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The first three records for August 25 as listed on Wikipedia tell stories of various emperors with Gratian being murdered in 383, Marcian being put in charge of the Eastern empire in 450, and Constantine V executing the leaders of a failed coup in 766. Let’s begin this edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement by pivoting to 1958 when an important moment in food history occurred. Taiwanese-Japanese businessman Momofuku Ando introduced the world to instant noodles with his Chikin Ramen. Who’s hungry for more information?
In this edition:
The City of Charlottesville is demanding that developer John Dewberry submit a plan within 60 days for future of stalled hotel project on the Downtown Mall
Charlottesville City Manager Sanders said there will be no delay in opening 2000 Holiday Drive
John Sales is leaving his position as director of the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority triggering a formal search for a replacement
Amtrak will pause service across the Potomac River in mid-October to allow for a replacement of aging equipment that moves trains through to Union Stations
The Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority meets this afternoon
One of the ways that the Rivanna Conservation Alliance fulfils its mission to steward area waterways is to hold an annual one-day clean-up as well as other events throughout the month of September.
As the September 19 Rivanna Round-Up approaches, the RCA is seeking volunteers who would like to assist. Sign-ups are now open to clean up along trails, in streams, along the river, and more.
Interested? Find out more at the RCA website!
Construction of what used to be known as the Landmark Hotel on the Downtown Mall stalled in 2009 leaving a concrete skeleton. The finances of the former owner fell apart and the property and structure at 201 East Water Street were sold at auction.
Dewberry Capital made the high bid of $6.25 million in June 2012 and developer John Dewberry indicated he would move forward with completion after another project in Charleston, South Carolina, was completed.
Today the City of Charlottesville announced that City Attorney John Maddux sent a letter on August 19 to Dewberry requesting a plan be delivered to the city within 60 days.
“The Dewberry Charleston opened in 2016,” Maddux wrote. “Ten years have passed since then. The building on Water Street remains a concrete and steel frame, without windows, elevators, or basic building services, in the center of Charlottesville’s Downtown Mall.”
The letter goes through a history of Dewberry’s ownership of the property such as a notification from the city in 2013 that the project met the statutory definition of blight but no mitigation plan was submitted.
“In 2017, City staff worked with you on an incentive package intended to get the project moving, and when the agreement came before Council in December of that year it was not approved,” Maddux continued. “Nothing has been submitted to the city for this property since.”
In 2022, the Friends of Downtown Cville wrapped a vinyl covering around the building to improve the aesthetics but Maddux wrote that this is now beginning to deteriorate. He also said the city has lost its patience.
“The City’s posture toward this property is changing, and you should not plan on the coming years resembling the last fourteen,” Maddux wrote. “The condition of 201 East Water Street is a matter of legitimate concern, and the City intends to treat it as one.”
Maddux asked for Dewberry to return with a written plan that addresses at least four points:
The city wants to know what Dewberry plans to do with the property. Sale, construction, removal of the skeleton?
The city wants a schedule of upcoming milestones for any action to redevelop.
The city wants to know what Dewberry plans to do about the deteriorating wrap.
The city wants to know who will serve as a contact person for interaction.
Maddux said the city intends to conduct a structural evaluation and inspection of the property as the most recent one is from 2017. He also said the city is willing to help facilitate a sale.
“Tell us that a sale is your objective, give us a realistic timetable, and my office and the Office of Economic Development will make staff available to any serious purchaser to talk through permitting, site plan review, and process,” Maddux said.
In an information release sent out at 8:41 a.m. this morning, City Manager Sam Sanders called the unfinished project a “scar on downtown.”
“The City continues to believe the best outcome would be for the owner to sell the property to someone ready, willing, and able either to finish the building or remove the existing shell and start over,” Sanders said. “What we are no longer willing to accept is an indefinite continuation of the status quo.”
According to the city’s GIS, the 0.27 acre property zoned Downtown Mixed Use is assessed at $9.215 million with $2.3 million of that being the underlying land.
