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Free market

Last fall, Megan Salgado stopped by Reid’s Super-Save Market on Preston Avenue and was gobsmacked. “The shelves were almost completely empty,” she recalls. “I’d seen on Instagram that the store was in trouble, but it was worse than I thought.” In January, she decided to galvanize support for the long-standing neighborhood grocery store and put up a GoFundMe page to raise $10,000 to help it survive.

Reid’s GoFundMe page—which, as of this writing, has raised more than $20,000, twice the original ask—generated local media interest, and stirred up debate: Is the purpose of public fundraising efforts to get a failing business out of trouble? Or is the purpose of a community funding effort to raise all boats in the community, whether they are an individual, a nonprofit, or a store that’s a neighborhood institution?

The market’s supporters and donors clearly feel Reid’s is a special case; many regard it as part of “the old Charlottesville.” The original store downtown, then called the Stop ‘n’ Shop, was bought by Malcolm Reid in 1961 and renamed. When the building burned down in 1982, Reid sold his satellite store on Preston Avenue to employee H. Kennan “Kenny” Brooks. Brooks died in 2016, and his daughters Kim Miller and Sue Clements took over. Sue, who works full-time for the University of Virginia, has gotten more involved in the grocery store’s operation in the last few years. Her husband, Billy, who handles day-to-day operations, has worked there for more than 35 years, while Kim is more involved in running the satellite Reid’s in Dillwyn, which opened in 2015.

The first thing Sue wants to make clear is her commitment to keeping the store open. “My father was the kind of guy who, if you came in and said you didn’t have the money for groceries that week, he’d let you shop and pay him back later—that’s just the kind of man he was. We still have customers who will call and ask us to put an order together for them. We try to help our customers out—we had a community day here the year before COVID hit, and it was a huge success.”

Reid’s still has a large community posting board outside its entrance, with everything from concert ads and lost pet fliers to business cards and event notices.

But times and the neighborhoods have changed. “It used to be that 60 to 70 percent of our customers were from the neighborhoods [Rose Hill/Birdwood, 10th and Page, and Starr Hill],” says Sue. “Now it’s under 50 percent.” As the neighborhood population has aged, customers pass away and families move out; large family homes get sold off. Real estate values have soared as the Preston Avenue corridor has developed, but the people moving into the new upscale homes and apartments have new habits. “People don’t do all their grocery shopping in one place anymore,” Billy Clements notes.

The Clements acknowledge a confluence of factors that they should have noticed earlier. Troubles began well before the pandemic—which actually boosted sales, as people were reluctant to go into large grocery stores and were buying in bulk for fear of shortages. But then, when the shutdown eased, people stopped hoarding. Post-pandemic issues hit the store hard; as sales dropped, they had trouble making the payments to distributors to keep products in stock. By last October, Reid’s had a sign on the door letting customers know that in spite of empty shelves, the store was still open. “We own this building, and it’s valuable real estate,” says Sue. “It would be easy to sell, but our customers were saying, ‘Please don’t leave us.’”

The crisis spurred the Clements to re-examine their operations, realizing that business as usual wouldn’t suffice. (Sue says proudly that although they have lost some employees to attrition, “all our people have continued to get paid, and there haven’t been any layoffs.”) This is when Megan Salgado walked in and mentioned the possibility of a GoFundMe page to one of the store managers. Other customers had brought up the idea, but Sue and Billy said they were reluctant to put up a page asking their own customers for help. They were, however, open to the idea of the community taking charge.

A few weeks later, Salgado decided to go ahead. She had grown up in Charlottesville, and spent her middle school years in the Rose Hill neighborhood. “I would always run into people I knew [at Reid’s],” she says. After moving away from Charlottesville, she recently returned to live in the Woolen Mills neighborhood and would shop at Reid’s a couple times a month. “It’s a really good location for a grocery store, I would stop by on my way to somewhere and pick up things I need. Once it was a bundle of firewood—you can’t get that at a convenience store.”

But her reactions to Reid’s troubles went deeper than convenience and nostalgia. “In Charlottesville, we talk about being a community and keeping things local, but sometimes there’s a disconnect between the talk and what’s happening. How can we be better about that?” To Salgado, Reid’s is even more than a beloved community institution—“it’s a grocery store in the middle of a food desert. If Reid’s shuts down, who are the people who will be hurt by that?”

When Salgado put up the page, she set a goal of $10,000, a figure she picked randomly, “and I thought that would be a reach.” She posted the link to Reid’s Facebook page, and shared it on NextDoor and her Instagram account. “I was surprised at how quickly [the GoFundMe page] caught on—it’s apparent the store has quite a following.”

Of more than 200 donations, the majority range from $10 and $100—but there are many for $200 to $500. Notably, there are two $1,000 donations from fellow businesses: Bodo’s and The Markets of Tiger Fuel, both of which have stores across Preston Avenue from Reid’s.

“I see Reid’s as a community resource, and the well-being of their business is important to the community,” says John Kokola, co-owner of Bodo’s. “And they’re our neighbor, I want to help when I can. They represent the spirit of the neighborhood, and have deep roots in Charlottesville’s history. And then, what would it look like if this business weren’t here any more? I hope that people will vote with their feet, and their pocketbook.”

Gordon Sutton, president of Tiger Fuel, says, “My brother [Taylor Sutton, Tiger Fuel’s COO] and I live downtown; we shop at Reid’s, we love the people there—they’re really service-oriented and friendly—and we want to see them survive.” The Preston Avenue Tiger Market staff have been known to send a tray of sandwiches over to the Reid’s staff for lunch.
Sutton acknowledges the objections that have been voiced about donating to a business when so many community efforts in Charlottesville need support. “I vetted the idea through our management and our marketing director, who oversees our efforts to support local nonprofits, and got their blessing. We all see Reid’s as a community institution.”
In the end, Sutton says, he and his colleagues decided that Reid’s was a special case, and a place worth supporting: “I’m cheering for an old institution that I like.”

So is long-time customer Norman Lamson, who has lived in the Rose Hill area and patronized Reid’s for 30 years. “I’ve always done all my shopping there,” he says. “It’s five minutes away, and they have the best meats in Charlottesville.” Seeing the empty shelves “was sad—I figured they were having difficulties, so I decided to keep going there to support the store. It’s important that it’s a family business.”

While the outpouring of support was welcome, the Clements know that Reid’s has to succeed as a business to survive. The first step, says Sue: “Address what we’re selling. In the past, the grocery business was all about options. But now, we’re going to be stocking fewer products while still offering a range of high-, low-, and midpoint cost items.”

Reid’s has always been known for its meat and produce. Fresh fruits and vegetables can be hard to find in a small mom-and-pop outlet, but Reid’s has an entire wall of produce at prices close to the large supermarkets. One online reviewer may have noted that you can’t find bok choy or papaya, but then there’s plenty of shelf labels noting what foods are eligible for SNAP benefits. “We are trying to serve all the genres of our neighborhood,” Sue says.

