Month: June 2010

By his own estimation, architect Bill Atwood is the sort of guy who puts too many ornaments on the Christmas tree. During a recent meeting of the city’s Board of Architectural review—in which he presented a new, significantly reconfigured design of his five-year-old Waterhouse project—the board confirmed as much.

“The whole thing needs to be simplified, really massively,” said board member and UVA preservation planner Brian Hogg. Fellow BAR member Eryn Brennan, president of Preservation Piedmont, agreed.

“I’ll just say briefly: Corbusian cruise ship meets ziggurat Frank Lloyd Wright,” said Brennan.

But if Brennan, Hogg and a few other members took issue with a few ornaments, Atwood’s tree at 218 W. Water Street won a few words of praise. South Street homeowner Brent Nelson told Atwood that his design—lowered to a six-story “village” from a nine-story tower, and extended horizontally towards South Street—was Atwood’s “best design yet.”

“What this change allows is for a building that more successfully allows for needs on Water Street, but also creates a presence on South Street more appropriate for the houses that lie across the street,” said Nelson. BAR chair Fred Wolf told Atwood to refine his drawings, and then “let this thing be read as a village—a really nice term, the way you described it.” 

Atwood’s Waterhouse village maintains a mixed-use approach, with two stories of office space situated between a lower story devoted to parking and capped by residential units. “If you can recruit a company to be on two floors, and they’re currently on four, and you have an atrium,” said Atwood during an interview, “you can see your company. There’s a one-ness.” Companies, according to Atwood, don’t want towers.

And a company is Atwood’s great hope for seeing his project realized. He told the BAR and C-VILLE that he had recruited a business to come Downtown, and would give its name at a later date. According to Atwood, the business is “a national company that wants a brand.”

At this point, Atwood says he has abandoned the idea of a tower—a significant change from four years ago, when Waterhouse was one of a few nine-story projects vying for the sky in Charlottesville. When the city rezoned Downtown in 2008 to create three separate corridors—Downtown, South Street and Water Street—site plans for both Waterhouse and the Landmark Hotel had been approved. 

And while Atwood calls the Landmark “one of the most devastating things to happen to this town,” he concedes that Waterhouse might have followed the same path, had it not lost a loan when Lehman Brothers filed the largest bankruptcy claim in U.S. history. “We were headed right down that road to building a tall building,” Atwood told C-VILLE. For now, and as long as he stays at the drawing board, Atwood has another shot at the one thing the Landmark does not—a first impression. 

C-VILLE welcomes news tips from readers. Send them to news@c-ville.com.

The shortest distance between any two points—crosswalk signals, for instance—is a straight line. The same goes for a stroll down Water Street, from the front doors of Second Street Gallery to the rear entrance of CVS Pharmacy. Or, that’s how it worked before the Landmark Hotel.

During construction of the would-be 10-story hotel and ongoing excavation work at the dormant site, the path is a bit longer, thanks to the wooden and concrete construction barriers that eliminate a half-block of sidewalk and one westbound lane at Second Street SE. Pedestrians cross Water Street at Third SE, walk a block beneath the awning of the parking garage, and round the two-crosswalk elbow at Second SE into the home stretch. 

And that’s the path of the patient man. Last week, a reporter watched more than a few locals move diagonally from the intersection’s southeast corner to the northwest, including one man wheeling a stroller.

“It’s caused a detour literally for years—we’ve all learned to work around it but we’re very, very tired of it,” a reader commented on the C-VILLE website. “It’s a hazard and encourages unsafe street crossing.”

However, city officials and construction workers say the intersection will return to its normal state during the next month or so. City traffic engineer Jeanie Alexander says via e-mail that the construction barriers on Water Street will be removed in July, when the city’s $808,000 beautification of Second Street is complete.

“The westbound through lane will return and the existing lane will once again be a left turn lane,” says Alexander. “The crosswalk will also return.” Plans show both a pedestrian light and a bicycle rack at the portion of Second Street SE that intersects with Water.

Chris Weatherford, a project manager for Barton Malow, refers to the construction barriers along Water Street as a “bump out,” and says he has not received any complaints about the intersection from pedestrians.

“We kind of grandfathered that [bump out] from the hotel project,” says Weatherford. “It’s basically been in that same spot since the hotel project began. That’s where that delineation came from.”

While a single westbound lane on Water Street forces some through-traffic to wait for the occasional southbound turn, it might also make for a slightly more harrowing passage for local cyclists. Charlottesville’s 2003 Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan identifies Water Street between West Main and East High streets as a “medium priority” site for transportation improvements, and bicycle lanes are still hard to come by.

“Due to existing conditions, bike lanes probably would not fit well on Water Street,” reads the plan. “The use of shared use lane arrows and signs should be considered to reinforce the likely presence of bicyclists.” 

As for the pedestrian path, Weatherford says that the “bump out” will be replaced by a “bulb out,” which will improve visibility for pedestrians, cyclists and drivers alike.

“An all-new sidewalk will go up to CVS,” says Weatherford. “The whole thing will look similar to what has been completed on Fifth Street.”

