Month: December 2010

That’s why we’re excited about the big night when the lights shine and nightlife comes alive for the dawning of the new year. And we know. It’s been a while since you’ve gone out. So to jog your memory we’ve put together a comprehensive guide —where to go and how to get there, what to drink while wearing what, and how to apologize for it all come January 1—that will make this holiday the most, well, whatever you want it to be, that you’ve ever had.

When the ball drops on December 31, we don’t want you to feel like you dropped the ball on a great night.—Andrew Cedermark 

New Year’s Eats

Local restaurants make it special

We’ve all been there: Dragging a loved one around town, tears flowing freely, ruing the moment when we said, “I’ll make reservations for New Year’s Eve dinner tomorrow,” before settling into the wobbly table at the worst restaurant in town. New Year’s Eve is one of the biggest dining evenings of the year. Plenty of local restaurants offer options you won’t have to refinance your house to enjoy. What you will have to do, however, is make reservations if you want a stress-free holiday night with well-prepared food at a range of prices, complimentary spirits and live entertainment.  

All fixed up

Be sure to wear a mask that leaves your mouth readily accessible at Veritas Vineyard and Winery’s Masked Ball. The $140 prix fixe menu, prepared by chef Jonathan Boroughs, pairs five courses with the vineyard’s wines. Or toss your optional black tie over your shoulder at Palladio, where $155 gets you a five-course feast courtesy of chef Melissa Close Hart, paired with five of Barboursville’s wines. The Boar’s Head has a $95 five-course revel that gives diners a little more leeway—Pan Seared Filet of Arctic Char anybody?—but that probably won’t leave you feeling like your dish wasn’t prepared with love.

Pared down

Good food and quiet times can be had in equal measure in a few more reasonably priced sittings. On West Main, L’étoile has four French courses for $65. With a glass of wine or two, you might end up spending around $60 for a meal on any night at the Ivy Inn, so a prix fixe, five-course menu of mostly local fare is a steal; ditto for the staunchly local Brookville Restaurant on the Mall, which has a five course tasting menu for $55—including a glass of cava. Did we say local? The Local has two seatings—one at 6pm for $45, and another at 8:30pm for $55—the second of which includes a bit of bubbly at midnight.

Party time

Speaking of sparklers, other restaurants tip the balance toward party. The 12th Street Taphouse hosts a party night, with Heavy Burner and the Charlottesville Comedy Roundtable. Horse and Hound has arranged for the taxis to arrive at 12:15am to usher you from a $125, seven-course beer dinner. Fellini’s #9 hosts a champagne toast every hour on the hour starting at 5pm, when 2011 first touches ground in Istanbul; meanwhile, enjoy a four-course $50 prix fixe Italian adventure, or order a la carte. Across the tracks, wear a tuxedo or your favorite white tee and black jeans to the X Lounge’s White and Black party, where a three-course dinner can be had for $38 in addition to lighter fare. Or enjoy a fixed Mediterrenean experience at Bashir’s Taverna for $45, while Rick LaRue and Noriko Donahue keep things classy. 

Business as usual

If the celebrating isn’t for you but you still want a night on the town, business as usual continues at a few local strongholds: C&O, Hamiltons’ at First and Main, and Zinc.—A.C.

Get fizzy with it

New Year’s bubbles with spirit

Bubbly and New Year’s Eve go together like Dick Clark and Times Square, but drinking straight bubbles all night is about as exciting as watching Dick’s entire New Year’s Rockin’ Eve. 

Ringing in the New Year is no time for restraint, so why not do it up and drink your bubbly in cocktail form? Sparkling cocktails are a festive and delicious way to freshen your flute this holiday. But, even if your venue of choice doesn’t have a sparkling cocktail on the menu, come bearing a recipe and most bartenders will merrily mix up some off-the-menu fun. If you’re the bartender, stock up on a few bottles of tasty, inexpensive sparkling wines, like Cristalino Cava Brut NV ($8.99, Market Street Wineshop), Gruet Brut NV and Rosé NV ($14.49 each, Harris Teeter), or Motelliana Prosecco NV ($10.99, Market Street Market).

Whether you’re staying in or stepping out, here are 10 cocktails that will help you get your sparkle on this New Year’s Eve.—Megan Headley

The Classic Champagne Cocktail: Soak a sugar cube with a couple splashes of angostura bitters in the bottom of a flute. Fill slowly with sparkling wine and garnish with a lemon twist. 

