Month: January 2005

Tuesday, January 4
CHO-DET route announced

Flying to Motown will get easier for folks around here when Northwest Airlines begins twice-daily direct service to Detroit in April. The airline’s decision was announced at a news conference today at the airport. Northwest will be the fourth carrier to operate out of CHO, assuming that United and US Air remain in business. Delta also serves Charlottesville.

 

Wednesday, January 5
Cavs grab nonconference win

Playing the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers on the road, the UVA men’s basketball team squeaked out a double overtime victory tonight. Later in the week, the squad, then 9-2, reconfirmed that they don’t have problems winning , just problems winning in the ACC when they lost by a fat margin to No. 9 Georgia Tech.

 

Thursday, January 6
Homeless squeezed out

The City Public Works Department today finished major construction on special fencing designed to reduce the number of homeless sleeping under the Avon Street bridge. The black, horizontal bars block off small alcoves atop a steep concrete embankment underneath the north side of the bridge and were put in place “partly for the amphitheater project, partly to get rid of a bad, unsafe, unhealthy environment,” says Tom Meek, construction manager on the project.

 

Save the Bay on Lobby Day

This evening, representatives from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation pitched the Clean Rivers, Clean Chesapeake law, also known as the “flush tax,” to a small audience at PVCC. The proposal is intended, according to the foundation director, to provide “a consistent and dependable means of funding water quality improvements,” and she encouraged all to show their support at the General Assembly on Lobby Day, January 17. One out of every two streams in Virginia monitored by the State is so polluted that it makes the EPA’s “Dirty Waters” List. The proposed law would charge $52 annually per household and $1,200 per industrial facility, amounting to $160 million per year towards water quality improvements.

 

Friday, January 7
Calling all hogs

To a sparse gathering of old-school Downtown folk who remarked that it was “just like old times,” some of the original members of 14-year-old roots group the Hogwaller Ramblers today jammed in front of The Paramount Theater, where, according to bandleader Jamie Dyer, they’d first played together. (Other members’ accounts varied.) Joining Dyer were bassist Rick Jones, just in from Los Angeles, guitarist Thom Bailey and fiddle player David Goldstein. Dyer said early Hogs David Wellbeloved, Randy Compton and Dan Sebring would join the foursome for a reunion show Saturday at one of their early haunts, the newly restored Second Street restaurant, Fellini’s No.9.

 

UVA charter heads to assembly

Four local legislators met at UVA today to talk about the upcoming legislative session, which begins Wednesday. Del. Rob Bell, Del. Steve Landes, Del. Mitch Van Yahres and Sen. Creigh Deeds all said UVA’s charter initiative would be a major topic. The charter is still in draft form, but in response to questions the legislators said they would try to include language that would protect UVA employees and keep tuition affordable. “I also think we have to look at the possibility of giving localities more say over how and where colleges build,” Van Yahres said.

 

Saturday, January 8
“Survivors” wanted

New local CBS affiliate WCAV today sought folks looking to outwit, outplay and outlast the competition as a contestant on the 11th season of “Survivor.” Merely 40-some people showed up for the reality TV auditions, which included a 16-page application and a two-minute taped interview. Hopeful Alison Lee argued that she’s already a survivor, having lived through an eating disorder, drug addiction and an abusive marriage. Meanwhile, Ross Van Brocklin wasn’t sure why he should be the Ultimate Survivor: “The main reason I’m here is I’m trying to win $1 million,” he says.

 

Sunday, January 9
Winter briefly resumes

Temperatures finally returned to normal today after a week of freakishly warm weather that peaked on Tuesday at a high of 74 degrees. Not that one day of seasonal temperatures (high of 43 and low of 30 degrees) will ease the concerns of bulb gardeners or ski resort operators. The forecast calls for more mild temperatures through next Thursday.

 

Monday, January 10
Warner targets senior health

Two days before the General Assembly convenes, Governor Mark Warner this morning outlines the “Own Your Future” campaign, which counts Virginia among five participating states. The federally backed public information program aims at helping pre-seniors to plan for the long-term health care that is inevitable for 60 percent of the over-65 crowd. The Guv, a recently minted bold-faced name among national Democrats looking at 2008, has put in a lot of public face time lately promoting health initiatives.

 

 –Written by Cathy Harding from news sources and staff reports.

 

Reactor reaction
Citizen fallout expected at Lake Anna nuclear meeting this week

Early last month, a federal effort to revive the construction of nuclear power plants in the United States reached a significant early milestone. On December 7, Virginia’s Dominion Resources Inc., Charlottesville’s local provider, became the nation’s first energy company to receive a regulatory recommendation for the grant of a new site permit to build new reactors.

