Month: July 2003

Mailbag

Who owns what

“In this day and age when the broadcasting and print media are controlled by huge and often left-wing conglomerates…,” writes Kim Umstadter of Free Union [Mailbag, June 24]. Kim, I know where you get that idea. But it’s simply not true. A brief rundown:

Right-winger Rupert Murdoch owns Fox and 22 TV stations, a movie studio, 132 newspapers, HarperCollins book publishers and 25 magazines. Fox CEO Roger Ailes is a Republican veteran of the Nixon, Reagan and Bush Sr. campaigns.

Right wing, pro-war Clear Channel owns more than 1,200 radio stations, and is the nation’s largest owner of such. Right winger John Malone owns Tele-Communications, Inc., the nation’s largest cable system. Right wing Canadian mogul Conrad Black owns more than 100 daily U.S. newspapers, including the Chicago Sun Times. And the Washington Times is owned by right wing cult leader Reverend Sun Myung Moon.

NBC and CNBC are owned by General Electric, a weapons contractor and sponsor of the “McLaughlin Group,” hosted by right-wing ideologues Bob Novak and Pat Buchanan. NBC dropped liberal host Phil Donahue in favor of vicious neo-conservative Michael Savage.

AOL Time Warner CEO Dick Parsons, an ardent Republican considered for a post in George W. Bush’s administration, runs the conglomerate of: Warner Brothers Pictures, New Line Cinema, Morgan Creek, Fine Line Cinema, Castle Rock Productions, Savoy Pictures, Little & Brown publishers, Time-Life Books, the Book of the Month Club, Atlantic Records, Columbia House, Time Magazine, Fortune, Life, Sports Illustrated, People, Money, Parenting, HBO, Cinemax, E!, Black Entertainment Television, Court TV, the Home Shopping Network, CNN (Ted Turner sold it seven years ago), Turner Broadcasting, Turner Classic Movies, TNT and WTBS.

On the liberal side: Disney owns ABC, plus 10 television and 21 radio stations. CEO Michael D. Eisner is a Democrat (although ABC hosts conservatives George Will, John Stossel and Cokie Roberts). Viacom owns CBS. Sumner Redstone owns Viacom. He’s a liberal Democrat.

The New York Times and Washington Post, albeit not conservative, are arguably centrist in their reporting. What liberal inclinations they may have are balanced by the inclusion of conservatives like William Safire, George Will, Ann Coulter (yikes!), Robert Novalk, Charles Krauthammer, Bill Keller and Michael Kelly.

Oh, and to say that Boortz, Hannity and Savage (or O’Reilly and Limbaugh) are non-partisan is simple folly. Their tirades do not necessarily mirror popular opinion. In polls, most people favor environmentalism, worker rights and civil rights—all progressive ideologies.

Brian Wimer

Charlottesville

Masochist no more

This letter is to commend Jeffrey Fracher for his letter to the editor [Mailbag, June 17] regarding WINA’s fall from broadcasting grace. Putting aside the question of whether or not the station’s owner, Brad Eure, is a hypocrite, WINA is now—and has been for far too long—a haven for those addicted to vicious, hate-filled, right wing rhetoric.

Fracher is boycotting the station; I’ve stopped listening to it on the grounds that masochism has an extremely limited appeal. But if hypocrisy is brought into the equation, one might focus on the station’s local “personalities,” who wax fondly nostalgic about its former owner, Larry Richardson.

While I don’t subscribe to the belief that those who’ve died are watching every move we make (hey, that’s what we have John Ashcroft for!) the wholly admirable Richardson would be pained and disappointed were he aware of what’s happened to his beloved WINA. Listening to NPR is the remedy I have chosen, and I recommend it to all who are repulsed by AM 1070’s demeaning menu.

Barbara Rich

Charlottesville

Big Mac attack

I am writing in reference to the letter by Jeffrey Fracher regarding Brad Eure, the owner of WINA. Fracher thought WINA’s “nine hours of prime time right-wing radio” indicated “hypocrisy on the issue of ‘being involved in the community’ and ‘reflecting the mores of the community,’” two quotes attributed to Eure.

Following the publication of this letter, WINA’s Mac McDonald ranted in defense of his boss during the radio station’s morning show. Ironically, this sportscaster’s excoriation perfectly exemplified Fracher’s objection to WINA’s afternoon programming.

