Tuesday, November 8
Four men narrowly escape death
Westbound traffic on Interstate 64 came to a standstill today due to an accident involving a Saturn sedan and a semi truck. The crash occurred when the Saturn, carrying three men, suddenly swerved in front of the Freightliner truck while trying to make a U-turn in an authorized-vehicles-only lane. Following the collision, the car became lodged in a drainage ditch beneath the truck’s trailer along the median of I-64 near the 29N interchange. According to County Police reports, when emergency personnel arrived at the scene, the three passengers were trapped in a space 12" high inside the crushed car. Luckily, the high banks of the median drainage ditch prevented the trailer from completely flattening the automobile. All four men, including the truck driver, survived the crash.
Wednesday, November 9
Crozet teen convicted of murdering neighbor and neighbor’s child
After a two-day trial, Albe-marle County Circuit Court Judge Paul Peatross convicted 18-year-old Jessica Gale Fugett on two counts of first-degree murder, arson, and breaking and entering. Accord-ing to reports from The Daily Progress, on February 19, 2003, Fugett, her brother, Rocky, and William Davis broke into Nola Annette Charles’ house on Cling Lane in the county, tied her to the bed, stabbed her, slit her throat and then set the house on fire. Charles’ young son, William, died of carbon monoxide poisoning. Fugett’s sentencing date was set for February 7. Rocky Fugett pleaded guilty and will be sentenced later this month. As part of a plea agreement, Davis received 23 years in prison.
Thursday, November 10
George Washington shares stage with Dolly Parton
UVA fell under the national spotlight today when one of its pet projects, The Papers of George Washington, received a National Humanities Medal from President Bush in an Oval Office ceremony. Established nearly 40 years ago, The Papers of George Washington is responsible for publishing 135,000 letters and documents written by and to one of the nation’s founding fathers. Eleven other recipients took home the prestigious award and 10 took home the National Medal of Arts, including famous faces like actor Robert Duvall and country singer Dolly Parton. Dr. Theodore Crackel, editor in chief for The Papers of George Washington, accepted the award on behalf of the project.
Friday, November 11
Why didn’t they do this before?
City Hall will finally get around to improving traffic flow on W. Main Street. Today the City announced that “over the next several weeks” it will synchronize traffic signals on the congested road between Ridge Street and the University. Also, the City will re-stripe the intersection of W. Main Street, Ridge/McIntire streets and Water Street to create two southbound lanes and an exclusive northbound turn lane. The signal sequence at the intersection of Preston Avenue and McIntire Road will also be changed—with green arrows added for left-hand turns—in an effort to reduce backups.
Saturday, November 12
UVA triumphs despite benched players
The Cavaliers pulled out an exciting 27-17 win over ACC rival Georgia Tech, which was ranked 24th in the nation going into today’s game. UVA needed a win to keep hopes of a bowl game alive. If that wasn’t enough pressure, the Cavs were also missing four players—including two defensive starters—suspended for what the UVA athletic department called a “violation of team policy.”
Sunday, November 13
Paramount wins preservation award
The Thomas Jefferson Branch of the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities awarded the 2005 Annual Preservation Project of the Year Award to The Paramount Theater at a ceremony today. Founded in 1889, the APVA is the oldest preservation organization of its type in the nation. Part of the association’s mission is to annually recognize outstanding preservation achievements in the district that includes Charlottesville, Albemarle and the surrounding counties. Citing the high quality of attention given to the process of restoration, the APVA praised the Paramount for not only revitalizing the historic space, but also for adding to the cultural life of Char-lottesville and Central Virginia.
Monday, November 14
Cox telling other cities what to do for a change
Former Charlottesville Mayor Maurice Cox was in Biloxi, Mississippi, today as a member of the Mayor’s Institute on City Design. The Institute is holding a two-day conference for mayors of Gulf Coast cities ravaged by Hurricane Katrina, and Cox will be giving advice on design strategies as those mayors begin the long task of rebuilding their cities.
Written by John Borgmeyer from staff reports and news sources.