   As C-VILLE previously reported [“Energy crisis,” July 20], local anti-nuke activists are fighting back. John Cruickshank, the chair of the Piedmont chapter of the Sierra Club, views the recent developments as a crucial line in the sand. His group and other local, regional and national activist organizations opposed to nuclear power are planning a show of force at a January 19 hearing on the opinion scheduled by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission at Louisa County Middle School.

   “This is a big deal. We’re trying to get a lot of people to come,” Cruickshank says. “[The regional director of the Sierra Club] is trying see if he can divert some of the buses that are heading up to the inauguration and have them stop off in Louisa and attend this rally.”

   Dominion, the nation’s largest natural gas and electric provider, is one of three utilities to have applied for the new site permits. The permits were created in the late 1980s to help compress the licensing process for new nuclear plant construction as the industry sought to regroup after a partial meltdown at Three Mile Island in 1979 and other missteps. Along with tightened safety measures and improved confidence in the technology, industry proponents see a shorter regulatory process as key to attracting the massive capital investment that nuclear facilities require.

   In addition to the January 19 hearing, the site permit is subject to written public comment until March 1, and the NRC expects to issue a final decision in June, 2006. If granted, the permit would clear Dominion’s Lake Anna site in Louisa County—about 30 miles from Charlottesville and where Dominion already operates two 25-year-old reactors—as environmentally suitable for additional reactors for 20 years. Also, it would allow the company to proceed with extensive preparatory construction, from support buildings to roadways to cooling towers. Dominion also belongs to one of two consortiums that have received federal funding to explore construction and operation permits for the reactors themselves, a process that could take several years.

 

Nuclear energy produces about 20 percent of the nation’s electricity, roughly the same amount as natural gas-fired plants, with the bulk of the supply coming from coal. There are currently 103 reactors in operation, with original 40-year licenses to have expired in the first three decades or so of this century. So far, 30 have received 20-year license extensions. Another 16 have applied for extensions and 22 more are expected to apply in the near future.

   The resurgence of interest in nuclear energy has in part been driven by deregulation of the wholesale market for electricity and consolidation among nuclear operators, which has led to greater economies of scale. Also, soaring natural gas prices and looming costs for pollution controls on coal plants make nuclear energy seem even cheaper, particularly with high initial capital expenditures a distant speck in the rear view mirror for the nation’s aging reactor fleet.

   The Bush Administration has made nuclear power a hallmark of its energy policy, embracing it as a pillar of energy diversity and a source of electricity that produces no greenhouse gases and reduces dependence on foreign sources of fuel. Critics raise the dangers of a catastrophic accident and the enduring problem of highly radioactive nuclear waste.

Further, they point to the national security hazards of possible terrorist strikes on nuclear sites and argue that principal fuel alternatives, such as coal and natural gas, are either available domestically in great quantities or have diverse world suppliers and do not pose the political risks that oil does.

   The Department of Energy has set out a goal of helping the industry achieve an operational new reactor by 2010 and the industry has targeted the construction of 50 new reactors by 2020. Government- sponsored research has concluded that subsidies will be required to move companies through the risk of getting the first new reactors off the ground, and anticipates diminishing government involvement as the industry gets a handle on financing and masters new design technologies. Critics decry a policy that promotes nuclear energy as a clean source of energy and does not put renewable alternatives on equal footing.

   At Lake Anna, a 9,600-acre body of water created in 1972 as a cooling pool for the reactors later built there, activists are pressing the issue of local environmental degradation. In its recommendation, the NRC staff acknowledged that the burden of additional reactors could lead to falling water levels and impact fish populations by causing lake temperatures to rise.

   Ultimately, the future of nuclear energy in the United States rests largely on public perception. On its website, the Nuclear Energy Institute, an industry association, says an April poll it commissioned found that 65 percent of Americans favor nuclear energy as one of the country’s sources of electricity. If that’s accurate, Cruickshank is confident of changing minds. “If people realize just how counterproductive nuclear plants are going to be in the long run, I think they’ll be against it too,” he says.—Harry Terris

 

Democracy inaction
Will a ward system warm up lazy voters?

Legislatures from Virginia to California have been roiled by gerrymandering—the practice of redrawing voting districts to favor a particular political party. Recently, the most notable redistricting saga played out in the Texas House of Representatives, where in 2003 Democrats fled to Oklahoma in a vain attempt to thwart Republican efforts.

   Could it happen here?

   On Monday, January 3, City Council heard a report from the Elections Study Task Force. Since July, the group has been meeting and leading public hearings to decide whether City Council needs a little tweaking, or perhaps a major overhaul.