Black Velvet: Fill a pint glass halfway with sparkling wine and then slowly pour in stout until full.

Blushing Bride: Pour ½ oz. of peach schnapps and ½ oz. of grenadine into a flute and fill with sparkling wine. 

Champear: Fill a flute two-thirds full with sparkling wine and then add a “float” of pear brandy.

French 75: Shake 1 ½ oz. of dry gin, 2 oz. of fresh lemon juice, and 2 tsp. of superfine sugar over ice in a cocktail shaker. Strain into a flute or collins glass, top with sparkling wine, and garnish with a cherry.

Kir Royale: Pour ½ oz. of crème de cassis (blackcurrant liqueur) into a flute, fill with sparkling wine, and garnish with a lemon twist.   

La Vie en Rose: Soak a sugar cube with 1 oz. of rosewater in the bottom of a flute. Top with sparkling wine (pink, if you have it!) and garnish with sliced strawberries.

The Lola: Shake 1 oz. of vodka, 2 oz. of pomegranate juice, and a splash of St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur over ice in a cocktail shaker. Strain into a flute, top with sparkling wine, and garnish with pomegranate seeds.

Poinsettia: Shake ½ oz. of cointreau or triple sec and 2 oz. of cranberry juice over ice in a cocktail shaker. Strain into a flute, top with sparkling wine, and garnish with an orange twist.

Sgroppino: Put ½ oz. of chilled vodka and ¼ cup of frozen lemon sorbet into a flute. Top with prosecco (keeping it Italian) and garnish with mint.

Hem and her

Four flirty dresses to get you in the party mood 

C. Luce strapless tube dress from Jean Theory ($116; 110 Fourth St. NE, 296-5326), drop earrings and cocktail ring from Cha Chas ($12 each), Pour La Victoire Pico pumps from Scarpa ($295).  

Milly rose dress from Eloise ($695; 219 W. Water St., 295-3905).

Velvet black long sleeve dress from Spring Street ($289; 107 W. Main St., 975-1200). 

Photos: Sarah Cramer Shields, Makeup: Lora Kelley, Styling: Caite White 

New Year’s on and off the skids

How do you take your “Auld Lang Syne”?

It’s odd to think that so many people wake up on January 1 regretting the choices they made the night before. With the luxury of foresight, looks like good times and good tunes are sprouting up everywhere. As far as entertainment goes, there are no bad choices to be made. 

But having lived through one or two celebrations ourselves, we do know that, for some, New Year’s Eve has a way of going south. It’s good to know in advance that south is the way things are headed at the Jefferson Theater, which on the big night hosts Chapel Hill’s Southern Culture on the Skids. For 15 years the band’s rickety, howling garage rock has captured the woozy fun of a too-late night on the town. 

Look forward to a recession-friendly show…if by recession-friendly you mean, it won’t be champagne flying in the air at midnight, but malt liquor. That won’t be the only liquid flying through the air: Songs like “Corn Rocket,” “White Trash” and “Doublewide” are all about fried chicken, banana pudding (both of which the band is known to toss into the audience) and sex (plenty of others will be throwing that around). If there was ever an excuse to wrap your sexiest New Year’s Eve outfit in Saran Wrap, this may be it. 

But signing on for the Jefferson show doesn’t mean that you can’t do the rounds with First Night Virginia, the 29th annual celebration of 12/31 that brings rides, food and folks to the Mall. Kid-friendly adventures (puppet theater, storytelling, short films from Light House) and classical music selections run 3-6:30pm; after nightfall, it’s country music with throaty wunderkind Cody Purvis, magic from Eric Jones, comedy from the Bent Theatre and—if watching a guy throwing objects in the air wasn’t 3D enough for you—local juggling whiz Mark Nizer’s 3D experience at the Paramount Theater. (Cost for First Night is $5 for kids and $15 for adults, or $35 for two adults and two kids, with modest extra charges for some events.)

If you’re looking for some tunes that are either quieter, or off the beaten path, you’ve got plenty of options as well:

A New Year’s party begins early at Fellini’s #9, with performances by a couple of excellent local jazz vocalists: musical theater presence John Carden is accompanied by Fellini’s regular Bob Benetta, and—cute alert!—the local pianist Hod O’Brien accompanies his very talented teenage daughter, Veronica Swift. 

