Month: November 2003

Fishbowl

Against the grain

BAR chair and Downtown business owner Joan Fenton
attempts to regulate her competitors

When Joan Fenton appeared before City Council last week wearing a black pullover sweater and black pants, with her glasses and shock of dark hair, she looked more like an elementary school teacher rushing in after a yoga class than Charlottesville’s official arbiter of taste.

That is her role, however, as chair of the City’s Board of Architectural Review. Fenton also owns two Mall businesses, April’s Corner and Quilts Unlimited. On Monday, November 17, she appeared before Council arguing that the City should regulate some of her direct competitors, the Mall vendors and the merchants at York Place.

“The Mall is starting to look like a flea market,” Fenton complained to Council. “If the vendors look better, we all do better.”

Fenton was there to urge Council to adopt a list of guidelines, crafted mostly by BAR members, which would impose new regulations on Mall vendors. Many of the rules are picayune––black skirts (not dark green) around tables, umbrellas no higher than 8′ with a maximum of one dark color. The proposals that really bothered vendors, several of whom turned out for the Council meeting, however, were the prohibition of racks for hanging clothes, the $400 license fee (up from $125) and a rental fee of $2 for each square foot of red bricks they occupy.

The City says the fees would generate about $20,000 annually to cover the cost of administrating and enforcing the new rules.

James Muhammad, a 10-year vending veteran known as Cupcake, said that except for the fee hikes and the prohibition of clothes racks, the new rules aren’t that different from the current ordinance, which the City admits isn’t effectively enforced. Council will revisit the vendor question at an upcoming meeting.

“I don’t think all the other vendors should pay the penalty for that,” Muhammad said. “It would be a hardship for a lot of vendors to pay that kind of money.

“I don’t understand the problem with clothes racks,” Muhammad continued. “I don’t see how you can sell clothes without one.” He reminded Council that in the early 1990s he and other vendors pioneered Downtown at a time when the desolate Mall looked like a failed experiment.

Now the Mall mostly rocks, although as some businesses flourish others, like Sandy Ruseau’s gallery of watercolors in York Place, are, in Ruseau’s words, “just fighting to survive.”

In September, York Place owner Chuck Lewis wanted to put new signs on his building. According to Neighborhood Planner Mary Joy Scala, City development director Jim Tolbert said the signs, which protruded from the York Place façade, were probably O.K., and so the signs went up. Additionally, Scala referred the York Place signs to the nine-member BAR, which on September 16 unanimously deemed them inappropriate. According to the minutes of that meeting, Fenton said the signs were “loud and noisy with too much coloran obstacleand a precedent she did not want to start.” Fenton’s own Quilts Unlimited sign, next door to York Place, is a blue rectangle with red graphics and white letters; at April’s Corner, the sign comprises bronze-colored wooden letters. Both signs lie flat against their building fronts.

After the BAR ruling, the York Place signs came down, and on October 21 the BAR approved a plan that included signs that would sit flat against the façade. The flat signs went up, but the tenants and Lewis appealed to City Council.

On November 17, Lewis and his tenants swayed Council by presenting evidence that their business had spiked with the protruding signs in place, and showed photos of existing protruding signs on the Mall. Council seemed especially influenced by Lewis, who said, “If I had to do York Place again, I wouldn’t do it. It’s hard to get people in the building.”

After Council voted unanimously to overturn the BAR, Lewis declared, “This is so cool. We were outvoted, but we rallied.”

The current economic climate, say the shopkeepers, makes for increased competition. With businesses fighting harder to survive, Downtown business owner Fenton seems faced with a conflict of interest.

When pressed on the question by a reporter, Fenton first exclaimed, “I think Jim Tolbert had a bigger conflict of interest than me. He lives in York Place.”

Later, Fenton said she “could see how someone might think that. I’ve tried very hard to be fair. I have probably bent over backwards not to do anything that benefits me.”

Then, Fenton admitted, she plans to take advantage of Council’s ruling by installing protruding signs, just like those she opposed on York Place, on her Quilts Unlimited store. Within days of the Council meeting, a new freestanding sign appeared outside the store—a blue wooden square lettered in white and resting on an ornate black tripod.

Mayor Cox – one more term?

Democratic Party chair Lloyd Snook says Mayor Maurice Cox won’t seek a third City Council term next spring. “Eight years is enough. His family would like to see him again,” Snook confidently declares.

But Snook “may have spoken much too soon,” says the Mayor. Cox says he won’t resign from Council until he finds a protégé who “is passionate about the same things I’m passionate about.”

Cox says he has met with a half-dozen potential candidates, five of whom are women, both black and white. He says he wants to find a candidate who would bring not only gender and ethnic diversity to Council, but who would also carry on Cox’s vision for Charlottesville.

“I’m talking about the urban development of Charlottesville,” says Cox, “This notion of pedestrian-oriented infill development anchored by a state-of-the-art transit system.”

Karen Waters, director of the City’s Quality Community Council, says she’s “kicking around” the idea of a Council bid. “I’ve met with a lot of people,” says Waters, but she would not say whether that includes the Mayor. Waters is currently enrolled in UVA’s Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership, which has turned out many a local politician, including Republican upstart Councilor Rob Schilling.

Cox says his search for a successor has so far proven “inconclusive.” He says he is weighing his obligations to his family and career, and that he expects to announce a decision after the New Year.

Meanwhile, other candidates are all but throwing their hats in the ring.

“I’m certainly very seriously considering running for Council,” says David Brown, a chiropractor and former City Democratic Chair. But he adds, “To get into this too soon is a distraction for Council.”

Snook says Dems will meet on December 7 to discuss candidates’ plans, and there will be a nominating convention on February 21. “We won’t run an all-white ticket,” he promises. The City election is scheduled for May 4.

On the Republican side, party chair Bob Hodus says he “has no news to announce,” but maybe he should get on the phone to Spectacle Shop owner Jon Bright, who says he’s “thinking about it daily, trying to make a decision.”

Bright, who ran in 2000, says that if his busy schedule prevents him from running this time around, he will run in two years. Another Republican, neighborhood activist Kenneth Jackson, says he will run “if the local party will endorse me as their candidate.” Republicans will likely meet in February to select candidates for the election, held in early May.

Councilor and Vice-Mayor Meredith Richards said two weeks ago she would seek a third term and is doubtlessly eager to assume the Mayorship. Councilor Kevin Lynch, meanwhile, remains uncommitted. “I’m not ready to announce yet. I’ll make a decision as soon as possible,” he says.

Money, principles and the Meadowcreek Parkway

The impending election is bringing a controversy over the Meadowcreek Parkway to the forefront.

Although the Virginia Department of Transportation doesn’t plan to build the Parkway until 2008, three pro-Parkway Councilors want to turn over about nine acres of McIntire Park to VDOT before the May elections that could threaten their majority. The efforts of Parkway supporters Meredith Richards, Blake Caravati and Rob Schilling will force Parkway opponents Kevin Lynch and Mayor Maurice Cox to make a tough choice.

According to State law, Council needs a four-fifths majority to sell public parkland. However, on the instruction of the pro-Parkway majority, City Attorney Craig Brown discovered that Council could grant VDOT an easement for the land with a simple three-fifths majority.

“At this point, those who are opposed to the road need to realize this is going to happen,” says Caravati (who ran as being against the Meadowcreek Parkway in 1998 and later changed his vote).

This puts Lynch and Cox in a bind. The pro-Parkway majority seems poised to ease the land to VDOT, tantamount to giving away some of the City’s most valuable real estate. VDOT has set aside more than $1 million to purchase the right-of-way, and Cox believes the City could get three times that––but only if he or Lynch agrees to sacrifice their principles and support the sale.

“It’s an open question,” says Lynch. Before he makes a decision, he says, he wants to see an appraisal for the McIntire land. He also wants to know whether VDOT would pay for replacement parkland if it gets an easement.

Cox says he’ll “think about” selling the nine acres in McIntire if VDOT offers around $3 million, a sum Cox says will allow the City to purchase replacement parkland, possibly from the nearby Wetsel farm on Rio Road.

If not, will Cox really let the City give away its last patch of countryside? When asked, Cox shifts the burden back to the pro-Parkway majority.

“Let it be their legacy,” says Cox. “That’s my attitude. I don’t want that legacy.”

Cox on “60 Minutes”

Mayor Maurice Cox will be interviewed on the November 30 episode of “60 Minutes.” The venerable television news program examines the Bayview Community on the Eastern Shore. Cox’s architecture firm, RBGC, helped design a “rural village” for Bayview. The mostly poor, black residents of Bayview defeated a State plan to build a prison near their town, then formed a nonprofit group that raised money to rebuild their town.––John Borgmeyer

Swimming with sharks

Little big shot racks up with local billiards association

Derrick “Buster” Fox moves around the table so quickly that one might think he’s being judged on his speed. Every shot seems to be determined ahead of time, before the cue ball has even come to a stop. It’s a balmy Tuesday night at Miller’s on the Downtown Mall, and Buster is running the table.

Tuesday is league night for the Charlottesville Billiards Association, a weekly ritual for the 60-some pool sharks who gather—most armed with their own cues—to compete in the City’s only local league, which holds three 15-week tournaments every year.

At 14, Fox is by far the youngest player in the league, shooting for his seven-person team “The Shot Callers” in a warm-up game against Yvette, a 22-year-old real estate broker shooting for “XLR8.” But Fox doesn’t let his age stand in his way—he is regarded by his competitors as remarkably skilled for his years, and easily defeats Yvette in only two turns before they both move on to play their designated opponents for the evening.

“I’ve been playing since I could see over the table,” Fox explains to justify his prowess. The remarkably well-mannered Monticello High School freshman grew up playing at Mutts, the restaurant/bar owned by his mother, “Mutt” Fox, who sponsors his team.

Similar dramas are being played out around town at Mutts, Rapture, Firehouse Bar & Grill and Chi-Chi’s, all of which, along with Miller’s, sponsor the league’s nine teams and provide free table space for the weekly showdowns. “I can’t say enough about these places,” says Mark Foran, who founded the local league three years ago and plays on “Ballbusters.” “We wouldn’t be able to do this without their help.”

League play isn’t just a game—a first-place team wins more than $2,000 for its $90-per-person entry fee. Because of laws that prevent awarding prize money to juveniles, Foran has only allowed two minors to play in the league so far (if his team wins, Fox will have to settle for something akin to a weekend amusement-park getaway). Since this is Fox’s first tournament with this league, he is also eligible for rookie of the year, league MVP, and a spot on one of the all-star teams that play a mid-season mini-tournament.

But Fox’s talent is a liability as much as an asset. To keep any one team from dominating the league, players are handicapped according to their level of skill and all teams must include a range of abilities. The better you are, the more games you have to win against your opponent—Yvette’s challenger will need to win six games tonight to be declared the victor, while Yvette only needs to win two.

Yvette started playing pool six months before she joined the league, and is still somewhat of a novice. Tonight she hits the occasional pretty shot, but she’s no match for her more experienced opponent, and goes down 0-6. Fox doesn’t fare much better, losing his games 1-6 despite his precise aim. But it is early in the season, and both players will have many more chances—fortunately, Tuesday comes every week.—Chris Smith

The Editor's Desk

Mailbag

Spoke too soon

In reporting on the community bike program [“Dude, where’s my bike?” Fishbowl, November 11], John Borgmeyer stated, “Last year the City of Charlottesville and Dave Matthews Band funded a project to fix up old bikes.”

The City has not provided any of the funding for this project. Most of the funding has come from Dave Matthews Band and Coran Capshaw. We also received a generous $1,000 donation from a local businesswoman. We remain grateful for the shop space which Coran Capshaw is allowing us to use in one of his buildings.

Stephen Bach

President and Co-founder

Community Yellow Bicycles of the Piedmont

bachs@cstone.net

John Borgmeyer responds: Mr. Bach is right. The City planned to contribute $5,000, but DMB stepped in and paid for the program, which is administered through City accounts. The City’s principal contribution came from the time of then-Director of Strategic Planning Satyendra Huja, who helped to organize the program.

News

SHARE – C-VILLE’S ANNUAL GUIDE TO NONPROFIT GIVING

Post author By c-ville-weekly-writers
Post date November 25, 2003
No Comments on SHARE – C-VILLE’S ANNUAL GUIDE TO NONPROFIT GIVING

Here’s one you might have heard: ‘Tis better to give than to receive. And in the case of local nonprofits, we all receive their gifts throughout the year. Whether finding homes for runaway animals, teaching job skills to the handicapped, or helping kids learn to read, the many good-doing agencies here work tirelessly to improve the quality of local life. Now’s a good time to give back. As you shop for friends and family, peruse the following wish lists and see what you can get—or what you might already have—that will make these social service groups’ work a little easier. If you’re really pressed for ideas, consider volunteering. Time is the best gift you can share.

Adult/Vocational

Albemarle Housing Improvement Program

2127 Berkmar Dr. 817-2447

www.ahipva.org

Deb Brown, volunteer coordinator, public relations, fundraising

The Albemarle Housing Improvement Program provides housing rehabilitation services to area residents who have a household income at or below 80 percent of the area median income ($35,600 for a single individual) and also offers an emergency repair program, first-time home-buyers assistance, and affordable rental units, some of which are part of its Rent-to-Own Program.

Wish list:

Trucks and vans (preferably new, but also good used ones) Copy machine

Print cartridges for color printer

Stamps

Copying paper

Ladder jacks

Scaffolding

Aluminum walk boards

1/2" hammer drill

3/8" cordless drill

Jig saw

Metal break

Heavy-duty drop cords

Cash donations

Blue Ridge English as a Second Language Council

214 Rugby Rd., above The Prism Coffeehouse 977-7988

esltutors@hotmail.com www.avenue.org/bresl Frances Lee-Vandell, executive director

Blue Ridge English as a Second Language Council specializes in tutoring adults in the English language. Program focus is on pronunciation and comprehension, and other important skills such as the ability to pass a driver’s license test, fill out paperwork to enroll children in school and understand apartment leases. The organization also organizes day camps and other cultural events for the international community.