Kaine is able
Cleaning up after a downright dirty election season
With Election Day over, the candidates can pick themselves up, wipe the sweat from their brows, straighten their ties, put their shirts back on, shake hands and let the dust settle.
On Tuesday, November 8, Democrat Tim Kaine rode popular outgoing Governor Mark Warner’s coattails into the Governor’s mansion, winning by almost 6 percent over Republican Jerry Kilgore. Forty-four percent of Virginia’s registered voters turned out for the statewide race, which garnered Kaine 51.7 percent of the vote to Kilgore’s 46 percent. Pundits predicted that independent candidate Russ Potts could influence the race, but he barely made a blip with only 2 percent.
Republican Bill Bolling narrowly won the lieutenant governor’s seat over Democrat Leslie Byrne; the race for attorney general was even closer. On November 10, according to the Virginia State Board of Elections, Republican Bob McDonnell had 968,817 votes, while Democrat Creigh Deeds had 967,508 votes. That’s a difference of only 1,311 votes—less than one vote per precinct. By Sunday, November 13, McDonnell’s lead shrank to a mere 410 votes as provisional and absentee ballots trickled in. Deeds’ campaign announced plans to seek a recount, but that process can’t even begin until the State Board of Elections certifies the results on November 28. At press time, Deeds was planning to make an announcement regarding the results on Monday, November 14.
Virginia’s statewide races were notable for their ugliness. Ads from Republicans Bolling and McDonnell exploited racism toward Hispanic im-migrants and accus-ed their opponents of coddling child molesters. (By far the most hilarious/disturbing was Mc-Donnell’s ad showing happy prisoners filing lawsuits.) In the gubernatorial campaign, both Kaine and Kilgore were fined $100 by the State Board of Elections for sending out mailings disguised as coming from their opponents’ party. Kilgore took the cake with an ad alleging that Kaine, a devout Catholic morally opposed to the death penalty, would not have executed Hitler.
Neither gubernatorial candidate touted a specific issue that resounded with voters. Kaine’s strategy was to trump his connection to the enormously popular Warner, says Matt Smyth, director of communications at UVA’s Center for Politics, calling Warner “a big factor in Kaine’s victory.”
Kilgore’s team attempted to counter Kaine’s coattail strategy by painting Kaine as more liberal than Warner. After Kilgore’s defeat, analysts suggested his death penalty ads may have backfired, too.
Lately, President George W. Bush has been taking an approval-rating beating. Pundits speculated in the national press as to whether the national political climate colored this election blue, when Virginia usually goes red. Indeed, some wondered if Bush’s 11th hour campaign stop in Richmond on election eve to stump for Kilgore, and his prerecorded phone messages, hurt rather than helped the would-be guv. Smyth, however, characterizes the jockeying as perhaps less Warner vs. Bush, and more Warner vs. George Allen, both of whom are rumored to be throwing their hats into the 2008 presidential race.
“For two politicians that are talked about as potential presidential candidates, this was sort of a preview,” says Smyth. “And this [election] gives momentum to Warner.”
Locally, it was no big surprise that Democratic crown prince David Toscano won in a landslide over Republican Tom McCrystal for outgoing Delegate Mitch Van Yahres’ seat representing the 57th District in the General Assembly.
The city also gave the go-ahead for an elected school board by 7,106 votes to 2,597. Critics said that an elected board would lack racial diversity, and they pointed to the uncontested races in Albemarle as a harbinger of what the city could expect. Opponents failed to mount an organized campaign, however, while proponents papered the town with posters and declared that an elected school board would reflect the “voice of the people.”
The election indicates that times are a-changin’ in the historically conservative Albemarle County. Last year, Kerry carried Albemarle by a mere 2 percent; last week, Kaine beat Kilgore there by 25 percent. Kaine’s dramatic victory suggests that Albemarle might no longer be the Republican stronghold it once was.
Delegate Rob Bell, of the 58th District, says he’s not worried, but maybe he should be. Bell, a Republican, won a third term in the General Assembly with 62 percent of the vote across the district. In Albemarle, though, Democrat Steve Koleszar made a strong showing with 43 percent of the vote against an incumbent with strong political skills, lots of money, and a record of prosecuting popular public enemies such as bullies and drunk drivers.