More on this story as it develops.
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In a promotional video produced by Charlottesville’s Communications and Public Engagement department, Charlottesville City Manager said on August 24 that there will be no delaying the opening of an emergency shelter at 2000 Holiday Drive.
In the video, Director Afton Schneider indirectly refers to a letter U.S. Representative John McGuire (R-5) sent to Sander seeking a pause while a safety plan is developed. An image of the letter is briefly posted on the screen.
“We were made aware of a letter yesterday that’s floating around social media,” Schneider said. “What do you have to say about that?”
“I can basically respond to what I understand the contents of it being about delaying this facility,” Sanders said. “We’re not doing that. It is important for us to continue the priority that we have to serve our unhoused individuals.”
Sanders said a safety plan is in place for when Central Arizona Shelter Services begins operating the site on behalf of the city. The exact amount they are being paid has not yet been disclosed but City Council agreed on August 3 to spend up to $4 million for assistance in removing people at the encampments along the Rivanna River with 2000 Holiday Drive being one option for a place for them to go. The deadline is around September 1.
“So we don’t have any concerns regarding public safety when it comes to 2000 Holiday Drive?” Schneider asked.
“Not at all,” Sanders responded. “I mean, I think we have actually focused on this facility way more than we have any other facility in town. We are looking forward to the facility finally becoming open and available to the public.”
Sanders also said furniture has begun to arrive at the site.
“We have beds and mattresses coming,” Sanders said.” “We have tables and chairs that are needing to be put together and put in place.”
Follow-up questions are being asked and will either be posted here or in a story on Information Charlottesville.
The rolling topography of the Charlottesville area might keep some people away from choosing cycling as an option to get around. Perhaps an e-bike is in order?
That’s where Charlottesville’s eBike Lending Library comes in! E-bikes are a great way to get around the community but there are many brands and styles to choose from. Because many e-bikes are sold online, it can be a challenge to try an e-bike before buying one.
The Charlottesville E-bike Lending Library is a free, not-for-profit service working to expand access to e-bikes in the area. They have a small collection of e-bikes that they lend out to community members for up to a week, for free. You can experience your daily commute, go grocery shopping, or even bike your kids to school, and decide whether e-bikes are right for you. Check out this service for yourself!
The government entity that owns and operates hundreds of residential units across the City of Charlottesville will soon have a new person in charge.
After six years, John Sales has announced he will be leaving as executive director of the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority with no date specified in an information release sent out by the CRHA Board of Commissioners.
Sales has been in the position since August 2020 after having served as housing coordinator for the City of Charlottesville.
“Serving CRHA residents has been one of the great honors of my professional life. I am optimistic about the future of CRHA,” Sales is quoted in the information release.
Who will take over has yet to be determined as Sales will stay employed at CRHA “to spearhead a collaborative initiative to identify the future of CRHA’s leadership.” That will involve multiple stakeholders including City Council, CRHA residents, the Board of Commissioners, and the greater public.
The release also states a formal search for a new executive director will be launched.
Current Chair Brigid O’Rourke said in the release that Sales accomplished a lot during his time in the role.
“Sales was vital to advancing redevelopment initiatives at all public housing sites, identifying strategic opportunities to increase affordable housing, and expanding Housing Choice Voucher utilization,” O’Rourke said.
Construction is underway at both the second phase of new units at South First Street as well as Sixth Street. When completed, these will not be new public housing units but instead will be subsidized through a combination of sources including vouchers.
Planning is well underway on the redevelopment of Westhaven, the first public housing site built by the CRHA in 1964 after the razing of Vinegar Hill as an urban renewal project led by the agency.
In October 2025, CRHA filed a site plan for 264 units at Westhaven as I reported for C-Ville Weekly. This past February, Sales told City Council that the project will be built in two phases and the $15 million Council has agreed to spend only covers the first.
In March, the city’s Department of Neighborhood Development Services approved a major development plan for the first phase as I reported in this newsletter.
