Tag: Downtown Business Association of Charlottesville president

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In brief: Masked up, KKK attacks, and more

Masked up

On May 26, Governor Ralph Northam declared that all Virginians 10 years and older must wear masks while in public indoor spaces, including retail stores, buses, and restaurants (when you’re not eating, of course).

Some have wondered how business owners would enforce such a rule with recalcitrant customers, and Tobey’s Pawn Shop owner Tobey Bouch, along with Charlottesville radio host Rob Schilling, filed a lawsuit over the mandate on June 1, claiming that masks are illegal in Virginia. But most local business owners say the directive has not been a problem.

At Corner sportswear staple Mincer’s, more than 90 percent of shoppers are wearing face coverings, says company V.P. Calvin Mincer.

“I would say a couple I’ve seen come in just with no mask. But we don’t really want to fight with them about it, so we just assume they might have some sort of medical condition.”

A few doors down at Bodo’s, the bagel chain has set up a table in its patio area for customers to order and pick up food without having to go inside. And though masks are not required outside, most customers have been wearing them, an employee says.

In Barracks Road Shopping Center, The Happy Cook has also not had any problems enforcing the rule.

“I was uncertain if there would be any sort of pushback…but honestly almost everybody who comes in has had a mask with them and already on,” says owner Monique Moshier. “We do have a thing posted on the window for people to give us a call if they don’t have one with them and we give them a mask…[But] we’ve only had to use those a couple of times, and it’s mostly just been that somebody ran out of their car without grabbing their mask.”

As for the many other businesses around Charlottesville, the Downtown Business Association’s Susan Payne says that, while it is not able to force businesses to follow the mandate, she has yet to see an establishment that’s not complying.

Charlottesville radio host Rob Schilling filed a lawsuit over Governor Northam’s mask mandate, claiming face coverings are illegal in Virginia.

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Quote of the Week

“Put your bodies on the line. Our bodies are on the line every day. America has been one long lynching for black people.”

—UVA Politics professor Larycia Hawkins, speaking at the June 7 Black Lives Matter march

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Richardson review

City Council gathered (virtually) on June 8 for a closed meeting, to discuss City Manager Tarron Richardson’s job performance and the legal state of the Confederate statues. Richardson has had a contentious relationship with council, which he’s accused of “meddling” in his operations. Even by the glacial standards of municipal government, this meeting was a doozy—it lasted five hours, according to The Daily Progress.

KKK attack

In a disturbing echo of Heather Heyer’s murder, Harry H. Rogers, a Ku Klux Klan leader, drove his car through a crowd of protesters in Richmond on June 7, injuring one person. Rogers was arrested and faces multiple charges. More than a dozen such vehicle attacks, a terrorist tactic increasingly used by white supremacists, have been committed against Black Lives Matter protesters over the past two weeks, including several in which police were at the wheel.   

Bug off

As if this spring didn’t feel apocalyptic enough, here come billions of bugs. After nearly two decades of life underground, hordes of buzzing, whining cicadas are beginning to tunnel out into the fresh air. The 17-year cicadas will be especially plentiful in western Virginia, where less development has left their tree habitats intact.

Eviction halt

As unemployment climbs past 10 percent, Virginia has halted all eviction proceedings through June 28, a move that many activists had called for in recent months. Governor Ralph Northam’s administration says it is working on a relief program for families facing housing insecurity from the pandemic and its associated economic downturn.

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Flushed out: Business owners say downtown’s shortage of public toilets is a longstanding problem

Restrooms outside the Downtown Transit Center are only open during events, and those inside the station are closed at night.

By Spencer Philps

Spend enough time on the Downtown Mall late at night and you’re bound to see it happen: someone hunched over against a wall “relieving” himself. 

Downtown business operators are acutely aware of this issue: One says he’s seen people urinating late at night, by the bus station and beside the unfinished Landmark hotel.

Such incidents appear to be connected to a larger issue: a shortage of public bathrooms on the Downtown Mall. 

This isn’t for lack of trying. Another Downtown Mall proprietor, who also wishes to remain anonymous, says the businesses and shops downtown have been advocating for a public restroom facility for over 10 years. 