When some people are exposed to the undignified hatefulness so often exhibited by these right wing radio show hosts, they themselves (unfortunately) begin to behave in that same undignified manner that tears people apart instead of bringing them together.

By insulting NPR (and by extension all the folks who listen to NPR) and Fracher by saying he used a dictionary to write his letter, Mac McDonald—in addition to behaving childishly and unprofessionally—was being a needlessly nasty person. He could have disagreed with the letter writer by presenting facts rather than insults of an extraneous nature.

Instead, MacDonald praised Eure’s contributions to local agencies while asking Fracher what he has done for the community. In essence, McDonald inferred that unless a person publicly announces his good deeds from rooftops (or WINA), that person must not do anything for the community. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, there can be no question that those who toil anonymously to help others are doing so out of the goodness of their hearts. The motivation behind those who do not miss an opportunity to publicly notify everyone of their kindness is questionable. It often appears that such people are doing virtuous things simply for self-glorification.

Additionally, the WINA sportscaster challenged Fracher to call the station with a terse statement implying that Fracher would not have the nerve to do so, as if these two grown men should “duke it out” verbally on the air. McDonald’s inability to allow for a difference of opinion and to show respect for that difference of opinion illustrates, in a nutshell, why there will never be peace in this world. If we cannot even try to be decent to each other as individuals on a local scale, how on Earth does anyone expect whole communities to get along on a global scale?

Marlene A. Condon

Crozet

Brash in pocket

Per your fine “Brawl on the Mall” piece [June 17]: The two geese that laid the golden eggs on the Downtown Mall (both friends of mine) have flown away. However, it needs to be remembered that most of the folks who tried to kill the geese are still around, and, very likely, not thinking any clearer.

Lee Danielson did become brash, as you say, but it was months after a less genial fellow would have washed his hands of the entire matter.

Hugh Wilson

Charlottesville

Repeat offender

Tear down the Ice Park, and board up the Regal Cinemas. After all, that “brash,” irritating, ill-mannered, “Californicating” visionary developer Lee Danielson built those things, and “we don’t like his manner.” Patronizing the Ice Park and the Cinemas only honors and validates his vision for Charlottesville’s Downtown. Lee thought it was worth saving, but Lee didn’t like “small talk,” and, because of that, we don’t like Lee. So, let’s revert to the deserted, brick-paved, crime-plagued, ghetto-slum that we so proudly referred to as “our Downtown Mall.” Forget what Lee Danielson did for Charlottesville, because we just don’t like his manner.

I preferred the Downtown Mall when it was a desolate and deserted dump. I never had to wait for a table at lunch. The area was uncrowded by all “those people.” It was a nice place for a solitary stroll in the afternoon. Night? Nobody would ever go Downtown after dark. It was unsafe.

Years ago, I was told, “Don’t eat my biscuits and call me ‘jerk.’” We “judge a tree by its fruit,” because the two can’t be separated. An apple tree produces apples. When one wants apples, one patronizes an apple tree, regardless of how one may “feel” about apple trees. If one takes the Ice Park and the Regal Cinemas and an active and prosperous Downtown Charlottesville, one must take, and thank, Lee Danielson. Yes, some of us were offended by him. That’s our problem, not Lee’s. Lee Danielson was just being Lee Danielson, a visionary who saw the Downtown Mall not as the failure that it was, but as an opportunity. A source of revenue for the City. But Lee was “brash.”

In your article there was no mention of the impossible demands on Lee by the Board of Architectural Review and City bureaucrats. The saga of the pavers at the Cinema building is a good example of how difficult the “City” made it on this man who had a dream of transforming a “dump” into a “delight.”

I met with Lee Danielson on a few occasions. He was pleasant, courteous and respectful. I found him to be a straight shooter. He did what he said; however, Lee and I never discussed the weather, so I guess I should have been offended.

Thanks to you, Lee Danielson, the Downtown Mall is crowded and I have to wait for a table to eat lunch.

Jerry Clegg

Charlottesville

Barrier grief

I appreciated Aaron Carico’s article about the possibility of Mt. Zion Baptist Church becoming a performance space, and I felt honored to be interviewed for the article [“Artists to Zion: Deliver us,” Fishbowl, June 17]. I only regret that in my zeal to affirm that the Church stay connected to the black community, I may have reinforced the “invisible cultural barrier” of which I spoke.

