Categories
Living

Sticks Grilled Vegetable Gazpacho

Sticks Grilled Vegetable Gazpacho

We love reader recipe requests around here, and we hate to disappoint loyal fans. So, when a reader asked us to “track down the absolutely delicious red pepper sauce from Sticks and publish it for the benefit of everyone’s taste buds,” we immediately placed a call to busy restaurateur Bill Hamilton. Not only is Hamilton co-owner of the Preston and Pantops Sticks locations, but he also oversees, with his wife, Kate, their eponymous establishment on the Downtown Mall. While Hamilton was incredibly gracious and willing to share a recipe with us, the red pepper sauce was, unfortunately, a bit too top-secret for that. He did choose a fine substitute, however, that also has red pepper as an ingredient: Sticks’ Grilled Vegetable Gazpacho. “This soup is very popular, and seasonally appropriate,” Hamilton tells us. It’s also easy and delicious, as well.–Pam Jiranek

Sticks’ Grilled Vegetable Gazpacho

1 red pepper, halved            1 small eggplant, sliced
1 green pepper, halved            1 zucchini, split
1 medium yellow onion, cut into slabs    1 yellow squash, split
                    6 tomatoes, halved

Lightly brush vegetables with olive oil and grill until well marked and softened. Cool and coarsely chop, reserving any juices. Combine with:

2 cucumbers, peeled, seeded, and chopped            1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 stalk celery, chopped                                          1 tsp. cumin
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil                                   1 small bunch fresh basil, chopped

Pulse in a food processor or blender to the desired texture and finish the seasoning with salt, sugar, and black pepper to your taste. Also, depending on the size and water content of the veggies, you will want to thin the soup with broth or tomato juice to attain the perfect consistency. Chill and enjoy. Serves 12.

Categories
Uncategorized

817-FILM

Call   8 1 7 – F I L M  for C-VILLE Weekly’s Local Movie Time Hotline!
To get current movie times click on the links below to see what’s playing at local theaters.

Or you can call our movie hotline at 817-FILM for a listing of movies playing locally.

Carmike Downtown Fork Union Drive In Jefferson Seminole Vinegar Cinematheque
973-5972
979-7857
842-3624
980-1331
978-1607
977-4911
92-HELLO
1005 Garden Blvd. Off 29N
200 W. Main Street
VA 612, off US 15 a mile south of Fork Union
110 East Main Street

2306 India Drive
Near K-Mart

220 west market street
Newcomb Hall, UVA
Categories
Arts

RATES: Advertise in C-VILLE. Be Bold. Be Seen.

The C-VILLE brand is unmatched and it is seen everywhere.

C-VILLE Weekly is Charlottesville’s source for local, in-the-know info — News, Arts, Living.  With 23,000 copies per week, over 60,000 weekly readers, and a 20+ year track record, C-VILLE Weekly is the largest circulating weekly newspaper in Central Virginia.

Call C-VILLE for advertising rates! 434.817.2749 x42 – OR – email our Associate Publisher – OR – Download our

C-VILLE 2012 Media Kit

now!

Putting your message where it matters!

C-VILLE distributes more papers to the primary market of Charlottesville and Albemarle County than anyone. We radiate from the epicenter of activity–food, shopping, arts, culture.

Be seen–C-VILLE.

Circulation:

It just keeps growing. Delivering the core of Charlottesville and Albemarle County, C-VILLE’s 20+ year track record puts your message where it matters most – just outside your doorstep, in the heart of Central Virginia’s population centers. 23,000 copies every Tuesday and counting!

Who’s reading:

Smart, locally connected people who want to be in the know, now. C-VILLE is speaking and they are listening.

We reach 40% of all adults in Charlottesville and Albemarle County. It’s the most desirable audience around.

  • Gender: Female: 52% – Male:  48%
  • Education: 92% are college educated
  • Age: 60% are between the ages of 25-54
  • Household Income: 55% earn more than 50K
Categories
Arts

A selective guide to what’s coming up

outdoors
Register individually or as a team for the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life. The race runs 8am, May 13 to 8am, May 14, on the Monticello High School track. 978-7423, (800) ACS-2345. www.cancer.org.

music
Saturday, June 3, WCKY presents Countryfest 2006 with Montgomery Gentry at the Pavilion. Special guest Jason Michael Carroll will also appear. 817-0220. www.charlottesvillepavilion.com.

dance
Aspiring dancers are encouraged to respond to a call for community participants to join in the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange Performance at The Paramount Theater. Rehearsals May 14-19, performance on May 20. Call 979-1922, ext. 100 to register.