   During the first Council meeting of the year, the task force delivered its findings—but no specific recommendations—to Council, which will discuss the report at an upcoming work session.

   The biggest proposed change would affect how Councilors are elected. Currently, five at-large Councilors represent the entire city, and they appoint one of their own to serve as mayor. In the report (available online at www.charlottesville.org ), the task force considered replacing the five-member at-large system with a seven-member Council comprising three at-large members and four ward representatives.

   According to the task force, a mixed system could help correct perceptions that City government is not responsive to individual citizens, or that Council is not geographically and socio-economically diverse. Wards could also help increase voter turnout and civic participation, the task force said.

   Council had asked the nine-member task force, comprising representatives of each political party, various interest groups and the City’s four wards to “evaluate” and “explore” potential changes.

   Lone Republican Councilor Rob Schilling convened the task force in July. “I called for the study because I thought it would be a better way to increase voter turnout,” Schilling said on Monday. He says the changes would particularly benefit black people, whom he claims are not adequately represented by the status quo.

   Democrats, meanwhile, dismiss Schilling’s proposals as a gerrymandering gambit, because it would be easier for a Republican to win in Charlottesville if Councilors were elected from wards, instead of citywide. They speculate that Republicans would be able to win seats from the North Downtown neighborhoods along Park Street, for example.

   In opposing Schilling, some Democrats also tried to paint themselves as defenders of black interests. The biggest electoral problem, especially on Charlottesville’s south side, said Councilor Kevin Lynch, is that it is nearly impossible for felons in Virginia to regain their right to vote.

   Kendra Hamilton, the only black City Councilor, said “90 percent” of the people she’s heard from on the issue are African-American. “They’re urging me to keep things as they are. You’re obviously speaking to different people, Mr. Schilling,” Hamilton said.

   The report dodges the question of whether the at-large system really is a genuine issue, carefully qualifying problems as “perceived.” Further, the report said “the general low turnout at all the meetings indicated a general lack of interest among the citizens of Charlottesville.”

   Most of the turnout, in fact, consisted of the usual party activists—Republicans harping for change, Democrats saying that Council ain’t broke, so don’t fix it.

   However, given the statistics [see sidebar], there may be room for improvement. “This may not be a question of whether the system is utterly broken down and useless, but of whether it can be improved,” Jim Heetderks wrote to the task force, in a statement supporting a mixed ward/at-large system. “I would expect all of our leaders to at least keep an open mind.”—John Borgmeyer

 

Charlottesville’s At-Large System

North-South divide: In the past 44 years, there have been 31 Councilors from the Recreation, Walker, Carver and Venable voting precincts, while only six came from Tonsler, Jefferson Park and Alumni Hall.

Voter apathy: Between 1972 and 1992, voter turnout exceeded 40 percent, hitting 51 percent in 1978. Since 1996, turnout has been below 30 percent. In 2002 it was only 22 percent.

Rising costs: In the last election, three Dems spent $32,000 total, compared to $20,000 spent by two Republicans. Candidates have to knock on doors and make an impact everywhere.

 

HOW TO: Help out the tsunami victims With nearly 150,000 people dead and hundreds of thousands more left homeless, the tsunami that devastated much of Southeast Asia on December 26 has left great need in its wake. You can help.    Visit www.usaid.gov/locations/asia_near_east/tsunami/ngolist.html for a list of international nonprofits to which the U.S. government recommends donating money or supplies, including the American Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders.    Locally, several groups are active. Mission Tsunami is sponsoring several benefit concerts (the first took place January 9 at Stanardsville’s Lafayette Inn), and will purchase supplies to be distributed during their trip to southern India later this month. Send donations to Mission Tsunami, P.O. Box 1266, Stanardsville, 22973.    Local Thai healthcare group Tao Mountain Association has organized a letter-writing campaign for children affected by the disaster. Kids and adults can share notes, collages or other artwork to show their support. For more information call 882-2279.    Or you can help yourself while helping others. Local musicians Corey Harris, Darrell Rose, Jay Pun and Morwenna Lasko hold a musical benefit Thursday, January 13, 7pm at Crozet’s Kokopelli’s Café. Call 823-5645.    And Downtown Thai restaurant will donate a portion of their proceeds during the month of January to the Thailand Embassy. Call 245-9300.

 

CDF crumbles
So what happens now to Fridays After 5?

It’s official. The Charlottesville Downtown Foundation, the nonprofit business group that brought free summer concerts to the Downtown Mall, is history.

   “We are out of business,” says Tony LaBua, owner of Chaps Ice Cream, past CDF president and longtime board member. “Basically, it all comes down to money.”