But it’s the meat department that gets customers raving—and coming back. Reid’s is one of the few stores around that has its own meat-cutter, a skill that is less and less available as more large outlets stock only pre-cut and pre-wrapped meat. The market carries a wide selection of beef, ready to sell or cut to order. Billy says proudly, “You want your steaks two inches thick, fine. You can even call ahead.” Reid’s selection of pork runs from head to feet—literally. “We sell everything but the squeal” is clearly one of Billy’s favorite lines, and you can always find Kite’s Virginia ham. The offerings of poultry and fish are more basic; fresh fish is delivered once a week.

One innovation that has brought in buyers is the new value aisle. When a distributor has an overage, or a good deal on products the Clements think will suit their customers, they advertise the weekly special on Reid’s Facebook page and website, and in local fliers. These rotating specials can include special-offer meats and produce, as well as staples from canned tomatoes, cereal, and soft drinks to mac-and-cheese, vegetable oil, and Oreos.

Sue is aware the store’s marketing efforts have to expand, and she hopes the attention to its plight will encourage more people to come in the door. “Grocery stores are a penny-making business. But we’re here to serve the community—the people and families that work here, our family, and the families that shop here.”

As for the GoFundMe page, Salgado always saw it as a temporary measure to get Reid’s back from the brink. “The key is to have people patronize the place,” she says. “I hope people know that they ought to be shopping there. I hope they capitalize on this interest.”


Local resources for small businesses

“The challenges facing small local businesses aren’t any different here in Charlottesville,” says Matt Johnson, assistant director of the City of Charlottesville’s Office of Economic Development. “Sourcing supplies, slim margins, the cost of real estate whether you own or rent, attracting the right staff—these are universal problems. But because small businesses usually run with much tighter profit margins, they often have less funding available to facilitate change.”

Long-standing small businesses, especially those that are locally owned, have a special character, says Johnson. “People have emotional connections to these places, where they might have gone as children or shopped in their early years. That’s the benefit of having these businesses—they help to shape the community.”

OED strives to be responsive to businesses of all sorts and sizes, says Johnson. “One of our main purposes is to serve as a point of contact. Whether your business has challenges or you want to position your business for future growth, we want to point you to the resources you need, within city government or outside sources and partners.” He notes that OED is adding a staff person who will be specifically focused on supporting entrepreneurs.

Johnson cited other resources in the area which, like OED, are available without fees—and most of them have programs specifically geared to small, women-owned, and minority businesses:

  • Central Virginia Small Business Development Center offers business counseling ranging from start-up advice to financial, marketing, and workforce development for established businesses; access to market and sector research; and a variety of events and training sessions.
  • Community Investment Collaborative supports development and growth of community businesses and entrepreneurs, focusing on early-stage business education and connection to resources including mentoring, microfinancing, education, and networking.
  • Virginia Small Business Financing Authority is the state’s business and economic development program, which provides access to financing programs specifically geared to small businesses.

Johnson also noted that Piedmont Virginia Community College runs a range of programs for business management and workforce development.

Categories
Arts Culture

Peter Bogdanovich: He was the cinema

Peter Bogdanovich and writer Justin Humphreys formed a friendship after the director came to Charlottesville for the Virginia Film Festival in 2010. Supplied photo

Film writer Justin Humphreys remembers Peter Bogdanovich, who passed away on Thursday, January 6, at age 82. His tribute is followed by a re-posting of his 2018 interview with Bogdanovich in preview of that year’s Virginia Film Festival.

Peter Bogdanovich: He was the cinema

Peter Bogdanovich was the cinema—both a brilliant director, and a historian who peerlessly chronicled Hollywood’s golden age. And he was a dear fried.

I first interviewed Peter in 2010 at the Virginia Film Festival (and again in 2018, as posted below). I’d loved his books and films since my teens, and was jazzed to finally meet the grandmaster himself. We hit it off instantly. That afternoon, I kidded him that I sometimes called myself “a poor man’s Peter Bogdanovich.”

“Why ‘poor man’s?’” Peter replied. “You’re just younger.”

We stayed close. I visited him in North Carolina when he taught film there. We hung out in L.A. whenever possible. The last time I saw him was August 2021, at a dinner at director Sam Fuller’s home, which Peter had visited for decades. It was a lovely, convivial evening. We last emailed in December about meeting for lunch.

Peter’s influence on filmmakers and film historians was gigantic. He was our link to so many long-gone greats—I told him he had “The hand that shook the hands.” He profoundly shaped my own life and work.

There’s a stupid old cliché about how you shouldn’t meet your heroes. Peter was absolute proof that you should.

Decades ago, actor/writer/director/film historian Peter Bogdanovich promised his friend and colleague Orson Welles that, if Welles couldn’t finish his work-in-progress, The Other Side of the Wind, he would complete it for him. Now, Bogdanovich, at age 79, has beaten countless setbacks and fulfilled that promise.

Academy Award-winning editor Bob Murawski and co-producer Frank Marshall worked with a team to parse 100 hours of Welles’ unedited footage, shot decades ago by a mostly deceased crew. Marshall describes the process as, “a cross between a jigsaw puzzle and a scavenger hunt.” Together, they assembled a cohesive work respectful of its legendary creator’s vision.

The Other Side of the Wind stars John Huston as Jake Hannaford, a vile, macho director, trying to revive his faltering career with a counterculture movie. Bogdanovich co-stars as director Brooks Otterlake, Hannaford’s protégé. The highly anticipated film will be shown on Sunday at the Paramount Theater.

In addition, Bogdanovich’s new documentary The Great Buster, which chronicles comic genius Buster Keaton’s turbulent life and career, will screen on Saturday.

Ironically, Keaton was one of the few classic Hollywood giants Bogdanovich didn’t interview. “I missed him by about two months,” Bogdanovich says. “I was just trying to find him and he died.” Bogdanovich spoke with C-VILLE’s Justin Humphreys by phone from France.

C-VILLE: After so many failed attempts at finishing The Other Side of the Wind, how did the film finally coalesce?

Peter Bogdanovich: After [producer] Filip [Rymsza] got the two women, Beatrice Welles [Orson’s daughter] and Oja Kodar [co-author/star], to collaborate on the picture, everything else seemed to fall into place. Netflix stepped up to the plate and they’ve been just incredible, I mean extraordinary—better than any studio I’ve worked for. We went over budget and they didn’t even mention it.

You were heavily involved in the editing?

Oh, sure. [The film’s veterans] all were. We all had input. Bob did a very good job. It was a long process. …Everybody worked on it very hard, very diligently, very dedicated, with a lot of love there.

Many of the film’s participants are now gone. How did it feel being one of the last men standing and watching the finished product?

A little strange. I mean, here I am in my 70s, watching myself in my 30s. That was pretty odd. And I hadn’t seen much of the footage with me in it . . . So it was quite an experience, actually. I haven’t quite dealt with it fully.

What was it like being directed by Orson?

That’s interesting. Orson Welles created an atmosphere on the set—not for the crew, but for the actors—where you absolutely felt like you could do anything. You never felt like you shouldn’t do something, or shouldn’t try something, it was a very free atmosphere where you could do anything you wanted. He laughed a lot and made us laugh. He made it a fun set for the actors. [Meanwhile] the crew worked like dogs, like slaves.