Categories
News

A decade of worker's issues

After several dormant years, the Living Wage campaign returned to Charlottesville this spring. Yet the chants and sit-ins are just the latest in a history of labor activism that goes back almost 10 years.—Nell Boeschenstein and John Borgmeyer

1996: The Living Wage Campaign scores its first victory when Baltimore enacts the first “living wage” law, requiring all City contract workers be paid $6.10 per hour. Intensifying the need: Bill Clinton’s signature on the “welfare reform” bill, which limits welfare eligibility to five years. Baltimore’s $6.10 minimum aims to lift a family of four over the federal poverty level; an estimated 2,000 to 3,000 workers were affected. Two years earlier, a coalition of clergy and labor had joined forces on the issue after churches noted significant increases in the use of their soup kitchens.
1997: The Living Wage movement begins stirring in Charlottesville when UVA faculty and students form the Labor Action Group (LAG), bringing several wage activists to campus for a teach-in. The lineup includes Ralph Nader, union bigwig Richard Trumka and houskeeping advocate Barbara Prear.

September 1998: The first college campus Living Wage campaign to make national headlines begins at Harvard just as the City of Boston enacts a “living wage” ordinance of $8.43. The Harvard campaign intensifies for three years, culminating in April and May 2001 when 50 students take over the president’s office for three weeks. Hundreds pitch tents in Harvard Yard in solidarity. Eight months later Harvard President Lawrence Summers begins negotiations with janitors and food workers, eventually raising janitorial hourly wages to $11.35 and food service employees’ rate to $10.85. The campaign serves as the blueprint for future actions at Georgetown, UC Berkeley and UVA.

April 15, 1998: The Labor Action Group launches Charlottesville’s first Living Wage campaign (on tax day, no less). LAG demands UVA raise its base pay to at least $8 per hour from about $6.37. Orange “$8” buttons become ubiquitous around campus, while UVA president John Casteen asserts, for the first of many times, that he does not have authority to raise wages without approval from the Virginia General Assembly, which contributes approximately 11 percent of UVA’s budget.
1999: Charlottesville City Council raises its base wage to $8 per hour for all full-time employees. In 2000, the City extends the provision to part-time employees. A year later, Council uses the Virginia Public Procurement Act to require anyone who contracts with the City to pay similar wages. In a letter to the City, former Virginia Attorney General Randolph Beales declares the City is not authorized to to do this, but Council passes the ordinance anyway. It has never been challenged. The City’s wage “living wage” ordinance stipulates that wages for contract workers be reviewed annually. Currently, the City’s minimum wage for part-time employees and contract workers is $9.36 per hour.

October 2000: In the fall, the “living wage” campaign commences direct action against local hotels, especially the Courtyard by Marriott on W. Main Street and the Omni on the Downtown Mall. Every Friday, protestors carrying signs that read “Honk for a Living Wage” line up outside the Courtyard by Marriott. In July 2001, protestors chain themselves to an Omni elevator; in September 2002, three protestors are arrested following a sit-in at the Marriott. In spring 2003, after more than 100 consecutive Friday-afternoon protests, hotel managers meet with Mayor Maurice Cox and agree to sponsor job training that would result in higher wages for some of the hotels’ lowest-paid workers. The actions at the hotels cease.

May 2001: After first appearing in article form in Harper’s Magazine, Barbara Ehrenreich’s book, Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America brings the issue to the best-seller list. Ehrenreich worked across the U.S. as a hotel maid, Wal-Mart sales clerk and nursing home aide in order to examine the impact of Clinton’s “welfare reform” on low-wage workers. Ehrenreich concluded that holding a single minimum-wage job doesn’t cut it if you want a roof over your head, and argued that the well-worn “too lazy to work” and “jobs defeat poverty” mantras were largely meaningless. The book meets with praise for its courage and empathy, as well as scorn for its pro-”living wage” agenda and general air of self-righteousness.

May 2001: After a UVA Medical Center worker is accused of rape, he is discovered to be a convicted felon. In response, UVA fires nine other convicted felons on staff who have been accused of nothing. Five are rehired and the others win cash settlements. The incident prompts LAG (the “living wage” group first assembled in 1997) to organize a UVA staff union. After affiliating with the Communication Workers of America, the Staff Union at UVA (SUUVA) opens a Charlottesville office in May 2002.

January 2005: The Charlottesville Area Association of Realtors reports that, for the sixth consecutive year, area housing prices have set new records, continuing the boom that began in the mid-’90s. Traditionally working-class neighborhoods see an influx of higher-income families, with the ensuing gentrification leading to skyrocketing property assessments and taxes. Since 1996, Charlottesville’s median home price has risen by more than $125,000, nearly triple the national rate.

March 2006: President John Casteen announces that UVA plans to raise its base hourly pay by 49 cents, to $9.37—exactly one cent above the City’s wage. According to the University, benefits add another $3.29 per hour. UVA’s “living wage” advocates have been seeking an hourly wage of $10.72. (Like their peers in other cities, they do not count benefits in their calculations, saying that they are “not fungible.”) The campus campaign urges Casteen “to show leadership on this issue…and ensure that no University employee is paid a poverty wage.” The student activists continue to crusade for $10.72 per hour.