Having a hard time picturing the good ol’ days of the intersection? So is Google Maps. Click on the “street view” for the intersection, and it shows an image of the Landmark’s infancy—only three stories tall when the picture was taken—with barriers in the same place. Time for an update.

C-VILLE welcomes news tips from readers. Send them to news@c-ville.com.

 It would be quite easy to dismiss the experimental music played at The BridgePAI Saturday night. In fact, the term “experimental music” itself might already have your eyes rolling. But don’t sell yourself short, Charlottesville. Just because screaming was the preferred vocal gesture and the most virtuosic player was sticking metal objects into a block of dry ice doesn’t mean it’s irrelevant.

The young and refreshingly unpretentious Benjamin O’Brien started the night off with two works performed on a setup of his Fender Telecaster, a few effects pedals and a computer running the music composition program Max/MSP. Both pieces explored a script he had written for Max/MSP which would identify the frequency O’Brien played on his guitar and trigger a preloaded action based on the determined note. The subdued influence of O’Brien’s former teacher Fred Frith, the British guitarist and improvisation pioneer, was pleasurably apparent in much of the melodic phrasing during the performance. While O’Brien lacked a confidence that may only come with age, his work was promising.

The following duo, KAMAMA, showed a similar insecurity which may simply be endemic to younger artists. Cellist Audrey Chen’s screaming and drummer Luca Marini’s extended technique suggested an element of primal disregard for convention, but the two, along with O’Brien, didn’t seem to overcome the liability of self-awareness. It’s one thing to be inspired in the moment to lodge a pencil between the cello strings, or to play the snare with a rubber ball. But the audience should be convinced it’s a moment of invention rather than a gesture predetermined to be appropriately weird.

Members of the Friction Brothers, the final act, are well established in the avant-garde world and have nothing to prove. (Cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm studied with New York School composer Morton Feldman, and both he and percussionist Michael Zerang collaborate with Jim O’Rourke, the producer, experimentalist and former Sonic Youth member.) This allowed them to fully occupy their sound in a way the previous two acts could not. Lonberg-Holm and Zerang provided a rich, grinding sound to accompany Michael Colligan’s dry ice playing. Colligan has developed a technique of embedding spoons, coins, pots or thin sheet metal into dry ice which, as the ice melts, emits a haunting timbre similar to an exorcism. Zerang and Lonberg-Holm’s low register playing and Colligan’s metal polyphony was a gorgeous death rattle of the industrial age and the perfect soundtrack for our time.

Dear Ace: It’s well known that Presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died within an hour of each other on the Fourth of July in 1826. What other famous Americans expired on the holiday?—Patrician-Mortician-in-Charlottesville

Ace wonders if every classic American patriot—statesman, war hero, spaghetti Western character actor, etc.—secretly hopes his life’s trajectory will end on Independence Day. Is it possible, in the same way some expectant mothers try to time their deliveries for the beginning of the New Year, that the nearly simultaneous passing of our second and third presidents was the result of a tacit rivalry between them?

In any case, our fifth President, James Monroe, was quick to repeat the feat, taking his leave on July 4, 1831. Likewise, Paul Joseph Revere, grandson of the Revolutionary War legend and a Union Colonel during the Civil War, was mortally wounded during the Battle of Gettysburg, and after lingering for two days in a field hospital, died on July 4, 1863. Revere received posthumous brevetting to Brigadier General. Fast forward to 2002, with the Independence Day passing of Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., commander of the World War II Tuskegee Airmen and the first African-American general in the US Air Force. Finally, Jesse Helms, the controversial five-term Republican Senator from North Carolina, secured his place in the “croaked on the Fourth of July” cabinet with his death in 2008.

July 4 also marks the conclusion of three American actresses’ lives: Judy Tyler, who starred opposite Elvis Presley in Jailhouse Rock, and was killed in an automobile accident in Wyoming in 1957, at age 24; Anne Shirley, famous for her character of the same name in the 1934 film Anne of Green Gables, in 1993; and Eva Gabor, the Hungarian-born actress and American socialite, in 1995. Winnifred Quick, English emigrant to the United States and one of the longest survivors of the sinking of the Titanic, passed on Independence Day in 2002, as did velvet-voiced soul singer-songwriter and record producer Barry White in 2003.

But perhaps the supreme example of American heroism can be found in the July 4 death of professional wrestler “Adorable” Adrian Adonis, tag team partner of Jesse Venture in the late ’70s. Adonis was slain, along with several other wrestlers, in a minivan accident in Newfoundland, when the driver allegedly swerved to avoid hitting a moose and, blinded by the setting sun, inadvertently drove into a lake. 

You can ask Ace yourself. Intrepid investigative reporter Ace Atkins has been chasing readers’ leads for 21 years. If you have a question for Ace, e-mail it to ace@c-ville.com.

The proposed Albemarle economic development action plan has been drawing much attention. The initial version was developed by members of the local business community in meetings with supervisor Ken Boyd and staff. The meetings took place without the knowledge of supervisors Dennis Rooker and Ann Mallek, chair of the Board of Supervisors. To the surprise of supervisors Rooker and Mallek, the action plan appeared on the agenda for discussion in a work session in May. 

