Tuesday, March 30
We’re No. 61!
In addition to scoring big in the much ballyhooed “best places to live” ranking, our area was rated in today’s release of an annual toxic chemical survey from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality. First place was definitely not desirable in this list, which tallied the amount of toxic chemicals released into the environment in 2002. Albemarle County ranked an impressive 61 out of the 97 counties and cities with any recorded chemical pollution (Charlottesville was not on the list). The leader, Chesterfield County, which borders Richmond to the southwest, had more than 41 times the pollution of Albemarle. Fluvanna County ranked 17, with Lynchburg and Waynesboro at 24 and 30, respectively.
Wednesday, March 31
Governors invade the Mall
The Nook was the place to be this morning, as politicians, teachers, police officers and reporters filled the Downtown eatery to hear Virginia Governor Mark Warner speak on the budget impasse in Richmond. Warner brought a PowerPoint presentation, but instead spoke mostly off-the-cuff, stressing his decades of business experience in championing his plan to fix a State budget that “is structurally out of balance.” Warner’s colleague, Lt. Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, also visited the Downtown Mall today. Kaine, a former Richmond mayor, spoke at the launch of the Democrats’ new Council campaign headquarters and voiced his support for candidates Dr. David Brown, Kendra Hamilton and Kevin Lynch, who joined him behind the podium.
Thursday, April 1
Gillen gets another go
We’re not foolin’, UVA men’s basketball coach Pete Gillen will be back next year. Despite the team’s 104-78 record over his six-year tenure and disappointing performance in the Atlantic Coast Conference, UVA Athletic Director Craig Littlepage has elected to stick with Gillen. It appears that Littlepage, himself a former hoops star and coach, was swayed by the team’s late season surge in the fully loaded ACC, a conference that sent two teams to this year’s Final Four.
Friday, April 2
Our Bulgarian buddies
Charlottesville City officials and a delegation from Bulgaria today announced a formal sister city relationship with Pleven, Bulgaria. Pleven, which is home to about three times more residents than Charlottesville, is the site of a former Roman fortress and sits about 20 miles from the Danube River. Bulgaria had hard luck in the 20th century, having fought on the losing side of both world wars and lived under Soviet rule. But the country’s economy is growing, and leaders from Pleven hope Charlottesville can advise them on bulking up the city’s tourism.
Saturday, April 3
Hair cuts for a cause
After working from 8:30am to 2pm at the JCPenney salon at Fashion Square Mall, hair designer Maria Sotherden donated two more hours of hair-cutting time to Good Cuts for a Good Cause. Proceeds from the $8 haircuts given by Sotherden and other stylists were donated to organizations that help victims of domestic violence. Virginia Attorney General Jerry Kilgore trumpeted the event, which continues throughout the State this month. Hair salon employees are on the frontline of domestic abuse, says Cartie Lominack, the director of the Shelter for Help in Emergency, a Charlottesville organization that participated in the program. Lominack says hair stylists can identify domestic violence by speaking with their customers or by seeing hard-to-spot bruises underneath hair.
Sunday, April 4
Dwindling City services?
Elizabeth Nelson in The Daily Progress today reports that Mayor Maurice Cox is warning that next year’s City budget may tilt toward cuts in services for residents. Balancing the proposed budget for 2004-2005, which goes into effect on July 1, has been a difficult process for City Councilors, in part because of declining funds from the State. But while Cox says the trend might mean less money for City services in coming years, Republican Councilor Rob Schilling told the DP that the Council should have already started planning “to live within our means.”
Monday, April 5
Honoring MLK
The City Council tonight opened the floor to public hearings on the budget and on the School Board’s unanimous vote to rename the Charlottesville Performing Arts Center the Martin Luther King, Jr. Performing Arts Center. Supporters of the proposal have gathered hundreds of signatures to bolster the name change since the campaign began in January. Tonight, proponents of the change made their case to Councilors, who have the final say on the matter. The hearing occurred one day after the 36th anniversary of the civil rights leader’s assassination in Memphis.
—Written by Paul Fain from local news sources and staff reports
We rule! Those guys drool!
Charlottesville tops best cities list. Authors cite “dignity”
When author Peter Sander rolled into Charlottesville last October to do research for a book, he had to share hotel space with a pack of brass-wielding teenagers.
“There was a high school marching band competition going on,” Sander says. “We had trouble finding a room, and when we did it was a godawful racket.”
For better or worse, Sander didn’t hold a grudge about his sleepless night. On Wednesday, March 31, Sander and co-author Bert Sperling released their book, Cities Ranked and Rated, which proclaimed Charlottesville the best place to live in America. The authors touted their book that morning on NBC’s “The Today Show,” and an article appeared in USA Today.
