Tuesday, February 7
No sunny day for Groh
Cavalier Daily columnist Chad Gallagher got all “Sesame Street” on Al Groh’s ass this morning, asking if the curmudgeonly UVA football coach is worth the reported $1.7 million he’ll make annually as per his new five-year contract. “Bob Stoops (Oklahoma), Mack Brown (Texas), Charlie Weis (Notre Dame), Pete Carroll (USC), Al Groh (Virginia). It does not take Big Bird or Cookie Monster to realize that one of these names doesn’t belong,” Gallagher writes, pointing to the fact that all these top-paid Division 1 coaches have delivered their teams to BCS bowl games in the past few years—except Groh.
“His only BCS bowls or ACC championships have been watched on the couch with a bottle of Aquafina,” Gallagher says. Sounds like somebody has been spending way too much time with Oscar the Grouch.
Wednesday, February 8
Luxury home contracts drop by one-third
The Washington Post reports today that Toll Brothers, Inc., the NoVa McMansion builder that has started to make inroads into Central Virginia, reported a 29 percent slide in contracts for its first fiscal quarter. Accordingly, shares of Toll Brothers’ stock dropped even further—the price has been declining since July—closing near $29 or half its summertime high. “Toll Brothers reported slackening consumer demand across much of the nation,” according to the Post. The company is rumored to be the wallet behind developer Hunter Craig’s purchase of the 1,353-acre Breeden property south of Charlottesville city limits.
Thursday, February 9
Hollywood mantra: Be the coffee table
Word went out today to area media, including cvillenews.com, that Evan Almighty, the Bruce Almighty sequel now in production in the area, seeks extras for a couple of scenes to be shot in Crozet. The movie will star Steve “40-year-old virgin” Carell and Morgan “I speak for penguins” Freeman. Blogger Waldo Jaquith advanced the notion that “if you play your cards right, you might be ‘discovered’ leading to riches, fame…and an early death…”
Guess again, wrote TrvlnMn, sounding like a cynical veteran of movie sets. “That’s a Hollywood fable. As an extra you are human background furniture. If you’re noticed or noticeable on camera, then a) you’re not doing your job, b) the director isn’t doing his, c) the scene you got noticed in will end up on the cutting room floor.”
Friday, February 10
It’s like that book by Defoe except with scantily clad chicks who later show up in Esquire wearing even less
“Lost,” the desert island TV series, is a “cultural phenomenon-in-the-making like few shows before it,” writes Ben Sellers, onetime C-VILLE staffer and now reporter for the Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star in today’s edition of that daily. And to make his case, he enlists a bevy of scholars, including UVA English professor Paul Cantor, who has done an academic analysis of “Gilligan’s Island.” “The key to the success of the island format is the microcosm idea,” Cantor said. “You get to put together a miniature ver-sion of society as a whole.”
Saturday, February 11
Two great tastes that taste great together
The basketball message board on thesabre.com, a Wahoo fan site, was lit up tonight after the Cavs posted their 400th win in U-Hall, an overtime victory made doubly sweet by coming at the expense of avowed rival Virginia Tech. “WAAAAAAAAHOOOOO0O,” wrote VaBeachHooFan, in a typical posting. Led by Sean Singletary and J.R. Reynolds, Virginia held Tech to 42 percent shooting.
Sunday, February 12
Dozens cry, let there be light!
WINA reports today that while more than 2,000 area residents lost power during Saturday’s snowfall, several dozen customers of Dominion Virginia Power can expect to remain inconvenienced until at least Monday morning.
Monday, February 13
Burn, baby, burn
If it’s household trash you seek to burn outdoors, be mindful that new laws go into effect on Wednesday, according to a report in to-day’s Daily Progress. Through April 30, open-air burning is restricted to between the hours of 4pm and midnight, with some exceptions. The law applies to brush fires, campfires as well as trash and other matter, and, helpfully, the law states that “fires must be attended at all times.”
WHERE IN THE WORLD ARE THE WAHOOS?
UVA students trot the globe in record numbers
Here’s a way to deal with the shortage of housing on UVA’s campus—send those Wahoos abroad. Indeed, UVA students have been hitting the road in record numbers in recent years.
