

“The grass around here looks terrible. It’s up above our knees. If we have a mayor that’s sitting on the housing board, have y’all really looked at Westhaven?”

—local activist Rosia Parker, calling out the poor conditions in the city’s public housing at Monday’s City Council meeting

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In brief

Trump train strain

On Sunday, Richmond City Council candidate Mike Dickinson led a “Trump Train”—a caravan of supporters in their cars—from Henrico County into the city. That caused yet another altercation beneath the Monument Avenue Lee statue, where protesters stood in the roadway, preventing the caravan’s progress. Police responded to reports that a gunshot was fired and one woman was pepper sprayed. No other injuries were reported. The statue’s days seem numbered—last week, a judge said Governor Ralph Northam can remove the Lee statue by executive order, pending one last period for appeal.

Whine and dine

A disgruntled bride is suing Pippin Hill Farm & Vineyards for $32,000 after the Albemarle winery refused to refund a deposit for a canceled wedding, reports NBC29. Heather Heldman and her fiancé pushed their May 2020 wedding back to October when COVID broke out, but even with the postponement, just 15 percent of guests said they were able to attend. Heldman asked for a full refund. Pippin offered to return $9,000, saying it will have hosted a dozen weddings by the end of the fall, and it’s not the vineyard’s fault the Heldmans’ guests couldn’t make the trip. The wedding is just the latest event that’s gone sour in 2020.

Wild times

The city continues to expand the Heyward Community Forest, a swathe of newly protected land near Ragged Mountain. Last year, the city used a $600,000 grant from the Virginia Outdoors Foundation to purchase 144 acres of land from a private owner, thus establishing the forest. At Monday’s council meeting, the city appropriated $65,000 in VOF grant money to purchase five additional acres.

PC: Stephen Barling

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Housing hero: Community mourns loss of Richard Shackelford

Richard Shackelford—known as “Shack” to his friends—was a driving force behind the redevelopment of Crescent Halls. PC: Eze Amos

Beloved public housing advocate Richard Shackelford passed away in his Crescent Halls apartment on the morning of May 21, after a heart attack. He was 66 years old.

Shackelford—known as “Shack” to his friends—grew up in Charlottesville, on the corner of Fifth and Harris streets. For many years, he worked as a gym instructor for Charlottesville City Schools, and was heavily involved in his church, Mount Zion First African Baptist Church.

In 2014, he moved to Crescent Halls, a public housing complex for the eldery and disabled, with his wife, Sandy, after they lost their house. 

For years, Crescent Halls residents protested against the 105-unit building’s poor maintenance, including broken air conditioners, sweltering heat, sewage flooding, broken-down elevators, and cockroaches. Plans to renovate the complex, as well as other public housing facilities, were made as early as 2010, but action had been notoriously slow.

Wanting to join the fight for change, Shackelford enrolled in the Public Housing Association of Residents’ six-month internship program, which trained him to be an advocate. After completing the internship in 2016, he went on to serve as vice president and president of the Crescent Halls Tenant Association, as well as vice chair of PHAR’s board of directors and a member of the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority redevelopment committee.

While Shackelford advocated for public housing residents across the city, he was an especially strong champion for the redevelopment of Crescent Halls, says CRHA redevelopment coordinator (and former mayor) Dave Norris. Last January, CRHA finally approved a partnership with Riverbend Development and PHAR, along with two other developers, to completely renovate the more than 40-year-old building. Construction is set to begin this fall. 

“He thought it was very unfair that people who had spent…and worked their whole lives in Charlottesville, in many cases, were having to live in such unfortunate conditions,” says Norris. “His advocacy for his neighbors was largely responsible for the fact that the city…and others have ultimately agreed to put about $19 million into renovating that building from top to bottom.”

Shackelford made sure his voice was not the only one heard, Norris points out. He helped to include more Crescent Halls residents in conversations about the building’s renovations, as well as other public housing issues.

“He really believed passionately that even if you were extremely low-income, you still deserved a voice and…a seat at the table,” says Norris.

Both inside and outside of meetings, Shackelford was friendly and encouraging, but “when he had something to say, he would be very firm about it,” says PHAR Lead Organizer Brandon Collins. “He’d been in Charlottesville his whole life and had a real perspective on things. He called [the city] out for not doing enough for poor folks, not giving people enough of a chance, [and] not using resources the right way to help people with homeownership…He was just really dumbfounded by the lack of help that poor people get.”

“He brought his personal experiences and family knowledge to the table with policy makers,” adds Legal Aid Justice Center Outreach Director Emily Dreyfus, who serves on PHAR’s advisory council. “He made a real difference in helping people understand some of the intentional wrongs that were inflicted on black people in Charlottesville over the decades.”

