The Charlottesville City Council has reappointed Laura Goldblatt to a term on the Board of Commissioners for the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority. The body was created in 1954 after a referendum narrowly passed that spring, and oversaw the razing of Vinegar Hill and the creation of public housing units across the city as part of an overall urban renewal plan.
Goldblatt is an assistant professor of English at the University of Virginia.
“There are still two vacancies on the CRHA Board which we will take up after as we are required by statute and ordinance after we have interviewed the applicants so that will be taken up in September,” said Charlottesville Mayor Lloyd Snook.
In 2022, the CRHA’s Board of Commissioners is overseeing a redevelopment plan that so far has seen the renovation of Crescent Halls and the construction of the first new public housing units at South First Street. These projects are being financed through a mixture of funds including city capital improvement funds and Low-Income Housing Tax Credits.
The CRHA Board of Commissioners did not meet in July due to a lack of quorum. There have been a series of resignations in the past few years due to various issues. The next meeting is scheduled for August 22. The CRHA’s page that lists meetings has not been updated since May 2021, but Deputy Commissioner Kathleen Glenn-Mattews said in an email earlier this month that a new website is in development.
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