The barrier does indeed exist in our town—but not just around Live Arts. In fact, Live Arts has worked steadfastly throughout its lifespan, not just to eliminate the barrier, but to delve into its roots and its meaning, using the medium of theater.

I remember being cornered by Karen Silverman at a party many years ago, when Live Arts was still being dreamed up. Her urgent question even then was how could we reach kids from non-white neighborhoods. Today, this question is beginning to be answered, through collaborations with local agencies, schools and neighborhoods.

Over the years, I’ve attended Live Arts plays that specifically addressed race, such as August Wilson’s Seven Guitars, Teresa Dowell-Vest’s Vinegar Hill, and of course The Wiz, which I attended with a lively group of black middle-school students. I couldn’t help but notice that even with an all-black cast on stage, the audience tended to be mostly white (including a patron at The Wiz who suggested our group not return after intermission). Experiences like this eventually prompted me to join the Live Arts Outreach Committee.

I must say that over the years, the unflagging perseverance of Artistic Director John Gibson (and more recently Education Director Jennifer Peart) has clearly paid off. Recent signs include this year’s gloriously diverse Latte House cast, and an enthusiastic reception by the Live Arts Board to a Diversity Training event led by Board member Pynke Gohaner-Lyles and her associates.

As for Mt. Zion Church, yes I can imagine it housing some of Charlottesville’s fine gospel choirs, step teams, African dancers and drummers, and works by black playwrights, as I told Carico. Naturally I would also appreciate more venues for roaming white artists, for our town’s blossoming Latino culture, and many others.

Still and all, with Mt. Zion’s proximity to the traces of Vinegar Hill’s rich cultural legacy, I believe the key decision-making power should be, as much as possible, in the hands of the black community.

Mecca Burns

earthdrama@cstone.net

Radical ideas

Regarding your list of 20 that ran in your paper [“C-VILLE 20,” June 10], there is an important clarification that needs to be made. The casual reader of the article about Aaron Hawkins may come away with the idea that Hawkins was more involved with initiating the skate park than he actually was. The person responsible for the building of the McIntire Skate Park is Duane Brown.

Hawkins is a fine young man and, no doubt, a popular business owner, but Brown has been struggling for the building of this park since the early ‘80s. I know because he worked for us at Freestyle during the many ups and downs in the planning of the park over a period of 15 years. He organized numerous meetings between the City and parents of skateboarders. Very often there were disappointments, but he persevered.

Finally, in 1998, he got the break he had been waiting for, and it came from an unexpected source. The Franklin Graham organization wanted a skate ramp built to help draw young people to their festival in 1998, so they approached Brown for suggestions. He then volunteered to build it. When the event was over, Brown donated the ramp to the City and coordinated the move over to the McIntire tennis courts (he had acquired permission from the City). From that auspicious beginning Brown became part of a larger effort to build more ramps, set the guidelines and make the park become a reality.

Many people were interested in the formation of this park through the years, Hawkins being one of those. But it was Brown who always was the backbone of the project. Without his tireless efforts, it is doubtful that Charlottesville would have a skate park today. And I believe he should get the recognition that he so richly and belatedly deserves.

Sandy Natterer

Free Union

The writer is the former owner of Freestyle, which outfits skateboarders.

Uncategorized

Fishbowl

Stripped searches

Supreme Court ruling will mean local library users can peek no more

If your plans at the public library include reading an e-mail from samantha35@adultfun.com or glancing at www.cumshots.com, you could find your mission thwarted, thanks to the paternalistic justices on the Supreme Court. On June 23, in a 6-3 ruling, the Court upheld the Children’s Internet Protection Act, a Federal law that makes anti-porn filters a condition of Federal subsidies to libraries. The decision will certainly impact older library patrons as much as its younger ones. Locally, the decision likely means that an additional 45 Internet computers will get outfitted with the anti-smut devices.

“About half of our terminals are already filtered, and they have been for years,” says John Halliday, director of the Jefferson Madison Regional Library (JMRL) system, of the library’s 90 Internet computers.

The library, which maintains branches in places as far flung as Greene and Louisa counties, as well as in Charlottesville and Albemarle, currently offers patrons the option of choosing filtered or non-filtered computers, and has for some time. The Supreme Court ruling allows librarians to unblock filters at adult users’ request, but does not require librarians to do so.

“We have a board of trustees, and they decided you’d have a freedom of choice policy,” Halliday says. He hopes that policy passes Federal muster but realizes more might need to be done.