Growth was the big issue in Albemarle’s three Board of Supervisors races. Victories by incumbent Dennis Rooker in the Jack Jouett District and newcomer David Slutzky in the Rio District showed that despite the controversy over Albemarle’s growth management, residents strongly support existing policies like the Neighborhood Model and “master plans” for the county’s designated growth areas. Advocating public transit and rural land protection, Slutzky defeated Republican Gary Grant, a strong advocate of developers’ rights.
Take a breather from politics while you can, dear voter—both parties are already arming themselves for the 2006 Congres-sional campaigns.—Nell Boeschenstein
Winners circle
An inside look at those who came out on top
STATE
Timothy Kaine
Office: Governor
Party: Democratic
Number of votes: 1,022,679
Big donors: Sheila Johnson (co-founder of BET), Service Employees International Union, Virginia Auto Dealers Association, United Food and Commercial Workers
What it means: With traditionally conservative areas such as Loudoun County and southwest Virginia voting Kaine, Dems have renewed hopes for the future. It was also good news for outgoing governor and rumored presidential hopeful Mark Warner.
William “Bill” Bolling
Office: Lieutenant Governor
Party: Republican
Number of votes: 976,067
Big donors: Virginia Auto Dealers Association, Dominion Power, Verizon, Anthem
What it means: It wasn’t all good news for the Dems. By painting opponent Leslie Byrne as an ultraliberal, it’s clear some voters still bought the GOP scare tactics.
David Toscano
Office: House of Delegates, 57th District
Party: Democratic
Number of votes: 14,113
Big donors: 250 West Holdings LLC, Mall Property LLC, MGR Development Corp., Virginia Association of Realtors, Virginia Dental Association
What it means: Yep, Charlottesville is still a Democratic stronghold. And yep, Char-lottesville loved outgoing Delegate Mitch Van Yahres. And yep, Charlottesville enthusiastically passed its Van Yahres love on to Toscano like a torch.
Rob Bell III
Office: House of Delegates, 58th District
Party: Republican
Number of votes: 15,868
Big donors: Ted Weschler, Allied Concrete, Phil Wendel (owns ACAC), Virginia Association of Realtors, Equity Group LLC
What it means: Rumor has it Bell wants to be attorney general. He’s been using this seat to go after drunk drivers and bullies. Next year’s easy target? Child molesters.
Watkins Abbitt, Jr.
Office: House of Delegates, 59th District
Party: Independent
Number of votes: 16,398
Big donors: Alpha Natural Resources, Georgia-Pacific Corp., Management Services Corp, Virginia Association of Realtors
What it means: Unopposed candidates don’t lose.
Note: Because the attorney general’s race is headed for a recount, C-VILLE decided not to include an AG “winner” for this article.
CITY
Warner D. “Dave” Chapman
Office: Commonwealth’s Attorney
Party: Democratic
Number of votes: 7,879
Biggest donors: N/A
What it means: Everyone must like Chapman’s work—he ran unopposed.
Cornelia Johnson
Office: Sheriff
Party: Democratic
Number of votes: 8,294
Biggest donors: N/A
What it means: We got to see Johnson bust some smooth moves on the dance floor at the Dem’s victory party. Cornelia Johnson for president!
Raymond Lee Richards
Office: Commissioner of Revenue
Party: Democratic
Number of votes: 7,901
Biggest donors: N/A
What it means: Richards’ uncontested re-election means no one else wants to be the City’s tax collector. Go figure…
Jennifer Brown
Office: Treasurer
Party: Democratic
Number of votes: 8,235
Biggest donors: N/A
What it means: You’ll be mailing your parking fines to Brown’s office for another two years.
Referendum on Elected School Board
Outcome: Yes
Number of votes: 7,106
Biggest donors: Jeffrey Rossman, Rob Schilling
What it means: City Council will no longer appoint members to the School Board. If the U.S. Department of Justice approves the change, Charlottesville will elect its first School Board members in May 2006. How’s that going to work? See below for the outcome of Albemarle County’s School Board race.