“Many municipalities have devised safe, clean, public restrooms; surely Charlottesville can figure this out, too,” she says. 

Yet a solution to the problem has long eluded the city’s planners and developers. Given the lack of utility availability and space, and the fact that the city owns very little land on the mall, it’s unclear where public restrooms could even be built. 

Currently, there are public bathrooms outside the Downtown Transit Station, facing the Sprint Pavilion, but they are only open during events. There are also bathrooms inside the station, but the building closes at 8pm Monday to Saturday, and at 5pm on Sundays. 

Paul Oberdorfer, the interim deputy city manager of operations, said in an email that city staff recommended the installation of port-a-johns at the City Market site to City Council in August. However, downtown businesses have been hesitant about port-a-johns, and City Council was similarly unreceptive. As of now, there aren’t any other plans for public restroom facilities. 

Downtown Business Association Vice President Blair Williamson acknowledges the obstacles: “It’s hard to find a place to put them that satisfies folks, and what they might look like, and how they might be cleaned, if they’re safe, and to put them in a place that would serve people.” she says. 

And not everyone sees a public bathroom as a cure-all for downtown’s public urination woes.

“I don’t know an easy answer as it were, because I kind of wonder if the people who are prone to do that would even bother to walk to where the bathroom is, or if they’re in the right frame of mind to do that,” says one downtown shopkeeper.  

Williamson sees bringing more public restrooms to the Downtown Mall as one key element of a broader improvement project.

“A public restroom is definitely a high priority, but I think that it is in conjunction with all of the lighting and security issues that we have downtown. Lighting and security is at the top of our list,” she says. 

Last year, the DBA wrote a letter to the city manager and City Council asking for budget appropriations for public restrooms, among other improvements. The letter noted that over the previous four years, city expenditures increased by 17 percent, while expenditures on the mall dropped almost 20 percent. In the fiscal year 2018-19 budget, $94,000 was ultimately appropriated for downtown pedestrian lighting improvements. 

“We want people to want to come downtown because it’s a wonderful place to be,” says Williamson. “And we want them to just have the basic services they need.” 

Restrooms outside the Downtown Transit Center are only open during events, and those inside the station are closed at night. 

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Dire straits: Business association wants $250,000 for mall recovery

DBAC chair Joan Fenton says the Downtown Mall has suffered after this summer, and the city needs to pitch in for what’s one of the area’s top tourist attractions. SKYCLADAERIAL.COM

The Downtown Mall is not faring well, at least according to the Downtown Business Association of Charlottesville, which wants the city to pump up the maintenance and provide DBAC with $250,000 for advertising, staff, rent and holiday lighting.

Business in the entire city of Charlottesville dropped $14 million—nearly 12 percent—in September, the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce reports. And while August 12 is cited as a reason people aren’t coming downtown, so is parking, shoddy maintenance and safety concerns.

DBAC chair Joan Fenton points to the bricks on the mall that are sticking up and hazardous, despite the city’s $7.5 million rebricking project in 2009. “It’s an easy maintenance,” she says. “You need someone who knows what they’re doing.”

Loose brick on the mall, photographed in late August. Staff photo

Lighting is another big concern and the “biggest complaint from employees walking at night,” she says.

Fenton wrote a letter to City Manager Maurice Jones and City Council January 2 asking for increased mall funding in the upcoming budget for fiscal year 2019. She says the city’s budget has grown 17 percent over the past four years while the mall’s maintenance has declined 20 percent.

And Fenton is being vigilant about the budget after a walk on the mall last spring with city department heads. “I pointed out that the plants look awful,” she says. “[Assistant City Manager] Mike Murphy said I should have paid attention to the budget.”

The DBAC letter has a laundry list of wants: Seven-day-a-week policing, particularly at 2am when bars close, cameras, trash cans and public restrooms. The business association wants the city to hire a person to oversee mall decisions and an extra staffer to maintain and clean the mall as well as West Main to the Corner and side streets.