They got along famously, [Huston] and Orson. It was great. You know the climactic scene between Huston and me, where I stick my head in the window? Huston wasn’t there for that scene. I played that scene with Orson. That’s why it’s so emotional. And Orson’s only direction to me in that scene was ‘It’s us.’

I sensed throughout the film that it was so much about you two. It was touching.

I haven’t let myself really go with it emotionally. I just watch it and say ‘It’s brilliant and Orson’s brilliant.’ And it’s the best performance I ever gave in a movie, or anywhere.

How did The Great Buster come about?

I had met Charles Cohen before, the producer, I don’t know where. And he asked me if I would like to do a documentary on Buster Keaton, and I said, ‘Yeah, sure.’ And that was it.

It’s wonderful that Keaton was revered at the end of his life, after several rough decades.

Happily, the Venice Film Festival gave him that tribute, which allowed me, in the plot, to come back to the features at the end, which I thought was the one really good idea I had—to make it a celebration and come back to the features at the end rather than the middle.

What do you think is Keaton’s lasting genius as a filmmaker?

He always knew where to put the camera. He was a brilliant actor of comedy—extraordinary. He knew instinctively what to do.

What’s next for you?

I’m not quite sure. Paramount, out of the blue, asked to option The Killing of the Unicorn, the book I wrote about Dorothy Stratten, and they want to make a 10-hour series out of it. As far as features are concerned, the one I’m planning to do but I don’t know if I’ll do it next, because it’s a bit elaborate, is a comedy-drama-fantasy called Wait For Me, that I’ve been working on for 30 years. I think it’s the best thing I ever wrote.

Categories
Culture Food & Drink

Consummate host

Justin Ross elevated the Charlottesville fine-dining scene with his dedication to the guest experience. Image: Martyn Kyle

The Charlottesville food scene lost a bright and passionate figure when Justin Ross passed away unexpectedly on March 26, at the age of 40. Those who knew the talented restaurateur and wine connoisseur remember him for his beaming smile and commitment to hospitality.

Ross moved to Charlottesville in 2013 to launch modern Mediterranean restaurant Parallel 38 in The Shops at Stonefield, but it was love that brought him here. 

Jackie Bright worked with Ross at José Andrés’ Zaytinya in Washington, D.C., where Ross was the beverage director and general manager. 

“He was probably one of the most exceptional hospitality leaders I had met,” remembers Bright. “He just had this passion for creating an experience for guests, and also brought so much joy to the team.”

Bright left Zaytinya in 2008 to return to her hometown of Charlottesville. She and Ross kept in touch, and reconnected when Bright returned to visit her former restaurant crew. The pair had dinner and fell in love. While trying to decide where to live, one of the employees on Andrés’ team suggested that Ross lead a new concept in Charlottesville, making the couple’s decision easy.

Born in Maryland in 1980, Ross began working in kitchens as a teenager, and spent his whole career in hospitality. “He loved being with people, serving people wine, food—all of the energy around hospitality,” says Bright. He was adamant that his staff use the word guest instead of customer.

Warm, kind, and food savvy, Ross befriended guests and employees alike. They tell stories about his mischievousness—becoming a Red Sox fan in a Yankees family—and whimsy—leading a dinner party into a soaking summer rainstorm.

Former Parallel 38 manager Jesse Fellows met Ross a little less than a decade ago. 

“We became fast friends, and it very quickly felt like he had been in my life forever,” says Fellows. “There are too many stories to pick one, but a common theme among them was Justin’s brilliance, fierce loyalty, and very personal brand of kindness. He always remembered the smallest details and took time out of his busy schedule to make people feel special.”

A wine fanatic who held an Advanced Sommelier certification, Ross frequently delved into his own collection to further a guest’s experience. “When you wanted an excellent bottle of wine and conversation to match, you went to see Justin,” says Tavola’s Michael Keaveny. “And that pork belly dish in the early days of Parallel 38 set the bar for everyone else in town.”

Nothing was more important to Ross than sharing his passions with loved ones. In 2013, he told the Charlottesville 29 food blog: “I’m not sure what’s better about our regular C&O date night, a much-needed break with my lovely lady or the sweetbreads.”

“We had dinner together every single night,” says Bright. “Even when he was working in the restaurant I would wait for him to come home. We always waited for each other.”

He and Bright welcomed a son in 2018, and Ross was thrilled to have a new partner at his side to pursue life’s adventures. An outdoor enthusiast, he took his toddler on hikes at Monticello and Walnut Creek, and kept maps of the trails, marking their progress each time out. When cooking his much-loved Sunday gravy recipe, he’d hold Dash in his arms, teaching him the gifts of his Italian heritage.

“I’ve never seen someone so devoted to a child,” says Bright. “He would refer to Dash as his best friend.”

As Bright reflects on the span of culinary experiences she shared with Ross, sausage and peppers is the dish she will always remember, and she’s especially grateful for their trip to explore the Champagne houses of France, where Ross was playing with dogs, drinking Champagne, and the couple revelled in the extraordinary hospitality of their hosts. In that happy moment Ross was a guest.

At the time of his passing, Ross had recently been hired as the general manager for Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s new fine-dining restaurant at Keswick Hall. He was ready to pour his heart and soul into the high-profile project. “He wanted to create something really special for people,” says Bright.

A celebration of Justin Ross’ life will take place at King Family Vineyards on April 23, his 41st birthday. For information on how to contribute to a college fund for Dash Ross, contact Meredith Coe at coemeredith@gmail.com.

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News

Legalize it right

Nationwide, Black and white people use marijuana at similar rates. In Virginia, Black people make up about 20 percent of the population—but 52 percent of citations for marijuana possession in the last year were given to Black people, says Chelsea Higgs Wise, executive director of Marijuana Justice, a Richmond-based group fighting for the enactment of equitable legalization policies. 

This month, both houses of the Virginia legislature passed bills that will allow legal, adult-only, recreational marijuana purchase and use beginning in 2024. In the next few days, a small conference of legislators from both houses will meet to reconcile the two bills. Governor Ralph Northam is expected to sign the final version into law, making Virginia the first Southern state to legalize the drug.

Decades of racial discrimination in enforcement means marijuana legalization is a consequential criminal justice issue. And for many supporters of legalization, Virginia’s proposed bills fail to provide adequate redress for the harms caused by the decades-long war on drugs, specifically within Black and brown communities.

“As of right now, I’m terrified,” says Higgs Wise. “The bills now are really bad. I would not want them to pass as they are right now.”

In response to the proposed legislation, Marijuana Justice—joined by RISE for Youth, ACLU of Virginia, and 21 other advocacy groups—sent a letter to Northam and the General Assembly, urging them to meet specific criteria that center on racial equity.

A central  point of contention is the legalization timeline. While the state Senate bill would permit simple possession of marijuana for adults as early as July 1, 2021, the House version would not do so until 2024, when the sale of marijuana is also legal.