April 2006: Student organizers demand an hourly wage of $10.72, tying it to current federal poverty levels for a family of four in Charlottesville. Rallies outside the Rotunda escalate when 17 students enter Madison Hall, where Casteen’s office is located, for a sit-in. While more than 100 students come out to support the sit-in, inflammatory rhetoric demonizing Casteen alienates other students, prompting wide-ranging campus discussion of the issue. The sit-in ends after four days with the arrests of the 17 students, who will have their day in court on May 5.

Categories
Living

Coming to kiosk: boxes of barbecue!

Attention, pig lovers! Long an isolated mainstay way out on East Market Street, Jinx’s Pit’s Top is set to make an entrance on the Downtown scene. You may have noticed that the Downtown Mall kiosk has been bursting with flowers in recent weeks, thanks to the entrepreneurship of Betty Jo Dominick. Any day now, Jinx Kern will be supplying her with boxed barbecue lunches schlepped over from his tiny original location.
    The pork will be tucked amongst the blooms during the noon hour, and also at dinnertime on Fridays After 5. For $6, says Jinx, you’ll get a barbecue sandwich, along with coleslaw and some cucumber salad—“both of which we’re rather famous for,” he notes.
    Jinx says this is the first toehold in a long-term plan for Downtown Jinxifica-tion. “I hope ultimately not just to be up there by proxy, but to have my own place on the Mall,” he says. We’ll lobby for seating when that day finally comes.

More restaurant names containing “X”

That would be the X Lounge, the existence of which is well-known to anyone who’s been near the Glass Building on Second Street lately—the signage is not subtle. X is a project of Kari Legault and Francois Bladt, along with Clifton Inn manager J.F. Legault (Kari’s husband), who is involved as a spokesman. The trio, all longtime restaurateurs, gave Restaurantarama an official tour and told us a little about their plans for the space.    
    X, it seems, will be a stylish spot serving an eclectic dinner menu (little dishes for sharing, plus full-size entrees) into the wee hours, along with an extensive drink list. We were unable to extract more specific menu plans, but we did learn from J.F. that “it’ll be a comfortable, urban experience.” In other words, you can sit on sofas and drink wines by the glass, or get a booth and order a feast, or mingle at the large central bar with other comfortable, urban people.
    The lounge will have two levels, connected by an X-shaped staircase conceived of as the architectural focal point. Another nifty design element: two live crepe myrtle trees growing right through the floor. They’re starting to put out leaves, so hopefully they’ll be fully foliated in time for X’s opening—trackside terrace and all—in the second half of May.
Maverick lives up to its name

When we heard that Sam Maverick—The Restaurant had suddenly closed its doors, we knew there was a wild story bucking around out there that needed to be corralled. We called the restaurant: line disconnected. We drove up to the door: a “Closed—No Trespassing” sign was posted, with a phone number. We called the number. Great Eastern Management Company, a major Charlottesville developer, answered, but they wouldn’t spill even one bean about what was going on with Maverick, nor illuminate what their relationship with the restaurant actually is (or was). Still, we figure they must be bummed to lose one of the anchors in Seminole Square.
    We did talk with an employee, Lindsay Cote, who said that, early on the morning of April 10, the restaurant’s general manager showed up at the restaurant because the alarm system had sounded. He was greeted, she says, by a posse of lawyers and police officers who announced that the restaurant was being shut down. “I’ve been told that it is officially closed, it’s permanent, and we won’t be reopening,” says Cote. “Every-body who works there was completely surprised.” She speculates that lease disagreements were behind the shutout, but we haven’t been able to confirm this.
    Well, the place was called “Maverick,” after all. Could be old Sam is far away by now, sipping a mai tai on some tropical island with no phones at all. We’ll let you know if he sends a postcard.

Got some restaurant scoop? Send your tips to
restaurantarama@c-ville.com or call 817-2749, Ext. 48.

Categories
Uncategorized

Other news we heard last week 4/18-4/24

Tuesday, April 18
USA Today digs “Idol”’s Daughtry
Fluvanna High graduate Chris Daughtry, who’s been filling the rock quotient on “American Idol,” Fox’s Tuesday night juggernaut (30 million viewers on average), ekes out the lead in USA Today’s “Idol” popularity contest today. But just barely. With 24 percent of the vote, the charismatic baldy with the tight jeans and the legions of hysterical female fans, is one percentage point ahead of Taylor Hicks going into tonight’s episode.

Wednesday, April 19
Fluvanna prepares for influx of teens
The Fluvanna Board of Supervisors tonight approved a $60 million plan to build a new high school and shuffle other students into existing buildings, WCAV reports. According to the U.S. Census, Fluvanna grew by more than 60 percent in the decade between 1990 and 2000, and as housing prices remain high closer to Charlottesville’s center, even more families can be expected to fill out the five-county surrounding area, which includes Fluvanna.

