Month: July 2012

Categories
The Editor's Desk

Solving the immigration problem

Richard Aguilar. John Robinson photo.

Last week in this column, I admitted to rarely taking a position on local news cuts or delving into national issues, because I’m interested in a more open conversation about the place we live than editorial argumentation generally yields. That said, when logic is exhausted, when self-interest is not a motivating factor for the majority, and when partisan viewpoints obscure the complexity of a problem, I think it’s the responsibility of editors to take a side.

With the exception of our country’s treatment of Native Americans (which isn’t wholly unrelated), I don’t think we, as a country, have collectively acted with such a concerted disregard for history or exercised our coercive authority with a greater spirit of contradiction than in the case of our immigration policy, particularly with regard to Mexican-Americans, and by extension, their Latin American neighbors. The border between the U.S. and Mexico has been a source of tension since it was created, a moving, semipermeable membrane separating colonial rivals. As the fortunes of the two countries diverged in the 20th century, a power dynamic solidified, and Mexicans came to be seen by the United States as a source of cheap labor. In 1942, the country instituted its first official policy of importing large numbers of seasonal migrant workers through the Bracero Program. By 1954, in Operation Wetback, we had conducted our first mass deportation of undocumented immigrants, with Eisenhower’s administration expelling an estimated one million people, mostly in the Southwest, over a calendar year.

The spigot approach to migrant labor, set in place 70 years ago, represents a callous reduction of a human issue, but, more to the point, it shows how unwilling we are to solve a particular economic equation.  The people who reject the idea of a separate solution for Latin American immigrants, who think we can deport our way out of the current problem—which is that we have between 11 and 12 million undocumented people in this country and as many as a third of them are related to U.S. citizens—are almost without exception reliant on the system of goods and services the immigrants provide. There is no partisan divide where the employers of undocumented immigrants are concerned; Republicans and Democrats like cheap labor about the same. Immigration is a national issue and a local problem. The people affected work in your houses, your restaurants, your fields, your clubs, your offices, and they get paid with your money.—Giles Morris

Categories
News

The other border: Immigration policy divides Latino community

Richard and Ena Franco Aguilar at their home in Southwood Mobile Home Park. John Robinson photo.

I arrived at Southwood Mobile Home Park through the back entrance, an unmarked driveway off Old Lynchburg Road just past the Albemarle County Police Department offices. It’s so easy to miss that, even though I’d been there before, I drove past the turn and had to double back to catch the narrow access road, which leads over a rise into a different world. A mature oak grove, dotted with metal-sided trailer homes stretched as far as I could see in every direction.

I hung a right down a side road, past trailers adorned with Mexican flags, home to miniature vegetable gardens and pickup trucks with soccer team stickers in the windows, and stopped at a nondescript rust brown trailer parked next to a derelict food truck.

A young man wearing a dress shirt, slacks, and a tie stepped out on the porch to meet me. Richard Aguilar is a 21-year-old straight-A student going into his senior year at James Madison University. Southwood is where he grew up and where nearly 1,000 Latinos, mostly undocumented, live in Albemarle County.

Richard and I had spoken in person once before, and we would spend the next hour and a half walking around the mobile home park, talking about what it was like to grow up there, and talking about why the place is a living, breathing reason for immigration reform.

“I saw a lot of things. I saw the gangs. I saw the drugs. I saw the prostitution,” Aguilar said. “I don’t blame Southwood for being like that, I actually blame society for letting a neighborhood like that exist.”

Aguilar is a U.S. citizen born in South Central Los Angeles to undocumented immigrants from El Salvador. There are around 11.5 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. today and last year a record 396,906 people were deported by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The U.S. government spent about $17 billion on immigration enforcement and created a 3 percent dent in the problem. Meanwhile families all over America in places like Southwood, live in total fear.

Doug Ford is the director of the Immigration Law Clinic at UVA School of Law and handles cases for the immigration advocacy program at the Legal Aid Justice Center in Charlottesville. Here’s how he sums up the legal situation facing undocumented immigrants.

“Basically you are deportable every single day you are here,” Ford said. “If an officer doesn’t like you and puts you into the system, unless you have some amazing claim to hold you here, there’s almost no way to get you out. Because you are deportable, it’s just at the discretion of ICE how to use its resources.”

The country is at a decision point. Unemployment is high, politics polarized, and immigration is a touchstone. So often, the conversation around immigration centers on abstract talking points. Amnesty versus the rule of law. Black and white. But the issue already exists in shades of gray, impacting almost every aspect of life in the Latino community.