Skip town for a wine pairing and ball at Nellysford’s Mark Addy Inn. Featured will be the fastest, funkiest, downright stankiest group in town, Naughty Dynamic and the Design. All in a relaxed country setting. Go figure! (Make reservations at 361-1101.)

Feeling tired? Old? Head out to the Hamner Theater’s fourth annual Geezer’s Ball, which runs from 6-9pm, with tunes, improv, charades, cash bar and a potluck. That’s right—celebrate the New Year three hours early and start 2011 well-rested.

So whether you celebrate at home, at the Jefferson, or anywhere else in town, cap off the celebration—well, at least punctuate it—with a free open air “Auld Lang Syne” singalong at midnight at the Charlottesville Pavilion with your fellow citizens. 

Just study the words before you go: “Should old acquaintance” and then lots of “nah nah nahs” until it’s 2011.—A.C.

Ask a numerologist

What’s to come in 2011?

When the math gets tricky, as it will in 2011—since 11 X 11 is 121 and 111 X 111 is 12321 and 1111 X 1111 is 1234321!—it’s easy to forget that numbers exist as a measure of value. But for a numerologist’s purposes the number 1 does not simply mean, say, 1 apple and no others. Rather, 1 carries with it all of the human values. Perhaps selfishness, a willingness to guide oneself, or simply being better than all the rest. It gets weirder from there.

So, by the numbers, what does 2011 mean to numerologists?

Numerologist interpret 2011 in two different ways. Let’s start with the easiest way, because it spells better news. The method is simple: Add the four digits of the coming year, and you get (since 2 plus 0 plus 1 plus 1 is how many?) 4.

Numerologists hold the number 4 to be systematic and without artifice—perhaps the most practical of all numbers. Like economists, who also make dubious claims about the future, numerologists agree that the current economic crisis will be getting worse before it gets better. So it behooves any type-4 personalities to approach 2011 with caution. A word to the wise: Minimize risk, financial or otherwise. The lucky little irony? Anyone entering 2011 with a “soul number” of 4 will strive for stability, with a narrow-minded aversion to risk in the year of four.
How convenient.

Less convenient is what happens when you split up the number in the other way. Some numerologists grow queasy at the thought of splitting up a number with repeat digits, and that’s just what 11 is. So in this case, take 2 and 0 and 11 and what do you get? 

O, 13! Unluckiest of numbers! The age at which Pagans begin their study of witchcraft! The floor on which no elevator in its right mind will stop! O,
a public access TV station! But poor 13 only gets associated with the negatives because it betokens radical change. So in 2011 even revolutionary types should prepare to be revamped. Keep in mind, radical types, that you can actively shape change with the right amount of preparation and tenacity.

Sounds scary, we know, but it may be best to save whatever concerns you have about a coming year for 2012.—Spencer Peterson

All hail cabs!

Drink and be driven

After a night of making mistakes on the town, getting home can be a challenge. Worry not, O party animal. Charlottesville’s got a team of designated drivers who will get you where you need to go even at the latest hours—and who will, like your friends, base the cost of the service rendered on a grid that you could never possibly understand. Make the most of your night, and live it up.

Access Taxi

What: “Serving Charlottesville, Virginia, since ’05.”

Call: 974-5522

How much: $1.50 for first 1/10 of a mile; $.30 for each 1/6 of a mile; $.30 for each minute; $.45 for each 1/6 mile after $4.20; $.45 for each mile after $4.20; $.50 each trip between 10pm and 6am; $2 county to county.

Extra charges: $1.50 for hazardous weather.

B & M Taxi Cab, Incorporated

What: “We handle all your traveling needs.”

Call: 293-8294

How much: $1.50 for the first 1/10 of a mile; $.50 for each 1/6 of a mile or 60 seconds; $2 for all trips beginning in or out of the city limits; $1 after midnight.

Extra charges: $1 after midnight; $300 charge for any bodily fluids in the car.

CVille Yellow Cab Co.

What: The ones with the funny mottos on the back.

Call: 295-4131, 295-6688

How much: $2.40 a mile.

Extra charge: $24 an hour.

Norm’s Taxi Service

What: “We can handle all your transportation needs.”