UVA Study Abroad Advisor Mary Jo Bateman says that while “in general, students don’t want to leave UVA,” around half of UVA’s 13,400 undergraduates do study abroad before graduating, primarily during the summer months. In fact, according to Open Doors, an annual report published by the Institute of International Education, UVA ranks 17th among research institutions in terms of undergraduate participation in study abroad.
Bateman says Italy continues to be a popular destination for students, and that while Florence and Rome remain favorites, cities like Sienna are becoming increasingly popular, particularly with the rise of programs where students can take classes in English. These programs allow students to study subjects other than language, Bateman says.
Many students also opt to travel to English-speaking countries such as Australia and the United Kingdom. At the same time, language study continues to be the most popular type of program, with many students traveling to France and Spain. Asian countries are also increasing in popularity.
When asked about study abroad trends post-9/11, Bateman says she believes that “if anything, there has generally been an increase” in the number of UVA students going abroad. Bateman is right—in the past four years, the number has doubled.
The increase is partly due to a newly endowed $3,000 study abroad scholarship created from Continental Tire Bowl revenues. “I think we’ve got a terrific policy here at UVA,” Bateman says. “Students are able to take their financial aid with them and it is adjusted according to the cost of the program.”
The increase in study abroad at UVA is reflective of a larger national trend. According to Open Doors, even as international student enrollment in U.S. institutions continues to decline, “the number of American students studying abroad increased by 9.6 percent in 2003/04, building on the previous year’s 8.5 percent increase.”—Esther Brown
UVA CHAPEL SCHEDULED TO START REPAIRS
123-year-old local landmark needs a little TLC
In order to age gracefully everyone requires a little maintenance every now and then. Buildings are no different, and this time the nip-tuck patient is the UVA Chapel—the bell tower, specifically.
According to Lynn Rush, a project manager for UVA’s Facilities Planning and Construction, the stone masonry on the tower has deteriorated, and UVA is looking around for a historic preservation masonry contractor who can repair the mortar and do some work on the roofing and ventilation of the tower as well. The repairs are scheduled to start in May 2006 and be done by December.
Located on McCormick Road near Alderman Library, the Gothic-style stone chapel is a town and a University landmark. Designed in 1883 by Baltimore architect Charles Cassell, its stylistic flourishes include pointed openings, buttresses and gargoyles. It seats 250 people and is popular with the wedding set—so popular that if you want to get married there, you can throw your name into a lottery one year in advance and there’s still no guarantee that’s where you’ll get to spend the big day.—Nell Boeschenstein
UVA TENNIS STAR WINS QUIETLY
Cool soph Somdev Devvarman named ACC Player of the Week
Some say it’s better to be lucky than good. Somdev Devvarman is lucky. Please, don’t misunderstand; the sophomore star of the No. 7 Virginia men’s tennis team is also good. As in, ACC Player of the Week (as of January 30), No. 10 ranked player in the nation good. He flies around the court and chases down more shots than Tara Reid. With all due respect to Ice Cube, get this kid on the court and he’s trouble.
But he’s also lucky. He’s lucky that he chose tennis. Devvarman didn’t pick up a racquet until age 15, and even then it was just something to do, another sport to try. “Tennis was just, ‘O.K., I’ll play,’” he says. “I actually won tournaments because I didn’t care and the other guys were all into it. My dad said I should think about [pursuing] it and eventually we said, ‘O.K., it will be tennis.’”
Devvarman, or “Sommy” as fans and teammates affectionately call him, maintains this low-profile approach to the game even while rising through the ranks of collegiate tennis’ elite. “I don’t want to sound cocky,” he says, “but [being named ACC Player of the Week] is not really a big deal to me. The ACC has a lot of good players—I just had one good week. I don’t want to get caught up in numbers and rankings, just to get better every time I play.”
If he continues to do so, it won’t be long before Devvarman is making his rounds on the pro tennis circuit. For now, he plans on finishing out his college education and career.
“I’m very fortunate,” says Devvarman. “I grew up in a little place in India and one fine day I’m at the prettiest school in the world on one of the best teams in the country. I feel very grateful. I’m just lucky.”—Steven Schiff
NEWS FLASH: MEN AND WOMEN ARE DIFFERENT
UVA prof Steven Rhoads stirs the gender pot each week
UVA professor Steven Rhoads has shown up on the “Today” show and in the National Review. When he speaks, the crowd often spills out of the room. But if you enroll in his class “American Politics 514: Sex and Gender Differences: Biology, Culture, Politics and Policy,” you can hear Rhoads’ controversial lectures every week.