“I grew up in that lifestyle knowing that my parents weren’t citizens, that they couldn’t live in the United States, that they faced the threat of deportation any day,” Aguilar said. “If my mom got pulled over for running a stop sign, or if my dad did something, I could never see them again, despite the fact that I was born in the United States. That’s a horrible feeling.”

Here are some more numbers to consider. The Pew Hispanic Center (PHC) estimates that there are 200,000 undocumented immigrants in Virginia, 12th most in the nation. According to the U.S. Census, Charlottesville and Albemarle County are home to about 7,000 Latinos, somewhere between 5 and 5.5 percent of the total population. People familiar with the community estimate that between 40 and 60 percent of the adult Latino population is undocumented. Albemarle County schools are already 8 percent Latino, with some schools (Cale, Agnor-Hurt) close to 20 percent. Another number: Pew Hispanic Center estimates there are 4.5 million U.S.-born children with at least one unauthorized parent.

A month ago the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the legality of one major piece of Arizona SB 1070, the most severe immigration law ever proposed, paving the way for state and local law enforcement officers to determine people’s immigration status during stops and to detain them if they are unable to prove that they are legal residents. Prince William County enacted similar legislation in 2007 and proposed its adoption statewide late last year.

Ford: “In some ways, Prince William paved the way to Arizona.”

Corey Stewart, the county supervisor and lieutenant governor candidate who pushed for its adoption, claims that Prince William County law enforcement officers have identified 4,700 “illegal immigrants” since the measure went into effect. If the GOP backs the legislation’s adoption statewide, it would likely have the votes to push the measure through the General Assembly. The U.S. Supreme Court struck down farther reaching components of Arizona SB 1070, including a provision that would have made it illegal for unauthorized immigrants to seek work and for citizens to house them. Polling data shows that nearly 60 percent of Americans approve of the law, but 75 percent of Latinos oppose it.

Just before the court decision was handed down, President Barack Obama announced that his administration would no longer deport undocumented immigrants under the age of 30 who came to the U.S. before they turned 16, have lived here for at least five years, and possess clean criminal records. The policy will make it possible for between 800,000 and 1.5 million people to obtain driver’s licenses and work legally when it comes into effect, which may happen as early as next month.

In reaching out to the Dreamers—the name for the under-30 group—through his enforcement policy, Obama courted the Latino vote and vocalized a liberal agenda.

“They are Americans in their heart, in their minds, in every single way but one: on paper,” Obama said, as he introduced the policy from the Rose Garden.

The undocumented immigrants in Charlottesville are nearly invisible, but they are here. They work cleaning our houses, offices, and country clubs, as roofers and landscapers, in restaurant kitchens. They can’t speak for themselves, because, on the record, they don’t exist. But other members of the Latino community are ready to speak for them, and to explain how immigration reform can bring them out of the shadows.

Categories
Arts

T.V.: “XXX Olypmic Games,” “All the Right Moves,” “Rat B*stards”

“XXX Olympic Games”
All week, NBC and its affiliate networks
It’s the first full week of the Olympics, which basically means most of the other networks are raising their hands and slowly creeping backwards toward the nearest exit. Thankfully there’s plenty of excitement coming out of London. This week you can take in a heap of swimming events (including the much-trumpeted face-offs between Americans Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps), women’s gymnastics, diving, beach volleyball, and come the weekend, the start of an overwhelming number of track-and-field events. And that’s just NBC’s primetime coverage (make sure to tune in Friday night for the men’s trampoline finals—trampoline, you guys). You can catch all manner of other events on NBC’s sister networks throughout the week. Check nbc olympics.com for a full schedule.

“All the Right Moves” 
Tuesday 9pm, Oxygen
Fans of “So You Think You Can Dance” probably recognize the names Travis Wall and Nick Lazzarini. Lazzarini won the first season of Fox’s dance competition, while Wall came in second place in season 2, but has since gone on to become one of the show’s most successful choreographers, scoring an Emmy nomination for his truly breathtaking work on the series. This new reality series documents the friends’ attempt to start their own contemporary-dance company, also featuring dancers Teddy Forance and Kyle Robinson. Expect some fantastic dancing, plenty of drama, and lots of hot guys dancing shirtless. Sold!