Call: 327-9500

How much: $2 for the first 1/10 of a mile; $.40 for each 1/6 of a mile up to $5.60; $.55 for each 1/6 of a mile after $5.60.

Extra charges: None listed.

Wahooptie

What: “If you’re looking for your mama’s taxi, don’t call us.”

Call: 249-TAXI

How much: Depends on the whip.

McCoy’s Taxi Service

What: “Charlottesville’s premiere taxi experience.”

Call: 295-7433

How much: $2 for first 1/10 of a mile; $.40 for each additional 1/6 of a mile; $.55 for each 1/6 of a mile after $5.60.

Extra charges: $5 for each extra person after 5 people; $300 for bodily fluids in vehicle.—Ellen Stodola

Keithing it real

A New Year’s Eve playlist

The dawning of a New Year is the perfect opportunity to look both backward and forward. Who better to get us started in such an exercise than Keith Richards, who has, against all odds, cheated both time (he’s as famous as ever) and death (he’s still alive) to forge into an uncertain future? So look back, look forward, listen and enjoy.

“Happy,” The Rolling Stones (from Exile On Main Street Deluxe Edition) Thanks to Life, a memoir as bold, brash, and rakishly charming as his best riffs, it’s been the season, if not the year, of Keith. When he took over the mic to proclaim, “I need a love to keep me happy” back in ’72, nobody thought he’d live to see the end of the decade. A full 38 years later, he’s still going strong, and this signature song rings as true as ever. 

“Help Me, Mary,” Liz Phair (from Exile In Guyville) If Phair’s Exile really were a song-by-song answer to the Stones’ Exile then the match for “Happy” would be “Fuck and Run”— probably not the best strategy for a successful new year. Better to celebrate tempering “hatred with peace” and weaving “disgust into fame,” especially since Phair impressively channels Keith’s loose yet propulsive chordings on this ultimately uplifting track. 

“P.S.,” Ryan Adams and the Cardinals (from III/IVI) It’s almost always worth looking to the past before moving forward into new year/decade. This rousing glam kiss-off came out of ’07’s Easy Tiger sessions. Why it’s taken so long for alt-country’s allegedly reformed king of dramedy to unburden himself of it is anybody’s guess. Just glad to finally have it. 

“Ready to Start,” The Arcade Fire (from The Suburbs) The Grammy-bound Arcade Fire made a bit of history in 2010 by hitting no. 1 with an indie release. Win Butler never quite sounds like he’s ready to bust a move—he’s far too cerebral for that. But this instructive, upbeat ode to new beginnings rocks most of the moodiness out of him until he indeed resolves that he’s “ready to start.”  

“Not Afraid,” Eminem (from Recovery) Anyone who can go from Relapse to Recovery in the span of a year deserves props. Poised to overshadow The Arcade Fire and just about everyone else at the Grammys, the new Eminem made some major New Year’s resolutions when last the the ball dropped. He may sound angry and defiant at the start of “Not Afraid,” but before long he’s apologizing (!!!) and urging us all to take his hand and move into the future. Redemption, not to mention recovery, is, as Martha Stewart would say, a good thing. 

“Just Dance,” Lady Gaga feat. Colby O’Donis (from The Fame Monster) Just because—because she brought spectacle to a new level (and to Charlottesville) and had a fashionably great time doing it. So just shut up and dance. It’s New Year’s Eve…

“Wake Up Everybody,” John Legend feat. the Roots (from Wake Up!) Sure, the video plays a bit too much like a big-budget PSA and Legend’s channeling of What’s Going On-era Marvin Gaye comes off slightly stilted. But the Roots come to the rescue, grabbing the groove and then the mic to take this socio-political wake-up call to places Gaye never had the chance to dream of. 

“Daft Punk Is Playing At My House,” LCD Soundsystem (from LCD Soundsystem) With Daft Punk busy deflecting lukewarm reviews of their TRON: Legacy soundtrack, it’s not likely they’ll be playing any house parties over the holidays. LCD Soundsystem’s performance of the electrofunk homage/send-up at the Pavilion earlier this year proved that this track isn’t just the next best thing—it’s better. For best results, press play and repeat. 