   The CDF formed in 1988 as a merchants organization, and started Fridays After 5 that year in an effort to bring more people downtown. By the mid-1990s, thanks in part to the concert series’ popularity, an evening stroll on the Mall wasn’t just for homeless people anymore.

   “They proved there was a market for people coming Downtown, when nobody else thought there was,” says Bob Stroh, director of the Charlottesville Parking Center and member of the CDF.

   Despite the success of Fridays, however, the CDF always had trouble paying its bills, LaBua says, and during the winter board members often had to pay the office rent out of their own pockets. In 2003, the CDF tried to stay afloat by charging $3 admission for Fridays After 5, meeting howls of protest. “Going back to free events was our demise,” LaBua says.

   The final nail in the CDF’s coffin came in June when the City loaned developer and Dave Matthews Band manager Coran Capshaw $3.4 million to redevelop the amphitheater. Now that the concerts would become a private enterprise, CDF lost the potential for Fridays After 5 sponsorships that had been a source of income in summers past.

   “With a professional group coming in to run the venue, why fight them? Let them do their job,” LaBua says. “They’re dedicated to it, and we’re all just volunteers.”

   Kirby Hutto, general manager for the amphitheater project—now called the Charlottesville Pavilion—says their free Friday evening concerts will continue in the summer, with local volunteers staffing the event. “We were hoping CDF would have that role with us managing the volunteer base,” says Hutto.

   As the City negotiated the deal with Capshaw, some CDF members say privately, City Hall left them out of the loop, which they took as a slight—especially considering the success of Fridays.

   “I feel like they got sort of backstabbed by the City,” says Dan McKean, a managing partner at Miller’s. McKean was one of about 24 local business owners who helped sponsor the 2004 Fridays After 5 series. “The CDF did a good job,” McKean says. “Hopefully we’ll still have the same traffic Downtown.”

   Stroh, who also co-chairs the Downtown Business Association and has been helping the City pitch the Mall’s east-end renovations, disagrees. “I think the City did a great job keeping people informed,” he says.

   Regardless, some insiders say the CDF’s demise was inevitable because it represented such diverse interests—residents, merchants, professionals, lawyers. Someone was always unhappy. “It was probably doomed from day one. It just took 16 years,” says Jon Bright, a former CDF president who helped start Fridays After 5.

   Now CDF is looking to liquidate its last remaining asset—the name Fridays After 5 itself, which CDF trademarked. LaBua says two Virginia companies are interested in buying it, although he won’t identify them. Hutto says he hasn’t talked to CDF about purchasing the name, but “it’s certainly something we’d be interested in.”—John Borgmeyer

 

As Told To
Conversations with Old-School Business Owners

Swing Time, with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, was the first movie at the Vinegar Hill. It opened on February 14, 1976, and we had 200 people there. The place was full. I remember someone got chocolate cake all over the carpet, and we had to clean it up. There was champagne—it was a wonderful evening. I remember I was wearing one of those stupid ’70s dresses: brown, with a yellow top.

   What was here before? It was the Jarman’s Motorcycle Shop. It was here for 10 or 15 years.

   Yes, we felt there was a need for this kind of theater. It was felt all over America in the ‘70s, and we wanted to do it in this city. We spent $30,000 for the building, and it cost $100,000 to create this theater. In 1976, that was a lot of money. Originally, we had planned a restaurant and theater for plays too, but realized that was just too much.

   Our customers: Those who come to the Vinegar Hill range from young adults to middle-aged. And we get some serious young students too especially for Fahrenheit 9/11. We got those students, and also people who had not come to the theater since the 1980s.

   People don’t go to movies as much as they used to; there are so many ways to be entertained at home.

   About the name “Vinegar Hill”: My accountant came up with it. We were just brainstorming around, and he came up with it. I didn’t know much about its history—didn’t know that it had once been a black, vital neighborhood. But I loved the name. I still love it!

   The biggest film we ever had, both in terms of gross and attraction, was Fahrenheit 9/11. It played here for six weeks, and was completely sold out for two weeks.

   The smallest would be a Bergman film, Serpent’s Egg, back in the mid-’80s.

   The Downtown Regal theater affected us a lot until the renovation. Until 1997, when our restaurant, L’Avventura, became a destination. But we have accepted it. We try to be realistic and aggressive; you need to be both.

   I let the booker choose the films. I’m better shooting myself in the foot with too much art. He’s in New York, and books films allover the city, including for The Paris.