Many activists also do not think it’s necessary to wait until 2024 to permit the sale or possession of the drug, pointing to the marijuana-friendly states Virginia could look to for guidance. 

“It’s going to take time to establish a new agency and go through a new licensing process, but does it need to take that long? Probably not,” says Jenn Michelle Pedini, executive director of Virginia NORML. “Such a delayed implementation really only serves the illicit market.”

Pedini suggests that legal access be quickly expanded through existing medical marijuana providers, as many other states have done.

Another key criminal justice component of legalization is the expungement of marijuana-related offenses from criminal records. Both bills would automatically expunge misdemeanors and allow those convicted of felonies to petition for expungement. Certain expungements may also require people to pay off court fees.

Automatic expungement of misdemeanors is crucial, but not a conclusive step. “Prior to 2020, anything over half an ounce was a felony,” explains Higgs Wise. “The people who have been most impacted by these unfair laws are the people with the felonies,” which impact career, housing, and education opportunities.

For those currently incarcerated, the new laws aren’t a get-out-of-jail-free card. People who are currently in jail or prison for marijuana-related offenses would be resentenced, but it remains unclear which offenses would be eligible for reevaluation, and when the resentencing process would begin.

The legislation would also make it illegal to have marijuana inside a vehicle, even if it’s not being used. Activists fear this will only worsen traffic stops—a huge driver of marijuana cases.

“Last year, we fought really hard and got the odor of marijuana to no longer be a reason to search or seize in your car,” says Higgs Wise. “In order to continue to criminalize us in the car, now all a cop has to do is say they see a green leafy substance in your car anywhere, and they have a reason to search.”

If a container of marijuana that’s been opened is found inside the car, the driver could be charged with driving under the influence.

Meanwhile, minors caught with marijuana would continue to face harsh penalties under the proposed laws, including fines, drug tests, probation, school expulsion, and the denial of a driver’s license. 

Such punitive measures have proven to have a disproportionate impact on Black youth. While Black and white youth are arrested at similar rates, Black youth are significantly more likely to be incarcerated instead of put into diversion programs.

“There’s actually data that shows us that there’s no increase in youth use because of marijuana legalization,” says Higgs Wise. “Why in the world create more penalties for young people, when we know which young people are going to be the most impacted?”

Categories
News

In brief

Photo of Heather Heyer Way
Heather Heyer Way is an example of an existing honorary street. PC: Staff photo

Sign of the times

After months of debate over Charlottesville’s honorary street name policies, City Council unanimously approved two requests last week recommended by the Historic Resources Committee: Black History Pathway and Byers-Snookie Way.

Black History Pathway, located on Fourth Street NW between West Main Street and Preston Avenue, pays homage to the city’s rich Black history. It will cut through a former Black neighborhood known as The Hill, which was razed—alongside Vinegar Hill—during urban renewal in the 1960s.

Meanwhile, Byers-Snookie Way, located on 10th Street NW between Preston and Henry avenues, will honor Black community leaders, William “Billy” Byers and Elizabeth “Mrs. Snookie” Harrison. After becoming Charlottesville’s first Black aquatics director in the 1980s, Byers helped create the school division’s swim program, teaching many low-income Black children how to swim. Harrison worked alongside Byers and managed the Washington Park pool for decades.

Out of the dozen proposals sent to the HRC last fall, the committee also recommended that council approve street names honoring Black activist Gregory Swanson, enslaved laborer Henry Martin, and Charlottes­ville’s sister city Via Poggio a Caiano, Italy. 

The committee turned down requests for Tony Bennett Way (and Drive), largely due to the UVA men’s basketball coach’s “previous substantial national and community recognition.”

However, council decided to hold off on approving additional proposals until March. The HRC is also still ironing out the details of the honorary street names policy.

The committee recommends waiving the application fee, substituting the application’s essay section with simple short questions, allowing applicants to choose between a temporary or permanent street marker, requiring two to three letters of support per nomination, and providing historical context on honorary street signs and a website. 

To better handle future honorary street name proposals, the committee advises City Council to create a special naming commission that includes members from related committees.

__________________

Quote of the week

“We’ve come to a strong compromise that reimagines our criminal justice system…to provide a clean slate for Virginians who have paid their debt to society.”

—Virginia House Majority Leader Charniele Herring (D-Alexandria) on the passing of legislation automatically sealing the criminal records of people convicted of certain misdemeanors

_________________

In brief

City offers rent relief 

The City of Charlottesville has distributed $181,000 in rent relief funds in recent weeks, according to City Councilor Michael Payne. The program, initiated to combat the effects of the pandemic, was put together in a short period of time and has already helped 467 local households. 

Credit where it’s due 

Charlottesville Commonwealth’s Attorney Joe Platania has confirmed that Mayor Nikuyah Walker is not under criminal investigation for her use of city credit cards. Speculation about a possible investigation arose in recent weeks after acting City Attorney Lisa Robertson sent a memo to City Council reminding the mayor that “Even a small unauthorized purchase can have serious legal consequences.” However, Platania wrote in a February 22 letter that he has long been “extremely concerned about the lack of consistency and clarity surrounding the city’s credit card policy,” and that he won’t prosecute any cases of potential violations until the policy is rewritten. The credit card policy is just another thing on the already long to-do list of new City Manager Chip Boyles.

Joe Platania PC: Supplied photo

Picture this

Earlier this month, the Virginia House of Delegates voted 99-0 to make the “dissemination of unsolicited obscene images of self to another” a misdemeanor—in other words, they made it illegal to send dick pics without consent. Seems like a no-brainer, right? Well, not to the Virginia Senate, where eight male senators in a 14-person subcommittee killed the legislation, citing constitutional and enforcement concerns. 

Categories
News

Deja vu: Local activists and leaders on how to move forward after chaos

Thousands of rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6. PC: Starmax/Newscom Via ZUMAPress

Two weeks ago, the far-right riot at the U.S. Capitol—fueled by President Donald Trump’s false claims that he won the election—shocked people across the world. But for many, it was a familiar scene. As the country looks ahead to a new administration and beyond, Charlottesville’s leaders and activists have hard-won advice for President Joe Biden.

“[The January 6 siege] is the same horrific play we’ve seen over and over again in this country,” says community activist Don Gathers, who was at the infamous 2017 Unite the Right rally. “So much of the opening act of that play looked just like Charlottesville, where the police stood by and did nothing.”

For weeks, watchdog groups and activists repeatedly warned law enforcement that Trump supporters’ plans to violently storm the Capitol—and assault, kidnap, and even kill members of Congress—were posted across social media.

Despite these warnings, the Capitol Police anticipated a crowd in only the “low thousands,” and prepared for “small, disparate violent events,” according to Representative Jason Crow.

So, like in Charlottesville, police on the scene were massively unprepared for the thousands of people who showed up to Trump’s rally. Insurgents later overpowered the police and stormed the building, resulting in dozens of injuries and five deaths.

“It’s not like they were secretive…It was all over the internet,” says community activist Ang Conn, who was also at the Unite the Right rally.