“The Future of Music,” The Invisible Hand (from The Invisible Hand) It just wouldn’t be right not to celebrate something from Charlottesville as we ring in the new year, and The Invisible Hand have all the makings of the future of music. Angular melodies, hyperkinetic drums, gloriously noisy guitars, and a frontman who sings with the kind of passionate intensity Yeats would approve of. 

“Fake Empire,” The National (from Boxer) Until something better comes along, every New Year’s Eve should end with “Fake Empire,” an epic ode to staying out “super late” that begins as a slow dance and gradually gains a glorious kind of momentum. By the time the lights go out, Matt Berninger is crooning “No thinking for a little while” as the horns kick in and the drummer drives off into the rising sun.—Matt Ashare

Mistakes can’t be unmade

But you can escape them. Here’s how.

New Year’s Eve is a night of epic possibilities, mistake-wise. It’s a night of relationship-enders, physical harm-doers and reputations-soilers. But there are ways both graceful and semi-legal to if not make amends, then to get out of jail.

(We’re speaking in metaphors here. You wake up in jail, some dumb collection of words in a free weekly won’t do much for you.)

So let’s begin where the consequences do: At the end. If you wake up alone in your house, stop reading now. Even if you think you’ve made a mess of your night and/or life, you haven’t. I say this as a man who hasn’t had a New Year’s Eve free of weapons-grade meltdowns since the age of 16. I say this as a man who spent the very first moments of this glorious new century in the streets of Muncie, Indiana, screaming my then-girlfriend’s name among a throng of revelers, a bottle of tequila my moral compass.

Muncie, Indiana, people. I don’t care what kind of night you think you had, if you wake up without the addition/subtraction to the number of people who usually wake up in your house, you’re fine.

For the rest of us, there is work to be done.

First step—reconnoiter your new surroundings, asking strategic questions such as: Where’s my phone? Is this my blood on my phone? Why is this bloody cigarette wrapped to my phone with twine? Then: Am I alone/the first one up in the alley/church/meth lab/penthouse? If yes, run. 

Run without shame. There is no act, no words, no besmirched honor, name or marriage that your legs can’t carry you from. Maybe there’s shame in running. There’s also shame in admitting your legal identity. Run! What harm is a five-hour jog with a little intermittent vomiting really going to do?

If you aren’t alone, you have two grizzly options. Pin your arm under a boulder (I’m assuming there are boulders), then tell everyone you have no choice but to amputate it using a cheap multi-purpose tool (I’m assuming you regularly carry a cheap multi-purpose tool). 

Or, begin deliberately and demonstratively to recite poetry—preferably “The Waste Land,” preferably with Eliot’s endnotes interspersed throughout (I’m assuming you’ve memorized the endnotes). Either way, no one is going to stay in the room, and you are free to run. 

Unless you went with the first option. Then you’ll need to actually cut off your arm. Sorry about including this information so deep in the article. (Note: Read article in its entirety before New Year’s.)—Scott Weaver

What to watch besides the ball

“Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve With Ryan Seacrest” This year’s edition of “Rockin’” will feature performances from Drake, Far East Movement, La Roux, Ne-Yo, Train and 10-year-old hair-whipper Willow Smith, up way past her bedtime. You can also get started on your hangover early by indulging in a performance by wretch-inducing Ke$ha. (10-11pm & 11:30pm-2am, ABC) 

“MTV New Year’s Eve Bash” Snooki from “Jersey Shore” will be enclosed in a ball that will drop into Times Square at midnight, making her a literal harbinger of doom, instead of just a figurative one. In related news, the crowd will attempt to set the Guinness World Record for largest collective fist pump. I can’t. I just can’t. (MTV, 11pm-midnight)

“New Year’s Eve with Carson Daly” The former MTV veejay continues to cling to relevancy by hosting performances by Nicki Minaj, My Chemical Romance and Lil Wayne, and interviews U2’s Bono and The Edge so that they can hawk the accident-plagued Broadway “Spider-Man” musical. (10-11pm & 11:30pm-12:30am, NBC)

“New Year’s Eve Live” Presumably every cast member of “Glee” was booked, because somehow entertainment-news personality Nancy O’Dell is hosting Fox’s special, featuring musical guests Travie McCoy (“Billionaire”) and “American Idol” 2008 runner-up David Archuleta. What a depressing way to welcome the new year. (11pm-12:30am, Fox)