“Rat B*stards” 
Tuesday 10:30pm, Spike
Are you aware that giant rat-like creatures from South America—alternately called nutrias or coypus—are currently wreaking havoc on the wetlands of the southern coast of our country? I was not. Apparently it is a huge problem, as this invasive species is extremely destructive. They burrow and can chew through everything from tires to house paneling, and more importantly, have been found responsible for the destruction of thousands of acres of marshlands. In response, the government has enacted several programs to incentivize the “harvesting” of nutria (read: people get paid to kill them), and given the success of shows like “Swamp People,” reality TV has taken an interest. This show documents the exploits of giant river-rat hunters in Mississippi who are trying to protect the wetlands, make a buck, and some are even trying to introduce nutria meat as a legitimate food source to Americans. Hey, it’s low in cholesterol.

Categories
Arts

The Watch; R, 98 minutes; Regal Downtown Mall 6

Jonah Hill, Ben Stiller, Richard Ayoade, and Vince Vaughn buddy up to protect the neighborhood in The Watch. (Twentieth Century Fox)

Do not think that just because its name was changed, the movie formerly known as Neighborhood Watch has in any way been neutered. Granted, it does have some fertility issues, even within the plot, but those were there to begin with. You can rest assured that The Watch, as it’s now called, takes the maintenance of male genitalia very seriously.

Which seems a little weird given that it’s a comedy. But maybe that’s just the special signature of its auteur, director Akiva Schaffer, who made a movie five years ago called Hot Rod and also is responsible for the SNL Digital Short “Dick In a Box.” Now he wiggles his way through a raunchy script co-written by Seth Rogen, with perfunctory parts for Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, and Jonah Hill as self-appointed custodians of suburban safety who wind up warring with invading aliens. For no one involved does this seem like a career triumph. The Watch might just as easily, or maybe even more easily, have been made by a bunch of unknown guys who once got high together and had an eager conversation about how much they loved Ghostbusters, but then got distracted, possibly by masturbating.

Stiller plays the passively domineering manager of a suburban Costco, which turns out to be a focal point of product placement—oh, right, and also of sinister alien activity. As the designated drolly earnest straight-man, he convenes a neighborhood watch group, whose too-few enlistees include Vaughn, in his standard motormouth-bro mode; Hill, tetchy and self-effacingly creepy; and British TV star Richard Ayoade as a peppy odd geek out. There’s a twist involving Ayoade, which is that he’s fresher and funnier than everyone else in the movie.

That’s partly because Schaffer’s way of playing to his more familiar performers’ strengths is to take them shruggingly for granted. It’s hard to tell whether this has to do with feeling intimidated or just lacking inspiration, but it’s even harder to care. With a narrative strategy that seems mostly like wishful thinking, The Watch gets its laugh-out-loud moments to bloom by surrounding them with manure and hoping for the best. The overall experience is not exactly like strolling through a garden.

Helplessly, a few other people are on hand, including Will Forte as a clueless cop, Billy Crudup as a weirdo neighbor, and, as a patient wife, Rosemarie DeWitt, seeming as gracious as possible about getting the chore of her part in this movie over with. So really all that’s left are the dick jokes. And yes, as their man-cave banter reveals, emasculation aversion is important to these would-be macho vigilantes. It’s just not very interesting to the rest of us.
The title became The Watch after George Zimmerman fatally shot Trayvon Martin in February; the movie itself, going through its motions of video-gamey violence and crass, common gags, maintains the integrity of its own dull indelicacy.

Categories
Arts

Brock’s vision shines on Borrowed Beams of Light’s new EP

Supergroup Borrowed Beams of Light includes Ray Szwabowski, Dave Gibson, Marie Landragin, Nate Walsh, Adam Brock, and Jordan Brunk. (Photo by Sam German)

For years, local music fans only knew Adam Brock as a drummer, the powerful force behind bands like The Nice Jenkins and Invisible Hand. But it’s always been clear that Brock was capable of more. His clear and exuberant singing voice added a perfect pop edge to his bands’ tunes, and his enthusiastic taste as a record collector ran towards the eclectic and the ornate end of the pop-rock spectrum: the Zombies, the Kinks, Sparks, and Harry Nilsson.

In 2009, Brock finally made his debut as a frontman, with a solo project called Borrowed Beams of Light. Over the past three years, this side project has included enough other members to qualify as a Charlottesville supergroup, and at its best threatens to overshadow the popularity of his other projects. The debut EP, followed by a split single and full-length album, won acclaim from many fellow musicians, as well as a devoted following among the rock DJs at WTJU.