Rhoads, a professor in UVA’s Depart-ment of Politics, made waves with his 2004 book Taking Sex Differences Seriously, which refutes the popular argument that the differences between men and women are socially constructed. Rhoads presents evidence that gender disparities are deeply rooted in biology—men are naturally more aggressive and interested in work that is abstract and technical, like science, while women are naturally better at nurturing children and creating relationships between people.
Controversial, indeed. Rhoads says rollicking debates often emerge during class, fed by a wide reading list that includes The Washington Post, Cosmopolitan magazine, Maureen Dowd, Dave Barry and The Journal of Psychosomatic Research. There’s plenty to argue about—child custody, housework, the glass ceiling, women in combat, biological influences on occupational achievement, sexual harassment and divorce.
We’re looking forward to Week 7: Courtship, dating, hooking up and cohabitation.—John Borgmeyer
COUNTY BRACES FOR GROWTH NEXT DOOR
Development study to focus on Louisa, Fluvanna
Next month the Thomas Jefferson Plan-ning District Commission (TJPDC) will kick off a study that will look at growth planned for Louisa and Fluvanna counties, with an eye toward ways to mitigate traffic congestion, including on Albemarle roads that connect to those adjoin- ing counties.
Fluvanna planners predict that the county will absorb much of the regional growth over the next five years. According to Census data and the Virginia Employment Commission, Fluvanna’s population grew to about 20,500 in 2000 from 12,429 in 1990—a 59 percent jump. That county expects another 8,000 residents by 2010.
Louisa is also growing, expecting to add 5,000 new residents to its current population of 26,900.
Many of those new residents will live in new subdivisions that combine residential and commercial development, such as the 1,000-acre, 1,200-home Spring Creek planned near Zion’s Crossroads in Louisa.
“What we expect to see, obviously, is traffic impact,” says Albemarle County spokeswoman Lee Catlin. “If they’re living there, they’re working or shopping here. Pantops will feel that, and it also becomes an issue for Charlottesville.”
Increased traffic pressure will likely prompt calls to widen Route 250 into Albemarle. But Harrison Rue, director of the TJPDC, says that in March his group will start using a $120,000 VDOT grant to study growth east of Albemarle. The study will focus on ways to accomplish TJPDC’s “smart growth” vision—clustering growth around existing communities and roads, and building a network of smaller connecting roads with financial help from developers.
Rue says that such “smart growth” could save $500,000,000 by reducing the demand for new road construction in the region.—John Borgmeyer
PLANNERS REFUTE DEVELOPERS’ CLAIMS
Pointing to obscure details, City says new historic zoning was no surprise
Two weeks ago C-VILLE quoted the owners of major student housing companies expressing unpleasant surprise over City Council’s recent decision to restrict demolition in the Rugby Avenue/Venable/University Circle neighborhood. Preserva-tionists responded with dismay at the developers’ point of view.
One of their beefs is that developers should have known the restrictions were coming. In 2003, the City rezoned the disputed area to encourage tall, high-density apartment buildings. At that time, according to Jim Tolbert, the City’s director of Neighborhood Development Services, the City already had plans to eventually declare that area historic—thereby subjecting demolitions to review by the City’s Board of Architectural Review.
As evidence, Tolbert points to Chapter 14 of the City’s 2001 Comprehensive Plan. Indeed, deep in the recesses of the “Implementation Strategy” chapter, the plan slates the neighborhoods for historic preservation. When he delivered a detailed report to Council on the 2003 zoning ordinance that created a high-density “University Precinct” near UVA, Tolbert told councilors he would prefer that historic designations be approved before they passed the new citywide zoning ordinance, according to minutes from August 4, 2003. However, he added that such concerns should not delay Council’s passing the ordinance.
The minutes do not show that Tolbert said anything about specific conflicts between zoning and historic preservation in the University Precinct area. Indeed, a review of City Council and Planning Commission meetings indicate that nobody—not City staff, councilors, planning commissioners, nor the public—is on the record raising those specific concerns.