COUNTY
Dennis Rooker
Office: Board of Supervisors, Jack Jouett District
Party: Independent
Number of votes: 2,423
Biggest donors: Management Services Corp., Phil Wendel, Ted Weschler, Dharma Group LLC, Carter McNeely, Wilson McNeely, John Grisham, SNL Inc.
What it means: Another four years of trying to make 29N more “pedestrian friendly.” Hope springs eternal…
Sally Thomas
Office: Board of Supervisors, Samuel Miller District
Party: Independent
Number of votes: 4,021
Biggest donors: David van Roijen, Richard Hewitt, Eric Strucko
What it means: More talk of transportation and growth management as Albemarle continues to sprawl outwards into the countryside.
David Slutzky
Office: Board of Supervisors, Rio District
Party: Democratic
Number of votes: 2,082
Biggest donors: CAAR, Oakwood Farm, Benjamin Brewster, Terence Seig, Ted Weschler
What it means: He’ll rally against the West-ern Bypass and for alternative transportation.
Diantha McKeel
Office: School Board, Jack Jouett District
Party: Independent
Number of votes: 2,771
Biggest donors: F&S Properties LLC
What it means: McKeel ran unopposed.
Pamela Moynihan
Office: School Board, Rio District
Party: Independent
Number of votes: 3,680
Biggest donors: N/A
What it means: Like Diantha McKeel, Moynihan ran unopposed.
Jon Stokes
Office: School Board, Samuel Miller District
Party: Independent
Number of votes: 3,729
Biggest donors: James Barkley, Victor Dandridge III, Eric Strucko
What it means: Like Diantha McKeel and Pamela Moynihan, Stokes ran unopposed. This is what the city has to look forward to.
Charlottesville’s heavy hitters
The local donors who made it happen (or not) in the statewide elections
GOVERNOR
Tim Kaine, Democrat*
Patricia Kluge: $102,500
John Grisham: $100,000
Robert D. Hardie: $58,850
Sonjia Smith: $46,000
Michael D. Bills: $40,0000
Sheets Group LLC: $40,000
Jeffrey Rossman: $25,100
Brass Inc: $25,000
David E. Fife: $19,300
Jerry Kilgore, Republican
Phil Wendel: $243,500
Richard Gilliam: $80,000
Wilson McNeely III: $71,761
PBM Products LLC: $60,000
Ted Weschler: $23,500
Eagle Corp: $20,000
Daley Craig: $15,000
LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR
Leslie Byrne, Democrat
Mark Fried: $5,000
Roberta Williamson: $5,000
Cornelia Johnson: $2,500
Meredith Richards: $1,863
Pamela Gale: $1,100
Jeffrey Rossman: $1,100
Bill Bolling, Republican*
Terrence Daniels: $56,808
Ted Weschler: $25,000
Charles Rotgin, Jr.: $4,000
Douglas Caton: $3,500
Wilson McNeely III: $3,500
PBM Products LLC: $3,500
Daley Craig: $2,500
Stacy Harrell: $1,832
Brenda Cox: $1,600
Joseph Teague: $1,500
Richard Hewitt: $1,250
ATTORNEY GENERAL
Creigh Deeds, Democrat**
John Grisham: $52,000
Shelia Davis: $20,000
Sonjia Smith: $20,000
Bruce Williamson: $12,500
Jeffrey Rossman: $11,000
Robert Capon: $10,500
Robert Hardie: $10,000
James Murray: $8,000
Bob McDonnell, Republican**
Wilson McNeely: $10,000
Ted Weschler: $10,000
James Rose: $7,000
Richard Hewitt: $2,500
Carter Myers & Associates: $2,250
HOUSE OF DELEGATES, 57th DISTRICT
David Toscano, Democrat*
250 West Holdings LLC: $5,000
Bruce Williamson: $5,000
Mall Property LLC: $4,000
Boyd Tinsley: $3,952
Richard Hewitt: $3,000
MGR Development Corp: $3,000
Berkmar 29 JL Inc: $2,000
William Kehoe: $1,750
Tom McCrystal, Republican
Creative Perspectives Inc: $4,954
Tribune: $1,220
Canvasback Land Trust: $1,000
Mary Lee Vance: $500
Friends of Rob Bell: $250
HOUSE OF DELEGATES, 58th DISTRICT
Steve Koleszar, Democrat
Stephen Koleszar: $10,000
Lucia Phinney: $1,000
Robin Dripps: $900
Jean Wyantt: $876
Rob Bell, Republican*
Ted Weschler: $10,000
Douglas Caton: $6,000
Allied Concrete Co: $5,500
Terrence Daniels: $5,000
Equity Group LLC: $5,000
Fort Hill Ltd. Partnership: $5,000