The Beams are now preparing to release a new EP, a six-track record entitled Hot Springs. The list of studio personnel is an odd summation of the groups’ history; half the tracks were recorded by the original duo of Brock and his former Nice Jenkins bandmate Nate Walsh performing over simple drum machine backing—the remaining songs are fully fleshed out by the Beams’ current live band, which includes Jordan Brunk (another former Jenkin) and Marie Landragin of the retro-metal act Corsair, as well as Dave Gibson and Ray Szwabowski. The basic backing tracks were laid down at White Star Studios in Louisa County, and then fully fleshed out in smaller recording studios in the apartments and practice spaces of various band members.

For a record with such a patchwork recording history, Hot Springs is remarkably coherent; a testament to the consistency of Brock’s talent and aesthetic vision. His greatest skill as a songwriter and performer has always been the ability to put forward in odd, obscure, or downright impenetrable narrative conceits and conceptual whims in the form of breezy, largely unchallenging power-pop. Fancy breakdowns, odd turns of phrase and left turn bridges abound, but the end result is approachable and charming, even if they often sound more like an eclectic rock band playing with the idea of pop music than anything that might have actually appeared on the Billboard charts in the past 30 years.

The opening title track is bombastically catchy, with all of the manic hooks that Beams fans have grown to expect. “You’re such a lovely girl/to melt this awful snow!” Brock chatters, but it sounds less like a come-on than an insistence on the song’s own hook itself. “Wing Stroke” is stripped-down and simpler, but may be the record’s high point; yowling, yelping lines are interspersed with clear, straight-forward ones, as Brock wildly intones “I could waste my days in here/I might drink my weight in tears.” “Fine Lines” concludes the side with a credible soundalike of Roxy Music or vintage Bowie.

The B-side is more relaxed and glam-influenced, proving the band can still keep the quality control high even when they calm down a bit. Throughout, Marie Landragin’s harmonized guitar solos are the most anachronistic part of the record, but also the most enjoyable. Many of the songs are interspersed with confusing spoken-word snippets and vocal field recordings, never taking center stage but often adding texture and character. The EP concludes with “Simple Century,” which has a heavy early ’90s adult contemporary vibe. An aesthetic that I indelibly associate with “grocery store music”—which would almost be funny if they didn’t play it totally straight-faced; surprisingly, the style actually works to the song’s advantage.

This 45rpm 12″ record, issued by Harrisonburg-based Funny/Not Funny Records, is the Beams’ first vinyl-only release, though all copies come with an mp3 download code. “With a CD pressing, often the minimum amount you can do is in the thousands—and it’s actually cheaper in total to get, like 5,000 CDs than a few hundred.” Brock explains. “I just didn’t have it in me to fill the rest of my basement with another dozen boxes of unsold CDs.” Hot Springs is limited to 333 copies of the LP, but more download codes are planned; once the vinyl edition is depleted, the band may sell download cards featuring a miniature facsimile of the EP’s excellent cover art by prolific local artist and musician Thomas Dean.

Borrowed Beams opens for Dr. Dog at the Jefferson tonight. Brock relishes the idea of playing for a larger, potentially sold-out crowd: “There’s something nice about playing a bigger room. I think it works best for the type of music we’re playing. Plus, we’re all in our 30s now, and there’s only so many years of your life you can spend playing shows for three stoned kids in a living room and then crashing on the couch.” Although Hot Springs’ proper release date isn’t until August 14, those who have pre-ordered the record through Funny/Not Funny will be able to pick up their purchases at tonight’s show.

Categories
News

Fluvanna women’s prison sued over medical care

Charlottesville’s Legal Aid Justice Center is suing the state Department of Corrections on behalf of inmates at the Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women, claiming poor medical care at the prison has exposed them to cruel and unusual punishment and even resulted in deaths from untreated conditions.

The LAJC filed the class-action suit against officials at DOC and the department’s health care contractor, Armor Correctional Health Services, Inc., on behalf of five named plaintiffs and the rest of FCCW’s prisoners in U.S. District Court July 24. The plaintiffs claim Armor and DOC regularly ignored requests for treatment and dismissed symptoms, resulting in failure to provide constitutionally adequate care.

“The women suffer extreme pain for prolonged periods of time as a result of the refusal to provide for these women who have no other options for securing life-saving medical care,” said Abigail Turner, an attorney with the LAJC. “Almost all the pain and suffering could have been prevented.”

