City of Charlottesville office building… no, my bad, that’s an East German Stasi office building.
by Jock Yellott
Charlottesville’s City Hall used to be open to its citizens. We could go talk to people. Ask questions. Learn.
No longer. Front door locked. A guard in an air conditioned box. A citizen has to justify going inside. Where? Seeing whom? Why?
The guard calls upstairs to where I’m supposed to go, but no answer. She calls somebody else to let me in the door. I climb the stairs to the second floor and find… a newly installed second locked door. With camera. And a buzzer system.
I need to deliver something to the City Attorney. Buzz. Nobody answers.
The City Council Clerk? Buzz. Nobody answers. No surprise there, the clerk’s office door is usually shut with lights off. Last time the job was open was 2018, salary advertised at $70,532.80 to $137,538.96. My tax dollars at work. Or, not. No way to know who’s actually working if we can’t go in City Hall. Continue reading