Wish list:

Volunteers for tutoring, office help, fundraising and more

New or gently used children’s books and magazines on various topics

Office supplies: paper, toner for printer, file folders, envelopes, etc.

Assistance with translation

Logo design

Jaunt-certified drivers to pick up children and families

Donated time from a CPA to perform annual audit

Donation of space for BRESL Day Camp (three weeks in the summer)

Cash donations

Comyn Hall

601 Park St.

293-8436

Shirley Black, contact person

Comyn Hall provides three home-cooked meals a day, two snacks, room cleaning, laundry services and daily activities for seniors living in its residence hall. Residents are provided with medical administration and weekly housekeeping, if necessary.

Wish list:

Christmas decorations

Deep fryer

Bread/bun steamer

Ice cream maker

Metal shelving for storage

Park benches

Artificial trees

Portable CD sound system

Digital camera

Magazine rack

Vacuum

Volunteers for entertaining seniors or performing minor carpentry

FOCUS Women’s

Resource Center

1508 Grady Ave.

293-2222

www.avenue.org/focus

Martha Susinno, acting executive director

A group built on the foundation of supporting women, FOCUS extends support groups, career counseling, personal and professional development and artistic community outreach for those going through a divorce, adult children of alcoholics and single mothers.

FOCUS also offers classes in its Mediation Center and conflict resolution in areas including family disputes, divorce and custody agreements, landlord/tenant problems and problems in the workplace.

Teensight, another FOCUS program, aids with pregnancy prevention and helping young mothers stay in school and acquire job skills. At-risk youth get help finishing high school or earning GEDs.

Wish list:

Office or dining room chairs (four to six) for conference table

Free/affordable office space

Baby car seats

Baby clothes

Furniture and supplies

Literacy Volunteers

of America—

Charlottesville/Albemarle

418 Seventh St. NE

977-3838

Anne Jellen, administrative director

Mary Mullen, program director

Literacy Volunteers of America—Charlottesville/Albemarle recruits, trains and supports volunteers who provide free basic literacy or English language tutoring to adults. Skills the LVA staff teaches students include writing checks, interpreting maps and bank statements, reading to their children and computer skills. Last year, LVA served 169 people.

Wish list:

Volunteers to train as tutors (the next workshop will be in January)

Office volunteers

Office supplies

Working printers

Working copiers

Tape recorders

Headphones

Cash donations

Senior Center

1180 Pepsi Pl.

974-7756

Peter Thompson, executive director

The mission of the Senior Center is to “involve, enrich and empower seniors,” according to Executive Director Peter Thompson. It serves 42,000 local residents annually, emphasizing fitness and wellness, arts and crafts, social activities, recreational travel and volunteering to promote seniors’ independence.

Many volunteers run the programs, provide customer service and help in the administrative side of the Senior Center. The Senior Center receives no government funding—Thompson says that all funds are raised locally from individuals, corporations and foundations.

Wish list:

24 matching card tables

Three quality, high-end paper cutters

Light-weight, sturdy, professional-looking display board system

Multifunction inkjet printer with scanner that can network with several computers

Laptop computers

30 nice, cushioned chairs

Funds or donated expertise in creating a larger office for Senior Center, Inc. Travel Office

Copy paper

Adobe Photoshop

Adobe PageMaker or Quark Xpress

Dreamweaver computer program

Wireless network hub and wireless network cards

Graphic/photo CDs

Automatic flushers for rest rooms

Picnic table

Funds or donated expertise in renovating the lobby

Marketing services for creation of tagline

Storage shed for garden equipment

Virginia Organizing Project

703 Concord Ave.

984-4655

Joe Szakos, executive director

This statewide citizens’ group strives to implement social change through locally based action. A wide range of people volunteer for the various chapters and affiliates throughout the State, lobbying the State legislature, directing petition drives, writing letters to local newspapers and circulating information about the project’s mission. Ten employees and dozens of volunteers rally interest in causes like tax reform, racial profiling, housing and gay rights.

Wish list:

Office furniture

Books on social change

Old cell phones (in any condition)

Calls to UVA President John Casteen at 924-3337 encouraging him to pay all contract workers a living wage

Worksource Enterprises

1311 Carlton Ave.

972-1730

www.worksourceenterprises.org

Chuck McElroy, president

Worksource Enterprises provides on-the-job training and assists with employment for people with disabilities. People can work at jobs within a large group of participating businesses including Breadworks Bakery and the Federal Executive Institute. The results: Hundreds of people have been hired through the efforts of Worksource. The organization’s training also helps clients increase their reading, writing and math skills with the aid of educational software.

Wish list:

Automatic door opener for the front entrance

Laptop computer

Lockers for clients

Picnic tables and umbrellas

Portable public-address system

Refrigerated display case for Breadworks

Scholarship funds for clients without funding

Animals

Charlottesville-Albemarle

Society for the Prevention

of Cruelty to Animals

2075 Woodburn Rd.

973-5959

Carolyn Foreman, executive director

As an “open shelter,” the Charlottesville-Albemarle SPCA takes in as many stray, injured or unwanted animals as possible, providing medical treatment and care to prepare them for adoption.

Thirteen full-time staff members and many volunteers receive and care for more than 5,500 animals a year. They walk, feed and clean animals, as well as perform office duties. Foster families also take in sick animals or large litters of baby animals so that they are not initially separated from their mothers.

The Charlottesville SPCA accounts for the large number of animals that they take in by the rural areas surrounding Charlottesville. Many unwanted pets are left in the SPCA’s outdoor cages overnight and the SPCA receives most calls about abused animals from neighbors. Their new facility will open in March.

Wish list:

Cat food (dry and canned)

Dog food (dry)

Non-clumping litter

Dog treats

Kongs and other dog and cat toys

Vari-kennels (all sizes)

Copy paper (8.5×11.5)

Laminate paper (8.5×11.5)

Bleach

Catnip

Hard rubber chew toys

Carefresh shavings

Latex exam gloves (all sizes)

Tennis balls

Esbilac (replacement puppy milk)

KMR (replacement kitten milk)

Kitten food

Heavy-duty three-hole punch

Paper cups, plates and plastic serviceware

Paper towels

Pencils and pens

Post-Its, pushpins and staples

Scotch, masking and duct tape

Writing pads

Chairs (stacking)

Digital camera

Evidence locker or safe

Gas-powered weed eater

Horse trailer

Two-way radios

VCR/TV combo, portable

Vehicles

Tools

Bolt cutters

Extension cords

Tool box

Voices for Animals

170 Rugby Rd.

979-1200

voicesvirginia@aol.com

Marianne Roberts, member of board of directors

Voices for Animals promotes the idea that all living beings have dignity and deserve respect. They encourage vegetarianism, conscious consumerism and wildlife preservation as well as discourage factory farming, dissection, use of animals in entertainment, hunting and trapping. Every year they hold the Charlottesville Vegetarian Festival and also run a feral cat spay/neuter project.

Wish list:

Volunteers to offer permanent homes

to cats with FIV and leukemia

Volunteers with accounting skills

Humane cat traps

Large cat carriers

Macintosh G4 computer

CD burner for Macintosh or PC

Canopies

Tablecloths

Cash donations

Children and Youth

Book Baskets

125 Cameron Ln.

245-2880

bookbaskets@hotmail.com

Donna Morris, chair

Book Baskets gathers donated books and distributes them to children, from infants to middle school age. Their main mission is to place books in the hands of children who would otherwise have none. Last year, 10,000 books were distributed to children in the area.

Book Baskets’ main source of book collections is through schools, where libraries and PTAs encourage parents and students to drop off books they have outgrown. Most of the distribution occurs at local service agencies, including Abundant Life and Children, Youth & Family Services.

Wish list:

New or gently used books—anything from

cardboard books for infants through books

appropriate for middle school students, dropped off at Venable Elementary

Cash donations

Boys and Girls Club of Charlottesville-Albemarle

Smith Recreation Center on Cherry Avenue

977-2001

www.avenue.org/bgcville

Tim Sinatra, executive director

The Boys and Girls Club offers programs in a safe, nurturing place for kids ages 6-18 to go after school and during summer vacation. The group offers activities such as sports, arts classes and academic tutoring. The club also has a computer lab where kids can surf the Internet or work on their typing skills. Both full-time staff members and volunteers teach classes. During the school year, instructors focus on helping kids with their homework.

Wish list:

Balls of all kinds

Hula hoops

Jump ropes

Large parachute

Cones

Whistles

Computers with printers

Reference books

Educational computer programs

Puzzles

Games for all ages

Notebook paper

15-passenger school bus

Field trip sponsors

Party supplies

G-rated videos

Facilities renovation

30 matching folding chairs

10 new folding tables

Bulletin board paper

Poster frames

Camp Holiday Trails

400 Holiday Trails Ln.

977-3781

Patricia Delany, executive director

Camp Holiday Trails is a camp for children ages 7-17 with chronic illnesses including asthma, diabetes, HIV, organ transplants and cancer. Children from all over the eastern seaboard, including New York City, Baltimore, Philadelphia and Richmond, participate in camp activities such as horseback riding, canoeing, fishing, archery, hiking, camping and swimming. Four summer sessions last 10 days each and year-round programs include family weekends. Medical professionals are on hand for assistance.

Wish list:

Wheelbarrow

Croquet set

Paddle boat

Fishing poles

Shower curtain replacements and rings

Washing machines

Shelving boards

Comfy chairs for staff lounge

Battery-operated lanterns

Port-a-John for June, July, August

New mops for cabins

75-watt light bulbs

Softballs and bats

Nets for the sports court

Children, Youth &

Family Services Inc.

116 W. Jefferson St.

296-4118

www.avenue.org/cyfs

cyfsinfo@cyfs.org

Nancy Letteri, development director

CYFS promotes the health and well-being of children, youth and families through education. Three focus areas are parent education and support, child care and clinical support. About 20 to 25 full- and part-time staff and volunteers work in individual programs including Play Partners, for children in private daycare; Healthy Family/Family Partners, for parents to receive support in their homes; and the Good Dads program, which offers help for dads looking for jobs or further education to better support their children. Clients are self-referred or referred from courts, other agencies, or childcare facilities.

Wish list:

CD/cassette player

Diapers, all sizes

New developmental toys for children under 6

Presents for new moms and dads

HP LaserJet 2200D printer cartridges

HP 940C color printer cartridges

Clear storage bins with tops, all sizes

White copy paper, legal and letter

Color copy paper, legal and letter

Pens and pencils

Spiral notebooks

Yellow legal pads

Cabinets and countertop for refurbished work/volunteer room

New carpeting for hallway, small rooms and stairwell

Volunteer help

Host an open house for Runaway Emergency Services Program

Tumbling mats

New car seats (infant, toddler and booster)

Vinyl banquet-size table covers

Cloth tradeshow or banquet table covers,

6′ or 8′

Children’s Medical Center

P.O. Box 800773

Charlottesville, VA 22908

924-8432

Patrick Belisle, director of annual giving

The UVA Children’s Medical Center records more than 130,000 patient visits each year. These visits include children from all over Central and Southwest Virginia, as well as neighboring states. CMC provides specialty care in more than 26 service areas ranging from check-ups for healthy children to the most complex care—heart transplants, care for extremely premature babies, brain surgeries and long-term rehabilitation.

CMC’s philosophy of “family-centered medicine” aims to make those traumas a little easier to cope with by offering rocking chairs and cots for parents who want to stay in their child’s room and in-patient schooling to help kids maintain their sense of structure. CMC also offers opportunities for healing, through activities like the horticulture therapy program, play rooms with video games, lots of toys and CMC TV.

Wish list:

Basketballs

Bright and Easy board books

Busy Box books

Dr. Seuss/beginner books

Fisher Price Little People lift-up flap books

Magazines

Board games

Milton Bradley Memory games

Wooden and jigsaw puzzles

Large Lego sets

Dora the Explorer Electronic Talking Bingo

Music CDs

Digital camera

First Years Vibrating Star teether/massagers

High chairs/booster seats

Gliding rocking chairs

Musical mobiles

Toys that light up and/or play music

Toys with limited pieces

Nintendo or Super Nintendo unit and games

TV/VCRs

G- and PG-rated videos

T-shirts, ball caps, UVA merchandise

Wild bandanas, hip wrist bands

Velcro catch game and Wiffle bat and ball

Nail polish and body lotions

Computers4Kids

999 Grove St., Suite 105

817-1121

www.computers4kids.net

Kala Somerville, executive director

Computers4Kids attempts to close the technology gap between Charlottesville and Albemarle County children by providing computers for those who can’t afford them. In addition to donating computers to area youth, Computers4Kids provides free computer training and matches every youth with a volunteer mentor. Together the mentor and student creatively explore various aspects of computers and technology.

Wish list:

Mentors

56K modems (internal)

Cat 5 cables

CD/DVD burners

Laptop computers

(Pentium 300 processors or higher)

Hard drives (2GB or higher)

Hubs

Memory

Printers (bubblejet and inkjet)

Sound cards

Digital cameras

Blank CD-Rs (new)

Blank DVD+R (new)

Laser color printer

Table-top trade show display

The Learning Center

2132 Ivy Rd.

977-6006

Elizabeth Cottone, executive director

The Learning Center provides one-on-one tutoring for students who are enrolled in public, private and home schools in grades K-12, as well as some adults. Tutors assist with a variety of subjects, with the main focus on reading. Tutors receive Wilson language training, especially helpful for students with learning disabilities. Tutors are available for testing and evaluations as well.