And it wants the city to provide $100,000 for DBAC to hire its own staffer and to pay rent for an office, along with $100,000 for advertising and $50,000 for lighting and decorations as part of the mall recovery program.

Charlottesville Parking Center used to provide a part-time employee and office space for DBAC—before the parking wars of 2016 distanced the center from DBAC, and CPC owner Mark Brown sued the city and threatened to close Water Street Parking Garage, which he owns with the city.

Spring Street Boutique owner Cynthia Schroeder, a DBAC member who also started the Downtown Business Alliance, says more mall maintenance is warranted, particularly with the city’s $9 million surplus, but she is skeptical about the DBAC request. “I would think a quarter million dollars with $100,000 for salaries is a bit high,” she says.

She supports a marketing plan to bring locals back downtown, and not just for one-time, alcohol-themed events like this fall’s Heal C-ville Beer Garden.

“Locals have a bad perception of the mall,” she says—that it’s “dangerous, dirty and filled with homeless people asking for money.”

Chamber of Commerce head Timothy Hulbert suggests there’s another big reason city revenues are down from a year ago. “Last September, last October, there was no 5th Street Station,” he says. And while the Unite the Right rally could be a factor, so could the weather or the timing of football games. “A month or a quarter doesn’t make a trend.”

North downtown resident Pat Napoleon, who is petitioning to remove three city councilors remaining from last year, says areas near the mall like Emancipation Park are filthy. “I don’t think it’s an inviting place.”

With erosion at the park, people sleeping there and a proliferation of cigarette butts tossed on the ground, she says, “A lot of people feel uncomfortable. It’s not a clean-looking place.”

Napoleon doesn’t think the city needs to give money to DBAC for staffing. “When I hear about a surplus, I think the city needs to use it more wisely. I think downtown business people need to put screws to the city.”

Former city spokesperson Miriam Dickler says of DBAC’s request, “There has been no decision on this. The budget is in process. Like all requests, this will be considered.”

Vice-Mayor Heather Hill says the request has to be evaluated against other priorities, but safety—of surfaces and lighting and cameras—are infrastructure expenditures “I’d certainly consider.”

Fenton wants the Downtown Mall to be in its own business improvement district, and says that appeared possible until commercial property assessments skyrocketed last year. “Once taxes increased, there was no way you could ask people to pay extra,” she says.

Because the mall is an income generator, she says the city should be investing in it. “People don’t drive from Northern Virginia to go to Barracks Road,” she says. “When UVA has new faculty prospects, they bring them to the Downtown Mall.”

Word on the mall is that some businesses are struggling. “If there isn’t a strong effort, I think we’re going to see a lot of businesses close,” says Schroeder. “The Downtown Mall clearly needs the support.”

Spring Street had busy days this fall, she says, but she will continue to re-evaluate her business. “When you put your heart and soul into something and traffic is down because of where you are…” She leaves the alternatives unspoken.

DBAC Letter to Council on the Budget (7)

Correction January 30: The $14 million/12 percent decline in retail sales for Charlottesville was in September, not for the first three quarters of 2017 as originally reported.

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Feelin’ the squeeze: Hundreds appeal new commercial tax assessments

Bob Archer says he’ll pretty much have to eat the $12,000 increase in property taxes because he can’t pass that on to his customers. Photo by John Robinson

No one likes paying taxes. And Charlottesville property owners who saw their commercial assessments go up 65 percent, 90 percent or 100 percent really don’t like it—and they’re letting the city know with a record number of appeals.

“Totally outrageous,” says Downtown Business Association of Charlottesville president Joan Fenton, who owns a “little bitty” parcel on Third Street where “there’s nothing you can do with it.” That .032-acre parcel went up 30 percent, the average commercial increase, compared with the 4 percent residential real estate bump.

A Water Street property Fenton owns went up 50 percent. “I appealed both,” she says.

Bob Archer has owned Bob’s Wheel Alignment on Market Street for 36 years, and says, “I’ve never seen a jump like this.” His assessment went up 65 percent—nearly $1 million. “That’s quite a jump,” he says. “I can’t raise my prices. I’ll have to absorb it.” Archer, too, is one of the appealers.

