Month: January 2009

There are many ways, and here are two.

First:

If you can’t decipher that, it says RECYCLE YOUR OLD ELECTRONICS FOR FREE, and then it says "Saturday, January 31st from 9am until 3pm at the Rio Hill Shopping Center in the Crutchfield Parking Lot."

So, all you analog refugees and folks with broken stereos in the basement, here’s your chance to do the right thing without spending a dime.

Second:

Between now and February 4, write to the Albemarle County Board of Supes, or call ’em up, in support of the Local Food Hub. They’ll be voting on funding for the project on that date, and organizers are trying to make sure the Supes know that folks want this to happen. If the vote is yes, the Hub will get $180K between county money and private matching funds.

What is the Local Food Hub? I’m so glad you asked. Basically, the idea is to support local growers of fresh produce—especially farmers just starting out—by helping them with the tough parts of farm operation like distribution, liability, and delivery. The people behind this, one of whom is Feast! owner Kate Collier, want to build a warehouse space where farmers can rent fridge and freezer space, store and process food, and get distribution to places like schools and senior centers. It’s a really good idea and it’s really ambitious, and it’ll bring some new channels of the food system in line with the "eat local" ethos that’s already swept through the restaurant and farmer’s market worlds.

If you want to know more, read this or email localfoodhub@me.com for a full explanation of what they’d like folks to communicate to the Supes.(…whose contact info, by the way, is here.)

Any other good deeds we should do? Post ’em here.

This afternoon, UVA President John Casteen introduced Harry Harding as the first Dean of the University’s Frank Batten Sr. School of Leadership and Public Policy.

Casteen said that UVA founder Thomas Jefferson’s emphasis on useful science and useful knowledge was a driving force behind the creation of the school. Of course, that was facilitated by the largest gift in UVA history, a $100 million donation from Landmark Communications, Inc. executive Frank Batten, Sr.

“This is an enormously wonderful opportunity for me,” Harding told C-VILLE. “This is a chance of a lifetime.”

Harding, a China scholar, served as dean of the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University for 10 years. Prior to that, he was a senior fellow in the Foreign Policy Studies Program at the Brookings Institution.

The school is intended to be closely linked to other schools and programs in the University, and, Harding said, will address four main concerns: the meaning and study of leadership; an integrated and united look at domestic and foreign public policy; state-of-the-art training for students for service at all levels of governance—local, state, national and international level; and a successful integration of graduates in the private sector.

“Most schools of public policy, even if they have a foreign component, it’s an umbrella concept,” he said, highlighting that both disciplines are still taught separately. “I am hoping that we will be able to integrate them more than any other school.”

New Dean Harry Harding will begin his term July 1.
 

Not for you, brickfans. For the construction crews!

Having recovered from our cold, Brick Watch was taking a lunchtime stroll this afternoon and what did we notice but nearly 50 construction workers seated in Enoteca for an end-of-month free lunch.

Weatherford estimates around 45 crew members
(out of 60) attended today’s lunch at Enoteca.

Says Barton Malow Project Manager Chris Weatherford (who also got in on the free nosh), The Nook suggested providing a midday meal for the crew and he agreed, looking to keep spirits up and morale high.

In fact, Weatherford says they’ll be having celebrations like this at the end of every month. In February, they’re planning on setting up a tent and holding a raffle. "We’ll be more organized about it next time," Weatherford says. Today’s event was sort of thrown together last minute and accomplished by word of mouth amongst crew members.

Weatherford offered Brick Watch our own plate, but we declined; we’re still pretty full from our brick chicken. Though, we have to say, the meal did look tasty: meatloaf with gravy, mashed potatoes, and corn. And we noticed someone with a side of fries. Happy eating, men.

C-VILLE has just learned that the UVA Foundation, the real estate development wing of the University, bought the 60-room Econo Lodge at 400 Emmet Street for $6 million.

Rather than register the purchase under its own name, the UVA Foundation instead bought the property using the name “Meadow Creek II Corporation.” The Foundation, which also owns the Cavalier Inn and the Boar’s Head Inn, does not list the purchase on its website, despite the fact that the purchase was made in May.

Tim Rose, CEO of the UVA Foundation, confirms the purchase and says, by e-mail, that the Foundation has no plans for redeveloping the property and will continue operating it as a hotel.

“It was purchased because it is adjacent to UVA property,” says Rose. “So it is a long-term, land-banking acquisition, not one for immediate need.”

Almost all of the Foundation’s other real estate holdings are titled to “University of Virginia Foundation.”