“New Year’s Eve Live” Every year CNN swears it won’t hire Kathy Griffin to co-host this with Anderson Cooper, and every year the ginger spitfire comes back. Because they know she’ll say something offensive and outrageous, which is the only reason anyone tunes in. (11pm-12:30am, CNN)

“Watch What Happens Live” Bravo mascot Andy Cohen rings in 2011 with mazels, cocktails, and “Bravolebrities,” including several “Housewives” and deranged designer Jeff Lewis from “Flipping Out,” plus actual famous people like Megan McCain and Sandra Bernhard. (10:30pm-12:30am, Bravo)

Marathons:

“The Twilight Zone” Say goodbye to 2010 by getting your mind blown by dozens of episodes from the classic Rod Serling sci-fi series. (8am-midnight on January 1, SyFy)

Back to the Future Trilogy Sobering news: as of 2011, we’re a mere four years away from the future Marty and Doc visit in the second flick. Commence weeping now. See all three of the films back to back to back, twice over. (10:30am-1:30am, AMC)

Marx Brothers Marathon Party like its 1929 with seven flicks from the prolific comedy legends, including Duck Soup, Animal Crackers, and A Night at the Opera. (8pm-5am, TCM)

“Best of the Discovery Channel” Don’t worry; there’s no “Sarah Palin’s Alaska”! Instead catch episodes of “Man vs. Wild,” “Deadliest Catch” and “Dirty Jobs,” hosted by the hunky Bear Grylls and Mike Rowe. (9am-3am, Discovery Channel)

“New Year’s Eve.0” Daniel Tosh’s “Tosh.0” takes a lame concept done plenty of other places—making fun of terrible internet videos—and makes it deliciously subversive, and filthy. Catch a whole slew of episodes before the new season starts in January. (Comedy Central, 9pm-midnight) —Eric Rezsnyak 

For the last year, the big question looming over the Biscuit Run State Park transaction was how much the state paid for the 1,200-acre former development site. Thanks to documents provided to C-VILLE, taxpayers can finally know—at least for now. While Biscuit Run investors sought $41 million total from the state, they have so far received only $21.5 million.

Investors in the former Biscuit Run development requested more than $30 million in tax credits when they sold the land—an amount that would go a long way to covering a $34.3 million loan. Instead, they received $11.7 million, an amount they are appealing, according to documents.

It has long been public record that the Commonwealth of Virginia paid $9.8 million cash for the Biscuit Run property. Yet Biscuit Run investors, in a limited liability company called Forest Lodge, made the transaction knowing that they would receive land preservation tax credits, which aren’t public record. C-VILLE, however, has obtained a copy of a letter from the state tax department that shows that the investors have received $11.7 million in tax credits.

That’s significantly less than they wanted. Forest Lodge LLC investors—who include developer Hunter Craig as well as Dave Matthews Band manager Coran Capshaw and DMB violinist Boyd Tinsley—requested almost $20 million more. Forest Lodge LLC contended that it should receive $31.2 million in land preservation tax credits, based on an appraisal by Patricia O’Grady Filer of Piedmont Appraisal Company that valued the land at $87.7 million.

Had Forest Lodge LLC received the amount of tax credits requested, the entire purchase would have cost taxpayers $41 million—only $5 million less than Biscuit Run developers paid for the property in 2006, at the height of the real estate bubble.

Land preservation tax credits are transferable, and usually sell for between 70 and 80 cents on the dollar. Investors had fallen behind on a $34.3 million loan managed by First Community Bank, headquartered in Bluefield, West Virginia. With $31.2 million in tax credits sold at 80 cents on the dollar along with the $9.8 million, Forest Lodge would have had enough money to cover the loan’s principal.

However, an appraisal produced for the Virginia Department of Transportation valued Biscuit Run at only $12 million, so the Department of Taxation authorized its own appraisal, according to the letter provided C-VILLE. The tax department appraisal put the value of Biscuit Run at $39 million, and the tax department issued Forest Lodge LLC a reduced amount—$11.7 million in tax credits.

Still, with $20 million at stake, the fight is not over, and the results might not be made public. Forest Lodge LLC is appealing that ruling, according to other documents provided to C-VILLE. An appeal goes to the state tax commissioner, Craig Burns, and the results of such appeals are not public. If that appeal is denied, Forest Lodge LLC could appeal the ruling to circuit court.

