outskirts: life and times in charlottesville

Another tipster seems to think the rumor of a supermarket moving in to the old A&N store is nothing more than the dream of a downtown citizen or two. The true story (according to the tipster) is that a retail store is going to be there in the near future, along with some offices.

What will it be? No one seems to have any idea. We have a store for cats, dogs, and horses in that area. Perhaps we need to branch out to pigs. Or maybe fish. We really need a fish store on the mall. I’ll take two neon tetras, just not the ones with Pleistophora. How much? That will be $79.95 sir…this is C-Ville after all. They are really special fish.

One thing about C-Ville…they really hate bicyclists and pedestrians. In a recent story I found out that when in a vehicle if you “accidently” run a bicyclist off the road, break his hip, leg, and ribs, you will get a $100 ticket.

Today someone accidently ran down a mother/son. I wonder if the driver was on a cell phone, or just in a hurry to get somewhere. When I was out running earlier at the intersection of 29 and Main (or is it Ivy at that point…names change about every three blocks around here) and while waiting through a light cycle I counted the number of drivers on cell phones.

14 out of 26 that passed by were chatting up a storm, and those are just the people that were holding one in their hand. Are there rules about cell phones in this commonwealth? I barely drive and don’t use a cell phone…so I wouldn’t know. Now…if I had an iPhone I would use that while driving to watch a movie. Those phones are sweet.

Nice shot from Daily Progress.

The Hook continues to lead in the ‘best local news source’ poll (or at least holds a share of the lead…cvillain is hanging tough), but they went ahead and changed their look. Is the new look hot, or not?

It does have a few usability issues, and it no longer has that brash red “I’m standing up to the village fools” look to it. I’m on the not side of this argument.

In a battle of two miserable teams from last year, the Fins managed to lose to the Skins. It was rather ugly on both sides of the ball, but Miami won in terms of dropped passes on third down, and exhausted D in the latter portions of the game.

The offensive line woes of the Fins are still glaring. The current group just can’t run block. Pass blocking is a bit better…but not by much.

At least there is hope for the future. This year will be a struggle, but a few key players and they could actually make a run for the playoffs next year. I still have my insane view that they will make it to the Super Bowl this year (they haven’t been eliminated from the playoffs yet), but in reality I hope they can get eight wins. It won’t be easy..especially since I was hoping the Skins would be one.

The Fins have lots of new faces from the coach to the punt returner…and everything in between. They can’t get any worse than right now…winless. Fifteen games to go. Maybe fifteen wins.

PS. On a side note, I think the locals are all happy in hoo-ville, since UVA managed to beat the football powerhouse of Duke…the team that hasn’t won a game in three years. Of course it was a nail biter in the 4th quarter…

I’ll be honest, I can’t remember the last time it rained. I also can’t remember a day that wasn’t sunny and 90+ degrees. I think in April there was a day when my AC wasn’t running a good chunk of the day.

The drought continues to get worse. There are currently two disturbed regions out in the Atlantic. One can only hope a good hurricane develops and rolls in to town. Maybe two hurricanes.

What else is being done for the future of this god-forsaken village? As I said a few weeks ago, not much. The Daily Regress ran a lovely story today talking about the situation. I can’t wait to get a new pipe by 2021. The current structure is more than a hundred years old. If it was good enough for TJ, it is good enough for us. Right?

Artist’s rendition of C-Ville in 2020.

I continue trying to get in shape for the Richmond marathon in mid-November. I did a 15 mile run this morning at a 9:51 pace. I still have tremendous fear about the full marathon. If only I was 20 years younger, or was fit. Ugh.

Three people shot at in one parking garage where four previous incidents were involved, and no connection to any of the other dozen or so attacks this summer in the historic downtown area. Just another weekend in Charlottesville…a great place to live for all our citizens…just not that Jackson chap who keeps getting shot at.

As I walked past the same “I put the Kabash on you” lease sign in the old A&N on the downtown mall some asbestos fumes drifted by. Lots of construction seems to be going on up on the rooftop over Kikis. Is something happening to that spot that has been sitting there vacant on the mall for the past 1.5 years?

Well…Tipster O seems to think a supermarket is getting ready to move in to that spot. Trader Joe’s? 7-11? O didn’t seem to want to pass along any names…so I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

Former A&N was already for lease when Ernesto rolled through town. Will this become our new supermarket?

Local doctors have now gone radical here in the village. They are asking that C-Ville ban smoking. Pretty radical for anyone around here. I sure hope the villagers don’t rise up and try to burn the doctors or anything like that.

Let’s go C-Ville. Go radical and do something reasonable for once. Ban smoking in public places. Bring civility to the village. Many around here (particularly those with big heads and red and white striped shirts) will continue to state that the village can’t do anything unless the state gives us permission. Did those in Boston many years ago get permission from the state? Can you think of any other groups throughout history who didn’t wait for permission? Get some cajones. Show some chutzpah.

One thing that is very obvious in this village is the lack of villagers that ride the bus. One reason I don’t ride the bus is that it is faster to walk than ride the bus. Another is that the system/buses will sometimes just decide not to pick people up, run down pedestrians at a crosswalk, have many running on the same roads, or shut down for the day.

Another bit of wackiness is that within one mile you have three separate bus systems. Albehmarahhhh County, C-Ville, and UVA. The three parties chat on occasion, but nothing ever changes. I believe October is “free bus” month. Will that get more riders? Will it help to get rid of situations where there are more buses than riders?

Five people (of which I believe a few are drivers) with seven buses. That is a problem.