Wish list:

New or recent thesauruses

Graphing calculators

Updated language arts materials

Bookcases

New phone system

Personal computer

Cash donations

Music Resource Center

1108 Forest St.

979-5478

Sibley Johns, executive director

The Music Resource Center was founded in 1995 by local musician Jonathan Hornsby, who wanted opportunities and a place for at-risk youth to make music. At their location on Forest Street, MRC can host about 20 middle- and high-schoolers a day. In February the organization will move to its new home at the former Mt. Zion Baptist Church on Ridge Street. Students can use many different instruments and studios, including two computer-based studios and a DJ room with turntables. The center also has a CD library that students can borrow from. Staff members give vocal and music engineering courses in addition to the regular instrumental instruction. The center recently received a major donation from Dave Matthews Band.

Wish list:

Mac G4 computers for computer music lab

MIDI compatible keyboards

DVD players for media center

Flat-screen computer monitors

Drum kits

Volunteers to run check-in desk

Free or reduced copying services

Donation of bulk-rate postage permit

Brass and woodwinds instruments

Guitars

Microphones

Amplifiers

Strings for guitars/bass

Drum sticks

Music videos and movie videos

Blank CDs

Keyboards

Fax machine

Cash donations

Food Aid

Blue Ridge Area Food

Bank Network

Thomas Jefferson

Area Branch

500 Henry Ave.

296-3663

Sarah Althoff, area supervisor

The Blue Ridge Area Food Bank Network and its Thomas Jefferson Area Branch provides food to the needy in eight counties. Economic uncertainty and increasing job layoffs are adding to the number of people looking to the Food Bank for help. Donated food items should be non-perishable and not in glass containers. For each dollar donated, 92 cents goes toward the mission of feeding the hungry.

Wish list:

Canned meat, fish and poultry

Canned or packaged meals

Peanut butter

Cereal

Soup

Canned vegetables

Canned fruits

Pasta sauces

Baby formula, baby food

Diapers

Baby bottles

Cash donations

Meals on Wheels, Inc.

2270 Ivy Rd

293-4364

Mandy Hoy, executive director

Community Meals on Wheels, Inc. delivers hot, nutritious lunchtime meals Mondays through Fridays to homebound residents of the Charlottesville/Albemarle area on a temporary or long-term basis. The goal is to provide not only nutritious food but also valuable and daily social contact to people who would otherwise be hungry and alone.

Wish list:

Volunteer drivers to help with packing and delivering meals (can work throughout year or on holidays)

Volunteers to work on special events committee

Tray favors (i.e. holiday cards, napkin rings, valentines, American flags)

Canned goods in October and November for “Blizzard Bags” (sent to clients to keep on hand in case inclement weather pre- vents drivers from delivering hot meals)

Cash donations

General Crisis Relief

Legal Aid Justice Center

1000 Preston Ave., Suite A

977-0553

www.justice4all.org

alex@justice4all.org

Alex Gulotta, executive director

The Legal Aid Justice Center offers civil legal services to low-income families throughout Central Virginia and to low-wage immigrant workers statewide, while also engaging in legal advocacy for all low-income Virginians. Programs include the Civil Advocacy Program to assist with legal problems regarding housing, public benefits, employment, consumer protection and more; the Virginia Justice Center for Farm and Immigrant Workers, addressing the employment concerns of the 50,000 migrant farm workers and other immigrants who come to Virginia every year; and the JustChildren Program to ensure that at-risk youth in the education, foster care and juvenile justice systems have access to the services and support.

Wish list:

Copy machine

Laser printers (with software) Color laser printer

Scanner

Typewriter

Decent office chairs

Reception area sofa

Outdoor picnic table

Cash donations

United Way,

Thomas Jefferson Area

806 E. High St.

972-1701

www.unitedwaytja.org

unitedwaytja@unitedwaytja.org

Jim Fitzgerald, director of marketing

The United Way raises funds for people in Charlottesville and the counties of Albemarle, Fluvanna, Greene, Louisa and Nelson. The United Way also provides services including a childcare scholarship for working parents and an information referral center. Focus areas for funding include the needs of young children and their families, the needs of the elderly, individuals in poverty and those in emergency situations.

Wish list:

Financial donations totaling $1,460,000 for programs in the community

Medical-Disability Services

AIDS/HIV Services Group

P.O. Box 2322

Charlottesville, VA 22902

979-7714

www.aidsservices.org

Kathy Baker, executive director

ASG offers support services to people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS with client services including case management, crisis care, housing assistance, medical co-pays and prescription costs assistance and more. Prevention education programs reach out to more than 7,000 people annually including high-risk groups such as youth, African Americans, Latinos, men who have sex with men, and the general public, through the schools, in the neighborhoods and on the streets.

Wish list:

Pick-up truck or car for client

transportation

Light wood mini blinds, 27-28" x 36"

Network card for a Canon 2000 Printer

Flat panel LCD monitors (15")

Small loveseat and two armchairs for

client work/meeting space; must be new

Stamps

Food, including frozen or refrigerated items

Phone cards

Central Virginia Chapter

of the American Red Cross

1105 Rose Hill Dr.

979-7143

www.avenue.org/redcross

cvcarc@avenue.org

Lonnie Kirby, director of financial development and public relations

The Red Cross Central Virginia Chapter serves Albemarle, Fluvanna, Greene, Louisa and Nelson counties, providing relief to victims of disasters and helping people prevent, prepare for and respond to emergencies.

The Red Cross provides relief to victims of disasters both natural and man-made as well as conducting training in vital skills such as CPR, first aid and water safety. Locally, the Red Cross gives shelter, food and necessary counseling to victims of the most common disasters such as home or apartment fires.

Wish list:

Televisions

VCR

DVD player

LCD projector

Fax machines

Charlottesville Free Clinic

1138 Rose Hill Dr., Suite 200 296-5525 www.cvillefreeclinic.org info@cvillefreeclinic.org Erika Viccellio, executive director

The Charlottesville Free Clinic provides free primary medical care and prescription medications for working uninsured adults in the greater Charlottesville/Albemarle community. All services are provided by volunteer health care professionals—physicians, nurses, dentists, pharmacists, lab technicians, etc.—three nights a week, year-round. In fiscal year 2003, Free Clinic volunteers treated 1,164 patients with 3,224 visits to the clinic and volunteer pharmacists filled 12,095 free prescriptions.

Wish list:

Volunteers (pharmacists, dentists,

follow-up nurses, psychiatrists,

gynecologists)

New refrigerator

Hand-held vacuum

Large bulletin board

Pregnancy Center

of Central Virginia

320 W. Main St.

979-4516

www.cvillepregnancy.org

diane@virginiapregnancy.org

Diane McClintock, Charlottesville center director

The Pregnancy Center of Central Virginia provides confidential services to pregnant or possibly pregnant women, including limited medical services, counseling, testing and more. The center is sponsored by individual donors, families, local businesses and church organizations.

Wish List:

Baby clothes (only 0-3 months; have an abundant supply of other sizes)

Maternity tops

Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic

1021 Millmont St.

293-4797

Janet Ewert, production director

Angie Durand, volunteer coordinator

Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic provides oral literature for those in the community who have visual or physical impairments that keep them from being able to read easily.

A library lending service is available for a yearly fee to individuals and to educational institutions, and the organization relies on the efforts of more than 250 volunteers a year. Volunteers record educational materials ranging from 4th-grade geography and high school math books to college-level and post-grad textbooks. Readers pair off with a director in a soundproof booth to record, where they can stop and fix mistakes or discuss how to explain complicated material such as graphs or charts.

Wish list:

New Merriam-Webster’s collegiate dictionaries

Audio books (new or used)

Spelling Bee and Dee teams of four from your organization for April 16 even at the Omni Charlottesville Hotel ($500 per team)

Golf/tennis teams for annual golf/tennis tournament

Playback devices for blind and dyslexic students

Software playback systems for blind and dyslexic students

Satellite recording booth ($3,000) and a place in the community to put it

Scholarships to set up Learning through Listening™ sites at area schools.

Ronald McDonald House

300 9th St. SW

295-1885

Mary Kirwan, executive director

The Ronald McDonald House provides inexpensive housing for out-of-town families of children receiving medical care at the UVA Children’s Medical Center. The House was founded in 1981 by a group of local doctors and concerned citizens, and in 1988 it became one of more than 200 Ronald McDonald Houses all over the country. Though it is licensed by and is a fundraising partner with the McDonald’s corporation, the Charlottesville house raises most of its own funds.

Wish list:

Canned tuna, Spaghetti-O’s, Beefaroni

Sugar, creamer

Salt and pepper in disposable containers

Snack bags of chips, pretzels, cookies, etc.

Pop Tarts, cereal

Kleenex

Aluminum foil, plastic wrap, gallon-size Ziploc bags

Gift Certificates to Wal-Mart

Queen size mattress pads

Clorox bleach

Shout stain remover

Dishwasher detergent

Size D alkaline batteries

Stamps

The Salvation Army,

Charlottesville Corps

207 Ridge St.

295-4058

Kim Wentz, regional resource development director

The Salvation Army offers programs such as a childcare center, an emergency shelter, transitional housing, two thrift stores, soup kitchen and an emergency services program. The emergency shelter provides 60 beds to the needy for overnight stays of up to several months while at the same time providing them with three meals a day, all free of charge. Another housing program, the Center of Hope Transitional Housing Program, offers nine one- and two-bedroom apartments for small families or singles who may live there for up to two years, while paying a small fee for the furnished apartment, childcare, food service and counseling.

Wish list:

12 6′ tables

100 stackable chairs

New waiting room furniture for the social services lobby

Cash donations

Sexual Assault

Resource Agency

1013 Little High St.

295-7273

www.sexualassaultresources.org

Melissa Hoard, administrative office manager

SARA is a private, non-profit organization whose volunteers and staff are dedicated to reducing the vulnerability of women and children to sexual violence as well as facilitating the recovery of sexual assault victims. Recognizing the prevalence of sexual assault and abuse and the long-term impact on victims, SARA has adopted sexual assault issues as its sole agenda. In addition to a comprehensive educational and training program, SARA provides confidential emotional support, crisis intervention, support groups, advocacy, companion services, counseling and referrals for victims of sexual assault, their families and close friends.

Wish list:

Park benches for our healing garden

Donations of educational supplies (particularly a new display board to be used in public presentations)

Laptop computer and power-point projector for educational presentations

Tool box

Emergency clothing (sweats, underwear, socks, etc.)

Comfort packs for victims

Puzzles, games and toys for children who visit us

Gifts for volunteers or for fundraisers (certificates for dinners, massages, etc.)

Travel boxes for brochures and handouts (file boxes with handles)

.ash donations

Shelter for Help

in Emergency

293-6155

www.shelterforhelpinemergency.org

info@shelterforhelpinemergency.org

Carty Lominack, executive director

The Shelter for Help in Emergency Victims offers survivors of domestic abuse temporary shelter, free counseling and support groups as well as legal advocacy and court appointments. Those living in Planning District Ten—Charlottesville and the counties of Albemarle, Louisa, Greene, Nelson and Fluvanna—can call the 24-hour hotline at 293-8509.

Executive director Mary Carter Lominack says that 200-250 people a year spend time in the residential facility. The shelter offers help to men and women of all economic backgrounds.

Wish list:

Calling cards

Bus passes

Activity passes (i.e. movie tickets)

Household supplies (paper towels, toilet paper, etc.)

Personal hygiene supplies (shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, deodorant, etc.)

Art supplies (i.e. construction paper, glue, markers, pencils, etc.)

Cash donations

Volunteer Services

Habitat for Humanity

P.O. Box 7305

Charlottesville, VA 22906

984-4321

www.avenue.org/habitat

cvillehabitat@nexet.net

Kelly Epplee, development director

According to the Albemarle County Housing Advisory Committee, more than 3,000 homes in the Charlottesville-Albemarle area are classified as substandard. Habitat for Humanity helps to solve this problem by offering qualifying low-income families Habitat homes with a no-interest mortgage. All labor is done by volunteers and there are no profits for builders, so most families pay less per month than they paid in rent for substandard housing.

Wish list:

Land for building Habitat homes

Volunteers with handy-person skills, able to lead other volunteers

Office volunteers on a weekly basis

Trucks in good running condition

Contributions of new or used building materials and furniture and vehicles to the Habitat Store

Cash donations

Monticello Area

Community Action

Agency (MACAA)

1025 Park St.

295-3171

www.avenue.org/macaa

jeff@macaa.org

Jeff Sobel, development director

MACAA works to eradicate poverty and improve the lives of people in the City of Charlottesville, and Albemarle, Fluvanna, Louisa and Nelson counties through a variety of services that provide educational opportunities, self-improvement programs and emergency help to individuals, children and families in poverty. MACAA’s best known programs include Head Start, Hope House, Jefferson Area CHIP, Project Discovery and emergency services in the outlying counties. Their programs serve about 2,000 clients each year.

Wish list:

General operating support

Furniture in good condition for Hope House

Clothes and food for thrift shops in outlying counties

Volunteers to work the Charlottesville Ten Miler (April 3)

Volunteers to read to Head Start children

Donation of cars in good shape for Wheels to Work

Volunteers to help with reception and telephones and events

Silent auction items for Men Who Cook fundraiser

Cash donations

Piedmont Housing

Alliance

2000 Holiday Dr.

817-2436

Karen Klick, deputy director

The Piedmont Housing Alliance creates more affordable housing and community development opportunities to improve the lives of low and moderate income families. The Alliance reaches out to families in Albemarle, Fluvanna, Greene, Louisa and Nelson counties and the City of Charlottesville, and after joining forces with the Charlottesville Housing Foundation in 1997, the Alliance has now raised more than $2.5 million and has provided housing services and development worth over $20 million in 50 years between the two agencies.