Reached by telephone, Hunter Craig offered a preemptive “no comment” and hung up before any questions could be asked. Craig is a local developer, vice chairman of the Virginia National Bank, and a member of the UVA Board of Visitors, appointed this summer by Governor Bob McDonnell.

Even though the state acquired Biscuit Run for $20 million less than investors requested, Albemarle County Supervisor Dennis Rooker, a critic of the Biscuit Run deal (though supportive of parkland generally), still thinks the state made the wrong decision.

“As a taxpayer, I would say that I appreciate the fact that they have not paid as much had they would have paid,” says Rooker. “As a matter of principle, the approach that was taken in this case of having the state use the tax credit program to buy development area land is just simply not wise.”

Two-thirds of Biscuit Run was development area land, and Craig had won approval for 3,100 housing units on about 800 acres. The developers were slated to contribute $40 million in cash and in-kind assets like roads, school sites, and parkland, in addition to the tax revenue the project would have generated. Just because the homes won’t be built there, says Rooker, doesn’t mean they won’t be built—only that they’ll likely get built somewhere less conducive to development.

“I don’t blame the Forest Lodge people,” says Rooker. “They were in a rough spot, and they looked for a solution, and they found a way of turning, from their perspective, lemons into lemonade. I really blame the state, because the state should not allow the program to be used that way.”

The land preservation tax credit program will undergo some scrutiny in the General Assembly this year. Republican Delegate Harvey Morgan has already introduced a bill that would cap the tax credit at $10 million annually for any one taxpayer.

It’s hard to believe that another political annus horribilis has already come and gone. It seems like only yesterday that we were sitting here in our underground bunker, awaiting the glorious coming of 2010, when President Obama’s socialist master plan would finally come to fruition, and we would all be herded into mile-long queues leading toward government re-education centers, forced Chevy Volt auto-assembly labor camps, or health care death panels, depending on our age.

Well, none of that great stuff happened, unfortunately. But boy, a bunch of crazy things did. So before the next 12 months of electoral excess begins to overwhelm us, we thought we’d take this opportunity to test your recall of the political year past. 

While the Fifth District made room for Republican Congressman-elect Robert Hurt, the Capitol building certainly didn’t. Hurt’s new office is wedged between a stairwell and the commode.

1. Since ousting Democrat Tom Perriello from Virginia’s 5th District congressional seat, soon-to-be U.S. Representative Robert Hurt’s luck seems to have taken a turn for the worse. Which of the following negative news stories about Hurt wasn’t actually published?

a) In the lottery for highly coveted Capitol office space, he came in dead last, landing an 842-square-foot space between a stairwell and a bathroom.

b) A nonpartisan watchdog reported that he received more than $127,000 in campaign contributions from the financial industry, which he will now oversee as a member of the House Financial Services Committee.

c) His seat in the state senate had to be removed and reupholstered, due to “significant staining and a fetid, unpleasant odor.”

d) His recent statement decrying “the government takeover of health care” was rated as “False” by PolitiFact.

2. Loudoun County Board of
Supervisors member Eugene
Delgaudio recently circulated an e-mail warning that the airport TSA screener giving you an “enhanced pat-down” could be what?

a) “An active carrier of communicable diseases between passengers.”

b) “A practicing homosexual secretly getting pleasure from your submission.”

c) “An illegal immigrant.”

d) “A Democrat.”

3. While discussing the upcoming 2012 U.S. Senate race, what did Prince William County Board of Supervisors Chairman (and fellow Republican) Corey Stewart have to say about George Allen?

a) “Senator Allen was a great governor of Virginia.”

b) “His record in the United States Senate was mediocre.”

c) “His base has, frankly, moved on.”

d) All of the above.

4. In August, Representative Eric Cantor released a book called Young Guns, and the GOP soon launched a web site of the same name to promote (apparently poorly vetted) Republican congressional candidates. Which of the following candidates did not appear on the site?

a) A California “entrepreneur” who ran a chain of medicinal marijuana stores.

b) A millionaire businessman who liked to dress up as a Nazi and perform in WWII reenactments.

c) A retired Army colonel with a violent past who openly consorted with a motorcycle club suspected of a variety of crimes by the FBI.

d) A police sergeant who allowed a subordinate officer to conduct an illegal strip search of a teenager.

Answers: 1-c, 2-b, 3-d, 4-a