Thursday, April 20
Black hole news from UVA scientists stirs feelings of insignificance
The Times-Dispatch today sums up the latest news in black holes, those “stellar objects from which nothing, not even light, can escape.” First, UVA astronomer Craig Sarazin and some German colleagues reported that a couple of spiraling giant black holes are headed for a collision soon. By “soon,” Sarazin means millions of years from now. Then NASA scientists simulated some of what could happen when black holes merge. Mastering the fine art of understatement, Sarazin tells the T-D that researching black holes tests “our understanding of physics, to make sure we really do understand how gravity works.”

Just another D’Brick in the wall
USA Today joins the other big media (New York Times, Sports Illustrated) that lately havefallen for UVA’s wiry tackle, D’Brickashaw Ferguson, poised to go into the NFL draft next week as a top pick. In its article today, the paper ponders how a man so light, relative to others in his job, can be so successful, especially if he declines when the dessert cart beckons. But the position has changed, reporter Jarrett Bell says. “In Ferguson’s case, the lack of bulk when combined with balance, polished techniques and quick-strike power, is an asset that has made him so attractive to the NFL.”

It’s 4/20—Time for a medical marijuana ruling
Contradicting an extensive 1999 review by government scientists, the Food and Drug Administration today poo-pooed evidence that marijuana has medicinal benefits. In today’s statement, the agency flak said the FDA concluded that “smoked marijuana has not currently accepted or proven medical use in the United States and is not an approved medical treatment.” Six years ago the Institute of Medicine, an arm of the National Academy of Sciences, came to the exact opposite conclusion. Researchers at the Institute reviewed many studies and took testimony from dozens of experts, including local medical marijuana advocate Al Byrne, who heads the  group Patients out of Time.

Friday, April 21
Gene Worrell, local media mogul, dies at 86
Obituaries began appearing today for Gene Worrell, the local businessman who at one time owned as many as 30 newspapers, including The Daily Progress. He died on April 20. Also a philanthropist and developer, in 1975 Worrell purchased Pantops Estate, once the property of Thomas Jefferson, and there, according to the Associated Press, he kept his corporate office as well as (for a while) herds of bison and cattle.

Saturday, April 22
Cooler NoVa housing market shows speculators’ handiwork
Though The Washington Post reports today that numbers are uncertain (15-30 percent) as to how much of Northern Virginia’s once-robust housing market was due to investors and speculators, it’s clear that their impact is being felt now as they try to dump properties or are forced to lower prices in order to sell—especially townhouses and condos. The chairman of Toll Brothers, a luxury home-builder now with a presence in Charlottesville, told Wall Street analysts “that the Washington market was the hardest-hit in the nation by investors who bought properties intending to flip them, and who have put the homes up for sale,” according to the Post.

Sunday, April 23
Schilling a flash point or voters
The letters page of The Daily Progress is packed today with political endorsements and no candidate elicits more fervor (for or against) than Republican incumbent Rob Schilling, who seeks a second term on Charlottesville City Council. “During his first term, he has demonstrated a strong work ethic and a dedication to serving all of the people,” says one admiring writer. Not so, writes another: “Many folks say they are leaning toward…Schilling because they have heard that he responds to residents’ calls for help….These comments have prompted me to think about the role of our elected officials and voters’ expectations. Do we need leaders to research issues, develop legislation, do regional strategic planning and set budgetary priorities, or do we need leaders to solve personal, individual problems?”

Monday, April 24
Speed skater with a heart of gold
Twenty-six-year-old Olympic gold medalist Joey Cheek was expected, at press time, to speak at UVA today. The speed skater’s topic? Relief-aid programs in the Darfur region of the Sudan where government-sponsored genocide has already claimed 400,000 lives, according to the United Nations, and 2.5 million people have been displaced. In addition, another 3.5 million are now starving. When Cheek won $40,000 at the Olympics he gave it to the cause, challenging businesses and individual donors to do the same. Visit www.savedarfur.org if you want your heart broken.