   We select the films we show based on what’s current. Don’t do a lot of old stuff, although we may do some in the summer. There’s a lot of competition for people’s money in the fall. I do a lot of consulting with the manager, Reid Oeschlin. He’s been here since 1979, and is now in the theater two days a week. We have dual managers: The other one is Hain Laramore, who works in the box office. He’s been here since 1985.

   What makes the Vinegar Hill unique is the staff and our loyal customers. They are intelligent people—people who love to read subtitles! And then we have that one single screen. Also, people have an investment in knowing that it’s locally owned, and they have input via e-mail. And they get answers!

   Not running ads before the movies was an early choice. We don’t know how much we lose by not having them, since we never have had them.

   As long as I am physically able, I will not sell the Vinegar Hill, or allow it to change in any way. I love looking out of the porthole at the people while they are watching the movies.

   Ah, the popcorn! I think the reason people say it’s the best in town is due to the coconut and palm oils, and a 25-year-old kettle.

Tuesday, December 28
Presumed romantic entanglement ends in death

Schuyler resident Dwayne Scott Wyland was arrested in the early-morning hours in connection with the shooting death of Timothy Wayne Wilkerson, also of Schuyler, according to a report in The Daily Progress. Wyland, who is 40, is being held in the regional jail on two charges, including first-degree murder. According to an unidentified neighbor quoted by the DP, Wilkerson, 23, was the boyfriend of a woman in whose house the shooting occurred. The same source named Wyland as the woman’s ex-boyfriend.

 

Wednesday, December 29
Area joblessness down

Bad news for local employers: The Virginia Employment Commission today reports that the unemployment rate for November was a miniscule 2 percent for Charlottesville. The Commonwealth overall registered only 3.1 percent unemployment, but results for individual localities varied widely. Danville, for instance, came in at 7.6 percent, and Martinsville showed an unemployment rate of 13.9 percent last month. Both Southside cities belong, like Charlottesville, to the 5th Congressional District, where job creation was a major election-year campaign issue.

Debbie Ryan hits 600 mark

With tonight’s lopsided win over JMU at U-Hall, UVA women’s basketball coach Debbie Ryan earned her 600th lifetime win. Her career stats stand at 600-243. Now in her 28th year at UVA, Ryan has been a steady force of excellence in the topsy-turvy athletics program, taking the Lady Cavs to the NCAA Tournament 20 times, including three appearances in the Final Four.

 

Thursday, December 30
Trey status sort of confirmed

While a story in Billboard today continues to describe as “unconfirmed” the news that Coran Capshaw’s Red Light Management has signed former Phish frontman Trey Anastasio to its roster of stars that also includes Dave Matthews Band, Red Light’s website, in the meantime, now features the guitarist among its artists and includes info about his next gig. He’ll play the 15th annual Tibetan New Year fundraiser in New York City on February 9.

Payback time for GOP

The Washington Post today reports that a moderate Republican who helped Democratic Governor Mark Warner break the budget impasse during the last Assembly session has been dumped from the important House Appropriations Committee by Speaker William J. Howell, a hard-line Republican from Stattford. Lynchburg Delegate L. Preston Bryant, who was ousted from the committee, told the Post, “I will continue to work hard for the great people in Lynchburg and Amherst County.”

 

Friday, December 31
Thousands party Downtown

With thousands of revelers crowding the Downtown Mall and area music venues and restaurants thanks to unseasonably warm temperatures, Charlottesville bid farewell to 2004. Extra City police patrolled the Mall where the ubiquitous presence of glow sticks in the hands and mouths of partygoers lent temporary confusion on the question of exactly which year we were ringing out. In related news, First Night Virginia, the alcohol-free entertainment smorgasbord, baptized both the Paramount and Live Arts with New Year’s Eve events.

 

Saturday, January 1, 2005
Some parking rates go up

Water Street Parking Garage becomes a relative bargain today as the Charlottesville Parking Center Inc. enacts rate increases at the Market Street Parking Garage and the Water Street Parking Lot. As of today, hourly rates at those places go to $1.50 from $1. Day and monthly rates increase, too. Rates at the Water Street garage, which is also managed by the CPC, remain unchanged. Meanwhile, daylong parking on surrounding Downtown streets, including Garrett, Altamont, parts of Maple and High, and Monticello Avenue, remains free.

 

Sunday, January 2
Déjà vu as Cavs fall to Wake

For the 10th consecutive time, UVA men’s basketball team, ranked No. 25, lost in its ACC opener, this time succumbing to No. 5 Wake Forest’s Demon Deacons 89-70 at U-Hall. Naturally, some complained about lopsided officiating, including head coach Pete Gillen who drew a technical foul late in the first half, but Wake outrebounded UVA 45-28 and shot nearly 51 percent overall.