Wish list:

Volunteers for clerical work, website management or landscaping assistance

Land and real estate donations

Laptop computer

All-in-one printer/copy machine

CAD software

Furniture for waiting room (sofa, love seat, chairs)

Cash donations

News

Reality killed the video star

Post author By c-ville-weekly-writers
Post date November 18, 2003
No Comments on Reality killed the video star

Given the number of times it was hyped and replayed during MTV’s other programs, even the network’s casual viewers could not have missed the signature moment of last winter’s season of the channel’s emblematic program, “The Real World.” During the second episode, in a casino Whirlpool on the Las Vegas strip, Trishelle, the full-figured airhead from the bayou whose mother died when Trishelle was 14, moseyed across the hot tub to Brynn, the all-American party girl from rural Washington state, and started kissing and groping her. Steven, the straight guy working to put himself through business school by tending a gay bar, turned to the camera and gave it an unmistakable what’s-a-guy-to-do? look. Then he joined in.

The girl-on-girl action gave the moment a certain edgy salaciousness that had eluded dramatic high points of previous editions of the show, most of which involved too-drunk cast members stumbling about. It also lacked something else, more important for the nation’s first reality television program: any element of plausible reality.

“The Real World” gave birth to the entire genre of reality television, and it has taken on everything that many people have come to hate about such programs: a lowest-common-denominator, near-pornographic sensibility and the pervasive sense that we are not watching real people or events, but something soap-operatic and staged. But in its early years, when the program was at least a little bit better, “The Real World” embodied the sorts of characteristics that fueled reality television’s extraordinary rise to popularity: the intensely personal dramas, the vivid characters and the sense (as was the case on “Survivor” or “American Idol”) of the almost-attainable-exotic, the notion that we were seeing a world that we did not quite belong to, but wished we did.

MTV made its name by beaming an edgy version of urban cool to middle-American teens, which put it in the position of preaching to its audience, or at least to those suburban kids who already dreamt of the big city. “The Real World” was a crucial part of this image, and it also let the network document for its viewers one way in which adolescents become adults—a topic of eternal interest to the teenaged audience. But MTV now uses the show to broadcast a much different narrative of how to grow up: spring break, hook-ups and drunkenness. This is much closer to the experiences and fantasies of most teenagers. This new image has won MTV more viewers—the network and “The Real World” are both more popular than they ever have been. But as MTV has revamped its notion of what is cool, it has thrown its aspirational message down the Whirpool drain.

Hip to be square

When MTV launched in 1981, the New York-based network aired nearly 24 hours of music videos, interspersed with stunts of the sort that snarky, with-it New Yorkers would play on a clueless nation. There was a phone-in contest to win a Prince concert in your hometown, whose winner was a Mormon girl from rural Utah (the concert occasioned loud local protests). It force-fed the nation Madonna, at the time an unknown party girl from the Lower East Side who ran with Andy Warhol. MTV sent a young, cute drag queen out on tour with Van Halen, and laughed as the oblivious California rockers repeatedly hit on him (or her).

This sensibility appealed to certain adolescents, and MTV’s viewership grew fast and furious. The network, which then saw itself as “cutting-edge,” embraced new cultural developments that more mainstream outlets eyed warily. For example, when “Yo, MTV Raps!” went on the air in 1988, hip hop was still largely an underground phenomenon from which big record labels and radio stations shied away, but MTV recognized that it was bound to be a very big deal.

By the early ‘90s, the network had raised its sense of social conscience and saw its role as a political and cultural cluing-in point for youth hungry to be in touch with the broader world. MTV News grew more sophisticated—no longer content just to detail the minor adventures of celebrities, it sent correspondent Tabitha Soren to report from the presidential campaign trail in 1992. The network’s “Rock the Vote” campaign for youth voter registration was high-profile, so much so that then-candidate Bill Clinton took advantage of the opportunity to reach new young voters by starring as the sole guest of an MTV election special where teenagers questioned him. Liberal establishment types, who had spent the ’80s wagging adult fingers at MTV, later hailed the network’s public service messages such as “get involved,” and “wear a condom.”

The music also had political dimensions, from the militant black empowerment rap group Public Enemy to didactic liberals like Pearl Jam and R.E.M. to the feminist strummers of the Lilith Fair. Although you sometimes got the sense that MTV had gotten itself into a public position it didn’t really know how to handle—such as when a flirty blonde asked candidate Clinton whether he preferred boxers or briefs—there was also something charming about the network’s earnest agenda. For all the tiresome chatter about Generation X’s ironic, disengaged, navel-fixated brooding, it was nice to see MTV plunging its teenaged viewers into the real world, complete with ideas, politics and consequences.

Reality bites

To a certain extent, MTV’s decline has been mirrored—maybe even forecasted—by the changes to its signature programming franchise, “The Real World.” The premise of the first show, which debuted in 1992, was to put a microscope to the lives of seven young people who had moved to New York in order to make it in the entertainment industry: an aspiring model, a rapper, a dancer, a critic, an artist and a singer. The show worked because these were real people, doing real things and encountering the new and unexpected.

From the beginning critics said that the fantasy of “The Real World” presented was deeply parochial. A “Saturday Night Live” skit at the time depicted the show as a lot of whiny 20somethings in flannels arguing over who had to feed the fish—and they were right, it was parochial. But for Generation X, life itself was pretty small-minded, and the parochial ideal that MTV was selling (your hip 20s) was a whole lot better than the parochial culture we were involved in (middle school).

Unlike teenagers who were (and still are) the program’s target demographic, the show’s characters were in their mid-20s. They had clearly defined and articulated ideas of what they wanted to do with their lives and they were trying to get there. In the first four seasons, the overarching, propulsive drama was that of people starting to immerse themselves in quasi-adult lives and careers, and the episodes documented the ways in which their experiences corrupted or emboldened their original notions of who they were.

But “The Real World” has since changed its formula dramatically. No longer an outlet for 20somethings to brood about their future careers, the show has become a cyclic three-month on-air party for young adults to mingle in hot tubs and obsess about the present. The locales have changed from creative meccas like New York and London to vacation spots like Las Vegas, New Orleans and Hawaii. MTV has rejiggered the show to require characters to engage in artificial, season-long contests or projects—like putting together a fashion show—which the characters embrace in the way most American teenagers experience spring break: as a big party.

The houses, which started off as funky lofts, have become ludicrously large and fancy fantasy palaces: the top floor of the Palms Hotel, a chateau in Paris. The characters don’t even look like real people anymore. They are far, far too attractive, the guys all balled-up pecs and biceps and the girls all slim, languorous limbs. The show never depicted ugly people, but the characters, in the beginning, had the luxury of being only ordinary looking. By Las Vegas, the cast looked like refugees from a workout video.

From the beginning, the casts of “The Real World” seemed to be assembled through a fairly transparent quota system, which basically remains in place today. Most casts featured a series of archetypes: the urbane gay guy, the outspoken black woman (chip displayed prominently on shoulder), the wacky white guy, the sweet middle-American girl, the hick. In the early episodes, these differences seemed more authentic, and mutable: When the hick and the outspoken black woman spoke to one another, for instance, you could feel their perceptions shifting. Now, the characters seem to wear their backgrounds like proud, stubborn labels, and their interactions on the show only force them deeper into their own archetypes. The characters, it seems, are just trying to leverage their appearances into future television gigs.

And as their appearances and attitudes changed, their concerns took on a corresponding, adolescent irrelevance: The Hawaii cast’s Amaya worried about her large breasts and endlessly asked Colin to please be a little nicer to her; Kaia spent the season wondering whether she was bisexual.

Welcome to the new MTV.

I want my MTV…back!

In a 1999 article in The New York Times Magazine, critic Marshall Sella was moved to write: “All in all, MTV seems to envision daily life as an endless game of pool in which people antagonize each other, then storm off to points unknown.” But the same focus on teenage dramas and concerns that critics deplored has, in fact, brought more young viewers to the network. After facing declining ratings in the mid-1990s, the network hired executives Van Toffler and Brian Graden to give MTV’s programming a facelift.

Their brief was to reduce reliance on music videos to increase the ratings among the target young audience. “[In the early ’90s] we had influential content, influential music, things were changing, but we had low, low ratings,” Judy McGrath, onetime MTV president, told New York magazine this summer. “Back then, our steady diet was a lot of leading-edge stuff, and not a ton of people were watching.”

So Graden and Toffler made the network look more like its viewers. They introduced “Total Request Live,” which became the network’s signature program—a phone-in-and-vote show that gives teenage music fans exactly what they ask for. The tastes of the young TRL voters, who vote incessantly from home for their favorite groups—mostly benign-imaged, dull-as-vanilla teen-pop acts like Britney Spears, ‘NSync, O-Town or Jessica Simpson—also pushed those same groups even higher on the playlist for all of MTV’s programming.

The network added a host of new reality programs. “Sorority Life” and “Fraternity Life” detail the weepy, vomit-soaked ins and outs of college life. “True Life” shows hour-long documentaries about typical teenage problems: a girl who’s too fat to make the cheerleading squad, a workout-obsessed boy trying desperately to beef up. “Spring Break: Undercover” tracks hyper-fit college students as they get drunk and contrive to hook up in party locales like Cancun. “Jackass” is a series of gross-out skater-punk tricks and stunts, the sort of stuff that bored suburban teens might pull in their spare time.

Now the network’s programming effectively mimics the lives and experiences of its viewers. The shift in programming has helped MTV’s ratings climb for five consecutive years, and more people now watch the network than ever before.

Some critics complain that this dumbing-down reflects an attempt to lure a younger audience. This is true in part, but not completely. The average age of the network’s viewer is slightly over 20 years old, which is not much different than what it has been throughout the network’s history. And though critics (and the network’s executives) have pointed to shows like “Total Request Live” as evidence that MTV is catering to a younger audience, even shows like “The Real World,” which executives say are meant for a general audience, have gone through these significant changes. The crucial variable may not be age, but aspiration.

MTV has always pursued teenagers. What has changed is the sort of teenagers it is chasing, and what ideal of cool it established to court them. During the 1980s and early 1990s, the network tried to convert its viewers, suggesting to hungry-for-hipness suburban teens that there was something out there cooler and more compelling than their own high school melodramas. The gospel has since changed. What MTV is selling its teen audience now (with “Sorority Life,” “Fraternity Life,” “Spring Break: Cancun,” a more juvenile “Real World”) is a bland vision of the immediate future in which the first years of college look pretty much like high school, but without parents or homework. The focus is on having fun, not on being challenged by new or different experiences.

Of course, it’s a little sentimental to pine for the early days of a television program that probably was never all that good in the first place. Certainly, the first few seasons of “The Real World” could be brooding, reflective and static. In a way, the new version of MTV is being more honest with its audience, the hot tub threesome incident aside. Most of its viewers were never likely to move to the big city to hobnob with rock stars, run voter-registration drives and think deeply about their world. Most of its viewers, by contrast, will likely go to college and party.

But that promise of cultural revolution held out in MTV’s early years was enticing, glamorous and, for some teenagers, useful. It let them imagine possibilities for their future that they might not otherwise have seen so vividly. The grunge generation has gotten a bad rap, but the early ‘90s was a hopeful moment for young people. MTV’s vision of current youth culture, which has drawn more viewers to the network, is by contrast bland and unremarkable.

Benjamin Wallace-Wells is an editor of The Washington Monthly, where this piece first appeared.

The Editor's Desk

Mailbag

Yellow journalism

In reporting on the Community Bike program [“Dude, where’s my bike?” Fishbowl, November 11], John Borgmeyer stated, “Last year the City of Charlottesville and Dave Matthews Band funded a project to fix up old bikes.…”
The City has not provided any of the funding for this project. Most of the funding has come from Dave Matthews Band and Coran Capshaw. We also received a generous $1,000 donation from a local businesswoman. We remain grateful for the shop space which Coran Capshaw is allowing us to use in one of his buildings.

Stephen Bach
President and Co-founder
Community Yellow Bicycles of the Piedmont

John Borgmeyer responds: Mr. Bach is right. The City planned to contribute $5,000, but DMB stepped in and paid for the program, which is administered through City accounts. The City’s principal contribution came from the time of then-Director of Strategic Planning Satyendra Huja, who helped to organize the program.

Uncategorized

Fishbowl

Steal this article

The Cavalier Daily retracts eight plagiarism cases

Kirk Honeycutt isn’t mad at former Cavalier Daily arts and entertainment reporter Tonya Dawson––just perplexed.

“I’ve never heard of someone plagiarizing movie reviews,” says Honeycutt, a film critic for The Hollywood Reporter. “I just find it so bizarre.”

On September 2, The Cavalier Daily announced that “significant portions” of seven film and record reviews published in the student-run newspaper between October 2002 and August 29, 2003, were “taken without permission from multiple sources,” including Honeycutt’s review of Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle.

Then, on October 29, the Cavalier Daily ran another retraction claiming that an October 27 column about low-rider jeans titled “Fashion’s Practical Joke: Mooning and the Low-Rise Obsession” by Demetra Karamanos was plagiarized from slate.com. The original article, “Hello, Moon: Has America’s Low-Rise Obsession Gone too Far?” by Amanda Fortini, circulated widely on the Internet and appeared on numerous websites.

Dawson and Karamanos––both undergraduates––copied ideas, phrases, sentences and even whole paragraphs from other writers. Dawson was fired in September, Karamanos was fired last month. Karamanos declined to comment, and Dawson could not be reached.

On November 5, The Cavalier Daily published a 650-word mea culpa acknowledging the impossibility of checking every article for plagiarism. Still, the editorial claimed, the paper’s staff met to reaffirm that plagiarism is bad. Further, the paper will change its bylaws to include a more extensive section on plagiarism.

Cavalier Daily editor-in-chief Justin Bernick won’t say who uncovered the deception.

“There’s no evidence this is a widespread problem at The Cavalier Daily by any means,” he says. He declined further comment, referring to the November 5 editorial as the paper’s last word on the subject.