Categories
News

Ingo's killer gets seven years

On Thursday, April 20, a jury found Robert Lee Cooke guilty of maliciously shooting  Ingo, an Albemarle County police dog, and sentenced him to seven years in prison. Circuit Court Judge James Luke denied Cooke’s request to be released on bond until his formal sentencing on June 13.
During the closing arguments, Commonwealth’s Attorney Jim Camblos emphasized the series of poor choices Cooke made during a break-in on October 24, 2004. Defense attorney Janice Redinger, meanwhile, stressed “the lies of [Ingo’s handler, Albemarle County Police Officer Andy] Gluba,” calling him “vindictive, lawless, and dangerous.” Camblos reminded jurors that Cooke asked armed officers at the scene to shoot him in the head because he didn’t want to go back to prison. “There was an opportunity for Cooke [to leave] even after shooting Ingo,” Camblos argued, but Cooke chose to stay and would have attempted to shoot Gluba, had Gluba not shot him first.
It took the jury just a few hours to return with a guilty verdict, and the sentencing portion of the trial began. Defense attorney Dana Slater argued that Cooke’s paralysis should be considered during sentencing, whereas Camblos said that while “we all feel sorry for [Cooke] that he’s sitting in a wheelchair,” Cooke’s paralysis “has nothing to do with the shooting of Ingo, and everything to do with [Cooke’s] choices.”
Cooke was visibly upset after jurors returned his sentence. He waved goodbye to his family as police took him away. What followed were emotional displays by Cooke’s family, some shaking with tears, others shaking their heads. Redinger acknowledged her disappointment, adding there would be an appeal.
Camblos said “the Commonwealth feels very good,” about the outcome. Gluba tearfully echoed Camblos’ sentiments, saying he felt the sentence was appropriate. “If it wasn’t for [Ingo], I would not be standing here today.”
On June 13, Cooke will also be formally sentenced for a felony firearm possession, which carries a mandatory minimum of five years in prison. If Judge Luke upholds Thursday’s sentence, Cooke will be eligible
for parole after having served 85 percent of his seven years.

Categories
News

Major retail headed to Fifth Street

Last week, urban planner Frank Cox said that soon he will introduce plans for a major shopping center to be built between Fifth Street and Avon Street Extended, just north of Interstate 64.
Cox would not say who the major investors are in the project, but in 2003 Cox appeared before the Albemarle County Planning Commission to discuss the project on behalf of (Dave Matthews Band manager and über-developer) Coran Capshaw. Around that time, Capshaw was angling to buy several different parcels on the 89-acre site, which is currently zoned for industrial use. About a year and a half ago, the County granted Cox’s request to change the land’s designation to Commercial from Industrial in the County’s Comprehensive Plan. In two or three weeks, says Cox, he’ll ask the County for an amendment that will officially change the land’s zoning to accommodate a major retail development.
Over the past three years, Cox says the mystery developers have performed market research and conducted interviews with shoppers at big-box retailers on Route 29N. “There’s a huge percentage of folks who now visit the 29 corridor who have more convenient access to this site,” says Cox. Retail on Fifth Street, says Cox, “is something the whole County needs.”
Cox says the site will host “several large anchor tenants,” but “not a large mix of uses.” This would be in contrast to recently approved projects like Albemarle Place at the corner of Hydraulic Road and 29N, which include significant amounts of housing along with retail and services.
A major feature of the project will be a developer-funded public road that will link Fifth Street and Avon Street Extended, a connection that the County is eager to see—especially now that the massive Biscuit Run development has County drivers fretting about increased traffic in the area.

Categories
News

Spare some change?

There’s a classic New Yorker cartoon that depicts a group of explorers—backpacks and machetes in hand—coming across a small spring in the middle of nowhere. It’s flowing with money, a geyser of bills spouting up from the center. “By God, gentlemen,” says the lead explorer to his hapless followers, “I believe we’ve found it—the Fountain of Funding!”
    As if.
    In reality, that Fountain of Funding looks a lot more like your next-door neighbor than a cash-spewing Jacuzzi. Accord-ing to fundraising industry standards, individuals (rather than, say, businesses) give four out of every five nonprofit donations, annually. The Urban Institute estimates that in 2003 Americans gave $188 billion to charity. Not that giving is the sole provenance of the wealthy. But logic holds that the more disposable income there is floating around, the more charitable donations there are from which a community can benefit. And Charlottesville (the lucky ’burg) has plenty of rich people—which means plenty of giving, and plenty of organizations willing to take that disposable dollar.
    Truism: The wealthy are attracted to this area like the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico. Back in 1996, only four homes in the area were sold for over $1 million. By 2005, that number had soared to 93. But the real estate market isn’t the only area to register such exponential growth. Since it began in 1967, the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation, an organization that helps rich people (and the more average among us, too) decide how and where to donate their money, has given away $15 million in grants. That’s nearly $200 for every mom, dad, sister, brother, cousin, second cousin, and Aunt Thelma in Charlottesville and Albemarle over the past 39 years. Remarkably, of that $200,
$40 per person was doled out in just the past year alone. In other words, the rate
of grant-giving has increased exponentially in recent years, almost doubling in
2001, and rising at least 20 percent in every year thereafter.
    A decade ago the CACF had exactly three donor-advised funds (a form of high-dollar piggy bank, offering maximum tax benefits, that donors pledge to the CACF, sometimes with stipulations as to how that money should be distributed). Today it has 86.
    “This is a very, very wealthy community,” says Paul Brockman, who consulted with CACF while spearheading a capital campaign for Shelter for Help in Emergency. “And the people who live here, I’ve found, are very, very generous people.”
    Signs of that generosity and the people attached to it are everywhere. Take a walk through The Paramount Theater on the Downtown Mall and the names of the rainmakers greet you at every turn: Purchase your tickets at the David and Janna O. Gies Ticket Window, enter the theater through the Ann and Jerry Harris Doors, and pass through the gold-leafed Mamie Atkins Jessup and Claude A. Jessup Memorial Lobby, with its imported silk-lined walls.
    Compare the names on the walls of the Paramount to the names on most every other donor-sponsored wall in town: It’s the same crowd again and again. Birdsall, Weschler, Crutchfield, Worrell, Grisham, McNeely, Jessup, Kuttner, Skinner, Fife, Sieg. It’s as if someone made a template for donor walls (pro bono, of course), then passed it out for the nonprofits to build around. Chad Hershner, president and CEO of the Paramount, puts the number of big donor families in the area at about 50.
    That said, Kevin O’Halloran, director of donor relations for the CACF, stresses that charity comes from all sorts of people, and that the giving itself comes in different sizes. Of the 3.5 million tax returns filed in Virginia in 2003, one third reported charitable deductions, according to the Urban Institute. Check out the thank-you page on, say, a Live Arts program or a mailer from Meals on Wheels; the number of donors shelling out a precious $100 or less far exceed the number in the topmost categories.
    “You dig into your wallet, what that number is [that you pull out] doesn’t really matter,” says Thane Kerner, chair of the current capital campaign for the City Center for the Contemporary Arts (sometimes known, incorrectly, as the Live Arts building). “If it’s a number where you notice that the money has gone, you notice.”