When not advocating for housing rights at meetings and community events, Shackelford could be seen helping his neighbors. He would often carry groceries for people and give out extra canned goods, says resident Alice Washington, who is now president of the tenant association.

“Not only did he love to cook—he could cook! He was always sharing food with people,” she says.

Shackelford ultimately touched many lives, and left a lasting legacy on our town. “He was a committed guy. He put in the work,” says Collins. 

“All in all he was just a good person,” adds Washington. “We are going to miss him a lot.”

Updated 5/29

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Coronavirus News

In brief: Masked melons, summertime sadness, and more

Cooling off in the city’s splash gardens is a thing of the past, thanks to a recent announcement that all Charlottesville pools and spraygrounds will be closed this summer. PC: Ron Paris

Goodbye, summer

Monday is Memorial Day, the traditional start to summer, but this year, much of the city’s outdoor recreation space will be off limits. Last week, Charlottesville Parks & Recreation closed all city pools and spraygrounds for the summer, and canceled camps. In addition, other outdoor facilities, including basketball and tennis courts, picnic shelters, and the Sugar Hollow Reservoir, will remain shuttered until further notice. In Albemarle County, all swimming lakes will be closed, along with playgrounds and ball fields.

“Our decision at this point is based on public safety and health, and our staff and keeping our staff safe,” says Todd Brown, Charlottesville Parks & Rec’s interim director. Where parks are open, both the city and county will employ monitors to ensure visitors are social distancing.

Under Phase One of Governor Northam’s reopening plan, which began May 15, pools are allowed to open for lap swimming, and private facilities like ACAC and Fry’s Spring have done so. But city and county officials say the decision to keep public pools closed has to do with staffing.

“We don’t have a year-round staff for lifeguarding, and so it’s really difficult to recruit seasonal lifeguards when we don’t know when they would be able to start work,” says Emily Kilroy, the director of communications and public engagement for Albemarle County. Brown noted that the city did not start training lifeguards in March, as it usually does, and that carried weight in the decision.

“With things being delayed in terms of the different phases…that uncertainty, it goes against being able to plan on how to open and operate pools so that you’re keeping people safe,” says Brown.

Amy Smith, assistant director of the county’s Parks & Recreation department, says “park ambassadors” will be stationed at the county’s swimming lakes this summer, to make sure no children make their way into the water. But how to keep kids with no other options for cooling off away from other, unguarded bodies of water—like the Rivanna River—is less clear.

“We know that there is going to be a reaction to this action, and that could also cause negative impacts elsewhere,” says Brown. “And we are concerned about that, too.”

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Quote of the Week

“I am hopeful that our students will be back in the classroom this fall.”

—Governor Ralph Northam, at a press conference on Monday. (So are we, Ralph. So are we.)

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In brief

Sour grapes

Listening to the President these days, you’d think the pandemic is over. But don’t tell that to Charlottesville’s Trump Winery, which soft-opened this week behind a set of complicated social-distancing requirements. While Trump has famously declined to wear a mask in public, they’re mandatory for servers at his winery, and recommended for guests.

Budget bristles

City budget officials have their work cut out for them, as staff projects a $5.4 million loss in revenue this year. That’s made some in City Hall grumpy: This week, The Daily Progress wrote a story about the city-county revenue sharing agreement, but City Manager Tarron Richardson (whose job is to talk about the budget) didn’t like the coverage, and said at Monday’s council meeting that he was “too upset to talk about it right now.”   

Seedy suspects

On the evening of May 6, two people walked into a Louisa Sheetz wearing unusual face masks: hollowed-out watermelons with holes cut out for their eyes. According to the Louisa Police Department, the pair committed larceny, though it’s unclear exactly what they took. Police arrested one of the suspects—20-year-old Justin Rogers—on May 16, and charged him with wearing a mask in public while committing larceny, underage possession of alcohol, and petit larceny of alcohol. The second melonhead is still on the loose.

Major makeover

After many years of residents protesting against its dilapidated conditions, Crescent Halls will undergo major renovations starting this fall—but not without a huge price tag. At a May 18 meeting, the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority announced that the project—which also includes the redevelopment and construction of new units on South First Street—would cost $26.94 million for construction, about $4.3 million more than last year’s estimates. To pay the bill, CRHA plans to secure additional funding from the Virginia Housing Development Authority, as well as private donors.

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New venture: Riverbend dips into public housing

Residents of the 1976-built Crescent Halls have complained for years about its deteriorating condition.  Jack Looney

Music and real estate mogul Coran Capshaw’s Riverbend Development, known for 5th Street Station, the Flats, and City Walk, among many other projects, is now aligning itself in a different direction: a partnership with Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority to build new public housing for residents of the crumbling Crescent Halls.

Riverbend and the nonprofit Virginia Community Development Corporation will build units on city-owned Levy Avenue—now a parking lot for city employees—and green space on South First Street.