 

Monday, January 3
Dog-fighting ring busted

Davey Mundie, 27, was scheduled to be arraigned this morning in Albemarle General District Court on charges stemming from what officers believe is a dog-fighting ring. County police responded on Saturday night to a complaint that organized dog fighting, involving as many as 13 dogs, was taking place behind a residence near Garth Road. Police found a makeshift “arena” there and rescued five pit bulls, according to reports in The Daily Progress and WINA. Mundy, who police believe owns the dogs, was the only person arrested on Saturday night.

 

Written by Cathy Harding from news sources and staff reports.

 

Dropping the wrecking ball
Demolition for “boutique hotel” likely to begin later this month

Construction crews just packed up at The Paramount Theater, and work is underway on the old SNL building, not to mention the amphitheater revitalization project that dominates the east end of the Downtown Mall. As if that weren’t enough, soon even more heavy equipment will be rolling into Downtown Charlottesville.

 Wrecking balls will tear into 200 E. Main St. sometime in late January, says California developer Lee Danielson. Once the rubble of the former bank and onetime Boxer Learning site is cleared away, construction will start on a new nine-storey hotel that Danielson expects to complete in the spring of 2006.

 “We’re ready to go, the City’s ready to go,” says Danielson. “Everything’s going fine.”

 Well, almost. Danielson’s construction consultant, Cliff Harrison, is still examining the site. Harrison says he’s working with utility companies like Sprint and Dominion Power to figure out the best ways to configure the hotel’s electrical, phone and cable systems.

 “The footprint of the building is so small, and the space is so valuable, that there’s lots of demands on the space,” says Harrison. “One of those demands is getting utilities into the building. We’ve had several different options we’re exploring.” The site, or footprint in construction speak, measures 10,000 square feet.

 Once Harrison figures it out, the City will likely approve a demolition permit that’s pending in the Neighborhood Development Services department. Harrison confirms that demolition will likely commence by the end of the month, at which time Danielson’s limited liability company, Brahm II, which owns the building, will submit final site plans and begin construction. A Chesapeake company, Armada Hoffler, will do the work.

 The City’s Board of Architectural Review approved the hotel last February. The BAR responded with universal enthusiasm to preliminary designs—a turnabout from the late ’90s, when repeated clashes with the BAR over designs for the Charlottesville Ice Park and Regal Cinema in part prompted Danielson to vow he would never build in Charlottesville again.

 Downtown business owners who remember those days credit Danielson and his former partner Colin Rolph (with whom he’s embroiled in continued lawsuits) with revitalizing the Mall’s west end. Danielson and Rolph’s company, D&R Development, split up when Rolph sued Danielson in October 2001. After a court-appointed receiver liquidated D&R’s holdings, worth more than $10 million, Danielson repurchased 200 E. Main St. in 2002 for $3.3 million.

 Danielson first announced plans for the project one year ago. Preliminary site plans in City Hall show that the 90,300 square-foot hotel, designed by the San Francisco architecture firm Hornberger and Worstell, will preserve the black granite façade that faces the Mall at 200 E. Main. On that side of the building, Danielson plans a restaurant with an outdoor café facing Second Street SE. The restaurant will only be two storeys tall with a terrace on the roof for parties. The hotel’s remaining seven storeys will be set back away from E. Main St., so as not to crowd the Mall and cast perpetual shadows on the pedestrian thoroughfare. The front of the hotel will face Water Street with a porte-cochere.

 The City is planning to renovate Second Street SE, adding Mall-style bricks and terracing the street between Main and Water streets. City planner Mary Joy Scala says the City currently plans to do the work on Second simultaneously with the hotel construction. But if there are delays on the hotel, Scala says, the City “would probably go ahead and do Second Street sooner rather than later, and not put it off while the property is developed.”

 So it seems that Danielson’s relationship with the City is much more cordial than it was during D&R’s heyday. But that doesn’t mean construction of what Danielson calls a “boutique” hotel will be silky smooth.

 “Hotels are more difficult than regular projects,” he says. “There’s lots and lots of different parts of the puzzle. It’s just a different animal.”—John Borgmeyer

 

On the road again
New study tests the driving IQs of elderly and impaired drivers

Seatbelt, check. Rearview mirror, check. Seat adjustment, road, check, check. Turn key. Gas, gas, gas! The three television screens of the driving simulator in front of me do their best to mimic that quintessential American experience, driving, and, as I accelerate, a digitized distillation of the quintessential American landscape pops up around me: prairie, mountains, barns and the occasional abandoned warehouse district.

