Month: December 2008

Life gets better for Obamas, even if they don

For all the Obamas out there: your life has changed forever. From handshakes and smiles to avoiding parking tickets. 

Just ask Denise Maye Obama, a UVA freshman.

"I signed up for a Harris Teeter card the other day, and the woman was, like, Obama?," she told the Washington Post. "She said: ‘That’s a first. Are you related to the president?’ Everyone asks if I’m related to the president now. One of these times I’m going to say yes, just for the fun of it."

Obama, however, said her name hasn’t helped her get inauguration tickets yet. Last time she saw the President-elect was when he was still running against Hillary Clinton at a Charlottesville rally. "My name didn’t do me much good that time," she said. "I didn’t even get to shake his hand."

The name Obama is rare, writes reporter Steve Hendrix (humm…can he play “Purple Haze”?). According to databases, there may be fewer than 20 families in the country, compared with more than 11,000 Clintons and 60,000 Bushes.

Anyone out there with a “celebrity” last name?

Mike Groh ousted as offensive coordinator

Just about everybody saw it coming, and now it’s official: Football Head Coach Al Groh has fired his son, Mike Groh, from his position as offensive coordinator.

“Since the end of the season, I have done the annual review of every aspect of our program in order to make our plans to move forward to the next season,” said Groh in a statement issued this afternoon. “Part of that moving forward will involve changes in our systems and staff.

“The change in systems will be made to utilize the player talent available to us from our current roster and incoming players, and the changes in the staff will be made to accommodate those schemes.”

Rivals.com broke the story last night, and The Daily Progress, Richmond Times-Dispatch and other outlets quickly followed up. But the action had seemed imminent since the football team ended the season 5-7 after losing—yet again—to Virginia Tech. UVA Athletic Director Craig Littlepage announced last week that Al Groh’s contract wouldn’t be extended. Virginia and Duke are the only squads out of the 12 ACC teams that won’t go to a bowl game this year.

Since Mike Groh, an acclaimed UVA quarterback in the 1990s, took over the role of offensive coordinator, the offense has never finished the season higher than 101 out of 119 division I-A teams.

In addition to Mike Groh, Levern Belin, defensive line coach, is also leaving to “pursue career opportunities.” Steve Bernstein, assistant head coach and defensive backs coach, will retire. Bob Pruett will move to the position of assistant head coach/defense, while Bob Diaco will become defensive coordinator. Anthony Poindexter will move from running backs coach to defensive secondary coach.

Groh will conduct a “national search” to replace his son and the other vacancies. Jeff White of the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that former offensive coordinator Ron Prince, who was fired earlier this year from his position as head coach of Kansas State, hasn’t been contacted yet about the job.
 

Time magazine goes undercover with VQR!

As part of its annual, increasingly authoritative "Top 10 Everything" year-end special, Time dubbed the Fall 2008 edition of the Virginia Quarterly Review one of the "Top 10 Magazine Covers" of 2008. Ninth overall, in fact—edged out by the September issue of Los Angeles, but victorious over the September issue of Mad, which features a character named "Alfred E. Obama." Zing!

Time art director Arthur Hochstein gives the cover image—a photograph by Ashley Gilbertson, interviewed here in C-VILLE—praise for its mix of focus and distance. "The dead victim is vivid and alive in the dream of his sister, whose life may have lost focus because of her profound loss," writes Hochstein. See the cover below, in all its critically acclaimed glory!:

Ooh! Aah! The Fall 2008 VQR gets some well-deserved love from Time.

Time’s praise is the most recent feather in the VQR’s cap, but Feedback came across another this weekend: Two stories from past VQR issues were reprinted as part of this year’s Best American Nonrequired Reading anthology, selected by a committe of high school students. Read their discussion of J. Malcolm Garcia‘s "The White Train" here, and read a second selection, Helen Habila’s "The Hotel Malogo," here.

Hotel update: Halsey Minor hires new development firm

On Friday, Lee Danielson confirmed reports that he was no longer the Landmark Hotel’s developer. He later told C-VILLE he received a letter from owner Halsey Minor’s attorneys announcing his firing.

On Sunday, Minor responded via e-mail about the future of the 9-story hotel under construction on the Downtown Mall, saying there are plans in action to move the project forward.

“We have hired a firm that specializes in building high-end hotel properties (Ritz Carlton, Four Seasons, etc) to manage and coordinate construction going forward,” he wrote.

“Much has been said about speed. We are now focusing on quality—not speed—so we can deliver on our original promise in terms of a one-of-a-kind experience. It is important that the Landmark be a unique addition to the community and not another hotel.”

For more on the Landmark’s ongoing financing saga and the strange public spat between Minor and Danielson, click here.