DOC spokesman Larry Traylor said it’s department policy not to comment on pending litigation. But he said many of the inmates enter prison with medical conditions they have neglected.

“Once health care is made available to them, they often want immediate cures, despite their years of self-neglect,” he said. “If a doctor feels a procedure is necessary to preserve life, reduce deterioration of health, and to follow a community standard of care, we will provide it.”

But charges in the lawsuit suggest otherwise.

“It takes too long to diagnose their diseases,” said Brenda Castañeda, an attorney with LAJC.“ Whether it’s cancer or something else, it just gets worse the longer they wait.”

The suit says that inmates wanting medical attention submit written requests for screening by a prison nurse, who determines whether or not to assign her an appointment with a physician. The lawsuit suggests that the nurses employed by Armor at FCCW aren’t qualified to fully determine prisoners’ medical needs, to prescribe treatment, or determine the need for an appointment. Prisoners can also submit emergency requests for care, which the lawsuit says are “virtually never honored.”

Inmates claim their best chance for serious medical attention is being referred to an outside specialist, but say FCCW medical staff often ignore doctors’ instructions for treatment when inmates are returned to prison. Cases cited by the suit range from denial of special diets and a lack of treatment for minor infections to severe complications that the women say were dismissed until it was too late.

According to the allegations, a prisoner named Jeanna Wright complained for months of severe abdominal pain and rectal bleeding. “For at least one year,” the suit says, the staff assured Wright that she was “fine.”

Wright eventually saw a UVA doctor, who determined she had stage IV abdominal cancer. She died weeks later.

The lawsuit says that because FCCW has been identified by DOC as a facility set up to provide the most “heightened level of care” for inmates the situation is even more “disturbing.”
Castañeda said similar problems are widespread in Virginia. “Armor provides health care for seven other prisons (in Virginia), and there are other companies like Armor that provide health care on a for-profit basis.”

Turner said the problem stems from a system that puts “profits over people.”

“The terms of the DOC contract with Armor create financial incentives based on cheaper, reduced levels of care,” she said.

“If they don’t spend the money, they can keep it,” Castañeda said. “It’s a twisted incentive.”
Armor deferred to DOC for comment.

Castañeda said the defendants could have up to 60 days to respond to the suit. She hopes to settle the case out of court. “We’re not asking for any money,” she said. “We’re just asking for the women’s access to health care to be improved. We’ll have to wait and see what their response is.”

Tina Ortiz, a former prisoner at FCCW who was released in February and is not part of the lawsuit, said she experienced the effects of inadequate care firsthand. She couldn’t eat the food, she said, which caused malnutrition and health problems.

“Everything is rotten or frozen there,” said Ortiz. “You couldn’t even stand the smell.” At one point, she said, her liver stopped functioning and she became so weak that she couldn’t walk.

“Every time I would tell [the medical staff] something, they would come back with a rebuttal,” she said. “‘There’s nothing wrong with you’ or ‘There’s something wrong but we need to do further tests.’ And then they never did the tests.”

She had a simple explanation for why the system is so bad:

“They don’t care,” she said. “They just don’t care.”—Ryan McCrimmon

Categories
Living

Barboursville Vineyards’ Luca Paschina takes a chance with different grapes

A good deal of winemaking is experimentation. Inoculating with different yeasts, opting for shorter or longer maceration periods, inciting or preventing malolactic fermentation, aging in new oak or neutral oak—these are just a handful of the decisions with which our Mr. and Mrs. Wine Wizards are faced. Something not commonly experimented with are the types of grapes grown. It might seem that playing with varietals would be the easiest way to keep things fresh in the tasting room, but because it’s a good five years before vines are in full-blown production mode, it’s six or more years before you’ve bottled your first vintage and learned from your success (or failure). Add in Virginia’s hot, humid, and unpredictable weather and it’s too costly a risk for most.

With one of Virginia’s highest annual productions (32,000 cases), Barboursville Vineyards has deep enough pockets to try old grapes on new soil. It also helps having a winemaker who got his oenological degree on old soil, but who’s been making wine in Virginia since it was a teen on our national scene.