Before August 11 and 12, 2017, members of the far-right also openly discussed their plans to incite violence and threatened local residents online, as well as held a few smaller “test” rallies in Charlottesville, says Conn. Local activists continuously alerted law enforcement and urged the city to stop the event from happening, but were not taken seriously.

“The people who were supposed to be keeping the peace had all of this information given to them and they ignored it,” says Tyler Magill, who was hit on the neck with a tiki torch during the Unite the Right rally, later causing him to have a stroke.

Video evidence also shows several Capitol officers moving barricades to allow rioters to get closer to the building, as well as one taking a selfie with a member of the far-right mob. Some rioters were members of law enforcement themselves, including two off-duty Virginia police officers.

The scene at the Capitol serves as a stark contrast to the nationwide Black Lives Matter protests last year, during which police deployed tear gas, pepper spray, rubber bullets, and other types of force against thousands of people, and made over 10,000 arrests.

“If Black and brown folks were to do that exact same thing [at the Capitol], we would be dead,” says Conn.

Now, those who were present for the Unite the Right rally say a key to moving forward is to hold the perpetrators accountable.

Since January 6, federal authorities have arrested around 100 people, and say they could arrest hundreds more.

“This cannot be seen as anything other than armed insurrection,” says City Councilor Sena Magill, speaking solely for herself. “It needs to be very clear that people who participated in this need to be prosecuted, and not lightly. …Representatives who instigated this also need to be held accountable.”

Tyler Magill says it’s crucial to expand our definition of white supremacy. “We as a society just don’t take far right extremists seriously,” he says. “We think of it as rednecks [and] trailer park people when it’s not—it’s everybody. The people at the Capitol riot tended to be middle class and above, and the same happened in Charlottesville.”

Other activists have warned that arrests or the threat of arrests will not be enough to deter far-right extremism on—and after—Inauguration Day, pointing to white supremacist calls for violence online.

“We know that they’re not finished,” says Gathers. “I’m fearful for what may happen on the 20th of January, not only in D.C. but really all across the county.”

And though Biden’s inauguration, and the end of Trump’s term, will be a cathartic moment for many, Conn emphasizes that it won’t solve our problems overnight. After the inauguration, she anticipates more white supremacist violence across the country, and says she doesn’t expect President Biden to handle the situation in the best possible manner. Instead, she fears the new administration will ramp up its counterterrorism programs, which are “typically anti-Muslim and anti-Black,” she says.

“The change of the administration doesn’t change the fact that the system of white supremacy is embedded in the fabric of what we call America,” she explains. “We cannot expect [anything from] an administration that condemns uprisings stemming from state violence against Black and brown folks but calls for unity without resolve.”

Gathers also does not agree with the calls for unity made after the riot. “You can’t and shouldn’t negotiate with terrorists, and that’s who we seem to be dealing with,” he says.

However, both activists hope that now more people will not only see white supremacy as a serious threat, but actively work to dismantle it.

“We’ve got to figure out how to change not only laws, but hearts and minds,” says Gathers. “If what we saw [at the Capitol]…and in Charlottesville in 2017 wasn’t enough to turn people around, I’m not sure what it’s going to take.”

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News

House down

When the City of Charlottesville served a stop-work order at 521 Park Plaza, it discovered that this one-and-a-half-story home had already been demolished. Supplied photo.

The City of Charlottesville issued a stop-work order on Friday, April 26, at 521 Park Plaza in the North Downtown neighborhood. When it served the document, the city discovered the three-bedroom house had been demolished. 

At some point late last week, a yellow excavator smashed the one-and-a-half-story structure into pieces. City records listed the home, built in 1979, in excellent condition and without a basement. 

The demolition took place despite the new owners having an approved building permit to proceed with a remodeling. 

Carrie and Benjamin Yorker bought the property last August for $705,000. The house had been assessed in 2023 at $459,800, and that climbed to $677,700 this January. The home first sold in April 1980 for $59,000. 

Benjamin Yorker is a development partner with the Charlotte-based firm Northwood Ravin, and focuses on markets in the southern United States. He has two degrees from the University of Virginia, including a master of business administration from the Darden School of Business. 

The city issued a building permit for “interior renovations” on March 19 at what documents describe as Yorker Cottage. Sage Homes LLC is named as the contractor, and “remodel” was listed as the description of the work, with an estimated cost of $550,000. The plans clearly show the structure was to be remodeled, and there is no hint that demolition was pending. 

The property is within the Residential-A zoning district, which means three new units can be built on the 0.11 acre lot under the new zoning. 

City code defines demolition “as the razing of any structure above the existing grade, or the demolition of any structure below the existing grade.”  

Neighborhood Development Services requires a permit for partial or full residential demolition, but it is unclear from the code what the penalty is if someone does not submit one. The cost to apply for a permit ranges from $75 to $1,500, depending on the permit. 

The home at 521 Park Plaza is not within the jurisdiction of an architectural design control district, so permission from the Board of Architectural Review was not required. Penalties are much more severe for removing such a structure without the city’s consent. 

The city has issued demolition permits this year for 710 Lexington Ave. and 600 Altavista Ave. Requests to take down 1105 Grove St. in Fifeville and 612 Harris Rd. in Willoughby are still pending, while another, 1003 Carlton Ave., is listed as “closed,” meaning the permit was rejected. (The demolition of this structure would allow Riverbend Development to construct a 130-unit condominium complex.) 

“The demolition permit informs utilities and other service providers that all services must be disconnected,” says Afton Schneider, the city’s director of communications and public engagement. “The permit is not issued until those groups sign off that it is complete.” 

Schneider also says the permit ensures that any hazardous materials, such as asbestos or lead paint, will be mitigated in the removal process. Coordination with erosion and sediment control takes place at this stage.

Anyone who takes down a building outside a historic district without permission must pay the $150 stop-work fee (this is charged per day that work continues without permit), pay double the demolition fee, and resolve any other site issues before new applications can be processed. 

At press time, the Yorkers had not responded to a request for comment.  

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Arts Culture

The Howard Levy 4

Supplied image.

Swinging into town for an exceptional sonic experience, The Howard Levy 4 brings pep to your step with bouncy compositions saturated with blues riffs, jazz runs, and world music sensibilities punctuated by blistering diatonic harmonica. Scorching solos showcase each member’s considerable skills, from the bumping bass and drums, to the trilling guitar and harmonica. The depth, richness, and variety of tones achieved by Levy mark him as a true virtuoso, and his backing band of powerhouse musicians matches his fervor with raucous results.

Tuesday 5/7. $18–25, 8pm. Belmont Arts Collaborative, 221 Carlton Rd. Ste. 3. cvillejazz.org

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Arts Culture

Set in stone

Stonemason and sculptor Toru Oba’s public artwork can be seen at Ix Art Park and McGuffey Art Center. Photo by Stephen Barling.
By Stephen Barling

Crouched in the back of his battered Ford pickup truck at Ix Art Park, Toru Oba is wrestling a worn yellow strap around a 5-foot-long, 400-pound hunk of raw sandstone. “I used to move these by myself,” he says, “but now I need help.”