Halsey Minor (right) and Lee Danielson, pictured earlier this year at the Landmark Hotel’s groundbreaking

Categories
News

Away went the manger

Dear Ace: I’m a Charlottesville native who moved away for 10 years during that time a controversy over the Nativity Scene at Lee Park began. I’m wondering, what became of the statues/figures/stable/fencing, etc.?—Mary Anne Joseph

Mary Anne: Oh, how Ace loves a controversy. If there’s a conversation brewing about genetic engineering, Ace will be there. If there’s a discussion on the legalization of drugs, Ace will be there. And wherever there’s a debate about national security, well, Ace’ll be there too.

So, in the spirit—and maybe a little bit in the hope—of stirring up some trouble, Ace gave Jane Thomas, assistant director of Covenant’s lower school, a ring (on the telephone, folks. Ace is taken—with himself! Ha ha ha). Being a Charlottesville native, Ace vaguely—he was younger then, of course, and perhaps a little self-involved—remembered the nativity being turned over to TCS in the late 1980s, shortly after the school opened, because of an issue—a controversy, if you will—with the separation of church and state. Following his conversation with Jane, during which she confirmed the school’s possession of the figures, he e-mailed Janice Watson, TCS’s curriculum coordinator, who, according to Jane, has been there “a very long time.”

From there, nothing short of a constant flurry of e-mails came pouring in from TCS faculty past and present, including Pat Stouffer, who’s directed the event for seven years. In all, eight people participated in the conversation, each with additional information, each CCing the e-mail to someone new, and each with Ace in the middle sussing out the relevant information. He’s quite tired after it all.

After sifting through the muck and mire, this is what he found out: The Covenant School opened in the fall of 1985 and began the Live Nativity tradition (student and parent volunteers take 30-minute turns in elaborate costumes playing the characters). The following year, the school added the Lee Park Nativity scene to its existing one.

This year’s Live Nativity at TCS (complete with the pieces you’re concerned with —statues, figures, etc.) will take place on December 18. Plus, Jane says, the school has recently added live animals and music to the experience. And you know how Ace feels about that: Wherever there’s live animals and Christmas tunes, Ace’ll be there. 

You can ask Ace yourself. Intrepid investigative reporter Ace Atkins has been chasing readers’ leads for 19 years. If you have a question for Ace, e-mail it to ace@c-ville.com.

Contrary to claims, Goode outspent Perriello

Days after losing the election, Fifth District Congressman Virgil Goode complained to NBC-29 that his opponent, Democratic challenger Tom Perriello, spent $3 million more than he did.

“We were considerably outspent,” he told the Charlottesville TV news station. “Lotta New York money* poured in here.”

The post-election financial disclosure reports filed yesterday with the Federal Election Commission tell a very different story: It was Goode who out spent Perriello by $250,000.

Combined, both campaigns spent $3.5 million on the race for the Fifth District congressional seat, with Perriello laying down $1.69 million and Goode burning through $1.81 million.

In the final push to the election and the weeks after f(rom October 16 through November 24), Goode spent $799,000. That’s more than double Perriello’s expenditures of $382,000.

Perriello has a 745-vote lead going into a recount, on which both campaigns will presumably spend money in order to get observers in place. The recount will take place on December 16 and 17.

* Check out C-VILLE’s feature story on campaign donations, which showed that Perriello’s real secret was tapping the wealth of Charlottesville and Albemarle.
 

Meadowcreek Parkway closer to reality?

This time around, is the Meadowcreek Parkway on track for real?

The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) announced that nine companies have bid on the Albemarle County portion of the MCP contract. The lowest bidder appears to be Faulconer Construction Company in Charlottesville with $11,782,035.81. The bids ranged from $11.8 million to $17.2 million. The bids will be reviewed by VDOT and analyzed to see if they conform to the Engineer’s Estimate. The process may take several days.

Once the winning bid is vetted, it will be presented to the Commonwealth Transportation Board on December 18. Construction of the county’s piece of the parkway—1.4-mile, two-lane road from Rio Road south to the city limits at Melbourne Road—could begin as early as February if all goes according to plan.

Bids for the construction of the city’s portion will be advertised in early 2009.

A list of all bidders can be found here. Click on the December 5 bid date.

 

Hotel saga continues: Halsey Minor fires Lee Danielson

Sitting on a plane to come back to Virginia, Lee Danielson confirmed reports that he had been fired by Halsey Minor, owner of the Landmark Hotel on the Downtown Mall. Minor did not immediately return calls for comment.

Early last month, Minor and Danielson were protagonists of a feud concerning the future of the hotel. At that time, Minor told C-VILLE exclusively that “Mr. [Danielson] is the former developer. We won’t be needing his services when the project resumes.” Danielson insisted he still was the developer and expected to complete the project as such.

Will the Landmark Hotel be fleshed out, or are we going to see this shell of a building for the foreseeable future?