The incidents come as two notorious fakers, Jayson Blair and Stephen Glass, reap fame and fortune for their journalistic sins. The new film Shattered Glass dramatizes Glass’ rise and fall as a hotshot staff writer for The New Republic. In September, the 27-year-old Blair landed a contract––reportedly in the mid-six figures––for his memoir Burning Down My Master’s House: My Life at the New York Times, due out this spring.

Instead of kudos, however, Dawson and Karamanos could face expulsion from UVA. The University’s honor code prohibits any student from lying, cheating or stealing while inside the boundaries of Charlottesville or Albemarle County, and the code also applies to people representing themselves as UVA students, no matter where they might be.

Carey Mignerey, chair of UVA’s honor committee, wouldn’t say whether either writer had been referred to that body. He says academic plagiarism is “certainly a common honor case,” but says he can’t recall anyone facing honor charges for plagiarism at The Cavalier Daily.

Hollywood Reporter’s Honeycutt says he’ll let UVA decide how to punish the copycats, and he’s not calling for blood. He says he just can’t figure out why journalists would ruin their reputations for pieces on low-rider jeans or bad action flicks.

“A movie review seems like a pathetic place for plagiarism, unless one is afraid of one’s own opinion,” Honeycutt says. “In the case of Charlie’s Angels, I can see how someone wouldn’t want to subject themselves to this movie. But all you have to do is sit through the movie, then go get a thesaurus and look up every invective you can find. It’s not brain surgery.”

Kit Bowen, a Hollywood.com writer whose review of the film The Hunted was plagiarized by Dawson, says the Internet’s boundless horizons give would-be imposters the feeling they can steal without getting caught.

“There’s just so much stuff out there. How could you monitor it?” Bowen says. “I’ve never had this happen to me before,” she says. “It’s bad journalism, obviously, but actually I’m sort of flattered.”––John Borgmeyer

Checks and balances

Budget surplus could force spend-or-save decision

A projected $3 million surplus in Albemarle County’s 2003-04 budget has officials asking, If Albemarle had a few extra million dollars, what would it do with the money? The County Board of Supervisors is thinking about giving some of the money back to taxpayers by cutting the County’s real estate tax rate. Not surprisingly, several representatives from local social service organizations and schools have their own ideas about what to do with the unexpected cash.

“I don’t think it’s prudent to cut taxes, particularly when we have a continuing unmet need in this community—that’s been documented,” says Gordon Walker, a member of the Albemarle County Public Schools’ Board and CEO of the Jefferson Area Board for Aging.

County Supervisor Dennis Rooker disagrees, saying it would be “fair and wise to look at the potential of cutting the [real estate] tax rate by two cents.” The Board of Supervisors took a step in this direction by passing on November 5 a motion from Rooker that required the first draft of the 2004-05 budget be developed with a 74-cent real estate tax rate in mind. That’s a two-cent reduction from the current rate of 76 cents per $100 of assessed real estate value.

When the current fiscal year wraps up on June 30, the County’s bean counters should be sitting on a surplus of about $1.4 million from these real estate taxes, according to Melvin Breeden, the director of Albemarle’s Office of Management and Budget. The boost is mostly due to a binge in construction. Breeden says personal property and other taxes round out the rest of the $3 million surplus.

Real estate in the County skyrocketed by more than 18 percent in assessed value between 2001 and 2003, and Breeden forecasts another 15 percent increase in the 2004 assessment. But what’s good for the County’s economy isn’t necessarily good for taxpayers, particularly those who live on fixed incomes. For some residents, the real estate tax on their property has increased by as much as 30 percent in just two years. For example, a property that increased in assessed value to $150,000 from $115,000 (slightly over 30 percent) would have a tax rate jump to $1,140 from $874, an increase of $266.

Still, a two-cent cut won’t go too far in helping people cope with real estate taxes. The owner of that $150,000 property would see only a $30 savings on her tax bill at the proposed 74-cent rate. By contrast, if the tax cut were to be passed next year, it would have a big impact on the budget surplus, knocking about $1 million off of the $3 million projected for this fiscal year.

John Baldino, a former teacher and school administrator who serves as a local representative to the Virginia Education Association, thinks that cool million would be better spent on teachers’ salaries and books, buses and buildings for County schools.

“Albemarle needs a lot of things,” Baldino says. “We’re talking about a basic need to improve education.”

Rooker insists that the tax issue will be revisited if significant County programs lack cash when the new budget is drawn up. Also, the Supes have yet to vote on the actual tax cut. If passed, the earliest a cut could go into effect would be next June.

Albemarle School Board Chair Diantha McKeel would like to see more discussion before the decision is made. The schools usually get about 60 percent of County funds, and McKeel wants assurance that unexpected needs (such as those arising from higher gas prices for buses, for instance) are factored into budget discussions. McKeel adds that the schools already have existing areas that could benefit from new dollars, such as improvements in class size and in teacher salaries. “Oh absolutely, we could use that million,” McKeel says.

The Monticello Area Community Action Agency, which administers health and youth programs such as Head Start, could also find a good home for some of Albemarle’s surplus, says Executive Director Noah Schwartz. However, Schwartz says that Albemarle’s funding for his organization is “consistent with” funding from Charlottesville, and he understands why Albemarle might look to cut the real estate tax. “I think it’s great that the Board of Supervisors is being so fiscally responsible,” Schwartz says.

Several other officials from social service agencies and from County schools say it’s too early to talk about spending a surplus that has yet to be reaped, or to discuss the wisdom of a tax cut that won’t be voted on for months. But most acknowledge that tough choices between unmet needs and tax relief are inevitable.

“I think that Albemarle County has an increasing gap between high-income and lower-income residents,” says Saphira Baker, director of the Charlottesville/ Albemarle Commission on Children and Families, which advices local governments in the funding of social service organizations. “It does pose a challenge in terms of determining tax rates.”

The fickle nature of economic indicators doesn’t make the job any easier. Though Albemarle is currently making budget projections 20 months into the future, they are only estimates. When asked if solid revenue trends will continue, County budget guru Breeden says: “Your guess is as good as mine.”—Paul Fain

Flooded with money

Scottsville’s close ties with transportation leaders pay off

For most of its 258-year history, the town of Scottsville has endured an uneasy marriage to the James River. The waterway made Scottsville a vital commercial crossroads in the pre-railroad era, but every few decades the placid James would send muddy floods raging through downtown.

A towering brick and slate monument in Scottsville’s newest park, Canal Basin Square, marks water levels from significant floods––the normally 4′ high James River hit 34′ during Hurricane Agnes in 1972. Most recently, the James topped 26′ in 1987. The most dramatic flood happened in 1771, when water levels crested at an estimated 40-45′, about 10′ above the monument.

After Hurricane Agnes, some downtown businesses relocated to higher ground just northward, the Village Square Shopping Center. In 1989, the Army Corps of Engineers built Scottsville’s A. Raymond Thacker Levee, named after the former mayor who secured Federal money for the levee to protect downtown Scottsville from floods once and for all.

Dedicated in September, Canal Basin Square is a monument to a different kind of flood––the torrent of State transportation dollars the Scottsville Town Council is using to remake downtown.

“The levee made this a safe place to live and do business,” says Town Councilor Jim Hogan. “That was Mayor Thacker’s deal. This is a new deal. This will make Scottsville a nicer place to live.”

Since December 2000, Scottsville has received more than $1.8 million in Federal TEA-21 grants, which are distributed through the State’s Commonwealth Transportation Board. The money is being used for two parks, a parking lot, a trail along the levee and a streetscape project that will build crosswalks and old-time streetlights, as well as bury power lines along Valley Street, Scottsville’s main drag. Hogan says the aim is to put the “historic” stamp on Scottsville.

“This is what everybody wants, the small-town way of life,” Hogan says. “As you develop the town, the shopping experience becomes richer. We’re not going highbrow, we just want to protect our historic feel.”

The most recent grant, a $224,000 allocation the CTB approved for Scottsville earlier this month, is the largest single award for 2003, and it represents nearly 25 percent of the total funds distributed in the CTB’s Culpeper district, which includes Culpeper, Warrenton and Charlottesville, as well as Albemarle and Louisa counties. The TEA grants require a 20 percent match, which Scottsville has easily raised, thanks to a massive private fundraising effort—the city secured $500,000 in private funds for the projects during the past three years.

In these times of tight State budgets, how did a leafy hamlet that is home to 550 people end up with such a fat wad of cash? It turns out this small town has some big friends.

Hogan cozied up to Carter Meyers, former CTB representative for the Culpeper district. Meyers, who owns Colonial Auto Center in Charlottesville, is tight with State Republicans and most famous locally as a vocal champion of the now-defunct Western Bypass project.

“Scottsville suffered so many years with the floods,” says Meyers. “This was an opportunity to help a town that never really had a chance to fix itself up. You could tell the people were behind it, and I think it will be another tourist attraction for Charlottesville.” In 2002, Governor Mark Warner appointed Butch Davies to succeed Meyers as Culpeper representative, yet Meyers has remained instrumental in keeping Scottsville’s funding stream flowing.

Scottsville has still not conquered the water, however. Engineers overseeing the streetscape project say the town sits right atop the water table. This could make the cost of burying power lines––which already runs between $300,000 and $500,000 per mile––even more expensive.

“We can’t just go flopping around in the water,” says Jack Hodge, vice president of Volkert and Associates, the Mobile, Alabama, firm directing the streetscape project. “You have to pump the water out. That could run the cost up considerably, or it may not affect it that much.” Hodge says engineers will conduct tests in the coming weeks to figure out how much undergrounding Scottsville can afford.––John Borgmeyer

Holier than thou

Ear plugs are turning heads in Charlottesville

When Ben, a 28-year-old body piercer for Capital Tattoo on Ivy Road, arrived in Charlottesville two years ago, he says his earrings were a big attention-grabber.

“People looked at me like I stepped off the mothership,” Ben says.

The reaction from Ben’s new neighbors may not have been borne of provinciality, as Ben’s earrings are rather big. In fact, he has stretched earlobes containing plugs that are 1 1/2" in diameter.

But though Ben and other piercing aficionados around town say the large ear plugs (also called flesh tunnels if they include a hollow center) have a tribal history that stretches back thousands of years, apparently Charlottesville has been a little slow to catch on.

The piercing pro at Big Dawg Tattoo on Preston Avenue, who goes by the name Pirate Dee, moved to Charlottesville from Las Vegas a few months ago and says of the ear plugs, “every other kid has ‘em out there.”

Pirate Dee, who wears half-inch plugs he says are made of dinosaur bone, observes the ear plug itch has yet to hit Charlottesville in full force. But he says his shop does stretch the earlobes of two or three customers a month. “It’s definitely starting to take off,” Dee says of the trend.

So what’s the attraction with plugs and stretched lobes?

Matteus Frankovich, the owner of the Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar, says large ear adornments have an origin in the Massai culture of Africa and are a response “to an insuppressible tribal urge.” Frankovich, who wears small discs made of ox bones, says he increases the gauge, or size of his ear plugs, every time he enters a new phase of life, such as becoming a homeowner. “American youth have an urge to display some sort of physical symbol for metaphysical changes going on inside,” he says.

A different motivation inspired Dave Munn, the lead singer of the hip-hop rock band Frontbutt, to stretch his earlobes: boredom.

“I’m not trying to get all mystical,” Munn says. “I guess it goes along with the rock ‘n roll lifestyle. It’s my bling-bling.”

Ear plugs come with a price, however, both physical and fiscal. Though Dee says that earlobe stretching is “a good pain,” none of the popular methods are pain-free. According to Tribalectic Magazine, the self-proclaimed “definitive source for everything pierced,” the popular methods for extending the chasm in an earlobe include inserting wet sponges or frozen wood in a lobe, and hanging weights from an earring.

Dee had his lobes altered with a scalpel, but says his preferred method for stretching is the periodic insertion of a metal stake called a taper bar, a service for which Dee charges $40. Dee displays a taper bar that resembles a rifle bullet, and says that lobes can be stretched every four to six weeks.

The plugs for sale on Tribalectic’s website, including some made of amber (with insects inside) and those with inlaid bullets, run in the $25-50 range per pair.

When asked why he gravitated to ear plugs, Pirate Dee smiles and changes the subject. Asked again, he reluctantly admits, “the smaller earrings looked kind of pussy to me.” (A reporter in his shop was wearing a small earring.)

Dee also cites benefits of wearing ear plugs that extend beyond the aesthetic. Unlike a regular earring, which can be torn from a lobe, an ear plug will pop out easily when under duress in an environment such as a mosh pit, he says.—Paul Fain, with additional reporting by Ben Sellers

Stat man

Virginia’s Michael Colley is a walking football almanac

The statistics swim in Michael Colley’s head. There are numbers and names and dates, several lifetimes of UVA football lore. Colley keeps it all up there, fishing out facts as he needs them. And he even gets paid for it.

Colley, an assistant director of media relations for UVA Athletics, compiles the team’s gridiron figures each week. At home contests, Colley is the game’s official statistician, responsible for determining who ran, how many yards he gained and what the new line of scrimmage is. When the TV announcers proclaim that kicker Connor Hughes just became the first Cavalier to kick two 50-yard field goals in a season, it’s because Colley, sitting nearby in the press box, just told them so.

Football is a game of inches, and Colley’s is a world of minutia. The job is enviable, if Wahoo trivia is your thing, and perhaps pitiable when the Cavaliers lose.

“What some people use as diversion,” Colley says, “I now use as a career.”

Data dredging is only part of his weekly routine, however. When Colley is not nosing through a record book, he must do the grunt work of big-time college sports—publicity. On Mondays, for instance, Colley helps arrange head coach Al Groh’s press conference, and media interviews with the players. On Tuesdays, Colley meets with television announcers, to prep them for Saturday’s game.