The potential conflict between preservation and development did emerge however in Planning Commission subcommittee meet-ings, says Planning Commis-sioner Kevin O’Halloran, who was among a group of planners, developers and City officials that hashed out details of the University Precinct concept. O’Halloran says that the subcommittee recommended what would come to be seen as a compromise between preservationists and developers.
“We talked about having a historic overlay district,” O’Hal-loran says. “It was decided that the area around 14th Street, the railroad tracks, John Street and Virginia Avenue would be the area of highest density.” He says the committee recommended that the BAR have approval over demolitions in all the Rugby/Venable/University Circle neighborhoods, except within this small area of maximum allowable density. So it seems that even informed developers could be reasonably surprised by Council’s decision to restrict demolition in the entire area.
“In hindsight, I wish the Planning Commission and the City Council had insisted on having a historic district in place before passing the zoning ordinance,” says O’Halloran. “We should have hashed out these issues.”—John Borgmeyer
THE PAST IS THE FUTURE IN ROSE HILL
Hot neighborhood could get historic tag
Rose Hill is hot. This year that neighborhood’s average real estate assessment climbed a wicked 39 percent in 2005, due in large part to new construction, according to the City. Home values could push even higher if City government goes along with Rose Hill’s request to become a historic district.
In preparing changes to Charlottes-ville’s Comprehensive Plan, planners conducted meetings with neighborhood residents. In Rose Hill, people who met with the planners said they want the nonprofit Charlottesville Community Design Center to “empower residents and resist undesirable development,” meaning that as development progresses in the neighborhood they want the City to be “more accessible to residents.” Further requests include “more transparency” and to “work on [the] relationship with neighborhood associations.”
The ultimate citizen check on development would come through historic designation, which could give the City’s Board of Architectural Review oversight over demolition and new construction in Rose Hill. The City’s document calls for government to study Rose Hill’s history and apply for national and state historic districts there—a move that would no doubt keep Rose Hill atop the list of assessment increases.—John Borgmeyer
HOW MUCH MORE SHOPPING DO WE NEED?
Supes fret over prospect of big-box wastelands
Albemarle’s got a thing for history—and nothing says “historic” like the hollow carcass of an empty mega-store, rotting in a weedy asphalt lot.
County Supervisor Sally Thomas worries it could happen, especially if Great Eastern Management Company proceeds with plans to build North Pointe, a massive 270-acre project on 29N.
Supervisors held a work session on North Pointe on Wednesday, February 8. Of first concern was the county’s ability to absorb the ever-skyrocketing sum of commercial space, now at 1.4 million square feet including Hollymeade Town Center, Rivanna Village and North Pointe.
Thomas was concerned that older shopping centers might go to ruin in favor of newer, shinier models. She questioned North Pointe’s impact on the county’s current water/sewer capacity and roads, for which Chairman Dennis Rooker saw the possibility of “significant capital expenditures” and possibly the need for a new school.
Of major concern during the meeting was the sediment created by the project, and the need for basins to collect at least 60 percent of this sediment before runoff is allowed to drain into the Rivanna River. Commissioners also questioned the discrepancy between the staff report’s requirement to build at least 224 residential units (25 percent of the total residences planned for North Pointe) before construction gets underway on North Pointe’s 290,000-plus square feet of commercial, office and hotel space and the developer’s preference that 116 units, a mere 13 percent of proposed residences, be required.—Jay Neelley
SIGNS OF THE CRIMES
How we broke the law in 2005
The New Year has come and gone, but the final numbers on how Charlottesville closed out the year in crime have just been tabulated. According to City stats, both property and violent crimes were up in 2005, compared to 2004. The County did not provide equivalent information, but in 2005 property crimes in the county outnumbered violent crimes 16:1 in Albemarle; in the city, property crimes outnumber violent crimes 7:1. City and county combined, there were 400 violent crimes and 3,967 property crimes. Here’s a detailed breakdown of reasons to lock your doors and keep one hand on your purse in 2006.—Nell Boeschenstein
Albemarle County
Violent Crimes
Murder: 2
Forcible Rape: 33
Aggravated Assault: 69
Robbery: 26
Total: 130
Property Crimes
Larcenies: 1,708
Stolen Motor Vehicle: 106
Burglaries/Breaking and Entering: 267
Total: 2,081
Charlottesville City
Violent Crimes
Murder: 2
Forcible Rape: 32 Aggravated Assault: 162
Robbery: 74
Total: 270
Property Crimes
Larcenies: 1,469
Stolen Motor Vehicle: 150
Burglaries/Breaking and Entering: 267
Total: 1,886
Sources: Charlottesville and Albemarle County Police Departments
LETHAL WRECKER CITED FOR OVERCHARGING
Towing company has until February 19 to fight reimbursements
Lethal Wrecker has until February 19 to dispute 21 claims that the towing company overcharged drivers anywhere from $5 to $170 for tows. According to court documents, the 21 overcharges total $1,120.
