Tuesday, October 5
New supe’s tests examined
In their fourth public meeting in one week to address new standardized testing, Charlottesville school administrators convened this evening with nearly three-dozen attendees at the Friendship Court meeting room. Under discussion: the “Flanagan” tests, the first major instructional initiative by new city superintendent Scottie Griffin. Acknowledging that the six-week interval between Griffin’s hire and the announcement of the Flanagan mandate did not allow time for teachers to comment on the tests, which have been in use for five years in Albemarle County, Dr. Laura Purnell, assistant superintendent for instruction, further said the “underlying assumption” of Griffin’s action is that “we value” standardized achievement measures. Griffin, who is charged with closing the racial achievement gap in city schools, has been under fire from some highly involved school parents for her management style and programmatic changes. Earlier this year, one city elementary school failed to meet federal educational benchmarks.
Wednesday, October 6
Staff emergency hours expanded
Stony Point area residents and Scottsvillians have less to fear from a daytime emergency after Albemarle Supervisors today adopted a new policy that will put paid rescue workers at the Stony Point Fire Station and Scottsville Rescue Squad, five days a week, 6am to 6pm. The change effectively restricts the hours that volunteer-only squads will respond to emergencies to weekdays after 6pm and weekends. Stony Point’s emergency-response area includes two county elementary schools.
Thursday, October 7
UVA makes the most of its access
Reaching ESPN’s weeknight football audience for the first time since 1997, the Cavs improved their record to 5-0 by pummeling ACC rival Clemson 30-10. The televised win would put Al Groh’s team at sixth in national rankings by week’s end. Meanwhile, during halftime, while 60,000 fans at Scott Stadium enjoyed the soul stylings of The Temptations, TV audiences got their first glimpse at a new commercial promoting “Access UVA,” the school’s innovative financial-aid program that replaces need-based loans with grants to low-income students. The ad features film actor and 1992 UVA grad Sean Patrick Thomas, who wooed Julia Stiles in Save the Last Dance.
Friday, October 8
Virginia is for peepers
The State Department of Transportation today partially reopened the eastbound rest area on I-64 below Afton Mountain, “just in time for the Columbus Day weekend and fall foliage travel,” according to a news release. After heavy rains and flooding damaged the rest center’s wastewater treatment plant two years ago, VDOT closed the building. When it reopened at noon today, the center lacked a full-facility toilet, instead offering motorists the use of Port a-potties.
Applause for local artists
With “you’ve come a long way, baby,” an implicit theme, Piedmont Council of the Arts marked its 25th anniversary with its annual awards dinner this evening at the Omni. Live Arts Artistic Director John Gibson was recognized as Individual Artist of the Year and iconoclastic developer Gabe Silverman with his wife, artist Karen Shea, got the nod as Philanthropists of the Year. Live Arts started 15 years ago in a windowless suite at the back of The Michie Building, a Market Street space owned by Silverman, who kept rent for the community theater group well below market value.
Saturday, October 9
Gunshots follow bar fight
City police responded to early-morning gunshots following a bar fight at West Main, a Starr Hill-area restaurant opened in May by Patrick and Andrew McClure, owners of Corner mainstay The Virginian. According to published reports, witnesses said a man left the bar with a bloody nose shortly after 1am. Within moments, witnesses heard gunshots. Later, shell casings were found in a parking lot near the restaurant.
Sunday, October 10
Funding grows like a weed
Fifth District challenger Al Weed reported today that as of September 30 his campaign to unseat four-term incumbent Republican Congressman Virgil Goode has raised a total of $352,271. According to his staff, Weed is on track to come close to a half-million dollars in campaign contributions by the end of this month. Local supporters have another opportunity to help Weed when folksinger John McCutcheon performs at a fundraiser on Sunday, October 17. Goode, who had raised a total of $442,750 as of June 30, has until Friday to report his latest quarterly receipts.
Monday, October 11
More bricks coming
A pickup truck with a flashing orange light and two men in white hardhats were the only signs that a major construction project had begun this morning on the east side of the Downtown Mall. The extensive undertaking, dubbed “completing the dream” by City officials, will feature a modern-looking transit center and a large covered amphitheater. Also key to the plan is the extension of the Mall’s bricks, a facet that can be seen in a model on display at City Hall.
—Written by Cathy Harding from local news sources and staff reports.
Hablas espanol?
Jail tries to avoid getting lost in translation
A trip to jail is never any fun, but imagine being locked up and unable to communicate.