Yet while local giving stats grow, so too does the number of local nonprofits looking for support. In the past two years, nonprofits in Char-lottesville and the surrounding five-county area have nearly doubled, up to 750 in 2005, as catalogued by the Virginia Network of Nonprofit Organizations and the CACF. The good news is that more good people are doing more good things for more needy people (or artists). The bad news is that these funds are not unlimited. The fountain of funding is only so deep and there are many cups poised to dip in.
    William Johnson, a professor of economics at UVA, compares the competing campaigns to fast food.
    “If there’s a McDonald’s and a Burger King down the street from each other, and a third fast food restaurant moves onto the block,” he says, “it might be the case that the total amount [spent on fast food] goes up…but at the same time [the third restaurant] takes some business away from the other two.”
    Fundraisers, however, have a strategy. Phase One? Be friends with everyone. While some fundraisers admit there is competition for the gold, and that the competition has stiffened lately, this is a polite crowd. Meaning, none would go so far as to complain. Instead, the spin on that subject (recited with a glass of locally made Meritage in hand at a meet-and-greet reception, perhaps) runs along the lines of, “The more the merrier. Although, yes, of course it’s important to distinguish yourself from the competition.”
    C3A’s Kerner likens the local fundraising climate to the classic theory of shopping centers: More people will spend more if there’s more to spend it on. Instead of dividing donors, the mushrooming number of nonprofits is building them. (Incidentally, fundraising has its own lexicon: It’s not “donate,” it’s “invest.” And “big donor” is a misnomer, because “every donor is a big donor.”)
    Whether funding competition is on the rise, identifying donors and nurturing donor relationships is priority number one. People give to people. Hershner says he approaches fundraising with the mantra: “You should never ask somebody for a gift unless you know the color of their eyes.” Making that connection takes time and patience, but one-on-one donor meetings are the fundraiser’s method of choice. It’s not just talk: According to the Chronicle of Philanthropy, for every dollar spent on a private donor interview, the return is $24 dollars. For every dollar spent on a special event, the return is only $3.
    Finding and snagging those donors is about nurturing social connections (hence the importance of nonprofit boards) and appealing to individual interests.
    “[Giving] depends on who the donor is and what the donor’s interest is…People don’t give [big money] other than to areas of particular interest,” says Gordon Rainey Jr., the Richmond lawyer and UVA alumnus who’s in charge of UVA’s $3 billion capital campaign. In other words, UVA pitches its campaign based on different building projects or disciplines within
the school.
    For example, it’s unlikely the University would ask its famously perky alumna (and incoming CBS nightly news anchor) Katie Couric for a donation to the engineering school. UVA would be smarter to hit her up for a gift to a media studies library, or—because Couric became active in cancer research after losing both her husband and sister to the disease—a gift to the hospital.
    What’s the grand total sum of money currently being chased by the 750 local nonprofits? It’s nearly impossible to say. However, to get a general idea of local need, C-VILLE consulted the CACF. Based on their numbers, it seems safe to say that, at the very least, nonprofits in the area are chasing a treasure trove nearing $3.1 billion. From the giant UVA campaign to “the greenest school in America” to funds for a new YMCA facility, we’ve identified 10 of the top capital campaigns currently angling for a hefty slice of Charlottesville’s ever-expanding donor pie.
    Do you have your checkbook open?

