temporary infrastructure


Lineman from Davis H Elliot Electrical Contractors works to untangle a 20,000 volt distribution line on Park Street.
We had a thunderstorm in Charlottesville Sunday. Some trees dropped limbs, others snapped.

Invariably, after storm events there are calls for sapletting…

Lets go axe some trees, they made me miss America’s Funniest Home Videos

How do they do it in the big leagues? Like New York City? Where are their wires?
In Charlottesville, I’d be surprised if we spent more than a hundred thousand dollars last year putting this infrastructure underground, less than we’d spend sending a half dozen children to school.
(below- quercus alba v. Buick, Park Street north of its intersection with Cutler Lane.)

tree v car
May 3, 1990, the Charlottesville City Council and the Planning Commission met and discussed undergrounding electric wires, a lengthy excerpt from the minutes follows.

The undergrounding of utilities was discussed.
Ms. Waters stated that Council’s position was to underground utilities where possible but did not support a major undergrounding effort because of the high cost.
Mr. Akin stated that at his request students in the Systems Engineering Department at the University will conduct a complete study on the management of utilities, including undergrounding and the potential for City ownership. Mr. Akin stated that his intent was to determine how the City can more effectively have control over the utilities.
Mr. Sours noted concern with possible bias of the study and recommended that the study be coordinated through the City Manager’s office.
Ms. Waters stated that there had been no collective decision on the part of the Planning Commission or Council to study utilities and expressed concern about devoting staff time to a study commissioned by one individual.
Mr. Toscano stated that he thought it was positive that the University was willing to take the study on.
Rev. Edwards stated that he would be interested in seeing what the study showed.
Ms. Kay Slaughter, Council Member elect, questioned whether the City had a policy about undergrounding for new projects and Mr Gary O’Connell, City Manager replied that undergrounding has been required for new construction.
Ms. Sue Lewis, Planning Commission member, stated that she felt the City should use the students at the University as resources more often.
Mr. O’Connell stated that he and the City Attorney have been working with Virginia Power on the undergrounding issue.


Park Street was closed north and south of the Route 250 bypass Monday morning.

metapolitics

candidate forum fry's spring 8-10-2011
Metapolitics (sometimes written meta-politics) is metalinguistic talk about the analytic, synthetic, and normative language of political inquiry and politics itself. Put simply, it is dialogue about the way we talk about politics… In current usage and praxis, the term metapolitics is often used in relation to postmodern theories of the Subject and their relation to political theory. In its broadest definition, metapolitics is a discipline that studies the relationship between the State and the Individual.–Wikipedia
Charlottesville Tomorrow has posted audio for this fascinating moment, left to right councilmanic candidates Scott Bandy, Paul Beyer, Colette Blount, three of the eleven declared candidates.

infrastructure

corrugated pipe
Infrastructure is basic physical and organizational structures needed for the operation of a society or enterprise, or the services and facilities necessary for an economy to function.
The term typically refers to the technical structures that support a society, such as roads, water supply, sewers, electrical grids, telecommunications, and so forth, and can be defined as “the physical components of interrelated systems providing commodities and services essential to enable, sustain, or enhance societal living conditions.”–Wikipedia

Infrastructure can inspire. Carefully engineered, lasting projects are beautiful and cost effective. The Aqua Virgo, an aqueduct supplying Rome with drinking water, was constructed in 19BC, and renovated in 1453.
The large diameter galvanized pipes above are shopping center infrastructure. Presumably, they’ll be buried beneath the ground and deal with storm water unable to penetrate the acres of impervious surface that are part of this new consumer Shangri-La. Could the rainwater be kept on top of the ground in a series of streams, meadows and lakes and allowed to infiltrate? The landscaping could be beautiful and functional. Maybe that is part of the plan? UVA, locally, leads in daylighting piped streams and dealing with stormwater intelligently.
corrugated pipe
One thing for sure. This is short term infrastructure. No one will be renovating this installation in a millennium. The useful life of corrugated pipe is measured in decades.

NO VA

10' corrugated pipe
Route 29 & Hydraulic Road, 
Charlottesville, Virginia
• 2,000,000 square feet
• A mixed-use development located in award-winning Charlottesville, Virginia – the “Napa of the East Coast”
• An elegant mix of Main Street retail, residential living, Class A office, and boutique hotel
• Located at the intersection of Hydraulic Road and Route 29 – the major retail corridor of Charlottesville
• 61,000 CPD pass the site on Route 29/Seminole Trail
• 2 million tourists visit the area each year – wineries, golf, Monticello and UVA are the highlights.–The Shops at Stonefield, Edens & Avant

dies caniculares (dog days)

press conference, downtown transit center
When the ancients first observed Sirius emerging as it were from the sun, so as to become visible to the naked eye, they usually sacrificed a Brown Dog to appease its rage, considering that this Star was the cause of the hot sultry weather usually experienced at its appearance; and they would seem to have believed its power of heat, conjoined with that of the sun, to have been so excessive, that on the morning of its first rising the Sea boiled, the Wine turned sour, Dogs grew mad, and all other creatures became languid ; causing to man, among other diseases, burning fevers, hysterics, and phrensies.
That the weather in July and August is generally more sultry than at any other period of the year, and that some particular diseases are
consequently at that time more to be dreaded, both to man and beast, is past dispute. The exaggerated effects of the rising of Sirius are now, however, known to be groundless; and the superior heat usually felt during the dog-days, has been more philosophically accounted for. The sun at this period of the year, not only darts his rays almost perpendicularly upon us, and of course with greater power; but has also continued to exert his influence through the spring and summer seasons, whereby the atmosphere and earth have received a warmth, proportioned to the continuity of its action; and moisture, in itself naturally cold, has been dissipated:–Clavis Calendaria: or, A Compendious Analysis Of the Calendar Volume 2–John Henry Brady

foodies unite!


Not since “a chicken in every pot” have the foodies been so aligned. This picture makes me laugh because I automatically read the sign as “FOODIES UNTIE”.

in the bunker


For a hundred years the Woolen Mills had greenspace at its northwestern entrance. The greenspace was agricultural land, then a golf course, and finally (for 70 years) a ball field and open green.
Two years ago the commons was fenced and turned into a “regional aquatic facility”, it was at capacity yesterday.


I wish we’d invested a bit more time “in the bunker” designing this local amenity.
The part I don’t remember, in the run-up to the construction of water-world was the part where Parks and Rec officials said “it’s going to be a hummock of ugly and we are going to plant our flag on the top.”

day of rest


Union Baptist Church, Waynesboro, Virginia
Sunday Schedule,
Sunday School 9:45 A.M.
Devotional Praise Time 10:45 A.M.
Worship Service 11:00 A.M.