The 79-year-old Japanese stonemason and sculptor can be forgiven if he no longer scales scaffolding with one hand while lugging his tools in the other. He’s remarkably fit for his age—or someone half his age. You have to be, to dominate the brute inertia of soapstone, sandstone, and granite.

Oba’s sculptures, which can be found around Charlottesville—notably in front of the McGuffey Art Center and at Ix Art Park—often range from one to several tons each. The gray and black stone blobs laze in the sun, their polished surfaces inviting visitors to run a hand along a smooth groove or poke a head through a carved hole.

The inscrutable works invoke a sense of creative, playful space. At McGuffey, picnickers sit down to a meal on a large smooth block while children play around them on the grass. At Ix, Oba is immersed in creating several new works. The park has agreed to host the pieces, offering staff and equipment to assist in moving the enormous chunks of stone while he coaxes them into their final shapes. All other labor and expenses—trucking in stones, equipment, and resources—are his.

It is no small feat. An Ix worker brings a forklift to raise the spike by its strap and slowly dangle it into a hole bored in the side of a stack of vaguely bone-shaped sandstone. Oba guides the chunk by hand, arranging wood planks into a platform for refining the stone while he finesses it into its final position using levers, straps, and chains. This one element will take days to add to the sculpture.

Sculpting is a largely improvisational process for Oba, who says he starts with an idea of what the final work will look like, but the stones themselves dictate what becomes of them. “Some artists carve a block down to a shape, but I use the shape of the stone to give me ideas.” The result might be a stout black pyramid or a tall multi-textured gurgling fossil. One sculpture at Ix suggests an oversized pixelated stone rabbit.

He hasn’t always felt so free to create what inspires him. After settling in Nelson County in 1986 with his wife, Oba began contracting work as a mason, building patios, stairs, and chimneys. Things changed in 1999 when he was hired to build the entry to Dave Matthews Band saxophonist LeRoi Moore’s Japanese-architecture-inspired mountaintop dream house.

As the entry’s stone stairs progressed, Oba says Moore asked, “Is that it? Can you do something a little ‘more?’” Thus began a multi-year project designing and installing stone gardens, paths, and patios around the property. With Moore’s encouragement, Oba incorporated sculptural elements into masonry all over the hillside.

“It was the best job I ever had,” Oba insists. The only limitations placed on him were set by Moore’s groundskeeper who demanded he use no heavy machinery so as not to disrupt the landscaping. “That’s how I learned to move these large stones by hand.”

After finishing the work at Moore’s property, Oba continued creating abstract art. He says he is rarely commissioned for installations but he does occasionally sell a large public piece. For obvious reasons, smaller fountains are more popular. Regardless, abstract sculpture is now a compulsion and he has since created dozens of immense stone works.

Covered in stone dust as he refines his giant spike with a grinder, he’s content for now assembling these few oversized pieces for Ix. It’s a herculean task, but he’s compelled to continue. “I just keep doing it.”

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Arts Culture

Rooted in the past

Willi Carlisle writes from the heart about love, growth, and human plight, and asks the audience to sing along. Supplied photo.
By Thomas Crone

Willi Carlisle has a healthy respect for the past, modeling his career, in part, on the folksingers of the 1950s, ’60s, and ’70s—people who traveled a self-made circuit of coffeehouses, clubs, and theaters that catered to a hip set.

Pete Seeger, in particular, is someone who Carlisle feels kinship toward, though he also looks to contemporary performers for guidance as well, like Tyler Childers, and mid-career, touring lifers like Hayes Carll. But the musician’s interests go back even farther, as evidenced by his collection of banjos that date back to the 1850s. So, yeah, he digs what’s come before. But he’s also a curiously “now” kinda guy.

One of Carlisle’s modern moves is in the making of the title video for his new album Critterland. He posted a note to Facebook, suggesting that he was looking for someone to create a stop-motion animation video that would capture the mood of the album’s cover, while reflecting the song’s lyrics. The feedback was immediate, useful, and employed.

“I just asked the world of the internet, ‘Do you know any animators?’” says Carlisle. “And out of the hundreds of bots that also responded, there were two people who reached out, who do exactly that kind of animation, one of whom said she’d love to do it. So, as the weeks tore on, I hired a friend (who’s a really good fiddle player), Julie Bates, to make the video. Julie, to her credit, works on a mid-2010s MacBook with a camera that’s 20 years old and she does it all by hand.”

Bates’ independent style is such that there “was no asking ‘Can you bring up the lighting there a little bit?’ What’s done was done,” he says. “And that’s more pure and interesting to me. Higher stakes, more fun.”

Again, it was a blending of times, influences, styles of working, ways to reach a collaborator.

And speed’s a part of it too. Carlisle says Critterland was recorded in three days, “with no take-backs.” It’s the kind of record that reflects his musical roots, based in the folk and country idioms of states like Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas, and Illinois, places where he’s hung his hat over the years. It is also the kind of thoughtful, unique record that has potential to break the artist to a wider audience. Yet, with his career in ascendance, Carlisle is not thinking in the context of an annual calendar, or an album cycle, or a tour itinerary. The musician says he prefers to break things down to the smallest fraction possible.

“I wake up every day, work the hardest I possibly can,” he says. “If it doesn’t all work out, I can try again tomorrow. Some day, some type of clarity of organization may come to me.

“Meaningful encounters with people really drive my writing,” says Carlisle. “I love to practice and I love to play. The only things that kill me are publicity and logistics. Like, I have to go to the post office today. Pretty much everything else, I like. I haven’t had to plan too much as I’ve worked with people who I simply tell, ‘Hey, guys, I’m ready.’ And it always works.”

It’s worked to the point that Carlisle’s heading into his biggest year of touring yet. Maybe there was a year with more dates on the books; he’s known to be on the road for 80 to 90 percent of his days, making home a relative term. This year, though, the dates range from his usual club and festival appearances to some support slots for Childers, where five-figure audiences will be the rule.

For someone who came up playing house shows, folk halls, and corner taverns, the jump’s been wild and kind of awesome. Carlisle arrives at this moment through hard work—putting out a quarterly zine, producing videos for pennies on the dollar, and playing for all the cool online channels that’ll have him.

Now when he looks out at an audience, he realizes there are a lot more people looking back than in the recent past. “This year we’ll be doing some opening dates in stadiums for 20,000 people and more,” he says. “That exponential growth has been an honor and a pleasure. But the shows haven’t changed much between doing them for 50 people or just 10 people or 20,000. It shouldn’t. It’s my job to give my all and that hasn’t changed very much.”

Carlisle pauses. “Maybe I tell a dirtier joke in a smaller room,” he says. “But that’s about it.”

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Arts Culture

May Exhibitions

Dean Dass at Les Yeux du Mond. Photo courtesy of the gallery.

The Center at Belvedere 540 Belvedere Blvd. “Flowers Interpret Art,” a collaboration between Fluvanna Art Association, BozART, and the Charlottesville Garden Club. Live floral arrangements inspired by and displayed with paintings in various mediums. May 15–18. 