University of Virginia

Feeling the pinch of statewide budget cuts, the No. 2 public university in the nation has seen its funding slashed in recent years. In order to com-pensate for belt-tightening, Mr. Jefferson’s Uni-versity, with enrollment of 19,000 and staff num-bering 11,200, is looking increasingly to private funding to keep it atop the higher education game.
Goal: $3 billion (According to the chief fundraiser, this number could grow after the University finishes a financial plan due by year’s end.)
Currently raised: $900 million since the campaign began in January 2004.
For: Endowment, scholarships, fellowships, endowed faculty positions, new buildings (the South Lawn project, John Paul Jones Arena, etc.)
Campaign Coordinator/Chairman: Gordon Rainey, Jr.
Timeline: Quiet phase ongoing since January 2004; the public phase will kick off in September; total to be raised by 2012.
Approach: Development officers meet with alumni associations, alumni events are held around the country, potential donors are personally phoned.
Big donors: Ivy Foundation of Charlottesville ($45 million), Claude Moore Charitable Foundation ($5 million to Nursing School), Paul Tudor Jones ($20 million to the John Paul Jones Arena project, for which he got naming rights. The building is named for his father, not the Led Zeppelin bassist).
“Big donor” means: “You’re not going to pin me down on that,” says Rainey. “If I name some figure it’s going to make the people who gave a smaller gift feel unappreciated.”
Make it happen: www.virginia.edu

The Paramount Theater

The renovation process of this 1930s-era 1,040-seat theater on the Downtown Mall took more than a decade after it sat unused for 30 years. The revamped doors finally reopened in December 2004 and since then the stage has welcomed the likes of Tony Bennett, Yo-Yo Ma and the Miami City Ballet.
Goal: $16.7 million
Currently raised: $13.9 million since the campaign began in 2000.
For: Restoration of The Paramount Theater on the Downtown Mall to its original look from the 1930s, as well as to create a fund for long-term building maintenance and educational funding.
Campaign Coordinator/Chairman: Chad Hershner
Timeline: Began fundraising in 2000; broke ground in 2002; hope to have funds entirely raised by April 2007.
Approach: One-on-one interviews, special events and parties, hard hat tours of site (when renovation was still underway).
Big donors: J. Aron Charitable Foundation, Bama Works, City of Charlottesville, Ted Weschler, Scott Thorp
“Big donor” means: $5,000 and up
Make it happen: www.theparamount.netMonticello/Thomas Jefferson
Foundation

Monticello is the hallowed home of Thomas Jefferson and the Foundation serves as the purveyor of his legacy. When news hit that Montalto, the mountain property directly in Monticello’s viewshed, was coming up for sale and vulnerable to developers, Monticello’s top dogs acted quickly, negotiating a contract on Montalto first, fundraising for that money second.
Goal: $15 million
Currently raised: $11.1 million since the campaign began January 2004.
For: Purchasing 330-acre Montalto, the mountain opposite from Monticello, formerly known as Brown’s Mountain.
Campaign Coordinator/Chairman: Melissa Young (since April 2006)
Timeline: Started fundraising in January 2004; hope to finish by this December.
Approach: Networking and one-on-one contact where possible.
Big donors: Kemper Foundations and R. Crosby Kemper ($1.2 million)
“Big donor” means: $5,000 and up
Make it happen: www.monticello.orgCharlottesville Waldorf School

One of 1,000 private schools worldwide based on the teaching of German education philosopher Ru-dolf Steiner, who believed children should be able to learn at their own pace. Offering early childhood education and grades one through eight, the school has changed locations five times in its 25-year history, but hopes to put down permanent roots when it builds “the greenest school in Amer-ica” on a 13-acre property it owns on Rio Road.
Goal: $6.1 million
Currently raised: $2 million since the campaign began in November 2004.
For: The Greenest School in America, meaning an environmentally sustainable building that meets “green” architectural and construction standards.
Campaign Coordinator/Chairman: Marianne Lund
Timeline: Started fundraising in November 2004; hope to have building completed by 2008 and fundraising completed by 2009.
Approach: Nurturing social connections, art shows and concert benefits, community symposiums and events related to environmentally conscious design.
Big donors: Two anonymous donors, one who gave $850,000 and another who gave $400,000.
“Big donor” means: $10,000 and up
Make it happen: http://greenestschool.orgAsh Lawn Summer
Music Festival

Currently in its 27th season, each summer the Music Festival brings opera, musical theater, lectures and musical performances to a temporary open air stage on the property of President James Monroe’s home at Ash Lawn-Highland.
Goal: $6 million
Currently raised: $0
For: Permanent theater to seat 500 indoors, with an additional 250 lawn seats. They are currently working with Bushman-Dreyfus Architects on a preliminary design.
Campaign Coordinator/Chairman: Judy Walker
Timeline: Have not yet started raising money because they are still finalizing the agreement with the College of William and Mary, which owns Ash Lawn-Highland. As a result no timeline has been set.
Approach: N/A
Big donors: N/A
“Big donor” means: N/A
Make it happen: www.ashlawnopera.orgCity Center for
Contemporary Arts