“They’re not looking to make a profit,” says former mayor and current CRHA redevelopment project coordinator Dave Norris. “They’ve agreed to waive the developer’s fees.”

The housing authority owns and manages all public housing in Charlottesville, and had a request for proposal for a redevelopment partner, says Norris. “Riverbend submitted a proposal and rose to the top because they’re local, they know the community, and they know how to negotiate the process.”

Says Norris, “They want to be part of the solution. I don’t think it’s a coincidence Coran’s office is across the street from Crescent Halls.”

Residents have complained for years about the deteriorating condition of the Monticello Avenue highrise, including its malfunctioning elevators and air conditioning, and, earlier this year, a plumbing backup that left the first floor smelling like sewage.

The actual redevelopment of Crescent Halls is not part of phase 1, which relocates the building’s 105 households, says Norris. He says they will be given the option of replacement units, housing vouchers, or assistance moving into market-rate housing.

The project is going to be resident-directed, he says, and Riverbend’s willingness to work with the residents is “pretty extraordinary.”

Not all are comforted by Riverbend stepping in. Community activist Jojo Robertson says, “There is much skepticism and mistrust in the community, which we must acknowledge. I am concerned that people may be homeless during this process.”

Norris acknowledges that those living in Crescent Halls have been hearing for years about redevelopment plans. “I think what residents want to see is action rather than talk.”

He notes that it’s a “long, long wait” to get in public housing, and the redevelopment plans are “not just about improving the quality, but also the quantity” of public housing.

City Councilor Wes Bellamy calls Riverbend’s foray into the affordable housing arena “major. It is absolutely major.” He says city officials have been working on the issue for years.

While Riverbend is getting a lot of accolades for its move into public housing, there’s some skepticism because the company has its own projects that will be coming before City Council, including a massive apartment and mixed-use development in the heart of Belmont.

“I think it’s specifically to curry favor, and I’m all in favor of currying favor,” says Belmont resident Joan Schatzman, who has been a critic of Riverbend’s Belmont plans, but commended its involvement in public housing. 

The notoriously press-shy Capshaw did not return a request for comment from C-VILLE, nor did Riverbend president Alan Taylor.

Capshaw also manages the Dave Matthews Band and owns Red Light Management. Last week’s announcement of DMB’s upcoming tour said a portion of proceeds from the two shows at John Paul Jones Arena will support redevelopment of public housing in Charlottesville.

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Bugs, leaks, condoms: The list goes on at Crescent Halls

Crescent Halls residents held a protest in front of their Monticello Avenue apartment complex, saying conditions in the buildings are unfit for living. Photo: Eze Amos

In the heat of last summer, tensions boiled at a City Council meeting heavily attended by Crescent Halls residents who had been experiencing a major air conditioner failure, leading Mayor Mike Signer to temporarily suspend the meeting. Residents brought new concerns to a December 20 protest outside the Monticello Avenue apartment complex.

“I’ve seen roaches like crazy in the building,” says Phyllis Ellis, a 58-year-old resident who has lived in Crescent Halls for four years. “Some people have bed bugs. They try to control it, but sometimes it’s hard to control.”

At the protest, Ellis held a sign that said, “$20 million for parking garage, $1 million for rich people condos. Elderly/Disabled?” She’s currently on the city’s Section 8 housing choice waitlist and says she’s working toward relocating to Region Ten housing soon.

“I like my apartment, but I don’t really want to be in this place,” she says. “I’ve been trying to get out of this place for a long time. I feel sorry for some of the others that don’t have what I got, going to Region Ten. I hope some others can go, too.”

Crescent Halls, located near the IX Art Park, is designated as affordable housing for handicapped and elderly people. Ellis, who pays $234 in rent per month, has a heart condition that requires her to take blood thinners, and says they cause her body temperature to run cool. It’s often hard for her to stay warm in her one-bedroom handicap apartment, because when she shuts her bedroom door, the heat often doesn’t reach her.

But other residents say excessive heat is one of the complex’s biggest problems.

“On the eighth floor, if you go up there right now, you’ll probably pass out,” says Deborah Booker, president of the Crescent Halls Resident Association. Though hotels and apartment complexes are springing up all over town, she says, “It’s nothing we can afford.”

Aside from the overzealous heater, Booker says leaking ceilings, overflowing washing machines and an overall uncleanly living space are at the top of the list of things she’d like to see fixed.

‘We are humans, we are people, we live here,” she says.

Among other concerns were two used condoms allegedly found in the elevator this month. Resident Glen Roach produced a photo at the protest that he had taken of one for proof, time stamped December 17.

Several residents, like Ellis and Booker, brought up poor oversight from management at the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority, and the length of time it takes for someone there to address residents’ concerns. Last summer’s air conditioning malfunction wasn’t repaired until it was already cool outside, they said.