Richard Gilliam: $5,000
Happy Valley LLC: $5,000
PBM Products LLC: $5,000
PDX Inc: $5,000
Arthur Watson, Jr: $5,000
Phil Wendel: $5,000
HOUSE OF DELEGATES, 59th
DISTRICT
Watkins Abbitt, Jr., Independent*
Management Services Corp.: $2,000
Old Dominion Highway Contractors
Assn: $500
*Denotes winner
**Winner to be
determined
Source: Virginia Public Access Project, www.vpap.org
Take charter back
Local NAACP wants General Assembly to throw out “classist” law
The Albemarle-Charlottesville NAACP will ask the General Assembly to eliminate Virginia’s new higher education restructuring, a controversial new law known as “charter.”
Last year, the General Assembly passed a bill that allows Virginia colleges to gain autonomy from State oversight. UVA’s top administrators were major proponents of charter, arguing that the State’s layers of bureaucracy and paltry funding hurt Virginia colleges. Last April, Governor Mark Warner signed the bill, giving colleges the freedom to write their own “management agreements” that establish the school’s relationship to the State.
UVA is currently writing a management agreement that will allow the school to, among other things, set its own human resources policy. Before charter, UVA’s 11,217 employees enjoyed the same protections and benefits as other State employees. Charter opponents, however, fear that UVA’s management agreement—which must be made public by November 16—will make Central Virginia’s largest employer less worker-friendly.
Especially at risk, according to the NAACP, are the 40,000 low-wage and working-class employees at UVA, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and The College of William and Mary—the three schools that will have the most freedom from State oversight. “The NAACP believes the perceived arrogance and elitism of this classist plan may encourage increases in crime, hatred and lasting racial resentment,” the NAACP said in a statement.
The NAACP’s proposal, crafted a year ago, compares charter to the decentralization of UVA’s Medical Center in 1996, a move that prompted employee complaints about degraded job security, compensation benefits and working conditions. In addition, the NAACP’s proposal says “these proposed chartered universities still want the freedom from regulation by and zoning ordinances of local government, freedoms that they currently enjoy because they are state institutions.” The NAACP also alleges that UVA has deliberately kept details about charter under wraps to avoid public discussion of the issue. Repeated phone calls to local NAACP heads Rick Turner and John Gaines were not returned.
The General Assembly session begins January 11. It will be difficult to derail charter, given the colleges’ political clout. Further, charter seems like a good deal for the State, because it means that legislators have to spend less money on education.
Jan Cornell, president of the 425-member Staff Union at UVA (SUUVA), has been a longtime critic of charter. “We’re always on their side,” Cornell says of the NAACP. In the coming weeks, SUUVA, along with the Communication Workers of America and the AFL-CIO, will meet with Governor Mark Warner’s cabinet, pushing for more worker protection requirements in charter. “I think it’s good that there’s two organizations speaking out against charter.”—John Borgmeyer
Sour grapes
Would-be Wahoos fire their parting shots
If you could go to UVA, why would you go anywhere else? Last summer, UVA’s Office of Admissions and Student Finan-cial Services posed that question to nearly 3,000 students who turned down an offer of admission for the 2005-06 academic year. About 1,700 students, including transfer students, responded to the survey.