“If it turns out that we have to put filters on all of the computers,” he says, “then the library board has a decision to make: Do they want to go ahead and do that, or do they want to do it their own way?”

That way may lead the library to rely heavily on the bounties of bake and book sales. JMRL’s precarious financial situation (the State cut its budget 22 percent over two years to $650,000) likely will force it to comply with the Feds. And Halliday worries about the filters’ unintended side effects.

“Since we’ve had experience here at the library over the past few years with filters, we know that they do filter out good information, like medical information, and that they do sometimes allow in bad information like pornography,” he says.

Indeed, Halliday pinpoints what critics consider the statute’s greatest flaw, that such a broad net hobbles researchers by blocking legitimate websites. More importantly, they say, it cuts into the First Amendment.

“The court made it clear that you cannot prevent adults from having unfettered access to the Internet,” says Kent Willis, the executive director of the Virginia ACLU. “What we dislike most is that there is a chilling effect, because adults will have to ask for the filter to be turned off.”

Willis also picks up the scent of financial blackmail. “The unfortunate effect is that it’s creating a battle,” he says. “It’s drawing battle lines between public libraries and the Federal government.

“The Federal government with its large income ends up, for all practical purposes, controlling the purse strings of most public libraries.”

On a recent afternoon, patrons at the Central Library on Market Street expressed little similar anxiety, seeming either unruffled or relieved by the Court’s ruling.

“I suppose it’s vaguely worrisome, but at the same time, there are other ways to get the Internet,” said Steve Suetonius. “I understand the desire to protect children from illicit materials.”

Jalis Al-Hindi, a Park Street resident and a mother, agreed with the ruling. “One time I was upstairs with my kids, and somebody hadn’t clicked off of it [pornography], and some lady with big boobs popped up on the screen. I didn’t want my kids seeing that,” she said.—Aaron Carico

Room of her own

Four months later, homeless woman finds shelter—and unexpected compassion

Appearing on the cover of C-VILLE four months ago [“Charlottesville’s new homeless,” March 11] earned Lynn Wiber a dose of local fame. After the working college graduate told her story of going homeless in Charlottesville, she found herself confronted by strangers who recognized her from the article. Some slipped her dollar bills, some chastised her, and others wanted to save her soul. Her conclusion: Most people want to help but don’t know how.

“A lot of people approached me saying they didn’t realize this happened in Charlottesville,” Wiber says. “Homelessness is invisible. People were surprised because everything seems so nice here.”

But Charlottesville fits into a national trend: A souring economy combined with a robust housing market means that more working people, especially those with families, are living on the street.

For example, 36 percent of Charlottesville’s homeless population describe themselves as currently employed, and 51 percent have worked recently, according to a recent survey by the Thomas Jefferson Area Coalition for the Homeless. In 2002, the Coalition reported that 36 percent of the City’s homeless were families with children––this year, the number has climbed to 47 percent.

Wiber says she told her story to show people how an unwise decision can combine with bad luck to drive people into homelessness, even those who seem securely on their feet in this affluent town. The response she’s received offers insight into how Charlottesville looks upon its poor.

After the article appeared, Wiber says, “the first thing that happened was the Christians came out. Someone called me and started reading Bible passages over the phone.”

One man, she says, walked into Barnes and Noble, where she works, and confronted her. “He called me a pathetic loser,” says Wiber. “He said that I just want people to give me money and take care of me.

“He was probably a Republican.”

Wiber expected some hostility. What surprised her, she says, was the sympathy.

“A lot of people told me this had happened to them, or somebody they know,” she says. Wiber described a couple that pressed $5 into her hand, telling her they had lived in their car for six months. One woman told Wiber about her brother––a successful stockbroker cleaned out by divorce who was now living in her spare bedroom.

Wiber’s experience after going public seems to support the conclusions of a national survey released on June 13 by Charlottesville’s Pew Partnership. The survey found that the general population tends to underestimate the extent of social problems like hunger, homelessness and illiteracy in their own communities. For example, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development says that on any given day more than 3.5 million people––including 1.4 million children––are homeless, and in dozens of cities a minimum-wage worker cannot afford fair market rent for a two-bedroom apartment. Yet the Pew Partnership estimates that only 42 percent of the general public believes affordable housing is a “serious” local problem.