Chroma Projects Inside Vault Virginia, Third St. SE. In the Micro Gallery, “Color as Air,” Lucy Farley Coates’ watercolor paintings capture the fleeting beauty and scent of flowers. Through May. In Vault Virginia’s Great Hall Galleries, David Copson’s “Events from the Ultima Thule,” and Ann Cheeks’ “Moving Through Infinity” continue. First Fridays reception at 5pm.

City Clay 700 Harris St. #104. The annual City Clay Garden Sale and Show, featuring ceramic pottery by various artists. May 10–11. Opening reception Friday May 10 at 5pm.

The Connaughton Gallery McIntire School of Commerce, UVA Grounds. “Virginia is for Artists,” paintings and prints by Uzo Njoku. Through June 14.

Jane Goodman at Crozet Artisan Depot.

Crozet Artisan Depot 5791 Three Notch’d Rd., Crozet. “Wild Thing—They Make My Heart Sing,” hand-crafted ceramic jewelry by Jennifer Paxton. “Made in the Garden,” landscape and still-life painting by Jane Goodman. Through May 31. Meet the artist event on May 11 at 11am. 

C’ville Arts Cooperative Gallery 118 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. “Mandala Magic,” geometric compositions by Rucha Shevade. Through May 31. First Fridays reception at 5pm.

Dovetail Design and Cabinetry 1740 Broadway St, Ste. 3. “TWEETS,” acrylic and watercolor works by Matalie Deane and Juliette Swenson. May 8–June 30. Reception May 23 at 5pm.

The Fralin Museum of Art at UVA 155 Rugby Rd. “Structures,” a selection of 20th- and 21st-century artworks from the museum’s permanent collection, and the Charlottesville Indigenous Art Takeover. 

Infinite Repeats Studio 1740 Broadway St. “Show Screenprints,” by Ron Liberti features posters documenting the artist’s involvement in the independent music scene. Through May 31. First Fridays reception and live printing demonstration at 6pm. 

Lisa Waup at Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of UVA.

Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of UVA 400 Worrell Dr. The Charlottesville Indigenous Art Takeover. “Shifting Ground: Prints by Indigenous Australian Artists from the Basil Hall Editions Workshop Proofs Collection,” curated by Jessyca Hutchens, featuring work by 22 Indigenous Australian artists. Through October 6. “Close to the Wind,” prints, installation, and mixed media works by Lisa Waup. Through June 30.  

Dean Dass at Les Yeux du Mond.

Les Yeux du Monde 841 Wolf Trap Rd. “Passenger Manifest,” oil paintings, collage, and works on paper by Dean Dass. Through June 30. Opening reception May 4 at 4pm.

Sofia Smith at McGuffey Art Center.

McGuffey Art Center 201 Second St. NW. In the Smith Gallery, “Treelines,” drawings and photographs by Bob Anderson and Scott Smith. In the First Floor Gallery North and Second Floor Galleries, artworks from area high school students. In the Second Floor Gallery South, Joe Sheridan, an artist exploring everyday objects as symbols. In the Associate Gallery, “Myths”. Through June 2. First Fridays reception at 5:30pm. 

New City Arts 114 Third St. NE. In the Welcome Gallery, “Nhớ,” an all-consuming, immersive installation made of sewn and embroidered structures by Phượng-Duyên Hải Nguyễn. Through May 30. First Fridays reception at 5pm, artist talk at 6pm. 

Phaeton Gallery 114 Old Preston Ave. Downtown Mall. “Albemarle in Bloom: A Springtime Trilogy,” with oil paintings by Karen Blair, Laura Wooten, and Priscilla Whitlock. Through May 8. First Fridays reception and oil painting demonstration. 

The PVCC Gallery V. Earl Dickinson Building, 501 College Dr. The 2024 Student Art Exhibition, celebrating the accomplishments of student artists from the latest academic year. Through September 7. 

Kiki Slaughter at Quirk Gallery.

Quirk Gallery 499 W. Main St. Kiki Slaughter’s “Twenty Years” presents a look into the process the artist has honed over two decades of active painting. Through June 2. 

Random Row Brewing Co. 608 Preston Ave.  “Landscapes: Here and There,” oil paintings and pastel works by Julia Kindred. Through June 28. 

The Rotunda UVA Grounds In the Upper West Oval Room, the Charlottesville Indigenous Art Takeover. “Waŋupini: Clouds Of Remembrance And Return,” works featuring depictions of clouds by various artists. Through July 7.

Second Street Gallery 115 Second St. SE. In the Main Gallery, “Jac Lahav: Foster Paintings.” In the Dové Gallery, “Leisure Suit” by Lou Haney. Through May 24. First Fridays events at 5:30pm.

Studio Ix 969 Second St. SE. “MODERN GRAFFITI,” interpretations of graffiti in fabric and thread, by the Fiber and Stitch Art Collective. Through May 26. First Fridays reception at 5pm.

Visible Records 1740 Broadway St. “Ngasundiera Naxin: A Fragment of the Cosmos,” works  by indigenous Mexican artist Filogonio Naxín. Through May 31. 

Images courtesy of the galleries and/or artists

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News

Shuttered

Following accusations of hazing, the University of Virginia suspended the fraternal organization agreements of the Theta Chi and Sigma Alpha Mu fraternities and terminated the FOA of Pi Kappa Alpha (pictured). Staff photo.

On April 18, 10 days after the termination of its fraternal order agreement with the University of Virginia, the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity posted an unlisted video to its YouTube channel.

In the video, Justin Buck, the national organization’s executive vice president, sternly addresses his fraternity brothers. 

“For the first time since March 1, 1868, Pi Kappa Alpha is without its Alpha chapter,” Buck says, referencing the organization’s founding at 47 West Range on the edge of Jefferson’s historic Academical Village, marking the UVA chapter Pi Kappa Alpha’s first (or “Alpha”) chapter. “The chapter [was] expelled from the University of Virginia for a minimum of 4 years … following the confirmed, detestable, and abhorrent hazing activities by individuals.”

Pi Kappa Alpha representatives did not respond to a request for comment for this story.

“The University found that Pi Kappa Alpha engaged in serious hazing behavior and decided to terminate the chapter’s fraternal organization agreement with the University,” says UVA Deputy Spokesperson Bethany Glover via email. “In addition, the Policy, Accountability, and Critical Events (PACE) unit in Student Affairs initiated disciplinary action against individual students for their alleged involvement in hazing.”

Aside from Pi Kappa Alpha’s termination, two other fraternities had their FOAs suspended pending an investigation: Theta Chi and Sigma Alpha Mu. If the charges are validated and confirmed, it would be the first time both organizations have had their FOAs revoked. 

It is, however, far from Pi Kappa Alpha’s first time in trouble, and that includes its Alpha chapter. The Cavalier Daily reported in 2022 that the university had terminated the FOA of both Pi Kappa Alpha and Sigma Nu in 2014, but they appealed the decision, and both frats were accepting new members in 2015. Glover did not provide a comment on the 2014 incident by press time.