On November 12, Minor said the project was in serious jeopardy and would shut down completely because his lender, Silverton Bank, had failed to make a $1.1 million payment. Minor said he put up $7 million to the $24 million borrowed from a Silverton subsidiary that does hotel financing, Specialty Finance Group LLC. Danielson and the bank contradicted Minor’s version of the story, and the construction consultant, Cliff Harrison, said that a problem with funding had been cleared up.

Court records indicate that the hotel’s construction management company, Clancy & Theys, put $3.1 million in mechanic’s liens on the property on November 12. But the company was apparently paid, because all of the liens were satisfied on November 20, according to court documents. Moreover, work has continued since the developers’ public spat.

So, what will be the future of the hotel? “I have no idea what’s going on except that it’s a crying-out-loud shame,” says Danielson. “I am always a hopeful person and I think the project speaks for itself, it’s a great project.”

When asked about his future plans, Danielson laughed. “I am flying back to Virginia and I am going duck hunting, that’s what my plans are right now.”

-With additional reporting by Will Goldsmith

Thanksgiving leftovers: Beyoncé or waffles?

About a gazillion music-related things happened while I was prepping for my vacation in Houston: Someone had an identity crisis, someone had a Manilow crisis, and a nation of Guns N’ Roses fans suffered without the attention of a certain doctor.

I, however, had a blast. How could this be? Let’s take a closer look:

What happened: Beyoncé Knowles, the prodigal daughter of Destiny’s Child, released I am…Sasha Fierce, a two-disc album with half the tracks attributed to Knowles’ new identity. Pretty Much Amazing has a few unreleased tracks like "Roc," supposedly written for her bee-eff Jay-Z. Give ’em a listen, then tell me which you’d rather have—Sasha Fierce, or ferocious chicken and waffles?

My response: While Ms. Fierce promoted her record and new identity, Feedback swooped by Houston’s The Breakfast Klub, a spot favored by Lady B that serves phenomenal chicken and waffles. If you like it so much, Beyoncé, you should’ve put a ring on it.

What happened: Kanye West and Axl Rose released albums in the same week and, despite the globe-quaking drums in West’s "Love Lockdown," the world didn’t buckle under the weight of their combined egos (as Sasha Frere-Jones notes).

My response: To paraphrase Daniel Day-Lewis: I drank Axl’s Dr. Pepper. I drank it up! But should the Doctor be a bit more liberal with the Pepper?

What happened: A municipal court in Colorado threatened noisy boys and girls with an hour of Barry Manilow for noise-related violations. Somewhere in Charlottesville, a child dreams of breaking the noise ordinance with the world’s loudest performance of "Mandy."

My response: I didn’t do anything that corresponded with noise ordinances or offenses in Houston. Instead, I went to the zoo:

How many large-horned animals does it take to operate a turntable?

Greenings-on about town

If my Saturday were greenly perfect, this is what it would look like:

In the morning, I’d get up and ride my bike to the Nelson Community Market (opens at 9am in the Rockfish Valley Community Center off Rt. 151). There I would partake of community pancakes, then buy a pair of earrings for my mom from the nice lady who makes earrings, and a jar of local honey for my dad.

Then I’d drive my electric car to the Habitat Store, get my picture taken with Santa (9am-noon), whisper in his ear my wish for about six more sets of glass tupperware, and make a donation so the store can keep salvaging perfectly good construction materials in 2009.

Readers: This here is, as bloggers say, the "break." Feel free, at this point, to scroll on down to "comments" and put forth your own ideal-green-Saturday ideas. Or just keep on readin’.

Then I’d take the bus out to the Waldorf School for their holiday bazaar (9am-2pm), where I’d learn to make my own wreath so I don’t have to buy one at The Wal-Mart of Evil, and then pick up a sewed-by-a-real-person handbag for my sister-in-law. Then I’d take the long walk to the holiday farmer’s market at Forest Lakes (10am-3pm in the North Recreational Poolhouse and Pavilion) where I’d buy as many jars of local jam as I could comfortably stuff in my backpack—at least six, one for each of my aunts.

Then I’d collapse into a virtuous but exhausted huddle, rejuvenate by eating the most calorie-rich thing I could find on the menu at Rev Soup, and rouse myself for one final stop: the Innisfree Village holiday open house (10am-5pm), reached via a helicopter that runs on native grasses, where I would buy some pottery and weavings for my brothers, who do not like such things, but should learn to be grateful for what they are given.

Back at home (donkey power!), I would experience a moment of regret that I had forgotten to take the trolley to the Holiday City Market on the Downtown Mall (10am-5pm), but then I’d remember that it’ll still be happening next week, and every week until Christmas.

And then I’d help myself to a big glass of Virginia Viognier and fall asleep with visions of sugarplums—local sugarplums, which I wonder if I could get at IY—dancing in my head.

What’d I forget, reader-elves?