“The people that work in the system, they don’t really come into the building and see what’s going on in the building,” Ellis says. “We have no one working in the building.”

Grant Duffield, the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority’s executive director, says he visits Crescent Halls frequently, most recently a few days ago to make sure residents were prepared for the winter months ahead.

“I have a great deal of respect, admiration and concern for my friends at Crescent Halls,” he says. “They’re great people. I’m sure it’s frustrating at times, but we really are doing everything that we possibly can to help address the concerns that they have.”

His organization serves approximately 2,000 residents in 376 individual homes across 11 properties, and he says his priority is the health and safety of the residents.

And yet, those who live at Crescent Halls, many gripping wheelchairs and walkers, take to the sidewalk in front of their complex to make sure their voices are heard: “No more silence, no more silence, no more silence, no more silence, no more silence.”

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In brief: Heated exchanges, out-of-jurisdiction chase and more

Staff photo

CPD car chase in Waynesboro

An off-duty Charlottesville cop in a squad car spotted an unidentified traffic violation on I-64 the evening of August 13, and pursued the alleged offender to Waynesboro, according to the Newsplex. No arrest was made and no injuries reported.

Sweltering in Crescent Halls

Nearly two dozen residents showed up at the City Council meeting August 15 to let councilors know the air conditioning that’s been broken for weeks has created an intolerable situation, particularly for the elderly. Mayor Mike Signer noted that the public housing facility is run by Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority, not the city, while Vice-Mayor Wes Bellamy vowed to take action.

Ex-Hoo charged with fraud

Former UVA and Philadelphia Eagles football player Merrill Robertson Jr., 36, was arrested for allegedly bilking senior citizens, former football coaches and alums of schools he attended out of $10 million with a Ponzi-like scheme promising 10 to 20 percent annual returns through his Cavalier Union Investments LLC in Midlothian, the Times Dispatch reports.

Blue Ribbon resignation

Gordon Fields, a Human Rights Commission representative on Mike Signer’s Blue Ribbon Commission on Race, Memorials and Public Spaces, formally resigned as of August 13. His reasons for resignation are unclear.

UVA Olympians win medals

Leah Smith will return to Charlottesville with a gold medal in the 4x200m freestyle relay and a bronze in the 400m freestyle. And UVA alum Inge Janssen earned a silver medal in the women’s quadruple sculls rowing for the Netherlands.

August 11, 2016 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil - OLYMPICS SWIMMING: Gold medal winners TEAM USA Katie Leckecky, Maya Dirado, Leah Smith and Allison Schmitt (USA) chold their gold medals in Women's 4 x 200m Freestyle Relay finals at Olympics Aquatics Stadium during the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics games. (Credit Image: © Paul Kitagaki Jr. via ZUMA Wire)
Leah Smith, third from left, celebrates gold in the 4x200m freestyle relay with teammates Katie Ledecky, Maya DiRado and Allison Schmitt. Photo Paul Kitagaki Jr. via ZUMA Wire

Second coming

DCIM100MEDIADJI_0190.JPG stonefield
Matteus Frankovich/skycladap

Northrop Grumman is now encircled with phase 2 of The Shops at Stonefield, which is getting ready to open in front of Costco. Along with “an exciting new mix of partners,” according to EDENS senior VP Brad Dumont, new retailers are opening on Bond Street and townhouses are in the works.

  • 36,000 square feet of retail
    in phase 2
  • Q’doba, Jared Jewelers, Mission BBQ, European Wax, Hair Cuttery, Uncle Maddio’s Pizza, Xfinity and BJ’s Brewhouse are the new tenants
  • Burger Bach opened in the former Pasture space, and Kendra Scott and Mezeh are recent Bond Street arrivals
  • Grit Coffee Bar & Cafe and Muse Paint Bar are opening in phase 1 this fall
  • First round of the Townhomes at Stonefield—104 units—will be completed over the next 12 months

By the numbers

In its 25-year existence, Habitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville hit a milestone this month by completing and dedicating 12 homes at once in a new downtown community called Burnet Commons III: The Park, which used to be a city dump and is now a mixed-income neighborhood built around a central park.

2,333

Volunteers in 2015

41,521

Hours volunteered in 2015

$1,026,783

Labor savings in 2015

$1.17 million

Donations and monetary gifts in 2015

180

Homes built since 1991

2,000

People housed since 1991

Quote of the week

“It seems to me that in order for a Gold Star family to be honored and recognized by the current City Council, they must speak at the Democratic National Convention. This is not appropriate, nor is it acceptable. It reeks of choosing to honor specific families or individuals because they fit your narrative.”—Stefanie Marshall addresses City Council after it honors Khizr and Ghazala Khan August 15.