Colley handles calls from professional football teams seeking information about quarterback Matt Schaub and helped produce postcards touting Schaub’s achievements. He also tries to update the virginiasports.com website faster than fans call in to complain about dated information.

“People have no idea the demanding hours his position requires and the tightrope he has to walk between the coaches and the media,” says Mac McDonald, WINA-AM radio announcer and “the voice of the Cavaliers,” one of several local reporters who speak highly of Colley.

“Love him or hate him, you always know where he’s coming from,” says Jed Williams, the station’s sports director. “With everyone digging for the scoop or the banner headline, his honesty ensures that everyone enjoys equal opportunity to get their job done.”

Colley, 41, grew up in Charlottesville and graduated from Albemarle High School. He attended UVA’s McIntire School of Commerce, earning his bachelor’s degree in 1985. After college, Colley sold computers for a firm in Virginia Beach, but he soon soured on the corporate world.

In 1989, just as Virginia football was winning its way to respectability, Colley moved home and started volunteering for the athletic department’s media relations office, writing press releases, compiling stats—whatever was needed. He got a full-time job there in 1991. Suddenly, the ferocious fan had access to all of Cavdom.

He has since learned to temper his emotions during games. Losses once kept him up all night “pissing and moaning,” he says. Now he has attained a rare state of sports-fan Zen.

“Not that anybody likes to lose, but you’ll go insane if you let the losses get to you too much,” Colley says. “Now I can go to a game that I have no interest in, or a game that I am dying to know who’s going to win, and they’re almost the same as far as I’m concerned.”

Football isn’t Colley’s only forte. He also keeps numbers up to date for men’s lacrosse and serves as the official statistician for home men’s and women’s basketball games. In each game, his goals are accuracy and objectivity.

“It’s not a statistician’s job to say what would have happened,” Colley says, “just to interpret what did happen.”

Still, Colley’s love for the Hoos burns as bright as the orange socks he often wears on game days. Jerry Ratcliffe, the Daily Progress sports editor, says Colley “is as passionate about the Cavaliers as anyone I’ve ever run across.”

As he will be on the job at Saturday’s Georgia Tech game, though, Colley must root vicariously.

“Since I can’t,” he tells this reporter, “cheer loudly for me.”— Eric Hoover

News

Wheel Life

The Potter household wakes up about 7am. A hissing blue flame licks the bottom of a silver teakettle, aromatic coffee brews in a French press. John Potter stands beside his eldest son, Max, peering skeptically at the boy’s Grape Nuts.

“How much maple syrup did you put in there?” he asks. The bedheaded 10-year-old, clad in an orange UVA t-shirt and Cavalier basketball shorts, returns a plastic bottle to the refrigerator and stirs his breakfast.

From his kitchen window, Potter can see Meadow Creek flowing into the Rivanna River, and fog rising from the long, frosty grass in Darden Towe Park on the other side. He bought this house five years ago with his wife, Brynne, a midwife. Because she may be called out at any hour of the day or night, last spring the family purchased their second car, a green 1994 Mitsubishi pick-up truck. It still sports the previous owner’s “Peace is Patriotic” bumper sticker.

Most mornings, however, John walks past his cars parked on the edge of his cul-de-sac, Bland Circle, past the single-storey homes on St. Clair Avenue. He crosses a path on a strip of City-owned grass between St. Clair and Peartree Lane, passing a backyard garden on his right and to his left black birds that sit on power lines above a humming transfer station.

“This is what makes it work, this neighborhood is pedestrian-friendly,” he says. Although it’s only 30 degrees outside, Potter says he’s comfortable in a collared shirt and a brown sweater. At 7:32, right on schedule, the Route 2 bus crests the hill on Peartree and coasts toward Potter. The bus, a 30-foot-long striped rectangle wearing a Vanilla Pepsi ad on the front, stops with a cough of its hydraulic brakes. The Plexiglas door folds open and Potter’s three quarters tinkle in the fare box.

Is this the sound of a revolution? Maybe. City Council wants to save Charlottesville from the tyranny of the automobile, and they believe salvation begins with convincing young urbanites like Potter to leave their cars at home and take the bus.

Potter isn’t climbing on this bus simply to save the world from greenhouse gasses, however, nor even America from its dependence on foreign oil, nor, primarily, Charlottesville from traffic. He’s doing it mostly to save money. A parking spot outside his office at UVA’s Stacey Hall, on W. Main Street, costs $60 a month. Potter can buy a book of 40 bus tickets, enough to last him a month, for $21.

“Environmental concerns are definitely a factor for me, and I get to save money doing that. Riding the bus is all about comparative advantage,” says Potter. “You weigh it out, and do whatever makes sense.”

Peartree Lane is the northeasternmost point on the Route 2 bus line, meaning most mornings the bus is nearly empty when he boards. On this Friday morning, only two women are aboard when Potter climbs on. He grips the canary yellow bars on his way to a gray seat near the back decorated with a black grid and yellow, blue and red squares. The overall effect is like a McDonald’s trying too hard to be hip.

The bus chugs down Locust Avenue, picking up passengers at Martha Jefferson Hospital, City Hall and along Water Street. On W. Main, Potter spots a co-worker.

“God knows where he parked,” Potter says, surmising the man left his car in one of the City’s free two-hour spots, which means he’ll have to move his vehicle at least four times that day if he wants to avoid a ticket, a dance known as the “two-hour shuffle.”

Last month, the City brought four transit experts to town from points across the country and asked them how the region can reform its bus system. In some ways, the experts’ responses were encouraging––the region’s growth and increasing density means Charlottesville could be a model for efficient transit in a mid-size city. In other ways, the news was not so good. As much as any other issue, the bus system reflects the fractious City-County-UVA relationship that makes it hard for leaders to follow the experts’ leading piece of advice––make a plan and make it happen. Now.

“Traffic in Charlottesville isn’t nearly as bad as Washington or Norfolk, but that’s not the issue,” says one of the experts, Robert Dunphry, a fellow at the Urban Land Institute in Washington, D.C. “It’s bad enough now.”

Faithful bus rider Elizabeth Cockerille says she’s all for a new transit system. “I like the bus,” she says. “I’d like to see parking lots on the edge of town, where people could park and ride the bus into Downtown.”

But before Council can think about getting suburbanites to get out of their cars and into mass transit, Cockerille says the Charlottesville Transit Service (CTS) needs to do a better job of serving people like her, those who have no car and rely on the bus as their sole means of transportation.

“Why do they have to spend money on people to come in from another state?” Cockerille wonders, referring to the two-day October transit summit that cost $12,000 (most of which was paid for with Federal funds). “They’ve got people right here who know what the bus system needs.”

Perhaps first among necessary fixes would be the 39-page bus schedule–– maybe if you’re a member of MENSA you can come into the office and interpret it for us [see sidebar].

Then there are the routes themselves, which Cockerille and fellow bus-rider Steve Abercrombie suspect were designed by people who’ve never actually ridden CTS.

“They don’t ride the bus, they stand up there on Market Street with suits and ties, interviewing people,” Abercrombie says.

A case in point––Cockerille and Abercrombie live at the Crescent Halls high-rise on Monticello Avenue. The grocery store nearest to them is the Food Lion on Fifth Street Extended, about two miles away. But to get there, Cockerille must board the Route 6 bus, ride it along First Street, Lankford Avenue and Ridge Street, then as it turns around back down Ridge, Monticello Avenue and Avon Street to Water Street. There, she transfers to the Route 12 bus to ride down Water to W. Main and 10th streets, Bailey Road and finally Fifth Street to the Willoughby Shopping Center.

Tired yet?

“You don’t even want to hear about Friday,” says Cockerille, who on October 31 took the bus to Wal–Mart on what she claims was a seven-hour round trip.

“It’s a hardship to be on the bus that long,” says Cockerille, who travels with a snack, a water jug, a backpack and a cooler for perishable groceries. “You feel like you’re going to the other side of the world.”

Further complicating the long travel times is the fact that CTS passes some stops only once every hour. Route 6, for example, runs once an hour between 9:55am and 1:55pm.

“This is when the mothers on 10th and Page need to get out and do their shopping before kids come home from school,” Cockerille says.

“This town has a lot of intellect,” she says, “but no common sense.”

To get a closer view of the bus system, CTS does, in fact, hire riders to report on it. Last spring, for example, Mare Hunter rode the bus and surveyed riders, a step necessary for CTS to receive Federal funding.

“It’s more efficient than it would seem to those who say the bus is always empty,” says Hunter. “It’s jammed in midday, early morning and late afternoon.”

Hunter, a UVA graduate student in education, represents a new class of urbanites that Council hopes will become a new class of bus riders. She lives on Carlton Avenue in Belmont, and takes the bus to classes at UVA.

“The major reason I moved into town was to get out of my car, and I never looked back,” Hunter says. “I was living halfway to Scottsville, and it was a 30-minute commute to Charlottesville. I was separated from the movies or things I wanted to do in the evenings.”

With a slew of upscale apartments and condominiums in the works Downtown, City Councilor Kevin Lynch says Charlottesville is attracting people who would gladly leave their cars home—if the bus system were fast and easy.

“Trip time is one thing we have to focus on,” says Lynch. “The other is the whole quality of the riding experience. We want it to be enjoyable, not just necessary.”

Lynch proposes restructuring the current “hub and spoke” system, which sends all buses through Downtown no matter where their destination. He wants to replace it with a “backbone and feeder” pattern. With Lynch’s system, buses would cycle through neighborhoods every 15 minutes. Riders would catch the neighborhood bus, then transfer to a main route, where buses run from Downtown through UVA and up Route 29 every 10 minutes.

“The advantage is that you don’t have to consult the schedule, and you can be sure you don’t have to wait that long,” says Lynch. He estimates CTS would have to buy four new buses, at a cost of about $250,000 each, to accommodate the system. Council will be holding a work session in the winter to discuss Lynch’s plan.

Hunter says she has reservations about Lynch’s idea, because it means every rider would have to transfer. “I think about darkness or stormy weather, and people with baby strollers,” she says. “I wouldn’t want to have to transfer to get from UVA to my house.”

At 4:38pm on the same Friday afternoon, John Potter emerges from his office at Stacey Hall, weary from an afternoon battle with a computer virus, and walks to the Route 12 bus stop in front of the old Merchants Building, currently home to U-Haul. A line of cars stretches past him, all the way to the Hampton Inn at Ninth Street. At 4:47pm, Potter climbs aboard one of seven 25-foot buses in the CTS fleet.

“Now to pull back in,” mutters the driver to another rider sitting in the front seat. “Working on a Friday is terrible. All this traffic.”

At 5:06pm, Potter gets off the bus at the Locust-Calhoun intersection, then makes a 10-minute walk back to his house on Bland Circle.

“The bus was seven minutes late, but that’s a pretty typical interval,” he says. “I usually ride the Route 12 bus, because it’s more reliable at rush hour. Route 2 has to come down Emmet Street. It gets stuck at the light at Emmet and University, and loses a lot of time there.”

Potter touches on a major obstacle to attracting new riders to the bus system––buses have to wait in traffic, too, especially on W. Main. This problem will get steadily worse, as UVA plans to expand its health sciences campus eastward. Moreover, in September Council passed a new zoning code that allows for higher density and more residential development on W. Main.

“The traffic can be maddening already,” says Mayor Maurice Cox, who manages his own commute from UVA to Ridge Street on a bicycle. “One can only imagine hundreds of new housing units on that street. How are we going to decongest that street, so that people can live there?”

Based on the advice offered at last month’s transit summit, Council has discounted the idea of light rail in Charlottesville––which had been advocated by some transportation activists–– as inappropriate for a region this size. Instead, the plan is to build a bus rapid transit system, which would run from Downtown, along W. Main, through UVA to the Barracks Road Shopping Center. Such a system could either use a modern streetcar-type vehicle that runs on tracks or a bus with rubber tires that can travel on streets and veer onto a track to circumnavigate stoplights and congestion.

A bus rapid transit system, says Cox, will also help solve mass transit’s image problem. “If there’s a system that’s exciting to ride, if it has a look, an edge, we can get choice riders to ride it,” he says.

Questions remain about how exactly W. Main Street could accommodate two lanes of traffic plus on-street parking and an independent bus lane or trolley tracks. Such problems can usually be solved with money, though, so the first question Council is asking is how to pay for bus rapid transit.

“Funding is always going to be our biggest challenge,” says Councilor Meredith Richards, who sits on the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), which makes regional transportation plans. “That, and cooperating with the County and UVA.”

Currently, multiple funding streams feed the CTS annual budget––$3.75 million for FY 2003-04. Federal transportation grants total $1,034,139, while the State chips in $1,015,437. The City pays $993,813, and the County adds $234,751. Rider fares this year are projected to be $443,491, and UVA will contribute a projected $30,000.

Richards says the City would be a prime candidate for a VDRPT program that funds bus rapid transit programs for small communities.

“Ours would be a perfect project to see how bus rapid transit would work in a community that’s not ready for light rail,” she says. The City already has applied for VDRPT money to fund a bus rapid transit study, which could open the door for State money to fund the actual project.

Cox says he hopes to see bus rapid transit established by 2010, but getting there will depend on cooperation from UVA and, to a lesser extent, Albemarle County. The City is urging close cooperation with UVA’s University Transit System as Charlottesville would not want a campus bus system to compete with its own revamped system. Rebecca White, UVA’s director of parking and transportation, says UVA is willing to cooperate with the City, with some conditions.

“We’d like to see an open ridership, where UVA riders could ride everywhere and not have to pay a fare,” says White. “And we want our level of service on Grounds to remain consistent.

“In the end,” she says, “it comes down to what improvements we will see regionally, and what it will cost.” UVA’s bus system has an annual budget of $1.5 million, funded by a $100 fee assessed to every student, plus a portion of parking permit fees, and profits from charter bus rentals.

