Month: June 2006

On Friday, June 23, UVA grad Ron Suskind addressed a packed house at the Miller Center, as part of its Forum series. The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist discussed his latest book, The One Percent Doctrine, which tackles the core of the United States’ playbook on terror following the September 11 terrorist attacks.
The book’s title comes from Vice President Dick Cheney’s declaration that “if there’s a one-percent chance that Pakistani scientists are helping al Qaeda build or develop a nuclear weapon, we have to treat it as a certainty in terms of our response.”
    Describing the Cheney Doctrine as a “moral departure,” and one that “separates the original twins of analysis and action,” Suskind warned that now “the threshold for action of the world’s No. 1 superpower is suspicion… [And] each of us would fall under that wide umbrella of 1 percent.”
    This, Suskind’s third book, came from his desire not “to seek answers,” but to “frame the appropriate questions.” Despite having been the senior national affairs writer for The Wall Street Journal and having “terrific access and a press pass,” Suskind gamely admitted at his talk, “I realized I knew nothing on the War on Terror. What I knew was based on the thin gruel of official-speak.”
    “Welcome to the War on Terror,” Suskind told an audience of approximately 250 people. “You’re on a need-to-know basis, and those needs are decided by those in power.” Namely, the White House and the CIA (or, as he called it, “the central organ”). The problem with this scenario, as Suskind sees it, is that controlled information creates fear, and “fear is a profound and powerful motivator.”
    It was fear that motivated many of Suskind’s sources to come forward, he claims. “When I started in 2002, there was hesitancy,” Suskind said. “But people eventually said, ‘Tell me again what we have to fear about the public truth?’” These individuals, whom Suskind describes as “people on the front lines of counter terrorism… the combatants from the FBI and NSC,” came forward “because they were afraid of people not knowing what they ought to know.” Furthermore, they were worried that “after the next attack, people will ask, ‘How could you not of told us the truth? We can handle the truth.’” Suskind closed his discussion by urging listeners to have a “real discussion… a real messy one to decide where the lines should be drawn.” In his most chilling remark, Suskind noted that America will almost certainly suffer another terrorist attack, which makes an open discussion all the more important. “We need to do it now,” he implored.

Speaking to the press on Friday, June 23, Albemarle County Commonwealth’s Attorney Jim Camblos said two parents at a Crozet after-prom party where teens were drinking will not be charged. Camblos also underlined the County’s commitment to prosecuting teen drinkers and those who contribute to their delinquency.
    The parents, whose names were not released, hosted a party at their home May 28 that resulted in the arrest of 17 high school students. But, Camblos said, the parents didn’t condone underage alcohol use—in fact, “these parents poured it out when they found it.”
    “These parents did not provide alcohol like parents did several years ago,” Camblos said, referring to George and Elisa Robinson of Albemarle, who were sentenced to eight years in prison in 2003 for buying alcohol for a party for their 16-year-old son.
    Teen drinking has been at the forefront in Albemarle since a crash killed 17-year-old Nolan Jenkins after a May 19 party. No parents were present when police arrested 11 teens after that incident.
    Since then, the Albemarle School Board has debated whether it should expand its off-grounds alcohol policies, currently embedded in the athletics manual. It has also considered asking for legislation to allow police to release information about teen drinkers who are under 18.
    The Albemarle Board of Supervisors has expressed interest in working with the School Board on alcohol policy. Camblos said his office will probably not get involved in the alcohol policy debate.

On July 1, UVA’s much-ballyhooed “restructuring” will finally come to pass. The change, codified in the Restructured Higher Education Financial and Administrative Operations Act, is just as complicated as its name suggests. Basically, the new law gives UVA more freedom from State oversight in exchange for fewer State dollars.
    Restructuring gives UVA more flexibility when it comes to raising money and building new facilities. But what does it mean for UVA’s thousands of employees?
    According to a “Frequently Asked Questions” section at UVA’s website (www.virginia.edu), current workers will see no change in their terms of employment. For people hired after July 1, however, things are not so clear.
    UVA’s website states: “All new salaried staff, non-faculty, hired on or after July 1, 2006 are hired as ‘University Staff’ and will be covered under University HR policy. Initially, University Staff will be covered by policies very similar to the current state policies.”
    Jan Cornell, president of the Staff Union at UVA, has long opposed restructuring, and she says it’s that word “initially” that worries her. For now, the new HR policy will be mostly the same as the current policy, which is dictated by the State. In the future, however, UVA administrators could make changes that may be good for business but not for workers, Cornell says. UVA officials did not return calls by press time.
    “We need to worry about our youngsters coming up and working at UVA 10 years from now,” says Cornell. As it stands, current employees have the option of keeping the State system or jumping over to the new HR policy (whatever it may turn out to be). UVA’s website calls the option to join the new policy an “opportunity,” but Cornell says she is advising current workers not to jump to the new plan. “I’m not trying to be difficult,” says Cornell. “I just want to see the plan first.”