Italian-born Luca Paschina’s in his 22nd year as winemaker at Barboursville and considers himself a Virginian. While he retains an undeniably Italian charm and sense of style, he thinks like an American. He believes for Virginia’s wine industry to grow, its 200-plus wineries need to plant more vines. Paschina adds five to 10 acres of new vines every year to the 160 acres already under vine on Barboursville’s 900-acre estate. He grows plenty of the usual cabs, chard, viognier, and merlot that do well here, but he’s also tried a bunch of Italian varietals—some with more success than others. Pinot Grigio, Barbera, Nebbiolo, Sangiovese, and Moscato have all come into their own and won either hearts or awards, while Dolcetto and Ruché didn’t fare so well. “I grew Ruché for two years and still miss it. I’m going to try again.”

One of his most recent endeavors has been with a white wine grape called Vermentino. It’s a happy little grape that’s most at home in the warm regions around Italy’s Tyrrhenian Sea (namely Liguria, Tuscany, and Sardinia). Though we’re far from a sea, Paschina recognized the grape’s forgiving personality—it’s highly productive, easy to grow, resistant to drought, and ripens smack in the middle of the harvest cycle. Fermentation in stainless steel or neutral oak preserves its sunny, grassy, citrus qualities. Whether at a resort off the island of Sardinia or with lunch at Palladio Restaurant, Vermentino woos every shell and sea creature from crab to swordfish and its herbal qualities make it a reverie next to pasta with pesto.
Barboursville’s first Vermentino vintage was 2010 and came from a mere acre of vines. Paschina only produced one barrel, which amounted to 300 bottles (or 25 cases). He calls it a reserve because it can age up to three years in the bottle. It practically sold out at its release party and then went on to win a gold medal at the International Winemakers’ Challenge in San Diego, so it never even got to strut its stuff in the tasting room. This past year, Paschina produced 1,500 bottles (125 cases) of Vermentino Reserve and released it at an Italian feast back in June. While the 2011’s already nearly halfway sold out, it is for sale at the winery and is being poured in the tasting room and at Palladio. And it’s downright delicious.

Since the Vermentino adapted so well to Virginia’s terroir in both 2010 (hot, hot, hot) and 2011 (hot, wet, wet), Paschina’s planted an additional five acres of Vermentino that once in “fruition” will produce about 15,000 bottles (1,250 cases). “The ’10 was fuller-bodied, more tropical. The ’11 is more floral with green apple and pear flavors, but if we can make good wine in the extremes, then we’ll do well with it,” he said.

So what grape might Paschina try next? “I want to do albarino,” he said. Another white seaside grape, but this one from Spain, Chrysalis has had success with albarino and Afton Mountain Vineyards planted an acre of it last year. We’re willing and thirsty subjects.

Categories
Arts

T.V.: “Top Chef Masters,” “3,” “XXX Olympiad Opening Ceremonies”

“Top Chef Masters”
Wednesday 10pm, Bravo
Although I love “Top Chef,” I have never been able to get into its “Masters” spin-off. It’s basically the kinder, gentler version of the competition, featuring already world-renowned chefs at the top of their game. But honestly, I do need a little drama in my reality competitions. And since I still don’t get to taste the food, it’s a tough sell. If you like the show, or host Curtis Stone (who I swear is on TV all the time, constantly), it’s back for its fourth season.

“3” 
Thursday 10pm, CBS
Despite its scandal-baiting name, this new dating show has a simple concept and prides itself on taking the competition out of dating. Three very attractive single women—a young widowed mother of two, a Baptist model with a focus on faith, and an entrepreneur who would happily give up her career to be a wife and mother—are introduced to a variety of potential suitors, go on dates, and work together to help each other pick the guys of their dreams. It certainly sounds like the least humiliating televised dating option, but I always wonder: how awkward must it be to date someone with cameras following you? My dates are bad enough when it’s just the two of us and I can embarrass myself in private.

“XXX Olympiad Opening Ceremonies” 
Friday 7:30pm, NBC
To celebrate the opening ceremonies, my friends and I are throwing an Olympics party. Everyone has been assigned a random country participating in the games (the more obscure the better), and we’ll each do little presentations on the foreign locale and its athletes, plus bring sports-themed dishes. Oh my God, we’re so lame. But we are going to have so much fun! And that’s all before we start ripping apart the terrible, terrible outfits worn by most of the delegations in the Parade of Nations. (Cough. Team USA’s Ralph Lauren-designed, made-in-China beret prep-school looks. Cough.) The games run through August 12. This weekend you can catch coverage of swimming, men’s gymnastics, and beach volleyball on NBC, and its affiliate networks (CNBC, MSNBC, Telemundo, etc.) will show assorted other cool competitions. Bear in mind that there’s a five-hour time difference between host city London and the American east coast, so avert your eyes from the Interwebs in case of spoilers.

