Month: September 2012

Categories
News

Problems lead to more scrutiny in the Albemarle court clerk’s office

Albemarle Circuit Court Clerk Debra M. Shipp. Photo: Charlottesville Tomorrow.

For years, state auditors have been giving the Albemarle County Circuit Court Clerk’s office bad reviews, pointing out major record-keeping errors and costly failures in financial oversight. More than halfway through her eight-year term as Clerk, Debra M. Shipp says the problems that have plagued her office stem from a lack of staff support. But for some in Albemarle, the continued issues call into question whether her position should be an elected one at all.

As the record keeping and financial officer of the court, Shipp and her staff of nine are responsible for processing a vast amount of paperwork and checks each week, and take on a number of duties for the criminal and civil sides of the court.

Shipp had worked in the Circuit Court Clerk’s office since 1976 before she was elected clerk in 2007, replacing her former boss Shelby J. Marshall. In May 2009, problems showed up in the first audit of her office from the state, which cited delays in account reconciliations and a lack of staff training. Shipp chalked both issues up to personnel setbacks.

Each year since, the audit summary has grown as more issues cropped up. In June 2011, Auditor of Public Accounts Walter J. Kucharski noted Shipp’s office was holding more than $200,000 in state fines and court costs due to bookkeeping errors. Accounts were closed improperly, and the office was holding onto nearly $25,000 worth of copy fees that were supposed to be disbursed to the county and the Commonwealth.

That year, state Department of Judicial Services officials conducted a review of the Clerk’s office, and an analysis report, filed in December of 2011, raised even more concerns. Shipp’s personal office was clogged with boxes of paperwork, and several months’ worth of unprocessed checks were discovered on a shelf. The evidence room was so full the door was jammed, records were long overdue for destruction, and election results had sat in Shipp’s car for two weeks.

Kucharski’s most recent audit, released this month, showed more than half a million dollars in likely unclaimed property that should have been disbursed. Recordkeeping errors abounded, and problems noted years before persisted, prompting concerns about the potential for fraud. In his 28 years as a public auditor, Kucharski said he’s seen such errors “maybe once every 10 years.”

According to Shipp, the problem is a lack of manpower, and DJS’ 2011 management visit report backs her up, noting that office is understaffed. The State Compensation Board is responsible for funding her office, and the county supplements her budget by providing office space, health insurance, and a little extra toward salaries. Shipp said she’s turned to both for help, but has received little support.

Hiring hasn’t kept up with Albemarle’s population growth, Shipp said. By comparison, Charlottesville’s Circuit Court Clerk’s office has seven state-funded employees and two more paid for by the city, she said, “so they have the same amount of staff that I do, but we’re dealing with a population that’s twice as big.”

Things got worse in January, when her sister and deputy clerk Pam Melampy died suddenly. It was the second tragedy for Shipp in 12 months—her 21-year-old son died in a car accident the year before—and it caused personal and professional setbacks. For two weeks, Shipp struggled to cover the duties her sister had done.

“Finally I said, ‘I’ve got to get a grip,’ and I requested that the county advertise for the position and for a bookkeeper,” she said. Albemarle County human resources officials suggested she hire a temp to cover both jobs, and pushed for her office to join the county pay plan and have staff work eight hours a day instead of the seven that had been customary since the ’70s, which Shipp agreed to earlier this year.

Albemarle Commonwealth’s Attorney Denise Lunsford said it makes sense her own position and the Sheriff’s are elected, because they need be able to make legal judgements independent of other political offices. “But I question how many discretionary responsibilities are performed by the Clerk, such that you want to have that person responsive to the voters as opposed to responsive to some other organization that can oversee personnel and bookkeeping,” Lunsford said.

The practice of electing the Clerk is largely a holdover from an earlier era, said UVA law professor A.E. Dick Howard, who helped write the 1971 Constitution. “In the old days in Virginia, political power was really to be found in the courthouses,” he said.

When the team responsible for the updated 1971 Constitution looked into making clerk a statutory position—one that could be appointed if communities saw fit—they realized there was intense pressure to stick to the status quo. Maryland had tried to do just that two years before, and courthouse officials managed to block the state’s new Constitution from passing in the legislature.

“It was clear to me that if we proposed taking these officers out of the Constitution in politcal terms, we would run into a buzz saw,” Howard said. He’d personally be in favor of making the clerk a statutory position in order to give local governments more discretion in hiring and firing, he said. Currently, only a petition and judge’s order can remove a clerk from office. “But I think the gains might be more theoretical than real,” he said. What the office might gain in efficiency, it could lose in transparency.