“As we continue to implement resident-led redevelopment, including the planned resident-led redevelopment of Westhaven, CRHA will remain a national leader in valuing resident input and delivering high-quality, world-class public housing,” Sales said in the information release.
The August 24, 2026 meeting of the CRHA Board of Commissioners was not broadcast on the city’s streaming service. There are two vacancies on the Board including one spot for a CRHA resident and another for a member at-large.
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The Virginia Passenger Rail Authority continues to plan for a future with more service both within the Commonwealth and outward to the rest of the United States. That requires investments in new infrastructure such as the $2.66 billion Long Bridge project which will increase capacity across the Potomac River.
Other equipment is outdated and needs to be replaced. That includes the First Street Tunnel through which Amtrak and Virginia Railway Express trains are routed to Union Station in Washington, D.C. On August 24, Amtrak announced a nine-day “Pause for Progress” in mid-October that will close service at a section of track known as “A-Interlocking.”
“The existing switches and crossovers are beyond their service life, requiring a 10-mph speed restriction that impacts operations,” reads an information release posted on August 24. “A short-term, coordinated outage is more efficient due to the confined tunnel environment and limited access, making phased construction impractical.”
That will mean service reductions and outright cancellations between the end of October 16 and the morning of October 26.
The Northeast Regional in Virginia will continue to run but will only travel once a day roundtrip between Roanoke and Alexandria as well as one round trip to Norfolk. Passengers seeking to cross the Potomac could then take a “Bus Bridge” to Washington D.C that runs three times a day.
Amtrak will also provide one roundtrip bus service from Charlottesville to Union Station each day as well as one roundtrip that would serve Roanoke and Lynchburg.
The Cardinal service between Chicago and New York will not operate in Virginia during the duration of the pause and that train will only travel as far as Indianapolis, Indiana. The Crescent Service between New Orleans and New York will also be truncated.
For more information, visit Amtrak’s page on the outage.
As for Long Bridge, ground was broken in October 2024 and expected to be completed in 2030.
Does the area have enough water to meet the demands of a growing urban population? The Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority is the government entity charged with making sure that the answer is yes.
The seven-member Board of Directors meets today at 2:15 p.m. at the offices of the Albemarle County Service Authority at 168 Spotnap Road on Pantops. (agenda)
I’ll be monitoring the meeting for any official updates on the drought watch as well as updates on the various infrastructure projects underway. One of the items on the agenda is a presentation on operational strategies during droughts.
What is the University’s role in the Commonwealth AI Institute?, Melody Yuan, Cavalier Daily August 24, 2026
“Remember the little guy”: Kaine hears from Virginia farmers as Canada trade fight drives up concern, Shannon Heckt, Virginia Mercury, August 25, 2026
1,328 people arrested by ICE in Maryland and Virginia over 2 weeks, DHS says, Joseph Olmo, WRC-TV Washington, August 25, 2026
What’s the last book you read? I want to read more and I want to know what others are reading. The more I read, the more I want to write.
The more I write, the more I want to archive what I can, something I do a lot on cvillepedia. I confirmed today’s fact about John Sales leaving CRHA from the July 30, 2020 edition of this newsletter. Go back and take a look. I was still trying to figure out a format.
The three paragraph entry doesn’t have a headline and I didn’t copy that over to Information Charlottesville.
I likely won’t copy over the RWSA piece to Information Charlottesville. There’s also a need to examine posting to two different places. Substack leaves a lot to be desired in terms of being able to find stories. I would like a unified place, but I also like the idea of duplication as it means stories get updated.
For now, I’ll just say again paid subscribers help make this happen. There are other ways to support, too, but for now paid subscriptions help me pay my bills. This has been a difficult summer in terms of keeping up with those bills. That’s going around all over, I know. All I want to do is keep getting paid to make newsletters like this one. I don’t think you’ll get all of this information anywhere else.
Paid subscribers also now skip most shout-outs. You may see a sponsored ad here and there. But you’ll skip shout-out!
This song matches how I feel at the moment feeling a particular unfairness about a family situation.
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