In Albemarle County, debate about transit is largely limited to Route 29. Supervisor Dennis Rooker says that in the next year, the County will talk about establishing a bus line running up and down Route 29, between the shopping centers being built along that highway. The developers of Albemarle Place, for instance, have pledged $20,000 a year for five years to fund such a bus line.

Farther in the future, Albemarle will face traffic problems on Route 29 similar to those the City now has on W. Main. The County is moving toward a grid system of interconnected streets along the Route 29 corridor that in theory will ease traffic. Will Rieley, a landscape architect and transportation expert who designed the Meadowcreek Parkway, says that eventually Route 29 will need interchanges at major intersections (Hydraulic, Greenbrier and Rio), but the State transportation department is in no shape to pay the $100 million those interchanges would cost. Transit, he says, will have to be a part of easing congestion on Route 29, especially with planned commercial developments at Hydraulic Road, as well as the Hollymead Town Center and North Pointe.

“There has to be a serious attempt to deal with transit as part of a system of transportation,” Rieley says. “It’s pretty clear that in our area, with the amount of growth we have, and the projects that are proposed right now, there is clearly not enough money in the next 20 years to accommodate the traffic, if it’s all private automobiles.”

To the average Charlottesvillian stuck in a jam on W. Main or waiting for the light to change at Hydraulic and 29, change seems a long way off. But Robert Dunphy, who advised the City during the transit summit, insists the City needs to lay the groundwork for these projects today.

“This is a city that has a strong proclivity towards studies,” says Dunphy. “There’s some momentum to actually do something right now. So do it. Now.”

Route of the problem

Cliff Notes for the bus schedule

Charlottesville’s bus routes are sufficiently confusing that new riders will have to consult the bus schedule to figure out how and when to get where they need to go. The bus schedule, however, is just as confusing—if not worse. As a piece of literature, the CTS schedule, at 39 pages, is only slightly less weighty than Gravity’s Rainbow and about as garbled as Ulysses, so we offer these Cliff Notes to help you pass the test.

First clue: What looks like the front of the schedule is actually the back. Turn it over.

Next, look at the system maps on pages 2, 3 and 4 to find out what route comes closest to your house. Unfortunately, as the colored bus lines lack the context of a city map, it’s hard to use the system maps unless you’re a local or you have another map with you.

The individual route maps aren’t any better. The street names are so faint they’re hard to read, especially for the elderly or vision-impaired. If you have to transfer to another bus route, you’ll probably need a graduate degree in semiotics—and bifocals.

By now you’ve figured out that many neighborhood buses only come by once every hour, so you’ve probably decided it’s quicker to walk, bike or beg your buddy for a ride. Like everyone else who tries to read Ulysses, you stop reading the bus schedule at page 15.

Allow us to save you some trouble and reveal the ending: Route 23 did it.––J.B.

Station to station

What’s up with the east end transfer center?

Next year, the City plans to begin construction on a Federally funded $6.5 million bus transfer center on the east end of the Downtown Mall. You might think that the project would fit in with Council’s plans to reform the bus system, but it doesn’t.

Currently, every Charlottesville Transit Service bus circles the Mall, and riders must change buses on Market Street. The new transfer center will give these riders a nicer place to wait, but not for long.

This winter the City will discuss changing the CTS route to a “backbone and feeder” system. This would keep many riders out of Downtown altogether, and significantly reduce circulation through the east end station, tentatively dubbed “President’s Plaza.”

The City originally wanted to build the transfer center at a more practical spot near the Amtrak station on W. Main Street. In 2001, however, after five years of negotiation with owners Gabe Silverman and Allan Cadgene, the City had to either build the transfer center or give back millions in grant money, so it moved the project to the east end of the Mall, where it owned a site.

Now the City envisions a series of similar transfer centers along the proposed bus “backbone” between the Mall and Barracks Road. Mayor Maurice Cox is hopeful these centers would become the lynchpins of high density, mixed-use development along the bus routes.––J.B.

Hitchin’ a ride

What Charlottesville is learning from packed predecessor Portland

When City Council invited transportation gurus from around the country to Charlottesville on October 11 and 12, the experts all told the City that if we want to build a transit system that works, we should look at Portland, Oregon.

Thirty years ago, Portland’s transportation network faced problems similar to those Charlottesville is trying to solve right now. Portland was growing fast, and influential business leaders wanted to solve traffic congestion in with the Mt. Hood Freeway––a project similar to the Western Bypass proposed for Albemarle County.

Like the Western Bypass, the Mt. Hood Freeway was widely unpopular. So the three-county jurisdiction that governs the Portland area took advantage of a Federal law that gives local jurisdictions the right to use highway funds for transit development. With these funds, Portland started building bus lines. Three years ago, Charlottesville became the first locality in Virginia to similarly “flex” highway funds for transit when the City used $200,000 of State money to fund the free trolley.

Portland’s transit plans got a boost in 1972, when the region’s state senators crafted and passed a bill to place a boundary around Portland’s growth. As a result Portland’s growth didn’t stop, rather it took a more dense, urban form instead of suburban sprawl.

“Because of that, all our growth was planned, focused, thought about,” says Mary Fetsch, spokesperson for TriMet, Portland’s bus system. “That was the government taking the lead.”

The combination of dense development, money and redesigned bus lines has made Portland a model city for transit development, and Charlottesville is trying to emulate Portland’s successes.

For example, Council’s plans to redesign the current bus routes and add a bus rapid transit or streetcar system running outside of traffic along the W. Main and Emmet Street corridors follows Portland’s method. The TriMet system put up stations––similar to the transit center the City will build Downtown––at intervals along the streetcar line.

The result has been a boon for Portland developers, and for the Rose City’s tax coffers. Portland’s streetcar system is 4.8 miles long, and it cost $57 million to build. Since its debut in 2000, there has been $900 million in commercial development along the streetcar line.––J.B.

The Editor's Desk

Mailbag

Give it a whirl

From both my military training and my flight experience, the thought crossed my mind that something else may be at work causing the illusion that Pegasus is flying lower at night [“Pegasus creates a flap,” Ask Ace, November 4]. I would suggest that Chopper Block step outside one night and see if, in fact, the helicopter is flying a lower approach at all. At night sound tends to carry in ways it does not during the day. Having to do with less background noise and some changes in atmosphere during the evening, it is not entirely unlikely that the chopper is not closer at all, but just sounds as if it is. Take a step outside, Mr. Block, and let me know what you find out. It’s still possible the pilots just fly lower approaches at night.

David Macfarlan

Earlysville

Correction

In last week’s Fishbowl story “A church divided,” a reporting error led to Dave Johnson being misidentified as the rector of Church of Our Saviour. Johnson is actually the rector of Church of the Cross; Harold Hallock is the rector of Church of Our Saviour.

Uncategorized

Fishbowl

Dude, where’s my bike?

Yellow bike program returns—with a fee

Last year’s ill-fated “yellow bike” program has been resurrected in the form of a community bike library that’s trying to share refurbished two-wheelers without getting robbed.

Last year, the City of Charlottesville and Dave Matthews Band funded a project to fix up old bikes, paint them yellow and distribute them around town. Within days all the bikes disappeared. This time, the new bike library, which opened October 1 at 860 W. Main St., isn’t just giving away rides.

“Anyone who wants a bike is asked to put their name on a volunteer registration form,” says coordinator Alexis Zeigler. “They are then asked to help repair the bikes for at least an hour, and to put down a deposit of $10 to $20, depending on the quality of the bike.”

The deposit will be returned when patrons return the bike. “If you don’t know how to repair bikes, that’s fine,” says Zeigler. “The volunteers at the shop will help you learn.”

For now the shop, tucked behind the Hampton Inn in a warehouse owned by DMB manager and über-philanthropist Coran Capshaw, is open on Saturdays from 2pm to 5pm. Zeigler says there’s “a couple hundred” bikes on hand, and “a few” have been checked out so far. The hours of operation will expand, says Zeigler, as the volunteer base grows.

Preston Plaza, Part 2

Last winter, Preston Avenue business owners got all worked up when the City announced plans to redevelop the intersection of Preston and Grady avenues, near the Monticello Dairy building. The project, known as Preston Plaza, went on the shelf a few months later, however, because nobody wanted to build it.

Now City Council is reviving Preston Plaza, citing new interest from developers. This time the Mayor is cranking up the City’s public relations machine, trying to head off another round of controversy.

On October 30, Mayor Maurice Cox called a meeting at the New Covenant Pentecostal Church on the corner of 10th Street and Grady to tell owners of such businesses as Integral Yoga, the Firehouse Bar and Grill, Central Battery and Crystalphonic Recording that Preston Plaza was back on deck.

“We’ve set aside the development plans from a year ago, and we’re starting fresh,” said Cox.

The original plan called for a mixed-use project––50,000 square feet of housing, 2,800 square feet of office space and a partially underground parking deck for 70 cars. Cox says developers were initially skittish about the amount of housing, and expensive ideas like underground parking. The outcry from business owners also turned off some developers, Cox says.

The Mayor wouldn’t name names, only revealing that “a critical mass” of developers showed renewed interest when the City agreed to rethink project specifications. When the City first announced the proposed development, local businesses said they were blindsided by the news. At the meeting, the business owners didn’t seem any less opposed to the plan, even with all the advance word on it.

Cox, however, claimed the City and the local Chamber of Commerce would do all it could to ensure that businesses were not hurt by construction, which Cox said could start in two years. Referencing the new shopping centers going up in Albemarle County’s urban ring, Cox said City Council has to push for infill development to help Charlottesville compete.

“We have to leverage every single square inch of this city,” said Cox. “We have to inspire developers to a higher and better use of this property.”

Rising Starr

In a sign of evolution––or, some would say, gentrification––the Starr Hill neighborhood has been removed from the City’s list of funding sites eligible for Federal low-income assistance. Starr Hill is no longer a candidate for Community Development Block Grants (CDBG), which pay for improvements to poor areas.

The Starr Hill neighborhood, which lies north of W. Main Street, bounded by Ridge/McIntire, Preston Avenue and the railroad tracks, has been on the City’s list of CDBG sites since Charlottesville started receiving the grants from the Department of Housing and Urban Development in 1974.

Charlottesville gets about $700,000 a year in CDBG grants, and it has wide flexibility in how that money is used, says Claudette Grant, a City neighborhood planner. Some grants can go directly to low-income individuals for things like home improvements, or they can be spent on projects like sidewalks or parks for the City’s target neighborhoods––Belmont, Fifeville, 10th and Page, Ridge Street and Rose Hill.

Households can qualify for CDBG funds if total household income for a family of four is below $50,880, which is equal to 80 percent of the City’s median income of $63,600, a figure determined by HUD.

Starr Hill was removed after 2000 Census data revealed that 47.3 percent of that neighborhood’s population is considered “low or moderate income.” According to HUD regulations, a neighborhood must be more than 51 percent low or moderate income to qualify.

In the mid- to late-1990s, Starr Hill was targeted by the Piedmont Housing Alliance (PHA), which built subsidized houses to sell to low-income residents. Ironically, this effort to help low-income residents is putting Starr Hill housing out of reach for the poor.

“The big project that changed Starr Hill was the PHA,” says Missy Creasy, a City neighborhood planner. “The houses sold at low levels to the original owners, but they’ve turned over since then and sold for significantly more.”

In 1998, for example, the City and PHA repaired a dilapidated house at 210 Sixth St. NW and sold it to a first-time homebuyer for $82,500. Four years later, the same house sold for $225,000.––John Borgmeyer

Industrial strength

New concert promoters have a ga-Gillian ideas for bringing new acts to town

Even before they met in high school in Williamsburg, where they played in rock bands and penned such originals as “(What in the) Sam Hill?” Hank Wells and Michael Allenby had identified music as “a big pursuit.” It was just a question of finding the best outlet for their passion. A dozen years later, the bass guitar and drums have taken a back seat to booking the music for everything from weddings and fraternity bashes to festivals and corporate affairs through Sam Hill Entertainment, the agency they started eight years ago. November 19 marks their first venture as concert promoters, when Sam Hill Presents brings Gillian Welch to the Charlottesville Performing Arts Center (CPAC) for a sold-out show.

In focusing on all aspects of the Charlottesville market, Allenby and Wells see themselves augmenting the work of talent buyers who book one room, such as Starr Hill Music Hall, and local promoters who concentrate on one type of music, such as acoustic or reggae.

Writer Phoebe Frosch caught up with the dynamic entrepreneurs in their Water Street offices recently to discuss their vision for bringing diverse musical acts to Charlottesville.

C-VILLE: Which Charlottesville stages would you especially like to book?

Hank Wells: In addition to CPAC, the Jefferson Theater—a great room sitting there waiting for shows to happen—the Paramount when it’s finished, and Old Cabell Hall.

Michael Allenby: Outerspace is a cool space in a fantastic location [attached to Plan 9 on the UVA Corner], that’s about the size of Trax. It probably holds 600-800 people. It’s mostly an unused room—they’ve had some in-store parties and WNRN’s Station Break release party there but not much else.

Name some artists you’d like to bring to town.

Allenby: They range from someone who’s up and coming, like Ben Kweller, to Wilco or Ben Folds, all the way to legendary acts like Willie Nelson.

Wells: Emmylou Harris would be great at the Paramount. Charlottesville has these beautiful theaters that could entice big names to come here.

Ideally, where would you put Willie Nelson?

Allenby: Ideally, the Jefferson Theater, but the tickets might have to be $500! But if Willie Nelson decides to do a small theater tour, there’s no reason why he shouldn’t play Charlottesville. A promoter just has to be poised to do it, and have a reputation in the industry as someone who can pull it off.

If you could add one new room for music to this town, what would it be?

Wells: An authentic, no-frills rock club.

Allenby: Absolutely. A place where people want to hang out, even before they know who’s playing there that night.

As promoters, do you see any gaping holes in the local music scene?