The survey provided a list of 17 reasons for not attending, ranging from “Did not receive scholarship” to “Too conservative,” “Too liberal,” “Too Southern,” and “Reputation as a party school.” More than 40 percent of the respondents said that their main reason for not attending UVA was that “the school I chose has a better academic reputation,” making it the most common response. About 31 percent said they “felt UVA did not want me as much as the school I chose,” while about 25 percent listed cost as a major obstacle. About 8 percent listed “racial climate” as a deterrent.
The survey gave students room to write in additional responses, and the list below includes quotes from those write-ins.—John Borgmeyer
• “Everyone seemed to preach about Jefferson. All the tour guides seemed to be extremely arrogant.”
• “Did not like my peers from my high school who were going to UVA.”
• “Your football team is not as good as the university I chose.”
• “Dearth of low-income students on campus.”
• “Rich and preppy environment.”
• “I like UNC basketball.”
• “I really don’t like anything colonial.”
• “I flipped a coin to choose between UVA and William and Mary.”
• “Hailey Harris, who is the most beautiful and intelligent person that I know, was not accepted. This left a bad taste in my mouth about the UVA experience.”
• “I love UVA, but the family felt that Wellesley was, in the long run, better for me.”
• “It has a reputation as being a racial school.”
Justice is curved
Innocence Project aims to clear good names
One mark of an open society is the ability to admit mistakes. Plane crash? A federal investigation ferrets out the causes and tries to prevent similar accidents in the future. A president sleeps with his intern? Congress—and the public—learns every sordid detail. But when the wrong person is convicted of a crime, there’s no government agency to address the error. Instead, there’s the Innocence Project, a nonprofit legal clinic that puts law students to work researching the cases of inmates who say they shouldn’t be in jail.
Founded in 1992 by two professors at New York’s Car-dozo School of Law, the Innocence Project has helped exonerate 163 people nationwide and spawned chapters at law schools around the country. As of last year, UVA School of Law numbers among them.
Co-chair Mary Schmid says that the Virginia Innocence Project students currently are busy with five cases, all involving Virginia inmates.
“If someone’s in jail and shouldn’t be there, our first goal is to get those people out,” says Schmid. In Virginia, this is made more difficult by the 21-day rule, which bars introduction of new evidence a mere 21 days after sentencing. The only exception is for new DNA evidence. (In one of the UVA cases, an inmate serving a life sentence for first-degree murder says there was DNA evidence at the crime scene that has never been tested.) In other circumstances—such as the victim or witness who recants testimony—the only hope is a pardon directly from the governor.
How do innocent people end up in prison? According to the Innocence Project, such mishaps are all too routine, with prosecutorial and police misconduct being some of the most common explanations for wrongful convictions. Students track down leads that may have been missed by overworked public defenders during original trials, and they look for DNA evidence that could exonerate an inmate. “It really demonstrates a lot of the shortcomings of the criminal justice system,” says Schmid. “It makes legislators and others more willing to make some reforms.”
“It’s unusual that in our system you need law students volunteering their time to investigate some of these issues for the first time,” says Brandon Garrett, a professor at UVA School of Law and an advisor to the group. “The government should be trying to do that and learn from what’s happened.”—Erika Howsare
Ballot boxing
Is there voter fraud afoot in Virginia?
The election results may be in, but not without potential scandal. Since Monday, November 7, local and State registrars have been dealing with an unspecified number of voters trying to figure out just where exactly they were supposed to cast their ballots. The puzzled voters said they received telephone calls directing them to different, and often in-correct, locations.
According to Charlottesville Deputy Registrar Evan Smith, the misleading telephone calls “weren’t a huge deal in Charlottesville and were more prevalent throughout other areas of the state.” The Charlottesville Registrar received about a dozen calls from voters in need of a confirmed polling location. “We boiled the confusion down to old lists and bad data,” says General Registrar Sheri Iachetta. “Somebody probably didn’t have updated precincts or information.”