Keith Woodard owns a number of rental properties, including the cache of affordable housing he bought from Dogwood Properties in 2007, and says he’s submitted several appeals. “It’s upward pressure on rents for those with low incomes,” he says.

Management Services Corporation, which dominates the student housing rental market, saw staggering increases of 147 percent and 190 percent on two Corner area parcels, and its Preston Square Apartments jumped 83 percent and Cambridge Square Apartments soared 70 percent, according to vice chair Rick Jones. “Our increased tax is just under $400,000,” he says.

His point to the city: “Hey, if you have people’s assessments going up 68 percent, 90 percent, 100 percent—you’ve kind of messed up.”

Jones contends Management Services’ older rental properties are being assessed at the same capitalization rate as newer rentals like The Flats, which sold for $77.5 million in November and which doesn’t have the same maintenance expenses as the 50-year-old buildings he manages.

The cap rate is a ratio of sales price and net operating income. The city, says Jones, uses a cap rate of 6.25 percent, but for older properties, 8 percent might be more appropriate.

No one budgets for increases like that, says Jones, and with rentals, “You’re locked into a lease for a year.”

Jeff Davis is the city assessor taking the heat for the skyrocketing assessments. He worked for Albemarle County for around 30 years before moving to the city in December 2015. Davis brought in his former boss, Bruce Woodzell, former president of the International Association of Assessing Officers and a man who’s gotten his own share of flak in the county, to help with the commercial assessments and the 400 appeals.

And although Jones isn’t happy with the assessments, he is pleased to see Woodzell, a nationally known figure in the real estate valuation world, working for the city.

Davis explains the jump: “We had an overwhelming amount of sales evidence showing we were low on our assessments.”

He also says cap rates are low around Charlottesville, but says the city uses different rates for different types of properties. “We do give consideration, we do recognize older properties have greater expenses,” he says. “We do allow more for older properties.”

Says Davis, “This is not one size fits all.” At the same time, land values in Charlottesville are soaring. “It’s very expensive,” he says.

And while a lot of people are upset about the amount of the assessment increase, he says, “We have not heard people say, ‘My property is not worth that.’”

For those contesting their assessments, the first stop is Davis’ office. “If the appraiser is not able to satisfy them, they file an appeal form,” he says. His office will either affirm, reduce or, in some cases, increase the assessment, he says. If that still doesn’t placate the property owner, the next steps are the Board of Equalization and circuit court.

Management Services’ Jones sees a disturbing correlation between the spike in assessments and the city’s nearly $6 million surplus last year and $4.3 million surplus in 2015.

Not related, says Mayor Mike Signer. Last year’s surplus was 2 percent of the budget. “It was a reasonable surplus,” he says, and the city is required to spend it and close out the books for that fiscal year. “You don’t, like, stash the cash,” he says. Instead, the city put it into the capital budget, the Robert E. Lee statue fund and public safety employees’ salary increases.

Signer is aware of the sting of the increased tax bills, and he proposed lowering the property tax rate from 95 cents per $100 of value to 93 cents—a proposal that drew no support from his four fellow councilors.

“I’m principally interested in the effects of the cost of doing business for small businesses and medium-sized businesses,” he says. “The question is what you do as a policy when you have historic jumps.”

A 2-cent reduction in the tax rate would give back $1.4 million out of this year’s budget and means it would go up 5 percent rather than 6 percent, says Signer. “I think you could get that without too much pain,” he says, and give a “modest but significant amount back.”

For Jones, it’s all too much. “I wish there had been an assessor who said, ‘Wow, there’s a problem here, let’s raise rates gradually.’”

Rent forecast: Going up

The Flats

  • 2016 assessment: $38,509,000
  • 2017 increase: $73,864,600 or 92%

Preston Square Apartments

  • 2016 assessment: $2,784,300
  • 2017 increase: $5,157,400 or 85%

Bob’s Wheel Alignment

  • 2016 assessment: $1,440,200
  • 2017 increase: $2,381,634 or 65%

Barracks Road Shopping Center

  • 2016 assessment: $123,353,400
  • 2017 increase: $166,813,200 or 35%