The case against Lethal has been ongoing since 2003 when complaints of overcharging first found their way to the City Attorney’s office. According to the Virginia Consumer Protection Act, towers cannot charge more than $95 for a single tow. After the February 19 deadline, and provided Lethal doesn’t put up a fight, says Lisa Miller, the paralegal working with Deputy City Attorney Lisa Kelley on the case, the court will have 90 days to certify the reimbursements. Miller anticipates the reimbursements will be for the same amounts the unfortunate drivers were overcharged.
Since the story was first reported on February 6, Miller says that no new complaints have come through the office, and that Lethal has been complying with the Consumer Protection Act since the lawsuit was filed.—Nell Boeschenstein
BELL CRAFTS BILL BASED ON RAPE LAWSUIT
Law would stop wrongfully accused from suing
Albemarle Delegate Rob Bell has introduced a bill that would prevent the wrongly accused from suing victims in rape cases.
The bill would protect victims who act with a “good faith belief” that they have correctly identified their attacker.
The bill was sparked by a September 2005 case in which a Charlottesville woman misidentified Christopher Mat-thew as her rapist. Matthew is now suing the woman for $850,000.
Bell says he sponsored the bill in response to public criticism of the lawsuit. He worries such suits will create a “chilling effect” that sends this message to victims: “I know what happened but I’m not going to go to the police because if somehow I’m wrong I’ll get sued,” says Bell.
Matthew’s attorney, Deborah Wyatt, called the bill a “knee-jerk reaction to the case” and said the bill would have “horrible” effects on the wrongly accused, who, she says, “I think we can all agree it’s probably young black men.
“I have encountered many of these cases where women either negligently or by coercion or by bad faith…identify people falsely,” says Wyatt.
Bell says false identification isn’t a “major problem,” however. His bill may not even affect Matthew’s case, says Wyatt, because he is attempting to prove the victim’s accusation was, in fact, in bad faith.
Meanwhile, the bill to protect vic- tims from civil suits is moving through the House. On February 3, it passed the Courts of Justice Committee 18-4, with Charlottesville Delegate David Toscano voting in favor of Bell’s bill. —Meg McEvoy
LOCAL COURTS UNPREPARED FOR HISPANIC NEEDS
Family and friends often translate in court
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the nation’s Hispanic population grew 3.6 percent from 2003 to 2004, accounting for about half the nation’s total population growth of 2.9 million people. Locally, the 2000 Census pegs Albemarle’s Hispanic population at about 2,300 people, although that number has almost certainly grown since then.
Charlottesville Public Defender James Hingeley says the increasing number of Hispanics is putting a burden on the local courts.
“You really see this when a defendant appears for the first time and needs to be advised as to their right to counsel,” Hingeley says.
There are no Spanish-speaking public defenders in Charlottesville, and the shortage of interpreters often means that defendants must rely on their friends and relatives. Because the court has a duty to provide interpreters, in jury trials multi-ple interpreters often end up working in shifts.
Court interpreters must gain certification. Police, however, are not required to use certified interpreters. In cases where individuals have apparently waived their rights, Hingeley says experience has taught him to “have some question about whether or not they adequately understand the right to counsel,” which concerns him, because “once an interrogation is done, that’s it.”—Esther Brown
JUVENILE COURTS TOUGHER ON KIDS
Albemarle teens will face a strict atmosphere in court
The three teen suspects accused of plotting to attack two Albemarle County high schools will go to court at a time when the U.S. legal system is treating juvenile offenders more like adults.