As Central Virginia’s Hispanic population grows, so does the number of Spanish speakers who end up in jail. But so far, guards at the Charlottesville-Albemarle Regional Jail haven’t always been able to communicate with their inmates.
“Some employees speak Spanish, but they’re not available all the time,” says jail Superintendent Ronald Matthews. “When they’re not, we have to try to communicate, and it can be difficult.”
This year, the Regional Jail will begin teaching employees to speak Spanish—one of 13 new programs Matthews plans to introduce at the jail. The program will be funded through the jail’s education budget.
Last week, there were only five Hispanic inmates at the jail. The number fluctuates, says Matthews, but he says the trend of more incarcerated Hispanics—who are still statistically recorded as “white” by the local justice system—has been noticeable at the jail for about a year. He says officers house Spanish speakers together so that bilingual inmates can help interpret.
That’s not always a reliable method, though.
“Listen to someone talk for a minute, then try to repeat it. It’s impossible,”says Reuben Marshall, who works forthe International Rescue Committee in Charlottesville, and coordinates interpreter services for local agencies.
Area courts, schools and social services hire interpreters. Virginia’s Supreme Court keeps a list of interpreters who have passed a State-approved test (although the program that certifies new interpreters has been shut down for three years due to budget cuts). Courts can also get interpreters on the phone 24/7 through Interpretalk, a company with an 800 number that charges a per-minute fee to speak to interpreters.
City and county police, like the jail, both have officers who speak Spanish, but they are not always on duty.
“It has potential for serious problems when you’re in a serious situation,” says Charlottesville public defender Jim Hingeley. “It also hampers investigations if the victim is a Spanish speaker.
“What happens more often than not,” Hingeley says, “is that you have a family member who speaks some English, but you don’t know how accurately the interpretation is taking place.”
Hingeley acknowledges the political controversy over whether the government ought to spend extra money accommodating Spanish speakers, especially illegal immigrants. “But I think it’s an obligation the government has. It’s something we need to get right,” he says.
At the Regional Jail, the question is not whether to accommodate Spanish speakers, but the best way to handle what he expects will be an ongoing increase in Hispanic inmates. Matthews, who was hired to introduce a wide range of inmate programs, says communication is not something that should be left to chance. “We want our officers to be prepared,” he says.—John Borgmeyer
Parking knot
Downtown businesses adjust to losing city’s last free parking lot
Last week, 1,500 loyal customers of the C&O received a postcardin the mail from owner Dave Simpson to let them know about the end of a longtime perk: No more free parking in the lot next door while they enjoy a fine French dinner at the long-established Water Street restaurant.
Indeed, the 40-space lot—the last free one in the city—has been cordoned off as developer Bill Nichtmann preps its transformation into Water Street Plaza, a five-storey, multi-use complex designed by Formwork, a Downtown architect firm. Think retail, offices and condos as the City’s new development mandates take hold.
No worries, Simpson told customers; he was ready. C&O customers can park in the lot across the street from 5:30pm to 2am.
He bothered with the mass mailing, Simpson says, because “I think it always is best if, [when] people’s environments are being shifted around, that they get a little heads up about what’s going on.”
C&O was just one of many businesses at the east end of the Mall to depend on the free lot, however. Terri Gable, owner of Studio Baboo, says that she has been putting out the word on parking alternatives to customers as they stop by.
Maybe she should be referring people to Bob Stroh, general manager of the Charlottesville Parking Center.
“When you talk about free parking not being available Downtown, it’s really not true,” he says, referring to the fact that the Water Street parking garage has never reached capacity. “We encourage people to figure out where [the free parking] is, and if you ever have a question I can guarantee you that there’s parking in the Water Street garage.” Many Downtown businessesvalidate garage tickets for two hours of free parking.
Moreover, after Election Day, the City will open up additional spaces on Market Street behind City Hall and in the Market Street garage for temporary short-term parking.
Still, Gable and her retail neighbor, Elizabeth Hurka of The Cat House, are concerned about pedestrian business dropping off because of parking glitches and impending construction. And not just from Water Street Plaza. The overhauling of the Amphitheater and building of the new bus transfer station, dubbed Presidents’ Plaza, across from City Hall, both begin next month. But Patty Pribus of the Blue Ridge Country Store, which will soon be right on the edge of the torn asphalt, takes another attitude.
Ninety percent of her clientele is people who work on the Mall, Pribus says. They’re “here already,” she says, and she doesn’t see why a little construction would change that.