Registrars from other areas of the state, however, particularly those in southwest Virginia, flooded the Charlottesville registrar’s office with e-mails reporting significant polling confusion within their area. The larger issue in Charlottesville, says Smith, was The Cavalier Daily’s report that led students to Alumni Hall, an incorrect polling location, to vote. “They did us a great disservice,” says Iachetta. “I don’t know where they got their information from.”
Iachetta notes that “to willingly or knowledgably deceive voters is a Class 3 misdemeanor.”—Robbie Saville
All aboard?
Streetcar backers make their pitch
Will Charlottesville really try to build a streetcar on W. Main Street?
A group of key decision-makers met on Saturday, November 12, to hash it out. In a private meeting at the Charlottesville Community Design Center, about 20 people—including developers, landowners, City and UVA representatives, transit advocates and streetcar experts—discussed what it would mean to build a modern streetcar running nearly two miles along W. Main, between Downtown and UVA.
After the meeting, attendees said they were optimistic that some type of high-tech mass transit vehicle is in the near future for W. Main. The vehicle would accompany the construction of condominiums and apartment buildings along the transit route, in an effort to lure upscale suburban refugees into Char-lottesville. Participants say they’re waiting for the City to take the first step.
“The consensus was the belief that we need to better tie Downtown to UVA with some type of better transportation system,” said Wade Tremblay. He owns and manages about 330 housing units in the city, most of them housing students near UVA. Tremblay came to the meeting interested in how gee-whiz transit—whether it is a streetcar or a new type of ultramodern bus known as “bus rapid transit”—could make his apartments more attractive to students and UVA employees. “They want neat experiences,” Tremblay said.
Frank Stoner of Stonehaus Development said he thinks it could happen on W. Main. “My kids don’t want to ride on the bus, but they love to ride the train,” he says. Stoner owns the Albemarle Hotel at 611-619 W. Main St., a site ripe for redevelopment. Last year, Stoner was one of 20 members of a local delegation that traveled to Portland, Oregon, to see how a modern streetcar is a key selling point for billions of dollars worth of development. [C-VILLE was there, too. See “Track meet,” October 19, 2004.]
Developers, however, don’t want to invest in condos unless they see public dollars at work first. “The development community wants a commitment from the City,” Stoner said.
“It’s an uncertain market,” said Rick Gustafson, who at-tended the meeting as CEO of Portland Streetcar Inc., a public-private company that oversaw that city’s simultaneous development of a streetcar and private real estate. “There has to be confidence from the investor before he’ll put 200 units on an acre.”
The City seems ready to oblige. Councilor Kevin Lynch said the City will start with parking, which developers want the government to provide. The City will try to get federal and State transportation grants to build parking garages along W. Main, saving developers the cost of providing parking while preserving the most possible acres for residential and commercial space.
In the more immediate future, the City plans to redevelop the intersection of Ridge/McIntire streets, W. Main Street and South Street into a pedestrian enclave by moving the Lewis and Clark statue, closing the entrance to South Street and adding Mall-style bricks to the intersection. That should happen “as soon as possible,” said Lynch. It will be another piece of the City’s plans for the Mall and W. Main. (The Mall’s east end redevelopment is the most recent part of the City’s master plan to fill central Charlottesville with upscale hipsters and families known by planning types as “suburban refugees.”)
Another step will be the formation of a public-private company similar to Portland Streetcar, Inc. The idea behind such a company is to take advantage of public money without making City Council and its shifting membership responsible for the project. Former Mayor Maurice Cox is one likely member of that company. On Saturday he said that two local people have committed as well, but he would not say who they were.
“The biggest obstacle is accumulating a high degree of cooperation,” Cox said on Saturday. “We’re not as coordinated as we need to be to ensure that this will succeed, but there is a willingness.”
Cox has been the biggest catalyst behind this project. As Mayor he pushed for zoning changes that allow taller buildings and higher density in Charlottesville. Along with Gary Okerlund of the local planning group of Okerlund and Associates, and the Alliance for Community Choice in Trans-portation, Cox organized last year’s trip to Portland and Saturday’s private meeting. “I’m the big-picture guy,” says Cox. “You have to have a vision that will hold people’s interests for years.”—John Borgmeyer