Rose says that the use of an alternate name is a practice used with the hotels that it owns and that the name “Meadow Creek II Corporation” comes from the fact that Meadow Creek is the name of the corporation that owns the Cavalier Inn.

However, property records indicate that “University of Virginia” appears in the title of its other hotels. The Boar’s Head is titled to “University of Virginia Host Properties Inc.,” while city property records list “University of Virginia Foundation” as the owner of the Cavalier Inn.

The UVA Foundation purchased the Econo Lodge on Emmet Street for $6 million in May. (Image courtesy City of Charlottesville assessor’s office.)

Yeah, the economic spiraldown hurts. That’s for sure. But, as a few people have cautiously pointed out, it’s got benefits too. Just as higher gas prices forced us to be less frivolous with our driving, a collapsed housing market may encourage more judicious building.

Behold the local evidence: The Daily Progress says that Biscuit Run is on hold. And I say, hurrah. I know that the project’s backers are none too happy, but that’s them. I speak only for myself: a former resident of Old Lynchburg Road who is just as happy to see the woods stay wooded and the 3,100 homes stay on the drawing board.

And I’m hardly alone. Biscuit Run, probably on account of its sheer size, inspired plenty of outcry when it was going through the approval process back in 2007. If you love that part of Albemarle, it’s small comfort to realize what a prime spot for development are the 1,400 acres of Biscuit Run. The way it is now—green, open, mostly left to itself—is beautiful, and it serves an important purpose for all of us, a kind of pressure-release valve just south of the city. Imagining cul-de-sacs and school buses and frappuccinos in there gives me physical pain.

But it’s not just open space that’s at stake. Want to talk carbon footprints? Want to talk car-centric development? Want to talk construction waste, erosion, runoff and noise pollution? Even when developers explicitly talk about greening their activities—Belvedere would be Exhibit A—I find it tough to believe that large-scale housing projects won’t be a serious net negative for the environment.

So, I say, hurrah. Let’s put all the construction workers who would have been building those houses to work on our aging infrastructure instead, and let’s hope the developers magically forget about this whole Biscuit Run plan by the time the economy improves. Can I get an amen?

At a press conference today, UVA announced Bruce Boucher as the new director of the University of Virginia Art Museum. Boucher, an architectural historian, educator and museum curator, comes to the University from the Art Institute of Chicago. His experience in the field spans more than 35 years.

This afternoon, Interim Director Elizabeth Turner and UVA Provost Tim Garson introduced Boucher to a group of faculty, University officials and students as “a versatile leader and effective communicator.”

“Bruce comes to UVA at the right moment,” said Turner, “as we begin to imagine and move forward with the newly expanded role of the University Museum.” The intention is to physically increase the size of the collection and increase the profile of the museum nationally.

Boucher would like the museum to become bigger and better, he told C-VILLE. “I think we have a great collection, and I think we can make strategic additions to it, in terms of buying first-class works of art, and I hope we can also leverage our collection in terms of loans to other institutions, and receiving loans from other institutions.”

More on the vision of the museum after the jump.

The new Director of the UVA Museum of Art Bruce Boucher says he would like the museum to become bigger and better.

Boucher, who for 24 years taught art history at University College London, said he will bring a “slightly Mid-Atlantic stand,” in trying to serve as a facilitator for the museum staff. Boucher said it will be vital to have “synergy” with other departments, such as art history, architecture and history.

And it is the desire of University officials to bring the museum up to national and international standards, despite the tough economic times—see Brandeis University—that impressed Boucher.

“I find it very heartening that the University of Virginia is seeking to raise the profile of the arts and strengthen the art museum in a time when, let’s face it, many universities are closing museums and selling off their collections,” he said.

Boucher succeeds Turner as head of the museum, who replaced Jill Hartz a year ago.

Newly elected Fifth District Congressman Tom Perriello has been actively engaged in the decision-making process that happens in Washington. Perriello has already sponsored a bill and has already opposed President Barack Obama on the release of more bailout funds. All in all, he has been pretty successful for a guy who’s been on the job three weeks. Now he may add another accomplishment to the list: Nominee for Hottest Congressional Freshman!

The Huffington Post released the top five hottest freshmen in the 111th Congress. And Perriello, 35, is in good company: Glenn Nye, 34, a Democrat from Virginia; Aaron Schock, 27, a Republican from Illinois; Jim Himes, 42, a Democrat from Connecticut, and Jared Polis, 33, a Democrat from Colorado.

Perriello may need your vote one more time. You can cast a ballot here.
 

Fifth District Congressman Tom Perriello may need your vote once more. He is in the running to be names Hottest Congressional Freshman.