Category: Urban Planning

one of Roberts Moses roads

east river view from FDR
This is a color photograph made on a grey day. Looking across the East River from the FDR.

Moses shared the prejudices of his class and time, and poor neighborhoods were not where he spent political capital.
Writer Jane Jacobs (The Death and Life of Great American Cities) fought to save neighborhoods. SoHo and the Village were not cleared but they didn’t stay working-class. Moses displaced the poor with a bulldozer. The market, in the neighborhoods he was stopped from touching, displaced the poor with outrageously expensive real estate.
Moses poured concrete when American cities were desperate for parks, bridges, and roads, and he treated the people in the way as a cost of getting the job done. The roads he finished still carry traffic.
The neighborhoods Jacobs helped preserve are a reason lower Manhattan is a place worth caring about.–Grok

Isaiah 40.4 revisited

the floodplains shall be filled, the mountain and hill shall be made low: the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places smooth.

Albemarle County Supervisors vote 4-2 to further terraform at the base of Monticello mountain.

Mallek and Missel voted to prevent harm in the flood hazard overlay district and to retain the benefits of ecosystem services provided by Albemarle’s  green and riverine systems to inhabitants of the County and City.

Duncan, Gallaway, LaPisto-Kirtley and Pruitt voted with the civil engineers to acquire four metal buildings, impervious surface and tax revenue.

Design Injustice

I certainly do not disagree with the technical attributes my colleagues have shared and I will go on record by saying I hate this image that I’m looking at right here. Look at the neighborhood to the left of Franklin St. What socioeconomic band do you think those people are in? Where else in our county would you see something like this?

Q-Proximity to an industrial park?

A-Right! I mean, talk about design injustice, on top of all the things that my Commissioners have said, there’s a reason why the comp plan says what it says. There’s a reason why we don’t commonly build in the floodplain. There’s a reason why you can’t put a building on there today. Like those reasons are there for a purpose. I won’t go ahead and beat the drum that my previous two Commissioners have. I certainly agree with them. They’ve said it so eloquently. So I’m a pretty hard no on this one.– Commissioner Corey Clayborne 4/22/2025

Huja

In his 33 years as head of Community development in Charlottesville Huja made vast improvements in the quality of life in the Woolen Mills Neighborhood. His work in preservation helped maintain the fabric of our community. His vision to introduce citizens to the Rivanna River recreationally via a trail and park has been transformative. His traffic calming actions made walking safer. He was good to us.

Huja wasn’t afraid of the 4 way stop. That signage put an end to drag racing on Chesapeake and Market.
Signage isn’t foolproof.
http://historicwoolenmills.org/fabric/2025/02/19/signage/

Circus grounds

What’s old is new again

City Manager Sam Sanders
2008 September, Planning Commission identifies the Rivanna as a work plan item for 2009
Identify strategies to maximize the presence and value of the Rivanna River in the life of the City of Charlottesville
1/27/2009 Staff presents Rivanna River Corridor Plan Project Outline
Rivanna River Corridor-Charlottesville
Issue: The 3.7 mile River Corridor is an under-realized resource for the City of Charlottesville. “Identify strategies to maximize the presence and value of the Rivanna River in the life of the City.”
Outcome: River Corridor District defined for the City. Various components ready for inclusion with 2013 Comprehensive Plan—March 1, 2010 CPC Work Plan Report

Last night Charlottesville City Council approved purchasing floodplain acreage next to the Rivanna River.
Several of the Councilors and the City Manager spoke thoughtfully about the purchase.

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There has been much talk about the Rivanna Corridor in the last two decades. I hope, this time, City leadership, staff and elected, will get serious. Spending five million dollars is a serious move. Other moves, like rewriting the zoning code for the acreage in the flood plain, should be undertaken post haste.

Home

Market Street Park aerial
This is the park that launched a thousand ships, Market Street Park. Formerly Emancipation Park, formerly Lee Park, formerly…
These days the park is home to a number of people who can’t afford the highly inflated rents and real estate prices in Charlottesville.
There is an open house at the park today (Saturday October 21)

Six Men

Ron Higgins office
What can zoning not fix?
Commissioner Schwarz
Commissioner Stolzenberg
Commissioner d’Oronzio
Commissioner Solla-Yates
Chairman Mitchell
Commissioner Habbab
September 14, 2023, draft zoning ordinance Public Hearing, 110 speakers…

Dear Commissioners,
I appreciate your efforts to address displacement pressure, it is a great challenge.
People need safe places.

I think of the decades of back and forth with the Council and the Commission over the disposition of a handful of lots on Market Street and you all are contemplating catalytic changes to thousands of lots.
Wow.

I hope you are as wise as Solomon. I pray that your recommendation to Council doesn’t have as many unanticipated/untoward effects on our City as the arrival of the automobile.

As you strive to do good strive also to limit the damage.
The City is a sensitive living thing.
Good luck

Neighborhood Development Services director Freas

The discussion continues.

Eminent Domain

3 dogs
I asked Council to seize 21 acres in the floodplain of the Rivanna River, to provide the current owner of the property with just compensation, and create another river park. In the alternative there will be a 15 foot flood wall that blocks access from neighborhoods to the river, a 2 acre parking lot and 245 apartment units.

“that sort of burst on us about a week ago”

(audio from 3 of 5 councilors below.)