When it opened in 2003, the City Center for Contemporary Arts, or C3A, consolidated the Live Arts theater company, Second Street Gallery and Light House Studio (a youth media nonprofit) under one stylish roof on Water Street.
Goal: $4.15 million
Currently raised: $3.3 million since the campaign began in 1998.
For: Water Street facility that houses Live Arts, Second Street Gallery and Light House Studio.
Campaign Coordinator/Chairman: Thane Kerner
Timeline: Began fundraising in 1998; hope to be finished by April 2007.
Approach: Small donations from a large number of people, encouraging donors with personal connections to the organizations, networking, direct mail, special events, interviews and one-on-one presentations to donors.
Big donors: Bama Works, Batten-Rolph Foundation, Perry Foundation
“Big donor” means: $100,000
Make it happen: www.c3arts.orgBoys and Girls Club

A national program designed to provide educational and emotional support for youth—particularly disadvantaged kids. Locally, 1,000 kids ages 6 to 18 take advantage of the BGC’s programs at either the 10th Street and Cherry Avenue location or at the Southwood Mobile Home Park.
Goal: $10 million
Currently raised: $100,000 since the campaign began in October 2005.
For: New 25,000- to 30,000-square-foot facility near Buford Middle School. The complex will include a gym, computer room, library, fine arts room, a couple of multipurpose rooms, large games room, administrative offices, canteen and kitchen. They are currently looking for architects to put in proposals for the exterior of the project.
Campaign Coordinator/Chairman: TBD/Currently hiring
Timeline: Started fundraising in October 2005; hope to have enough money to break ground in two to two-and-a-half years; According to Executive Director Timothy Sinatra, a date for completing the fundraising is difficult to pin down because donors often pledge money over a period of time.
Approach: One-on-one interviews.
Big donors: Sinatra would not disclose potential big donors at this point, but did say that “our board is 100 percent behind [this project], and certainly will be some of our largest contributors.”
“Big donor” means: $500,000-$1,000,000
Make it happen: http://avenue.org/bgcvillePiedmont Family YMCA

In 2004, the YMCA provided more than 7,000 kids in Charlottesville and Albemarle County with everything from sports to summer camps to child care to leadership training in its facility off Route 29N.
Goal: $7.5 million, or, with a different building design, $12 million to $15 million.
Currently raised: $4 million since the campaign began in December 2005.
For: 42,000 square foot core facility with pool, locker rooms, wellness center with track, full gym, multipurpose rooms ($7.5 million); 63,000 square-foot facility with core-facility features plus competition pool, additional gym, additional multipurpose rooms, full daycare facility ($12 to $15 million). They are currently working with architects VMDO on a design for the exterior of the building.
Campaign Coordinator/Chairman: Kurt Krueger
Timeline: Began fundraising in December 2005; hope to break ground when they reach $7.5 million in early 2007; haven’t yet set time frame for raising total amount of money.
Approach: Individual meetings with donors,
utilizing personal connections through board members.
Big donors: Albemarle County ($2 million)
“Big donor” means: “Six digits,” says Kreuger.
Make it happen: www.piedmontymca.orgFanfare for the Future/ Charlottesville Symphony Society

Every fall and spring the symphony, with musicians from both the community and UVA, presents a concert series featuring composers from Handel to Bernstein in the Cabell Hall Auditorium.
Goal: $3 million
Currently raised: $1.5 million since the campaign began in January 2005.
For: Endowed chairs, scholarships, educational concerts, guest artists.
Campaign Coordinator/Chairman: Anitra Archer
Timeline: Began fundraising in January 2005; hopes to be finished by April 2007.
Approach: Announcements during concerts, brochures, pre- and post-intermission concert parties and one-on-one meetings with donors.
Big donors: Not disclosed.
“Big donor” means: $10,000 and up.
FYI: While technically this $3 million is part of UVA’s $3 billion dollar capital campaign, it’s counted separately because the Symphony is its own nonprofit (501c3), and thus is responsible for raising the $3 million on its own.
Make it happen: www.virginia.edu/music/ensembles/cusoShelter for Help in Emergency

Each year since it opened in 1979, the shelter has provided a safe haven for more than 250 victims of domestic violence and abuse—many of them children. The location is secret in order to protect the people that the shelter assists.
Goal: $3 million
Currently raised: $1 million since the campaign began in January 2005.
For: New shelter and new community outreach center. (Would not disclose any further information. The location’s address is kept private due to the nature of the work.)
Campaign Coordinator/Chairman: Paul Brockman
Timeline: Started fundraising in January 2005; hope to break ground sometime this year; hope to complete fundraising in 2007.
Approach: One-on-one contact.
Big donors: Perry Foundation ($250,000), several anonymous donors who have given $50,000 or more.
“Big donor” means: $10,000 and up.
Make it happen:
www.shelterforhelpinemergency.org