Plus, “We’ll get more business from the construction workers!”—Nell Boeschenstein
|
HOW TO: Following the November 2 election, many will be left with hard decisions. Should a certain Texan cowboy ride to victory with a head full of strategery for the next four years, or, if a certain lanky New Englander windsurfs his way to the Oval Office with the promise to puta ketchup bottle in every pantry, the question becomes: stay and camp under the stars and stripes, or high-tail it north to seek refuge under the cover of the maple tree? Which will it be, eh? While becoming a Canadian citizen is difficult without foresight (you must have lived in Canada for three out of the last four years and pass a citizenship test), moving to our northerly neighbor isn’t as trickyas you might imagine. In fact, a number of options exist when applying for permanent resident status. To be accepted as a skilled worker, applicants must have at least one year of full-time work experience over the course of the last 10 years. Entrepreneurs can apply for business class immigration status, and sparsely populated provinces like Manitoba and Prince Edward Island, looking to boost their population, open doors for those looking to lament the other candidate’s victory in the wilderness. Interested in farming? Purchase and manage a farm for your self-employed ticket to Canada (see www.cic.gc.ca/english/index.html for more details.) Remember, no matter what the results on November 2, you can’t blame Canada. Need to know how to do something? E-mail your questions to howto@c-ville.com.
|
Second act
Former Hanson guitarist rails against monopolies
Back in 1997, Buckingham County resident Ravi was touring with Hanson, the world’s biggest-selling musical act. He played his guitar in front of 40,000 screaming fans at arena performances and even jammed for then President Bill Clinton at a Christmas party at the White House.
Ravi, 33, is still a professional musician, having recently toured with Suzanne Vega and performed at Live Arts. But the former pop insider has drifted far from the major label-big business side of music. These days he devotes much of his energy to two newsletters in which he bemoans the “mediocrity forced on art” by the “corporate dictatorship” of mega-conglomerates such as Disney and AOL Time Warner.
So how can a musician who joined three kids from Tulsa on their “MmmBop”-singing, big-label-orchestrated ride complain about The Man?
“Actually, the industry was very different then,” Ravi says of Hanson’s year of dominance. “My attitude was ‘Wow, the big wheel really does work.’”
He argues that in 1997, five major labels kept up the competition, and the tour circuit had yet to become dominated by Clear Channel, which produced or promoted 32,000 concerts and events in 2003.
Ravi admits that there were few drawbacks to playing with a band that was in the midst of selling 8 million copies of its major label debut. He flew from town to town, enjoying each stop as a tourist, his only task to play guitar on stage for a couple hours.
“I loved it. I had a lot of fun,” Ravi says of tour. “I really lived my childhood dream.”
But then, in 1998, the wheels fell off. Record labels like Polygram shuttered in a “progressively monopolizing” music industry. Hanson got shuffled around, eventually landing with Def Jam, a hip hop label and hardly an ideal fit. At the same time, the prepackaged horror of the boy-band craze arrived. Though one could say that the gimmicky pop of Hanson augured the rise of ’N Sync and the Backstreet Boys, Ravi and his underage pals were shoved out of the limelight.
“It was really sad to see that whole thing fall apart,” Ravi says.
Ravi, who refuses to disclose his last name, because “once you figure out how to say it, you’ll forget my first name,” is a guitar virtuoso whom critics have compared to Eric Clapton and Peter Frampton. But it wasn’t until 1999, when he says “the city of New Orleans slapped me in the face,” that Ravi again focused on his music. After a visit, Ravi moved to the Big Easy, living there as a musician for three years. In a city that he says totally rejects ambition, Ravi regained an appreciation of art that “New York and L.A. will just squeeze out of you.”
Out of that slower lifestyle, and a growing belief that corporate America is no longer “serving our needs,” Ravi this May began his two Web newsletters— www.cultureofintegrity.org and www.artisticintegrity.org—that he claims now have a combined circulation of about 12,000 readers. In defending his role as a pundit on the sites, which also publish reader feedback, Ravi thinks his experience in a pop juggernaut gives him insight on mega-conglomerates’ growing influence over art and culture.
“I’ve seen that change, from the inside. Therefore I feel that I can, subjectively, comment on it,” he says.
Ravi, who moved to the area one year ago, stresses that his viewpoint is not anti-capitalist, pointing to the quality of life and dearth of chains on the Downtown Mall as an example of “healthy capitalism.”
“We as individuals need to redefine what value is,” Ravi says. “I think that we have to make corporate America react to us.”—Paul Fain