Categories
News

Environmentalists warn federal bills could threaten public land

In the latest chapter of the debate between resource extraction and conservation, Virginia environmentalists are taking aim at a crop of legislation moving through the U.S. House of Representatives that they say would damage protected wilderness areas in Virginia and around the country.

Advocacy group Environment Virginia held a press event Wednesday at Darden Towe Park to release “Trashing our Treasures: Congressional Assault on the Best of America,” a report taking aim at several Republican-sponsored bills. The event featured members of state environmental groups and local government, who detailed the environmental, social, and economic benefits of preserving wilderness areas and spoke out against the legislation.

Bills cited in the report include the Disposal of Excess Federal Lands Act (HR 1126), which forces the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to sell “excess public lands” to the highest bidder, and the American Lands Act (HR 2588), which requires the BLM and Forest Service to auction off 8 percent of their federal land annually until 2016. This year alone, the bill would result in the sale of nearly 36 million acres of forest and public land, according to the report—“simply landgrabs,” according to Jim Murray of the Virginia Wilderness Committee.

Two bills that would open up protected areas to road building, construction, and logging came under the most fire. Opponents of the Wilderness and Roadless Area Release Act (HR 1581) and the Recreational Fishing and Hunting Heritage and Opportunities Act (HR 2834) said these bills counteract measures in the celebrated Wilderness Act of 1964, which set aside 9million acres to remain untouched by development.

Virginia lands are among those in danger, conservationists warn.

“The wilderness areas in Shenandoah National Park are definitely under threat, as are the two national forests in Virginia,” said David Hannah, conservation director at Wild Virginia. “I feel we should be taking whatever steps necessary to permanently protect these lands.”

“Our wilderness areas are our greatest natural resource,” said Ari Daniels of Charlottesville’s Outdoor Adventure Social Club. “We can pull various fuel sources or short-term money sources, but those are all extremely short-lived. Unfortunately, the wake of the damage that we do there is much harder to undo.”

Republican Congressman Morgan Griffith of Virginia’s Ninth District is a cosponsor of HR 1581. Maggie Seidel, a spokesperson for Griffith, said the bill would only release lands that the BLM deemed as “not suitable for wilderness designation.” The BLM oversees and evaluates 12 million acres of land, called Wilderness Study Areas, and decides whether or not the land should be made off-limits for development. Seidel said 6.7 million acres that didn’t make the cut would be returned to “local land managers, communities, and stakeholders in and around the areas,” who would determine how to use the land.

“Congressman Griffith has been receiving complaints from constituents about being denied access to certain national forest lands,” Seidel said. “In a number of cases, these lands have been accessed and utilized for generations.”

But opponents of the legislation say protected lands have great economic value just as they are. Shenandoah National Park attracts 1.5 million visitors each year, and contributes about $960 million to the state economy.

“Protecting our national parks isn’t just about protecting jobs, it’s about protecting our tourism economy,” said City Councilor Dede Smith. “That’s why it’s so shocking to see this report about these proposed bills that would threaten such an environmentally and economically important resource.”

Despite the sense of urgency from environmentalists, for now, the bills appear unlikely to pass. The website govtrack.us, which tracks and analyzes pending legislation, gave many of these bills a 5 percent or less chance of success. The other legislation targeted by the report was given similarly slim chances of survival.

“Right now, the Senate is shooting down these bills, but that might not stand in the future, depending on who is elected and what agenda they have,” said Kate Dylewsky, co-author of the report. She said passage of these bills, unlikely as it is, would set a “dangerous precedent of big oil companies, mining companies and logging companies, being more important to our country than our wild places.”—Ryan McCrimmon

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Officials pull the plug on live music in Woolen Mills

Black Market Moto Saloon
Black Market Moto Saloon owner Matteus Frankovich said he just wants to provide a neighborhood gathering place for Woolen Mills, and plans to apply for a $1,500 special use permit so the restaurant can continue hosting live music. Photo by John Robinson.

Editor’s note: We used comments in this story that we later realized were shared privately via Facebook—which means we shouldn’t have run them. We talked with the person affected and apologized, and this post came out of that conversation. Please give it a read.

