West Main Street Charlottesville, Va
In “ A Tale of Two Towns” we took a step back from the international scene to look at the white nationalist and separatist rally that occurred on August 11th and 12th in Charlottesville, Virginia. The episode touched on West Main Street, an area increasingly developed with markets, shops, restaurants, and apartments or hotels. Housing for students at the nearby University of Virginia (UVa) encroaches on West Main Street and areas nearby, which increases property rates. The Omni Hotel on the Downtown Mall and most of West Main Street share a dark history since the land they sit on used to be part of a now-forgotten community known as Vinegar Hill.
During the 20th century, Charlottesville and UVa received generous funding from the wealthy stockbroker Paul McIntire. He is best remembered for funding the McIntire School of Commerce at UVa, McIntire Park, and McIntire Drive. McIntire also financed the creation of four statues in Charlottesville: George Clark leading an assault on Native Americans labeled “Conqueror of the Northwest,” Lewis and Clark with a cowering Sacagawea, Robert E. Lee, and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson. The latter two statues gained national recognition as they were swept into the events that occurred on August 12th, and have since been covered with tarps. McIntire was purposeful in choosing the location of the statues, placing them near Vinegar Hill and surrounding Black neighborhoods. McIntire also created a massive park named after himself and stated it was for whites only, and then he created a much smaller park for “colored” individuals.
By the 1960’s a standard economic development practice known as urban renewal, which involved reusing land to create downtown city centers, was being implemented in Charlottesville. This practice was, and is, controversial because it required the eviction of predominantly Black and low-income residents in Vinegar Hill. The community was forcibly moved through eminent domain, and the neighborhood was destroyed not long after the civil rights movement. The city’s comprehensive plan states that “Vinegar Hill’s ‘urban renewal’ ostensibly removed ‘blight,’ but also made room for nondescript fast-food and big-box retail in super-blocks, surrounded by parking lots and wide streets. That made cars faster and car storage more accessible, but walking more treacherous.” Although City Hall uses the term urban renewal, many know this practice by another name: gentrification.
Despite claims that this urban renewal project would benefit the citizens of Charlottesville, the displaced community felt little of these economic benefits. The Black-owned businesses and low-income residence areas of the past were replaced by the likes of a Marriot hotel, an over-priced urban market, and other high-end businesses. The new businesses were not held accountable for hiring from the local populace, and the local communities never benefited.
The businesses that sit on West Main and the Downtown Mall are currently high priced, and many individuals in Charlottesville cannot afford them. The high property rates on the Downtown Mall and West Main Street lead businesses to raise their fees on consumers and create a cycle where only the wealthy can invest and shop downtown. This impacts property values of nearby communities such as West Haven and Fifeville, which house individuals displaced from Vinegar Hill. Many of the businesses on West Main Street have stated that they would hire individuals from local communities like Fifeville, yet that seems not to be true since the jobs have been going to an outside commuter workforce.
The changes on West Main Street are more apparent than one would think. A walk from UVa to the Downtown Mall will show construction on either side of the street. The construction sites are for two residential areas marketed toward student housing with one on the north side, and one on the south side of the street. Many in Charlottesville are skeptical about the fact that these spaces are marketed towards UVa students since the space is not being used to aid city residents.
Is the development of West Main Street just a normal occurrence or part of a larger plan for Charlottesville? Perhaps the city council or other members of city hall are behind some grand scheme to radically change West Main Street. That is improbable, yet that is exactly what is happening.
A comprehensive plan to redesign West Main Street has already been developed and approved by the city council. Members of city hall are meeting with Land Planning & Design Associates, Inc (LPDA) in addition to Rhodeside & Harwell (RHI) on the topic of redesigning West Main Street. They plan to connect the Downtown Mall to UVa and Jefferson Park Avenue with a walkable marketplace. Both companies have local sites in Charlottesville where they conduct business, and they focus on designing and developing urban areas to ensure there are open spaces for individuals to interact. It would seem these projects are being carried out in conjunction with the Charlottesville City Hall’s “GO” programs. These “GO” programs, which stands for “Growing Opportunities,” are meant to give local individuals the tools they need to succeed in a competitive job market. One of their most recent projects is “GO West Main.”
The website states the overall idea is, “Great streets — as public places — bring people into restaurants, shops, offices, and housing along them. A great street is a place where people want to be — to live, to work, to visit with friends, to shop, and to spend time. Throughout the world, walkable and bikeable streets provide the economic engines for successful communities.” The plans for West Main Street are massive. They include new businesses, trees, shrubs, redesigned bench arrangements, storm-water drainage, lighting, sidewalks, bike lanes, revamped parking, new bus shelters, underground utilities, and a new park. The park is the most obscure project. Where could they possibly fit a park on packed West Main Street? Designs are already developed of a park built around McIntire’s Lewis and Clarke statue.
Rhodeside & Harwell has been working with the city since October 2013 to develop the plan that is now publicly available. Rhodeside stated that “the goal is to create an ‘active, pleasant and beautiful place for West Main Street’ by improving safety, increasing the number of street trees and placing utility lines underground.” The Charlottesville Planning Commission (CPC) stated that “33 parallel parking spaces would have to be removed from the corridor if the current plans for the project take effect. In order to make up for that loss, the commission is suggesting stricter time limits on spaces or introducing metered parking.” The focus towards making West Main more of a pedestrian area is predicated on Charlottesville’s comprehensive plan. The plan recognizes Vinegar Hill’s success as an open space for individuals to walk, socialize, and shop, but fails to recognize Vinegar Hill’s role as an area of predominately low-income and Black-owned businesses that catered to Charlottesville’s forgotten demographic.
With the project geared towards high-end business and totaling $31,037,704, many may question who this project will benefit. The funds to be used for the project could go towards training programs to aid households in need, or help individuals start up new businesses. This is an issue Charlottesville has grappled with before. The Belmont district faced similar issues of gentrification when high-end restaurants and businesses moved in, causing property rates to rise and forcing low-income individuals to leave Belmont.
The gentrification of Charlottesville is not the goal held by city hall or development groups since they believe that developing West Main Street will improve the economy, which it will. Yet, those who live in Fifeville and Westhaven may not feel that improvement as the jobs produced will go to a commuter workforce and the residential areas of West Main Street will become too costly. In addition, it is likely that the businesses will not hire from Fifeville and Westhaven due to the businesses wanting higher skilled workers. One can only hope that City Hall will hold West Main Street businesses accountable for hiring from the local communities, but this should not be counted on. This should be a wakeup call to not just Charlottesville but to every city and community. Investing in infrastructure may seem like a good decision at first, yet if education and training programs are not improved prior or simultaneously to infrastructure development, then the local populace will not have the human capital to benefit from the new infrastructure. If precautions are not made, gentrification will once again triumph over low-income and marginalized individuals.