    City officials released plans Friday for 18 Charlottesville neighborhoods, from Greenbrier to Woolen Mills. “Everything that you see [in the plans] comes from a citizen,” says Neighborhood Planner Brian Haluska.
    The common themes? Transportation. Things like sidewalks, bus service and parking are referenced in all the plans, according to Haluska. He notes that affordable housing and zoning also get heavy rotation.
    The City’s Neighborhood Development Services department has learned a few lessons from the last time they made neighborhood plans. For the 2001 neighborhood plans, the department held approximately 150 meetings. “It’s fairly obvious, but we learned you burn out people with that many meetings: staff, public, everyone,” says Haluska.
    This year, the plans took only 24 meetings: six during the fall, with follow-up winter meetings for each neighborhood that drew between 300 and 400 residents apiece, according to Haluska. “Because we had a framework, we decided to do something less intense,” he says.

Memorial services were held last week for Qroe CEO Robert Baldwin and Qroe Regional Director David Brown in Bedford, New Hampshire, and Hartford, Connecticut, respectively. The two men died in an Albemarle County plane crash on June 14 while trying to land in bad weather on the Bundoran Farm property they were working to develop.
    The men leave behind Qroe Companies, an entity founded by Baldwin to further his vision of development—a vision that sought to respect and preserve the environment surrounding Qroe’s projects. Starting in 1974, Baldwin followed his limited-development principles with several New England properties. By selling these sites at a premium, Baldwin was able to create a model for profitable development that didn’t send the neighbors running.
    Bundoran Farm, a property his company bought last year from Fred Scott, would have been Baldwin’s biggest project to date. When word circulated that Scott’s property had been sold, fears of view-decimating McMansions abounded. But these fears were soon smoothed over by Baldwin, who spent considerable time explaining his unique view of development. Overall, the company is planning only 88 buildable sites on a property that could easily be zoned for 163. Perhaps more importantly, those sites were all chosen for minimal disturbance of streams, forests, fields and views, and will be protected by interlocking easements.
    “[Baldwin] was a pivotal figure in one of the most important trends in urban development,” said Richard Peisar, professor of real estate development at Harvard Graduate School of Design, as quoted by The New Hampshire Union Leader.
    Baldwin, 75, is survived by his wife, four children, and 10 grandchildren. Brown, 55, leaves a wife and three children (his daughter Pamela graduated this year from UVA).
    There is no word yet on how the company will handle the loss of both its CEO and regional director. Preliminary plans for the Bundoran Farm development were submitted June 12 to the Albemarle Planning Commission.

Summer is here, and with it comes a host of jobs offered by your local government.

    Maybe you want to switch careers, or maybe you just want to expose your teen to actual sunlight. Fortunately for eager job seekers, Albemarle County and Charlottesville have dozens of open positions for part- and full-time workers of every stripe.
    If your brand-new Hummer still leaves you feeling…inadequate, why not compensate by driving something even bigger? Luckily for you, the County is currently hiring school bus drivers! And you can even park your ginormous new vehicle right outside your home (a fact listed by the County as one of the benefits of the job). Imagine how impressed the neighbors will be with that bright-yellow beast nestled in front of your crib.
    And even if that country club you had your eye on still won’t let you in, your fantasies of torrid affairs with desperate housewives need not die. Why not be a tennis instructor for Charlottesville’s Recreation Department? The ladies do so love a tennis pro, don’t you know.
    Speaking of fantasies, here’s one for all of the masochists out there. Looks like the City’s Treasurer’s Office is seeking customer service representatives. (Extremely high tolerance for existential pain a must.)
    Still not sure what to do with your life? Don’t worry, neither are most high school students. And looky here! Western Albemarle High School needs a guidance director. At over $50K a year, this gig looks pretty sweet. Oh, hold on… it requires “considerable tact and diplomacy.”

Well, it looks like this writer, for one, won’t be switching jobs this season.

Chocolate may be an aphrodisiac, but now, thanks to Mars, Inc., it has another, more educational function: history lessons. To sweeten the deal, the company (which, according to the release, “has played a sweet role in American history”) even incorporated our very own Thomas Jefferson, the nation’s third president, into the gooey mix.
    The famed chocolate giant announced Friday, June 23, that it was making a $100,000 donation to the Piedmont Environmental Council, which helps preserve Montalto (a.k.a. Brown’s Mountain), the mountain overlooking Monticello (and other important historical areas). As of Friday, Monticello will now become one of five historical sites to sell American Heritage Chocolate—a unique line of chocolates made from historically authentic recipes (sounds appetizing, right?). Mars, Inc., and the Colonial Chocolate Society hope to expose Americans to the chocolate of our ancestors—so go ahead and bite off a chunk of a “colonial chocolate stick” and enjoy. One warning, however: Colonial recipes were primitive, at best, when compared to the technological wonder that is the modern chocolate bar. But hey, apparently TJ bought 23 pounds of the stuff, so it can’t be all bad. I mean, we all know what a huge chocolate-lover he was.