“We’ve done about 40 interviews today,” Sander said on Wednesday.
Last week, local media disseminated the news with the usual mixed emotions, declarations of “We’re No.1!” tempered with dread. In recent years, Charlottesville has dominated these “best places” lists the way Duke dominates the ACC, and while it’s always nice to see our town get its props, there’s the underlying fear that such accolades will bring new waves of Yankees, Hummers, soccer moms and chain restaurants.
City Hall immediately posted the news in its trophy case on www.charlottesville.org, Charlottesville’s official website, along with similar findings from magazines like Outside, Money, Tennis, Golf Digest, Modern Maturity and Reader’s Digest that throw an arbor of laurels on Charlottesville—Best Place to Live, Healthiest City for Women, Best College Town, plus some awards that might make locals say “Huh?” such as Best Retirement City for Golfers, and Best Tennis Town.
Authors Sander and Sperling used a combination of statistical analysis and subjective observation to rank more than 400 cities. In 1985, Sperling developed a computer program called “Places, U.S.A.” that allowed people to enter their personal preferences and find their own best city. Sperling offered his services to businesses and real estate agents, and later began writing magazine articles and books.
Sander, the book’s principal author, says he provided the “on-the-ground” observations of the various cities. He spent a single day in Charlottesville, enough time to see the Corner and the Downtown Mall, and to drive through some neighborhoods. He didn’t see the Wal-Mart, and claims he didn’t see any “bad” neighborhoods.
“I see it as having an understated dignity that other places don’t have,” says Sander.
Aw, yeah suck on that, Lynchburg!
Actually, our southern neighbor came in at number 15 on the list, and other Virginia cities were highly ranked—Roanoke (11), Virgina Beach (17) and Richmond (35).
What makes a great city? It’s not more highways or bigger Target stores. If local leaders want to take a lesson from his book, Sander says, the best cities use public resources to control growth.
The best cities, he says “have a strong focus on the past and the future.” States like Virginia and Washington mix a friendly business climate with government growth controls. “They’re careful about their growth patterns,” he says. “Because they know that if they’re not, they’re in trouble.”—John Borgmeyer
Clean slate?
Computerized voting machines raise tampering concerns
How secure is your vote? When George Bush lost the popular vote to Al Gore, but won the presidency anyway in 2000, it proved that botched elections and allegations of fraud are not just for obscure South American republics anymore. The fiasco prompted many localities (including Charlottesville) to replace human imperfection with what many argued would be failsafe electronic voting machines.
Now, some researchers say that many of the voting machines contain flaws that make them vulnerable to tampering: Votes can be changed, they say, ballot boxes stuffed, or whole elections rigged by a brainy teenager with $100 worth of equipment. The technology that was supposed to solve all our problems could be a huge mistake.
Could it happen here?
“When people start talking about fraudulent elections, I take it personally, because I’m the one who’s responsible,” says Sheri Iachetta, Charlottesville’s registrar.
Federal law mandates that all localities switch to computer voting by 2006, and a variety of companies have already put machines on the market. In 2002, Iachetta purchased the Hart Intercivic machine, which she says is “the lesser of all evils. Hart’s risk factors were much less than other voting machines.
“We got the best equipment that was out there,” Iachetta says.
In fact, a study commissioned by the Ohio Secretary of State found that Hart is more secure than its competitors.
The market leaders in the voting machine business, Diebold, Sequoia and ES&S, have become lightning rods for critics, of whom the most vehement is Bev Harris, who chronicles the many problems with electronic voting on her website www.blackboxvoting.org.
Several studies found the Diebold AccuVote machine extremely vulnerable to tampering (Diebold then infuriated Maryland researchers by issuing a press release claiming that their critical study actually praised Diebold machines). Further, Harris claims that software errors or mechanical failures have caused problems in more than 100 elections where voting machines have been used.
Further, Diebold chief executive Wally O’Dell is a Republican with close ties to Bush, giving rise to conspiracy theories that the company is out to rig elections.
“It gives electronic voting a bad rap,” Iachetta says. “People shouldn’t lump all voting machines together.”
Charlottesville has used Hart machines for its past four elections with no problems, Iachetta says. The City paid $252,000 to buy 60 voting machines in 2002. The City made $25,000 back by selling its old punch-card voting system to Virginia Beach, and more money is on the way from the Federal government, Iachetta says.—John Borgmeyer
Small things considered
Trivia nights reward the clutter in your mind
Do you know the color of lobster blood? Do you know which television show was the first to display bare bottoms, or which country singer met his first wife when he threw her out of a bar for fighting? Are you one of those know-it-all drunks?