The fraternity’s history of controversy goes back much further nationwide with over a dozen incidents reported in the last 20 years. As early as 1976, when a pledge at Texas Tech was killed by a train during a hazing activity described as a “scavenger hunt,” the fraternity has fought to keep itself on the straight and narrow—and not just for hazing. In 1988, a sexual assault was alleged to have occurred at the fraternity’s house on the campus of Florida State University. More recently, in March of 2021, the fraternity was again the subject of nationwide outrage when Stone Foltz, a pledge at Bowling Green State University, died due to alcohol-induced heart arrhythmia.  

Details about the recent incident at UVA have yet to be released publicly, but thanks to Adam’s Law, named for Adam Oakes, a VCU student who died in a hazing incident in 2021, the university is legally required to post the details on its school website. 

“Thanks to the transparency laws in Virginia, you’ll be able to read about [the incident] for the next 10 years on the University of Virginia’s website,” Buck says. “We will have a constant reminder of the embarrassment that these men have caused our fraternity. However, it will not be the names of these individuals who will be listed on this website, although they should be. It will be the name of our fraternity.”

Buck says the national Pi Kappa Alpha organization will seek civil litigation against the president and the leadership of its Alpha chapter for the “financial and reputational damages” caused by the incident. 

Glover says the timeline for the release of the details in all three fraternity actions is in “the coming weeks.”

“The university does not tolerate hazing activity,” she says, “and we act quickly to investigate and pursue necessary disciplinary action when reports are made.”

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Arts Culture

The Big Picture

Photo by Aaron Farrington.

Mythical monsters roamed the University of Virginia on the evening of Friday, April 26, when the SW2 Festival of the Moving Creature brought a parade of puppets to Grounds. The magical menagerie was comprised of art pieces designed, constructed, and operated by the university’s Art of the Moving Creature class, and honored festival namesakes Stan Winston, a Hollywood special effects artist and UVA alum, and the late Steven Warner, a longtime professor of the class.

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News

In brief

Crowds at previous spring Foxfield races have been around 25,000 people, but turnout was lower this year. Photo by Robert Llewellyn.

Off to the races

Every spring, college students and families flock to the track for the Foxfield Races. While patrons galavant through the fields and watch the occasional horse race, the Charlottesville-Albemarle Rescue Squad makes sure everyone stays safe. This year, C-VILLE tagged along with CARS for the festivities.

The day started early at the McIntire Road CARS station, with everyone in full motion at 6:45am. For Social Events Captain Nicole Post, planning began more than a month before the actual races. “I take inventory of what we used from last year, what’s going on, and make sure we’re doing all of our ordering,” she says. “We have a bunch of cards, a bunch of backpacks, a bunch of walking packs, so all of that has to be updated and stocked, all the expired stuff needs to be thrown out.”

The CARS squad headed out in a fleet of ambulances, trucks, and other EMS vehicles around 7:30am. After a pit stop at Chick-fil-A in the Mass Casualty Incident truck, we arrived at the racetrack, where the squad split up after breakfast briefings that included assignments for interior treatment center, ambulances, walking teams, and the exterior care center. This helps ensure that CARS can access and treat patients at any location.

After meeting up with Chief Virginia Leavell, I was given a highlighter-yellow CARS jacket and joined the gator teams in the interior treatment center. The gators—essentially souped-up golf carts converted into field ambulances—transport patients who can’t easily get to the main medical area on their own.

Despite the early morning rain and chillier-than-normal temps, the gator teams were quickly dispatched. Calls typically end with either no patient located or an intoxicated 20-something loaded onto the stretcher after a basic lookover. Unless something is wrong with a patient’s airway, breathing, or circulation, the person is immediately driven to the interior medical center.

“Those are like the three big things that are our top priority on every patient, the three things that we check first in all cases,” says Jaime Lear, one of the gator drivers who manned the MCI to and from Foxfield.

Once at the medical center, patients are assessed and treated as appropriate. Most people hang out in the tent for at least an hour, and the doctor on site approves each discharge. Anyone brought in for intoxication must pass a quick walking test before leaving. 

“A vast majority of patients get treated and released from here,” says CARS medic Michael Chilmaid. “Usually each year a couple end up having to be transported to the hospital.”

“Normally if we’ve treated a patient, given them medications, or put [in] an IV, they would be going to the hospital, but here it’s a little different,” adds paramedic and training officer Jasmyn Powers. 

Amid the chilly weather, CARS was less busy than usual this year, with 16 patients in the interior medical center all day and no transports to the hospital.—Catie Ratliff

Money moves

Albemarle County Public Schools adopted its operating budget for the 2024-25 school year on April 25. The budget comes in at $269.4 million, a $9.5 million increase from last year. Highlights include a 3 percent raise for all employees, an increase to the Academic Leadership Compensation Program, and the addition of five full-time equivalent positions to both the English Learner and Special Education program.

The wheel deal

Meals on Wheels Executive Director Hailey Peterson. Supplied photo.

Effective April 29, Hailey Peterson is the new executive director of Meals on Wheels of Charlottesville/Albemarle. Peterson started with MOW in 2021 as a volunteer manager, later serving as the organization’s assistant director and has been the interim executive director since September 2023. “I’m honored to continue my work with Meals on Wheels as the Executive Director,” Peterson said in an April 25 press release. “Having spent the past three years getting to know the volunteers, learning more about the organization, and better understanding the needs of our community, I’m looking forward to deepening our connection to our neighbors in need.”

Fire alarm

The Charlottesville Fire Department is investigating a fire at the University of Virginia Medical Center. The fire started at approximately 11:45am on April 27 in an inpatient room in the Medical Intensive Care Unit. A patient and a visitor were both treated for injuries, and the hospital returned to normal operations by the same afternoon. At press time, the cause of the fire is unknown.

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Arts Culture

Sarah Jarosz

Supplied image.

Promoting her new album Polaroid Lovers, four-time Grammy Award-winner Sarah Jarosz performs an evening of new music tied to old memories. Simultaneously nostalgic and current, Jarosz ruminates on the mundane yet magical moments that shape a life. Her contemporary Americana stylings are injected with infectious pop-rock motifs and Southern inflections. Following the lineage of artists like Sheryl Crow and Jewel, Jarosz’s earnest delivery and relatable lyrics prompt a trip down memory lane, with all the twists and turns of growing up creating the view along the way.

Monday 5/6. $25–75, 7:30pm. The Jefferson Theater, 110 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. jeffersontheater.com

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Arts Culture

Charlottesville Ballet presents ‘Snow White’

Supplied image.

Magically merging the elements of orchestral arrangement, incredible costuming and stagecraft, and an ensemble of unforgettable characters, Charlottesville Ballet presents Snow White. This Family Series ballet, based on the beloved Grimms’ fairy tale, brings youth and adult dancers together to tell the classic story of jealousy, love, and friendship. Witness a beautiful princess strike up unlikely alliances with woodland creatures and seven diminutive miners, while an evil queen uses a magical mirror to follow her every move, waiting for the moment to strike. Also, a prince shows up at some point.

Saturday 5/4. $20–75, 11am and 3:30pm. The Paramount Theater, 215 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. theparamount.net