In a culture highly conscious of school violence and terrorism, both schools and the legal system in America are changing the way they deal with juvenile offenders, says UVA law professor Thomas Hafemeister.
“Schools are supposed to be very vigilant and take very seriously any threat,” Hafemeister says.
As an example, he cites the recent case of a 5-year-old who held his fingers in the shape of a gun, pointed his hand at a classmate and yelled, “Bang, bang,” during recess. The child was automatically suspended in accordance with a “zero tolerance” policy that gives schools the ability to remove students perceived as a threat to their classmates. “That decision was essentially upheld by the courts,” Hafemeister says.
He says his “gut sense” is that in general courts are falling in line with schools’ crackdown on students accused of threaten-ing Columbine-style violence. Hafemeister says the legal system is now treating juveniles more like adults—a change due in part to the 1999 incident in Littleton, Colorado, but also due to statistics that in the mid-1990s indicated that juvenile crime was on the rise.
“There was a message that played very well in political arenas, a message that we need to get tough on juvenile crime,” Hafemeister says.
In Virginia and other states, a host of recent laws have sprung from the “get tough” posturing. In the past 10 years, Virginia has reduced the age at which a person can be tried as an adult, to 14 from 15; juveniles can now be held until they are 21, not 18; further, a juvenile’s crime record is not necessarily expunged when he reaches adulthood, as it had been in the past. A juvenile record can now be considered in relation to the “three strikes and you’re out” laws in Virginia that punish repeat felons with hefty prison terms.
Furthermore, juvenile courts used to punish young criminals with “indefinite sentencing,” meaning they could be continually evaluated for evidence of rehabilitation. Now, however, juvenile courts impose sentences that must be served completely.
The accused Albemarle teenage boys—ages 13, 15 and 16—all face charges of conspiracy to commit murder and are now being held at the Blue Ridge Juvenile Detention Center.
“Even if they’re in the juvenile system, we treat children more like adult criminals,” Hafemeister says, even though juvenile crime have declined since the mid-’90s and are now lower than any time since 1980.—John Borgmeyer
TOSCANO’S HITS AND MISSES
Freshman City delegate wins some, loses some, avoids wedgies
Freshman legislators don’t us-ually get wedgies or swir-lies—but their ideas often get beat up. When David Toscano succeeded longtime legislator Mitch Van Yahres this year as Charlottesville’s delegate, few expected the new guy’s bills to do much better than Van Yahres’ in the deeply conservative House of Delegates. So far, Toscano’s record is mixed.
Toscano’s minimum wage bill went down in flames last week. His H.B. 1363 would have increased the state’s minimum wage, currently at $5.15 per hour, by one dollar every year for the next three years. It was combin- ed with another bill, and was killed in an employment subcommittee.
Still, Toscano has had some success in his first session. Last week the House passed Toscano’s bills that would give Charlottesville more power to provide affordable housing for the elderly and handicapped; it also passed a bill that gives Albemarle more choices in how the County handles employee grievances. Prior to Toscano’s bills going to the Senate, his legislative aide, Jenny Hogan, summed up the session as “so far, so good.”
Hanger’s changes of heart
Last week, Augusta Sen. Emmett Hanger backed away from a pair of controversial bills he introduced earlier this year. One bill would have prevented illegal immigrants from obtaining in-state tuition to Virginia colleges. Another would have allowed some sex offenders to choose castration instead of long-term detention.
Hanger amended his S.B. 677 to allow in-state tuition for undocumented students who graduated from a Virginia high school, who are seeking legal status and whose families have paid taxes for at least three years. He told The Washington Post he was swayed by the arguments of immigrant activists and his son’s fiancé, a Filipino immigrant.
Also last week, Hanger asked the Senate Education and Health Committee to carry over his bill allowing castration until 2007, saying it is “not ready for prime time.”
In a time of “my way or the highway” politics, how nice to see a legislator who can listen to the arguments and change his mind.—John Borgmeyer
COUNCIL PUNTS ON DANGEROUS MUTTS
Will consider an ordinance after the Assembly session
Amidst the whines and snarls of the public over tax increases and affordable hous- ing, last week City Council discussed a newly proposed Animal Control Ordi-nance Amendment that would regulate “dangerous dogs.”
This amendment comes as at the urging of victims of a handful of recent attacks, some of whom presented their tales to Council during its regular meeting on Monday, February 6.