Time overruns of previous agenda items resulted in a short work session in May. A longer work session in June included public comments, sharp exchanges between supervisors and proposals for revisions. A public hearing on the plan now is scheduled for July 14. Support from supervisors Boyd, Lindsay Dorrier, Duane Snow and Rodney Thomas is driving this fast-track handling of the plan. 

At the June work session, environmentalists raised many concerns about language in the initial draft. A revision of the action plan is available now at the Albemarle County website.

This revised draft is improved in many ways. However, the Sierra Club believes the revised draft contains serious flaws.

The draft states that the primary goal of the action plan is to “Increase the County’s economic vitality and future revenues through economic development by expanding the commercial tax base.” This is too narrow. The Sierra Club believes, for example, that better jobs for the working poor and affordable housing should be included among primary goals of an economic action plan. 

We know that overpopulation undermines environmental protection and the accomplishment of sustainability. Given this, the Piedmont Group of the Sierra Club believes that an economic development action plan should reject strategies that require or promote population growth. The draft plan proposes attracting targeted types of business. We are concerned that jobs in businesses that move here will be filled not by current residents but largely by new residents who move here specifically to fill the transplanted jobs.

The Piedmont Group of the Sierra Club believes promotion of local food production and local direct marketing are key to the survival of local agriculture. We have been dismayed by the unwillingness of the supervisors to fund the rural economic development position called for in our comprehensive plan. The discussion in the draft action plan lumps agribusiness with tourism, downplaying the fundamental role of agriculture in feeding our population.

Recently, some members of the Board of Supervisors succeeded in cutting financial support for vital areas of the County government (e.g. planning, education). Now, we see the same board members proposing an economic development plan that places new burdens on existing staff and launches a major intrusion by local government into the workings of the local economy. We believe no new burdens should be placed on staff until currently frozen planning positions, especially rural planning positions, are filled. Also, we are concerned that as the general ability of the Albemarle County government to serve the general public good is being reduced, it is acquiring a new and problematic role as an instrument of some local business interests.

The Sierra Club encourages all concerned residents to read the revised draft economic development plan and communicate your thoughts about it to decision-makers. Staff in the Albemarle Department of Community Development will hold a roundtable for public comment on July 1. You can e-mail your thoughts to all Albemarle supervisors at bos@albemarle.org. Your opinion will matter if you share it with decision makers!

Tom Olivier holds degrees in biology and biological anthropology. He is conservation chairman of the Piedmont Group of the Sierra Club. He lives in southern Albemarle County where he builds computer models of animal populations and raises sheep with his wife, Wren.

While some local residents pack cars and make plans for summer vacations, Charlottesville officials remain busy with one of the most important decisions City Council will make all year. The informal process of selecting a new City Manager began in January, when Gary O’Connell announced plans to leave his 15-year post and accept a position as Executive Director of the Albemarle County Service Authority. 

Although the position profile is still under review and will be made public soon, the city, for the first time and as a cost-cutting measure, circulated a survey that asks residents to help find the right candidate.

“We are actually trying to save money with this,” says Ric Barrick, city spokesperson. Charlottesville enlisted the help of Richmond-based Springsted Incorporated to assist with the logistics of the search, for a total of $16,000. Normally, a consulting firm would craft and present the survey. This time around, “we used text for a survey [the firm] did in Arlington and we customized it…and saved about $3,500,” says Barrick. 

The position will formally open to the public at the end of the month and, according to Norris, the city will be looking for applications to come in throughout July, with a final decision anticipated by the end of the summer. “I expect we are going to be flooded with applications, and with really quality applications,” says Norris. “Charlottesville is a very attractive place to live and to build a career, it’s a highly respected city government.” 

From now until the end of the summer, Maurice Jones will act as interim City Manager. Calls to Jones regarding his interest in the position were not immediately returned. 

“I don’t know where he is in the thought process,” says Norris. “But if he does decide to throw his application in the ring, he’ll be a very compelling candidate, I can say that.”

What makes a compelling candidate? The survey’s first question deals with leadership, and asks residents to list the three most important leadership qualities the next city manager should possess. Among the possible answers are experience, transparency, personal integrity, accountability and adaptability—a trait Mayor Dave Norris says is very important. 

“This is the person we look to run City Hall, to keep our department heads and city staff accountable, and keep them focused on what needs to happen to deliver high quality public services,” Norris tells C-VILLE. “Good leadership skills are essential.” 

According to the survey, candidates need to produce demonstrated effort in six areas: financial management, public safety management, environmental sustainability, social equity, regional partnerships and cooperation and management of staff and operations. 

For Norris, one of the main priorities for the new manager should be infrastructure issues. “Obviously, the water supply has been a big focus lately,” says Norris. “But it’s not just the water supply plan—it’s the sewer system, it’s transportation, it’s parks and recreation. And I’d say sensible economic development.” 

Choosing the new leader of City Hall also has its upside. “It is our chance to leave a lasting imprint on the city. We are short timers here on City Council, but the City Manager could be here for 15 to 20 years,” says Norris. “It’s an exciting opportunity to help shape the city for years to come.” 

C-VILLE welcomes news tips from readers. Send them to news@c-ville.com.