Wells: World music doesn’t get represented enough here. Jazz is under-serviced, too. You can hear first-rate jazz up the street on Thursday nights, but Miller’s holds 50 people. Branford Marsalis or Chick Corea could play here, artists you ordinarily have to go to D.C. to hear.

Allenby: When we see musicians who should be coming to town but aren’t, in our little world, that’s a tragedy. Even though Charlottesville is small compared to Richmond or D.C., it’s home to a lot of forward-thinking people, which makes it fertile ground for music. The fan base exists to bring in a high-caliber and level of talent. If people buy tickets, we can build something.

Head of the class

After a botched job last time, the City School Board starts a new super search

At the end of this school year, departing seniors won’t be the only ones graduating from the Charlottesville City Schools. Superintendent Ron Hutchinson, after 30 years of work in the Charlottesville system, including two years as superintendent, will retire at the end of June.

“Life looks good,” Hutchinson says of his post-superintendent plans. But the future is far murkier for the Charlottesville School Board as it begins the search for a new superintendent.

Prior to the retirement of previous super William Symons, Jr. in July 2002, the board had lined up three candidates for the job. In fairly rapid succession, all three nixed the gig.

The rejections (the three top candidates took superintendent jobs in Martha’s Vineyard, Charlotte and Stafford, Virginia) were particularly embarrassing because the school board had conducted an open search and vetting of candidates. Though Linda Bowen, chairperson of the school board, says she was pleased with the public input during the last search, she says that the school board will make changes to avoid another visible jilting. Most notably, Bowen says the board will ask candidates the question: “If you are offered this job, will you come to Charlottesville?”

The salary range for the position, though not finalized, will be $90,000 to $130,000, which Bowen says should be competitive with the national average.

Bekah Saxon, a teacher at Buford Middle School and president of the Charlottesville Education Association, expects the board will be more cautious during this search. “The board learned some real lessons about what to say and what not to say,” she says.

However, Saxon isn’t worried that the board kibosh will be too severe. “We’ve all been assured that teachers and parents will be involved from the get go,” she says.

In typical bureaucratic fashion, the hunt for Hutchinson’s successor has been kicked off with a search for a search firm. A subcommittee comprising two school board members and two City government officials will settle on the headhunter, and Bowen wants to have the firm on the job on or near December 1. The board had 31 applicants for the job last time, and Bowen hopes the search firm will bring in more applicants this time around—the best of whom will have experience with diverse school populations.

This year alone, the Charlottesville superintendent oversees 4,422 students in nine schools and a budget of more than $51 million, making Bowen liken the job to that of City Manager.

“The problem anymore is that it’s hard to find superintendents. It’s a thankless job if you stop to think about it,” Bowen says. “You’re under so much criticism.”

One notable critic of the school board itself is Republican City Councilor Rob Schilling, who says that an elected rather than an appointed board would be more accountable for its actions, including its failed search for a boss last year. Albemarle County, which does have an elected school board, voted in three new members on November 4.

“I think that certainly, we could have had some different results last time around,” Schilling says, adding, however, that he trusts the board is doing a good job in the early phases of its new hunt for a super.

After the search firm narrows its sights on a few top candidates, Bowen says, the board will likely want to step in and begin interviews. In addition to finding a person who will accept Charlottesville’s offer to the big dance, Bowen says, the board is looking for someone who can handle the highly politicized job, without alienating members of the City government or the general public. Bowen’s target date for locking in the new superintendent is March 1, 2004.

What if the board fails to fill the position by that deadline? “It could be a problem,” Bowen acknowledges.—Paul Fain

News

Trading Spaces

When Second Street Gallery vacated its home in the McGuffey Art Center—its location since 1984—City-subsidized McGuffey was left with 850 square feet of prime real estate and several options. Suggestions ranged from more studios to accommodate the collective’s ever-growing applicant pool to a large sculpture gallery to a guest-curated space to be run by non-McGuffey artists. But in a close vote the members opted to try something altogether different: a performance space.

“The possibility of doing something entirely new was just too compelling,” says current McGuffey president Rosamund Casey. “The space was clean and if we were ever going to try a performance art space, this would be the time. Because once you put an artist there all hell breaks loose.”

And so, after a strict selection process, starting in December three new performance groups will move into McGuffey, all of them dance-focused—the long-running Zen Monkey Project, Brad Stoller and Mecca Burns’ Presence Center for Applied Theater Arts and new troupe Prospect Dance Group.

But the hoofers aren’t the only budding arts groups moving on up. With Second Street, Live Arts and Light House setting up shop in Water Street’s new City Center for Contemporary Arts (C3A), several sweet Downtown venues were left for grabs—and quickly snatched up. The ever-increasing number of creative types in the City make for a constantly changing arts landscape, with new galleries opening (bonjour, Mountain Air Gallery and Dave Moore Studio), old ones closing (ciao, Gallery Neo) and established spaces shaking it up a bit (zut alors! Bullseye and Nature).

The new opportunity is especially exciting for Zen Monkey, which has been without a space to call their own since August 2002, when they left their home of seven years in the New Dance Space above Hamiltons’ (a space subsidized largely by Zen Monkey co-founder Katharine Birdsall). On and off since then, the 8-year-old group has been rehearsing at the Living Education Center for Ecology and the Arts for their next performance, scheduled for early 2004.

From a dollars-and-cents point of view, McGuffey is such a plum prospect for the troupe because of the vastly reduced rent. “That’s very attractive. When we were at New Dance Space we were struggling how to stay there, and eventually we didn’t,” Birdsall says of the $2,552 monthly rent that the New Dance Space commanded by the end. “This is very manageable. We feel like we can go back to doing what we’ve always wanted to do, which is the work.” McGuffey will charge less than $300 per month for the dancers’ admittedly smaller space, she adds.

Not only that, the work will be bolstered, Birdsall says, by the input of “having the community right there. Not only within the space, being in alliance with these two other groups. But being within the building, all these other artists.”

That communal feeling is also a perk for Prospect. A nascent collaboration between dancer/choreographers Ashley Thorndike and Dinah Gray and musician Peter Swendsen, Prospect has already performed at McGuffey, using veteran choreographer Miki Liszt’s third-floor studio.

“All of us—Peter, Ashley and I—have been really thrilled with the reception we’ve gotten from the community, especially from McGuffey,” says Gray. “We feel it’s a big risk of McGuffey’s in a way, but it shows a lot of confidence in our group and the future of performing arts in Charlottesville in general, especially dance.”

Folding the dancers into the visually oriented McGuffey presents some logistical quirks, however. “It’s difficult because visual artists are very different—they don’t tend to make a lot of noise, don’t need a lot of space, they can keep their exhibits up, they’re not ephemeral,” says Presence’s Burns. “It’s going to be interesting to see how that works with the vision of McGuffey, how we find creative ways to incorporate our rehearsals to [McGuffey’s public mission of] being open to the public.”

That challenge explains why the new tenants will start out with an eight-month trial period. McGuffey’s current operating hours are 10am to 5pm Tuesdays through Sundays, extended only to 7:30pm on First Fridays—not exactly conducive to drawing audiences to live dance performances. All three groups remain unsure of how, or even if, they’ll be able to use the roughly 30-seater space to host evening performances.

Birdsall isn’t overly worried—this opportunity is too good to blow. “I don’t really see that it wouldn’t work because in the end, to just have the rehearsal space and works-in-progress shown there during the day is a big thing in itself,” she says. The dance community, traditionally “last on the totem pole,” she says, “really needs this.”

Casey is optimistic the dancers will resolve these and other issues like noise and public access. “We feel like we’re doing what we did when we let Second Street in however many years ago—we’re taking a big chance,” she says. “Second Street worked out beautifully, and we think this will, too.”

Massive attack

Also available following the C3A move, Live Arts’ Market Street digs now house another community culture entry—at least temporarily. As of November 1 the former main theater space became Club Massive, a dance club run by Garden of Sheba co-owners Scottie B. and Abba that continues the concept they ran briefly last year in the Water Street storefront now occupied by Blush. Landlord Gabe Silverman agreed to let the duo use the space through at least the month, but is open to extending the option, Scottie says.

Don’t come expecting the numbingly familiar electronica heard at Club 216. Scottie plans to create a multicultural gathering place—really an extension of what the duo already puts on at Sheba—featuring DJs on Fridays and live music Saturdays and assorted other events, like the family-oriented Massive Day of Culture on Saturday, November 8. The music will vary from light hip hop to reggae to Brazilian rhythms. “I’m trying to get people to dance again,” Scottie says of the space, which can hold 400. “Nobody’s really doing that. I want to bring the whole dance-party atmosphere back. The club scene is hurting here, even with places like Starr Hill. You wonder what’s going on. Too many people are sitting at home, too many people forgetting.”

While previous Downtown dance clubs like The Jewish Mother were breeding grounds for trouble, Club Massive is designed to be a smoke-free, violence-free environment. In fact, Scottie is so serious on this point he says you can expect metal detection at the door. “Anybody looking for trouble can’t come in,” he says. “Just come in with a peaceful heart.”

Change will do you good

One gallery that’s already benefited from a recent change is Nature Visionary Art, which moved from a space in the rear of the Jefferson Theater to its swanky new Fourth Street digs in September. The switch required more than just a change-of-address label, though. As co-owner John Lancaster explains, the enterprise matured a bit from the funky studio showcasing cutting-edge local art to a more grown-up gallery featuring both emerging regional artists and national folk art masters. While he and partner Laurel Hausler had to give up hosting some of the coolest parties in town, they traded up for other amenities when they left the still-empty Jefferson space—like, say, a heated building.

The reception to the 5-year-old enterprise’s growth has been “outstanding,” Lancaster says. “Our grand opening was grand, definitely.” Not only did they sell five paintings on opening night, they nearly sold completely out of their traditional Mexican folk art.

Expect even more changes at the space like exhibitions that will focus more on individual artists or genres. November spotlights the work of Mose Tolliver and Jimmy Lee Sudduth, who Lancaster describes as the “two foremost African-American folk artists in the country,” and others. “We feel like it’s actually a museum-quality show we’re bringing to Charlottesville,” Lancaster says.

Also going through an identity shift is the Bullseye Gallery, Nature’s former building mate located just under the Jefferson. The space comprising five studios has an entirely new crop of artists, a new head and a new name—Cilli Original Designs Studio.

That’s the primary business enterprise of new gallery head Monty Montgomery, a graphic designer and painter whose work has been popping up all over town lately, from Liquid to Station to, well, Bullseye. On November 1 he took over the lease from former Bullseye leader Kimberly Larkin and promises that the gallery’s erratic schedule will level out some, but the place will continue its after-hours, come-on-down-and-see-the-works-in-progress feel, while expanding its outreach to the community.

“I want to have a space to give people who are wondering if they’re artists a chance,” says Montgomery. “If you only have six pieces, not 30, now you can have a show,” he says. He’s also planning to extend the space’s back hallway to graffiti and experimental artists to do their thing, inspired by the nine studio mates working around them. “I want this to be a hub for artists, more of a SoHo vibe.” First Fridays will bring more “serious” shows, too, including December’s showcase of C-VILLE contributing photographer Billy Hunt’s work.

Though Montgomery has zero experience running a gallery, he is passionate about making CODG (shorthand for the new space) work. “Dude, I don’t know how the hell I’m going to this,” he says. “But I know I’m sure supposed to do it. I feel it.”

The "G" force

While the alternative Bullseye enters its next permutation, one of Downtown’s earlier experimental galleries has called it quits. Gallery Neo, which existed on Second Street for 18 years, closed its doors in September, replaced by the third store in the O’Suzannah retail empire. Painter Edward Thomas, who took over the gallery in 1999, says that the 15-year lease terminated when the landlord asked for too much rent.

Neo had mutated several times itself, as both a private studio and showplace for emerging artists. In its most recent incarnation, artists were given solo shows and all the proceeds in exchange for doing community service with the Boys & Girls Club.

The enterprise will live on, in a sense, when Thomas launches his new website, gallery-neo.com, sometime around Christmas as an online portal to sell his work. “If things work out I’ll develop the website more and replace some of the functions of the gallery, and maybe show other peoples’ art,” he says. “And if things work out down the road Gallery Neo might come back in some form in a physical space.”

Given the booming real estate market, where commercial space can command $15 per square foot, Thomas isn’t surprised Neo had to close its doors. “It’s just inevitable with the gentrification, or whatever word you want to use, with the market Downtown pushing out all the places that initially made Downtown cool. Gallery Neo was one of them,” he says. “The real artists and the real kind of movers and shakers that made Downtown desirable and an arts center are now getting pushed out because nobody can afford to live there. It’s a shame that happens, but it’s kind of inevitable.”

Concern over spiraling leases extends to other arts observers, too. Charlottesville’s recently formed Arts and Culture Task Force certainly will consider the need for more and affordable arts spaces, says Bob Chapel, chair of the UVA drama department and a task force appointee. Though by press time the fledgling nine-member group had met only once, Chapel is confident that in its investigations “all aspects of the arts community will be addressed, and real estate is one of those aspects.”

Good times

Two other new players have joined the already-crowded Downtown art marketplace. In October, photographers Bruce and Robin Pfeifer opened Mountain Air Gallery in the former Gitchell’s Photography Studio at 107 E. Main St., where they’ll showcases local artists. Further down the Mall, Dave Moore Studio opens this week in the long-vacant spot underneath the Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar. It will serve as an old-fashioned atelier where the painter will work and operate with an “open-door policy,” he says, meaning visitors (and he hopes, paying customers) can drop by spontaneously to see his art. Moore will also mount group exhibits, including pieces by artists “unknown to this region.”

With so many changes on the playing board, it might be hard at first for arts cognoscenti to keep up with who’s showing what where, but as far as Chapel is concerned, it all makes for “an absolutely fantastic time for the arts.”