City officials have put an end to live music at the corner of Market Street and Meade Avenue, and two local restaurants—Black Market Moto Saloon and the Lunchbox—are feeling the pressure of keeping customers in a now concert-free zone. The business owners know that they must acquire special use permits, but many music lovers are still perplexed by the city’s decision to quiet the neighborhood.

Two years ago, noise complaints aimed at the Belmont restaurant Bel Rio led to a widespread debate over amplified music and its effect on the surrounding neighborhoods. Shortly after the issue’s resolution, the city changed its zoning regulations, and the only Charlottesville venues with by-right music privileges are on the Downtown Mall, along West Main Street, and on the Corner.

The zoning ordinance states that restaurant owners must obtain a special use permit from the city in order to host live, amplified music. But the application alone costs $1,500, takes 60-90 days to process, and does not guarantee a permit.

According to Neighborhood Development Services Director Jim Tolbert, both the Moto Saloon and the Lunchbox were given written warnings, but the Moto Saloon chose to continue to host live music. Tolbert said owner Matteus Frankovich received a letter stating that his certificate of occupancy did not allow amplified music. After handling an “altercation” at the bar on Thursday, July 5, police reported a band playing, and the city responded by revoking the Saloon’s certificate of occupancy the following day. Around 10pm on Saturday, July 7, Tolbert arrived at the restaurant with two police officers and informed Frankovich that he was to shut down immediately for operating illegally.

Frankovich was given permission the following Monday to reopen the Moto Saloon, but in addition to business lost and the hassle of paying $1,500 for a permit that is not guaranteed, he believes he was treated unfairly.

“We did not have any music,” Frankovich said regarding the evening the Saloon was shut down. “We had a nice dinner crowd. Meanwhile, across the street at the Lunchbox, they’re having an outdoor hip hop show.” Under the impression that both restaurants had received warnings at the same time, Frankovich said he wondered if the city was acting on “some sort of personal vendetta.”

Tolbert’s reasoning was that the Lunchbox was quiet on July 7, with no evidence of a band or amplified music, and that its owners had complied with the city’s warning against live music without a permit.

But lunchbox co-owner Joe Young confirmed that hip hop artists Griff and John Mingsley began performing at 9pm on July 7. He said the group played until about 11pm, and he received his letter of warning from the city the following Monday.

The Charlottesville Police Department said it has received 13 noise complaints in the area since February—12 specifically mentioned the Lunchbox, with one complaint about “the area.”

Heather Cromer lives about a block away from the Lunchbox, and said she rarely hears music while she is home.

“I’ve only heard it on the weekends, and I can’t hear it from inside,” she said. Cromer said she thought the regulations were unfair, and added that she can often hear music from the Pavilion late at night.

Tanya Rutherford, who also lives within walking distance of the two bars, said she understands the city’s stance, and could empathize with the families who lived next door.

“The residents were there first,” she said. “It shouldn’t be their responsibility to keep the neighborhood quiet.”
But as a music fan, Rutherford said she was glad to have options closer to home than the Downtown Mall.

“I’m a big music fan, and that’s one of the great aspects of Charlottesville,” she said. “I love having them here.”

She said the younger generation seems to be more amenable to change in the neighborhood, but “those in power now may be stagnant and fairly traditional.”
Regardless of neighborhood opinion, both establishments must go through the process of applying for a special use permit if the owners wish to continue offering live music.

“It doesn’t matter how many neighbors complained,” Tolbert said. “It doesn’t matter if nobody complained at all. It’s illegal.”

Woolen Mills neighborhood association president Victoria Dunham has voiced her disapproval of both restaurants, and took it to another level last week, when she represented the polarization of the neighborhood by posting about the issue on her personal Facebook page, disparaging the “hipster douchebags” for what they’ve done to the neighborhood.

“Unfortunately, the ‘hood is having a bit of an infestation of vermin lately,” she posted, along with the song “Something Against you” by the Pixies. “Perhaps this little song will make ‘em scram. If not, then we’ll just have to get out that can of Raid we keep on reserve for times like these.”

Frankovich said live music is essential to what he is trying to accomplish at his restaurant, and with the support of regular customers and a petition with more than 200 signatures, he plans to move forward with the permit application and attend the September 11 Planning Commission meeting to address the issue.

“I see this neighborhood as an underserviced region,” Frankovich said. “I just want to offer something for Woolen Mills—not a music club, but more of a neighborhood pub.”