 Most people think they’re good drivers even when they’re not. I don’t. I’ve knocked a brick wall out of a house and been clocked going 110 miles near Greenfield, Massachusetts: I know I suck. This is why I had my driving skills tested, for once and for all, at UVA’s Behavioral Medicine Center. The Center, headed by Dr. Daniel J. Cox, recently developed a test, with elderly drivers in mind, to determine whether they should still be out on the streets merging and making left turns.

 The two-hour test consists of a variety of exercises designed to test visual and physical acuity, functional field of view, driving knowledge and mental state. In other words, the question I was answering was, essentially, “When it comes to driving, do I have the mental capacities of an Alzheimer’s sufferer and the physical dexterity of a Parkinson’s patient?” I’m only 25 so I hope not.

 Since starting the study in September, Cox estimates he has tested 20 subjects. To 20 percent he recommended they stop driving immediately. Another 10 percent got a clean bill of driving health. To 70 percent he recommended compensatory measures, such as driving only in the daytime, in order to continue driving safely.

 The bespectacled, 54-year-old Cox has been conducting driving research at UVA since 1976. Ironically, his eyesight is so bad that he, himself, doesn’t drive. This makes him empathetic when it’s time to tell his subjects to hang up the keys to the T-bird.

 I rocked the question and answer portion of the test. I knew what day it was, what year it was and what floor I was on. Since I lost my glasses last March and haven’t yet found the time or resources to replace them, the visual portion of the exam presented more of a challenge. Does that say “3, 9, 6, 5, 3, 2” or “3, 5, 6, 5, 3, 2?”

 Next up were a series of tests on the computer that evaluated my reaction time and field of view. For example, a circle would flash on the screen and I had to hit the screen when I saw the circle (BAM!), or a car or truck would flash on the screen and I would say which one I had seen.

 Finally came the driving simulator, featuring graphic sophistication on a par with Super Mario Brothers. A computerized landscape does not move like a real one and the “engine” makes such a racket it’s impossible to gauge how fast you’re going based on that sweet hum coming from under your “hood.” The sum total of my damage done? Three fender benders, two near misses.

 When we got together to assess my performance a few days later, Cox had to tell me that I “slammed on the breaks more often than the average person.” But, he added, “Your results were pretty unimpressive in that you are within normal levels with everything.” Phew.

 He then compared my performance to that of an 85-year-old man who had failed nearly every part of the test but was still out on the road anyway. That’s an A for me, and an F for The Old Man, which, if you think about it, puts everything into perspective.

 Compared to some folks tooling down the road, I’m a perfect driver. Expand the logic and this means that compared to some folks out there, my Mom is probably a great driver, too. And this, dear drivers, is when the fear sets in. -Nell Boeschenstein

 

How To: Dispose of your Christmas tree Christmas came and went, and now your festive fir is shedding browned needles all over the carpet. Thankfully, your local governments make it easy to take care of your tannenbaums in an easy, eco-friendly way.  City residents needn’t go farther than the curb to dispose of their Christmas trees. The Department of Public Works does a free tree pick up throughout the week starting January 3. Before discarding it on the street next to your trashcan, make sure your pine is free of decorations, wires, nails or stands. If the collectors feel that your tree poses a threat, they will leave it.  Albemarle County residents can drop their trees at one of seven recycling locations from 7am to dark from now until January 23. The sites are: Rivanna Solid Waste Authority Recycling Center on McIntire Road, Crozet Park on Park Drive, Greenwood Community Center, Chris Greene Lake Park in Earlysville, Darden Towe Memorial Park on Elks Drive, Scottsville Community Center, and Walnut Creek Park off Old Lynchburg Road. Remember to remove all your shiny baubles, lights and tinsel. All the trees will be chipped into mulch, which folks can then stop by and shovel up for free on February 1 at Darden Towe Park.

Auld lang signs
Astrologer Gare Galbraith charts Charlottesville in 2005

Charlottesville was born on December 23, 1762, which means that our old girl is a Capricorn: a business-oriented daddy’s girl who loves old people and whose trademark phrase is “I use.” At least that’s how local psychic and astrologer Gare Galbraith sums up this burg, and it sure sounds familiar. Galbraith’s a Pisces, which means he likes to talk to people. As for me, I’m a Sagittarius, which, Galbraith says, means I have Bugs Bunny teeth and sensitive thighs.

 Galbraith, 47, first became interested in astrology in the late 1970s after reading about his sun and moon signs and thinking, “How in the hell do they know that about me?!” He then read all he could about the stuff and, in the early 1990s, he officially made astrological chart-making and psychic visualization his life’s work.

