JUST A few days ago, I picked up this newspaper and learned that Charlottesville is enjoying the highest job growth in the entire state of Virginia. A mere two days earlier, however, the headlines blared that a girl living in the Alamo apartment complex had been robbed. How can Charlottesville be such an economic powerhouse but still be plagued by crime?
It's the city government's fault. City Council's perpetual aversion to growth combined with the city government's refusal to prioritize the protection of University students' rights has led to the present situation. Unless City Council starts planning ahead to deal with the growing size of the University and puts students' and residents' rights on the same level, crime rates will continue to rise.
Charlottesville politicians are notoriously leftist. In fact, Politics Prof. Larry Sabato has taken to referring to his hometown as "The People's Republic of Charlottesville" when giving talks about election season on Grounds. Grabbing media attention with hyperbole may be Sabato's forté, but he might just be onto something. In an interview with The Cavalier Daily a few months ago, Charlottesville City Councilor Blake Caravati stated that City Council cares far more about family units than for student housing.
The result of this policy is that, according to the Charlottesville Association of Realtors, the price per square foot of housing in Charlottesville has increased by 20 percent in the past fiscal year alone. Normally, more housing would spring up and real estate prices would come back down. But City Council has worked tirelessly to block as much new construction as possible with encumbering regulations. This has ensured stratospheric rent and housing prices.
With both population and job growth on the rise, Charlottesville cannot afford to have a rigid housing market. The nature of the growth reflects a structural change within Central Virginia. As Bill Megzer, chief economist at the Virginia Employment Commission stated, the people getting jobs in Charlottesville are highly skilled and are paid accordingly. These high-skill workers and University students are buying up all the housing leaving the poorer, low-skilled residents of Charlottesville behind. On top of facing a housing shortage, they find it increasingly difficult to find jobs as labor-intense manufacturing jobs head overseas. The Virginia General Assembly is making some strides towards remedying these issues by developing its community college system, but in the meantime many low-skill Charlottesville residents are turning to crime.
University students have grown accustomed to the community of trust and have a tendency to leave their cars, apartments and even houses unlocked. But as the woman in the Alamo learned, there are plenty of people waiting to take advantage of this. The Charlottesville Police held a meeting of Greek leaders to warn students about an outbreak of thefts of iPods and laptops from locked cars. This should not be surprising, as motor vehicle crime in Charlottesville has risen 8.7 percent between 2000 and 2004, according to the FBI.
What is the city actually doing to stop the thefts and muggings? Other than one successful sting operation that police are touting, not much. I regularly pass half a dozen police officers walking from the Corner down Rugby Road on a weekend night, so lack of personnel does not seem to explain the police's inability to prevent crime. The police are simply more interested in arresting stumbling 20-year-olds with red Solo cups than patrolling dimly lit streets with past history of robberies.
Poverty does not cause crime, so job growth does not solve it. In New York City in the 1990s, the economy was booming, but crime had become an epidemic. Mayor Rudy Giuliani brought crime under control by making it his top priority -- he flooded the streets with cops and arrested people for even minor offenses to create an atmosphere of lawfulness. Charlottesville is now experiencing a similarly twin boom in jobs and crime. A staggering 4.1 percent of the population of Charlottesvile has been the victim of property crime, which is higher than the overall rate in Virginia. Instead of telling University students to lock up their belongings and to be constantly vigilant, the City should do its job and protect the rights of the students.
If it can spare hundreds of cops at Foxfields and spend thousands of dollars to send fraternities angry letters for not mowing their lawn often enough, Charlottesville can put a cop on every street corner to impose law and order. It's high time the rights of students were taken seriously in Charlottesville. Enforcing building code regulations and handing out parking tickets might make residents happier about the city's appearance, but unless the city government embraces and plans for growth, housing prices and crime will destroy any benefit to the people of Charlottesville.
Josh Levy is Cavalier Daily Opinion columnist. He can be reached at jlevy@cavalierdaily.com.
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