People have been living in this neighborhood, this place, for thousands of years.
We live in the bend of a state scenic River, on rich, fertile ground, Davidson Loam. Seated here we are eight tenths of a mile from the front porch of Monticello, a mile and 2/10ths from the downtown mall. Seated here we are home, in the center of our universe.
But often we feel, as a neighborhood, that we are in the center of the crosshairs.
Over the years our discussions with the Council have focused on a handful of issues. We’ve asked for reductions in traffic speed and volume, we’ve asked for a reduction of the sewage smell. We’ve asked for pedestrian safety improvements and we have asked that planning and zoning be used to conserve our cultural and natural resources as well as our quality of life.
We have partnered with government entities in the creation of a national historic district, in the design of a sewage pumping station and in the care of our City park. We plant streetscape trees. We pick up trash, we attend City meetings. We have accomplished much but still, we feel threatened.
We are reassured by statements from Mayor Huja and Vice Mayor Szakos in opposition to a bridge through the Woolen Mills. We thank Dave Norris for his enduring stand against the County using City neighborhoods as an interchange.
Diversity is a strength to our way of thinking. We are all kinds of people in this neighborhood. But our mixed status, our socio-economic profile, seems to attract locally unwanted landuses.
Please work with us in our effort to secure the quiet enjoyment of our own homes and the health, safety and welfare of our neighborhood. Together we can make it so.
Category: traffic
Reading Comprehension
Why would you place your company name on a truck that is Jake braking through a residential neighborhood at 0730 hrs.
Why would the driver not heed signs addressing tractor trailers?
Neff Crane 540-937-6066
At risk
June 22, 2010 the Charlottesville Planning Commission added Franklin Street to the City’s sidewalk priority list. Franklin is one of twelve North South pedestrian paths across the railroad. These railroad crossings are of particular interest because they focus vehicle and pedestrian activity in a confined area.
Since June 2010 the bike/ped facilities at Meade Avenue/Carlton Road, at 1st Street SE, at Shamrock Road and at JPA have been upgraded.
Pedestrians on Franklin Street are left to their own devices.
Even though there are straightforward fixes available.
compliance
Franklin and Broadway. The sign is advisory in nature, not a sign that the police enforce.
And so…. Franklin and Market. The tractor trailer driver mashes Betty Lou’s front lawn, knocks on doors. Residents on Market Street move their autos so the rig can make the turn he has been advised not to make.
the interchange piece
This from the summer of 2008
More recently, work has begun on the interchange part of the road through the park.
Clearing proceeds on the piece of land between Hillcrest and McIntire Road
Rock Hill gardens are on the left.
IC= impervious cover
cut through
City neighborhood streets are used as an interchange by regional motorists. Getting from point A to point B in the County? Drive local streets through the neighborhoods (in this case Woolen Mills and Belmont), avoid collector streets and traffic signals.
Transposition, asphalt commons
1 mile section of Jefferson Park Avenue temporarily returned to the commons for use by people not in automotive exoskeletons. Yoga in the street.
there are 847 acres of road surface in CHO, a sizable canvas
The Nigerian dwarf goat Biscuit
Eric Geilker and Biscuit
4 y.o. Titan Green drinks.
Meanwhile on the Downtown pedestrian mall, people share space with equipment responding to a kitchen fire.
Odocoileus virginianus
Franklin Street. Still waiting for those pedestrian provisions.
whatis
You might ask “what is enhanced water?”
WATER, CITRIC ACID, SODIUM HEXAMETAPHOSPHATE (TO PROTECT FLAVOR), NATURAL FLAVOR, POTASSIUM SORBATE (PRESERVES FRESHNESS), ASCORBIC ACID (VITAMIN C), SUCRALOSE, SODIUM CITRATE, POTASSIUM CITRATE, ACESULFAME POTASSIUM, NIACINAMIDE (VITAMIN B3), CALCIUM DISODIUM EDTA (TO PROTECT FLAVOR), VITAMIN E ACETATE, CALCIUM PANTOTHENATE (VITAMIN B5), PYRIDOXINE HYDROCHLORIDE (VITAMIN B6)
You might ask “what is enhanced enhanced water?” I think that is what we have here…water, urea, chloride, sodium, potassium, creatinine, a.k.a. pee.
75% of the vehicles that scour through this street are folk using the Belmont and Woolen Mills neighborhoods as a short-cut. The tide of cars and trucks lowers quality of life. Some motorists eject loaded diapers or products of micturition along with their normal trash. These are the special people.
pave paradise
Which transportation projects should Albemarle County and Charlottesville begin planning for now to make it easier for people to travel around the community in the future?–Sean Tubbs.
Charlottesville Tomorrow has the story on yesterday’s local confab regarding which roads the community builds next. The idea of paving Charlottesville, using it as an intersection between Albemarle County locations seems to have a lot of support. Planners want cars to be comfortable, not to be impeded in their daily course.
I live in a neighborhood built before the introduction of the automobile. The last couple of days have been delightful from a traffic point of view. The water main contractor has been inconveniencing drivers as they cut-through our residential streets, reducing their speed and their number.
Single-family residential zoning districts are established to provide and protect quiet, low-density residential areas wherein the predominant pattern of residential development is the single-family dwelling.
The utility pole at this location and the stone wall on its right have been chunked down by oversized vehicles cutting the corner (see scrapes on the sign).