 In honor of the upcoming double shot

of excitement with the New Year and Charlottesville’s 242nd birthday, C-VILLE sat down with Galbraith at the end of 2004 to get an astrological reading on what 2005 holds in store for our home sweet home.—Nell Boeschenstein

In the words of Gare Galbraith

On Charlottesville’s birthday this year, December 23, Jupiter in Libra will directly oppose Saturn in Aries in its birth chart. This indicates, to me, that in order to be fortunate (Jupiter is the planet of greater fortune, while Saturn is the planet of hard lessons and discipline), Charlottesville must take in to greater consideration the issues of fairness and beauty (Libra territory) before it charges ahead unaware (Aries action) of the consequences to all involved and affected. This aspect is assuaged, in part, by both of these planets having a fortunate aspect to Charlottesville’s birth Mars, the planet of dynamic energy. An all-encompassing middle road, so to speak, must be taken in order for Charlottesville to continue enviable financial progress. This can be achieved with enormous cooperation.

 The chart of the planets on the birthday of a town, person or entity, can be very indicative of the coming year. I estimated Charlottesville’s birth time at 8am, thinking that people in that time got up early and got busy. Yuck. But, even if the birth time was before noon, this year’s birthday has the birthday Moon (inner desires, daily needs) in Taurus opposing the birthday Mars (anger points, aggression) in Scorpio.

 In 2005, Charlottesville will realize that it can’t have it all. It must give up desiring something to keep what it has, or give up something it possesses to get what it wants. The best way to talk to Charlottesville concerning this aspect, is what my grandmother used to say to me: “You might just be gittin’ too big for your britches.”

 Also, with Taurus being Earth and Scorpio being water, a greater awareness and balance must be achieved in managing these resources. It’s like the town has been a beautifully bred racehorse that has always had speed as an asset, but now will find it mucho beneficial to learn finesse, strategy and timing to outlast the others. Which I believe it can and will.

 This is not an attempt to pull Charlottesville down in any way, but, as a good friend would do, to gently pull it aside and say: “It’s good to have lofty aspirations, but please remember ALL consequences and ramifications before you dash into attractive options.” The ultimate usefulness of projects must be ascertained, not just their immediate cash returns. Look how long it took the Downtown Mall to be truly attractive and viable.

 Charlottesville’s soundtrack this year will be the songs from Disney’s Pinocchio. As long as we heed our Jiminy Cricket there will be less remorse and recrimination in the future and no need to fear Donkey Island.

 This I get from the intuitive gut: There will be some uncovering of an answer to a longtime mystery in late May or early June. It will be, for some people, like finally having the last piece of a jigsaw puzzle.

 

As Told To
Conversations with Old-School Business Owners

I began working here in July, 1956. John Marshall and his partner started the business in January of 1952, and they sold it to me in 1988. I’ve been here for 48 years. Won’t ever stop working as long as my health permits.

 Employees? My son works with me; he goes out on calls the same as I do. There’s a man who works on the machines in the shop, and my wife works here part-time.

 The University of Virginia still has typewriters. It’s hard to know exactly how many of them I service. Not as many as I used to, but there are still plenty of them

to do.

 We also service computer printers, fax machines, copying machines—for both individuals and businesses. And we sell all kinds of office supplies, including ribbons for manual typewriters. Surprised? I service manuals from the ’20s and ’30s, and we even have ribbons for them. Those old red and black ribbons.

 We cover Charlottesville, Albemarle County, Culpeper, Madison, Louisa, Greene, Orange, Nelson County, even some in Buckingham. Waynesboro and Staunton too—we service Braille typewriters in Staunton.

 The best thing about what I do—what I like most to do—is to meet people. I enjoy meeting all kinds of different people.

 I’d say we service more businesses than we do individuals, but we do service a lot of individuals. I go to other people’s houses not just yours! Not a whole lot of them, but if someone wants something, I’ll get it for them.

 Did you know that many people still love manual typewriters? Young people buy them; I have no idea what they do with them, but they still buy old typewriters from the ’20s and ’30s

 I think that a lot of people stick with their typewriters because they feel comfortable with them. Some people just aren’t interested in computers. I’m like that. I don’t even have a computer in the shop, and I still make notes on pieces of paper!

 Yes, there are writers who still use typewriters. I used to service the late Peter Taylor’s typewriter, and I still do his wife’s, I think her name is Eleanor.

 And that writer who has a cat, Rita Mae Brown. She has an IBM Selectric like yours. I service that.

 You will be interested to know that people ship old manual typewriters to me all the way from Washington, D.C., and even Texas. Just for me to service them. And they order manual typewriter ribbons for their manuals from me too.

 Let me tell you this. I love what I do. I love meeting people.

 I always say you don’t get rich from doing this, but you live all right.