If you said colorless, “NYPD Blue,” Garth Brooks and “Hell, yes,” you might have what it takes to win Charlottesville’s hottest new watering hole competition—trivia night.
The local trivia phenomenon started nearly three years ago, when Mellow Mushroom owner John Adamson decided he needed a way to boost Wednesday night business at the Corner restaurant. It caught on after just a few weeks, says Adamson, and now Buffalo Wild Wings hosts a trivia night on Wednesday as well, and Jabberwocky hosts a trivia night on Tuesdays.
Each Wednesday at around 9pm, trivia MCs Andrew Irby and Deeke Shipp run the show at the Mushroom like shock-jocks—asking questions, making jokes, then cranking up the music. Teams hand in squares of paper with their answers, and they win points for each correct response.
“It’s fun, and you can drink a little,” says UVA undergrad Doug Winnard. On a recent Wednesday evening, Irby and Shipp awarded Winnard’s five-person team a free pitcher of beer for the best team name, which is as long as it is raunchy and unprintable.
Over at BW3, the atmosphere is slightly less rowdy. For the past year, the bar has hired DJ Mike Beene, a.k.a. “M&M Express,” to host trivia contests. Like other trivia hosts, he comes up with his own questions. However, instead of offering one final prize, Beene gives $10 gift certificates to the winners of each round.
“This way, even if your team sucks for a couple of rounds, you get a fresh chance,” says Beene.
Back at Mellow Mushroom, wadded answer slips are piled at Irby’s feet, and the competition is heating up. The crowd boos too-easy or too-hard questions.
“The best questions are ones where the answer is right on the tip of your tongue,” says Adamson. “My favorite reaction is when everyone’s head collapses to the middle of the table, and they all start talking.”
In fact, the search for the perfect trivia question has spurred a rivalry between Mellow Mushroom and Jabberwocky, which started its trivia contest more than two months ago and offers identical prizes—$50, $25 and $15 gift certificates.
“Those cheesy bastards,” Mushroom’s Adamson says. “Whatever we do, they do it.” He even suspects that Jabberwocky’s trivia MCs copied a Mellow Mushroom question, one about the movie Dude, Where’s My Car?
“Maybe it’s a coincidence, but it was kinda funny,” Adamson says.
Jabberwocky manager Jason Reynolds replies: “Any question that’s the same would be purely coincidental.” The rivalry, he says, “is more on [Mellow Mushroom’s] part.”
On this Wednesday, Irby’s final question produces the head-dropping discussion that the MCs crave—put the following films in descending order according to 2002 DVD sales: Black Hawk Down, Lord of the Rings, Monsters Inc. and Training Day. The correct sequence: 3, 2, 1 and 4.
A team of law students named “It’s all relative in West Virginia” gets it right and wins the match, earning the right to participate in Mellow Mushroom’s “Tournament of Champions,” to be held later this month. The winning team actually includes a ringer—UVA law student Dave Hampton, a two-day “Jeopardy!” champion in 1999.
How many questions did he answer right tonight? “I got part of one right,” he says. “Tonight it was harder than ‘Jeopardy!’”—John Borgmeyer
Where’s the super?
Charlottesville schools set to wrap up search for new superintendent
Though the search for a new superintendent for Charlottesville City Schools is behind schedule, Linda Bowen, chair of the School Board, says the position should be filled in early May, about two months before July 1, current Superintendent Ron Hutchinson’s last day on the job.
“We think that gives us sufficient time,” Bowen says.
Last November, Bowen told C-VILLE Weekly that the Board hoped to have the new super hired by March. Bowen says the delay was due, in part, to scheduling difficulties caused by this year’s spring break. But Bowen says the hiring schedule is still on-track, “if everything works out according to plan.”
The search firm selected by the School Board to find Hutchinson’s replacement will stop accepting applications on Thursday, April 8. The recruiters will then present the resumés of top applicants to Board members in an April 21 meeting.
“We asked them to bring all the quality candidates, whether it’s five or 15,” Bowen says.
Board members will conduct interviews with their favorite candidates the week after meeting with the search firm. Then in early May, the Board hopes to make an offer and hire the new superintendent. This final stage was a debacle for the School Board during their last attempt to hire a new superintendent, in 2002, when the three top choices turned down the job offer. Hutchinson, a longtime City schools official, stepped in as an interim superintendent, and was later hired for the full two-year stint.
Bowen is optimistic that this year’s search will have a happy ending, and says the search firm has received many applications for the job.
“We’re just really excited to begin the [hiring] process,” Bowen says.—Paul Fain