“Ultimately dog owners need to be held accountable for their pets,” said Holly Hatcher, a regular at Riverview Park who received multiple puncture wounds during an attack. She says a stricter ordinance will “better protect the good people and good dogs of Charlottesville.”
The proposed amendment would, among other things, classify dogs into one of three increasingly nasty groups: ag-gressive, dangerous, or vicious. Depending on the complaint, a dog would be subject to investigation by an animal control officer who could then turn Fido over to the judgment of the General District Court. If the guilty pooch is designated into one of these categories, consequences range from man-datory leashing to termination.
The new “aggressive dogs” section came under particularly harsh criticism. The designation is pre-emptive, defining “aggressive” essentially as a propensity for future attack. Professional dog trainer Eliz-abeth Beverly worries that because “the ability to accurately interpret ca-nine body language is held by a select train-ed few,” the designations would be placed in unqualified hands.
Currently, there are a number of bills in the Gen-eral Assembly seeking to change State law regarding dangerous dogs. Council de-cided to wait for the Assem-bly’s votes before chang-ing Charlottesville’s dog policy.—David Goodman
COUNTY JOINS “ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT” GROUP
Critics worry decisions on growth could be made in secret
On February 8 the Albemarle Board of Supervisors voted in favor of the County’s membership in the Thomas Jefferson Partnership for Economic Development. As a business advocacy group, the Partner-ship lists Charlottesville, UVA and five surrounding counties as members. All pay an annual membership fee of $12,500.
The decision stirred considerable debate as critics of TJPED pleaded their case against joining what they see as a private sector council that might influence Albemarle’s public growth policies in favor of business interests. Citizen activist Liz Palmer warned, “Public policy could be formulated without a public forum.”
Supervisor David Wyant, how-ever, called the Part-nership a “resource to improve the quality of jobs and meet the goals of the community.” Super-visors Sally Thomas and Dennis Rooker had their doubts, but they could not muster enough support to stop the County from joining the Partnership.
Also on Wednesday, Supervisors granted approval for the Faulconer Construc-tion Company’s final site plan in Ivy. Previously the board had rejected Faul-coner’s plans, deeming Ivy’s roads too narrow for the construction company’s big trucks, but Faulconer sued in the fall and won.—Jay Neelley
KAINE LEADS THE STATE IN PERQS FOR POWERFUL
Albemarle capitalist gets cozy with the new guv
Newly elected Virginia governor Tim Kaine has no excuses for not being well rested on the job this year. Before taking office in January, Kaine spent 10 days with his family on an exclusive, private island in the West Indies. The vacation, valued at $18,000, was a gift from local venture capitalist James B. Murray Jr.
Murray is no stranger to political donations; $35,000 of his $40,000 in donations last year went to Kaine’s campaign, in addition to the vacation gift.
Murray, who heads a Charlottesville venture capital firm, Court Square Ventures, has donated more than $340,000 to Virginia races since 1996. About 78 percent of that went to Democrats.
Gifts to legislators are perfectly legal in Virginia—as they are in about half of the states—so long as legislators report them. State legislators received more than $300,000 in gifts in 2005.—Dan Pabst
CITY SCHOOLS GET NEW LEADER
Board asserts there are no skeletons in Atkins’ closet
The long-awaited contention-free meeting of the Charlottesville School Board came at last on Wednesday, February 8 when that body named Rosa Atkins the division’s new superintendent. Giddy board members eagerly passed a unanimous motion to accept Atkins at an annual salary of $153,000 10 months after the disastrous 10-month run of former superintendent Scottie Griffin.
Atkins has experienced student populations on the extremes—the very poor and the very rich, the very handicapped and the very bright—and this trait was widely praised. “The challenges [of Charlottesville schools] are appealing to me,” Atkins said. “It’s a diverse community with diverse student needs.”
A 25-year veteran of Virginia schools, Atkins was a teacher and principal in the Richmond area. For the past two years she worked as assistant superintendent in Caroline County, a similar-sized system south of Fredericksburg. Board chair Julie Gronlund noted that the board had spoken with Atkins’ colleagues in all of her former districts. “She’s been described as thorough, engaging, focused—a good listener and a quick learner,” she said.—Will Goldsmith