Some public projects currently in the works aim to address homelessness and affordable housing. The Thomas Jefferson Area Coalition for the Homeless, with a three-year, $213,000 grant from HUD, is installing a Homeless Management Information System. Scheduled to be unveiled this fall, the computer database will link regional public assistance providers, enabling them to more easily connect clients with social services and jobs.

Also, the City has formed a Housing Policy Task Force charged with addressing questions of affordable housing. The group has just begun to talk, says Task Force member and Charlottesville Police Sergeant Michael Farruggio. Some advocates have questioned whether the Task Force will look out for poor residents. Farruggio says he will encourage the City not to cluster low-income housing, as it has done previously with public housing projects.

“It does not work to corral people in lower socioeconomic levels into dense pockets,” Farruggio says. “You have increased crime in those areas, and it’s not fair to the children and families that are forced without an option to have to deal with that.”

Wiber is currently living with a disabled woman and is off the streets for the time being. Her homeless experience has been a “learning experience,” she says. One lesson? Social problems will be hard to solve until people get over their fear of the poor.

“A few people said it made them uncomfortable to read about homelessness,” Wiber says. When you’re poor, she says, “people don’t touch you. They don’t know what to do with you. That isolation has been one of the hardest things to deal with.”––John Borgmeyer

Street legal

Balloon artist has law-and-order suggestions

Carl Carter was practicing his violin 15 years ago on a Seattle street when someone threw a coin into his case. Thus began his career as a street musician. These days, his nearly 2-year-old Charlottesville act has evolved a bit—namely in the form of balloon animals, fuzzy slippers, tri-colored wigs and a rubber nose.

Kathryn E. Goodson recently sat down with Carter, the 44-year old man frequently seen on the Downtown Mall singing in falsetto while guiding a mechanical pig. Carter currently rests his head at the On Our Own drop-in center on Fourth Street. His tips average $20-$100 a day, depending on time and location. He spends the bulk of it on Greyhound bus tickets to Alexandria, to restock balloons and toys.

“The prices here are outrageous,” he says. He has a business license and a mission: to spread laughs, wisdom and goofy song lyrics. Oh, yes, and to obtain a cell phone charger.

As a street musician, why did you choose to entertain children?

Kids are pure, fun. Well, until that corrupt point comes. Ages 1 through 9, they love me. There’s a market out here for kids—just look at all the things to do down here. It’s all for adults. Maybe once a week or so, a kid can have a little fun, get their face painted? That’s not enough.

As for the costumes, the balloons, it’s just my form of free expression and fun. I’ve learned to be content with who I am.

How did you learn to play so many instruments?

I grew up in the ghettos of Chicago. I decided in high school I wanted more than the gangs and violence. I got involved in the orchestra and stuck with it all through high school. During the following years I became an honor student. I was the only one in my family to graduate from high school. My mom was an alcoholic so it wasn’t like I was going to get an enormous amount of support.

But times were different then. Kids were not like the cowards of today. Even in the ghettos we never had school shootings—kids still had respect for their parents. The standards for kids have really, really been lowered.

I’m not a huge fan of affirmative action. I am a fan of the welfare-to-work plan. And school vouchers. Trust me, it’s hard to do well in school and learn when you’re worried about being beat up when you come out of the front door.

How has your attitude of “entertaining the Downtown Mall” changed since you were recently robbed by some of the very people you’re trying to please?

The bottom line no one wants to face here is that we are not hard enough on crime, period. That’s one thing Republicans do right—they’re a lot harder on crime. The other thing? No one cares about black crime on blacks.

We desperately need a volunteer crime task force here. I’ve lived in Canada, Mexico, Florida, Alexandria—every other neighborhood and community’s got one. The police say they’ve got a shortage and can’t handle it all, we need to create a volunteer one. But when I say, “Let me volunteer, let me help,” I get no reaction at all. If it’s training I need, then give me some training. I’ve got a cell phone and all I need is a charger. I’ve been trained to use an M-16 but I cannot get a phone cord and charger?

While we were in the midst of war, I heard plenty of people saying they’d love to go defend their country. I say we need to take care of home first. More than 51 percent of these crimes are gang-related. And still, you’ve got neighborhoods that won’t speak up, people that won’t speak up. You’ve got to get to that point when you’re willing to stand up.

All I’m hoping for at this point is a phone for 9-1-1 purposes. I’m always on the Mall, I see everything that goes on down here. If we can stop some of this crime, we’ll have a much better community.