Shipp said that despite a lack of resources, things are improving in the Clerk’s office. She doesn’t see a problem with serving an eight-year term. When she first took office, she said, a state official told her she’d be halfway through her term before she got things straightened out, “and as I can see it has,” Shipp said. “I’m not completely there yet.”

And will she run again when her term is up? “I’d certainly like to,” she said.

Categories
Arts

Matt Pamer design gets approved for West Main Street mural

The Charlottesville Mural Project, launched by Ross McDermott in 2011, has taken on the task of beautifying the city through a series of public murals, with the goal of producing two a year. They’ve already brightened Monticello Avenue with Avery Lawrence’s colorful mural of interlocking hands on the north face of the Ix Building, as well as organizing a mural workshop for St. Anne’s-Belfield students led by Patrick Costello.

Cities like Philadelphia and Baltimore have had great success with public mural projects in recent years, cheering up urban spaces and bringing communities together with public art that is eye-catching and often striking. With McDermott’s Mural Project, Charlottesville has the opportunity to do the same.

But the latest project, a proposed mural on West Main Street by local graphic designer Matt Pamer, has had difficulty meeting with the approval of Charlottesville’s Board of Architectural Review. West Main Street falls within Charlottesville’s Historic District, meaning any prominent mural there, even one painted on private property, must meet with the BAR’s approval.

The proposed site—513 W. Main St., on the corner of Main and Sixth Street NW—actually sports a mural already, a two-
story depiction of latticework and flowers dating back to the 1970s. That mural has been deteriorating for years, and is cracked and fading in more places than not, revealing the bare wall underneath. Since that intersection’s recent repurposing as a hip destination, now hosting restaurants Moto Pho Co. and One Meatball Place, as well as relocated clothing boutique Eloise, a bright new mural seems appropriate.

The proposed mural is a striking one, but charming. Pamer is known for his design work for organizations like the Jefferson Theatre and Piedmont Council for the Arts, as well as a handful of small gallery exhibitions around town. His work favors bright primary colors and simple geometric shapes, carefully placed in exquisite and eye-catching configurations, with a deep understanding of both basic iconography and overall arrangement. His designs are sharp enough to look cool and contemporary, while also simple enough to seem timeless.

But not everyone on the BAR saw it that way. Pamer’s bright three-color design, mixing geometric shapes with cartoonized depictions of animals indigenous to Virginia, was rejected by the BAR, which asked Pamer and McDermott to revise the design and resubmit their proposal. Among the concerns were that the mural was too bright, too visually “loud,” and that it distracted from the design of the original building. Pamer simplified the design, eliminating two of the color fields to leave the exposed brick and original mural visible underneath, pulling the shapes back from the edges of the façade.

One of the issues raised by this struggle is the question of whether or not the BAR has the right to judge artistic merit. During the hearing, Board member Whit Graves said, “We have to decide whether this façade is appropriate for a mural, not whether or not we like the design. I personally like the design, but that shouldn’t necessarily weigh in to it.” Graves noted that the original 1970s mural was painted before the area was designated historic, and was not approved by the BAR either. While the revised proposal was largely met with approval, a certain
degree of artistic judgment characterized most of the Board’s remarks. “It still could be toned down somewhat, but it’s a big improvement,” said Candace DeLoach, while John Knight called the design “a thumb-in-the-eye approach” before conceding “I think I’ve reached a tipping point” on his eventual approval. Ultimately, the mural was approved by a 5-1 vote from the Board, but the question of precisely what role it can, or should, take in judging the content of a mural still seems unclear.

“I’m very pleased with the BAR’s decision,” said Pamer. “While there are certain elements I miss about the original, I am happy with the new direction.” McDermott is pleased as well, and would prefer to look forward rather than to dwell on the conflict with the BAR. “I’m happy that the BAR and City Council are open to seeing new forms of creative expression in the city,” he wrote. “My hope is that over the years, artists of all types will contribute to what will become a collection of modern and traditional murals in Charlottesville. I think Matt’s mural is a wonderful addition to the streetscape of West Main and adds life to what has been for a very long time, a run-down area.”

The Charlottesville Mural Project’s next step is planning an upcoming work with artist Kaki Dimock. “I was proud of the BAR last night,” Dimock wrote. “Public art is good for us, good for the community. Finding a way to marry public art and historic preservation is good for the soul. Placing art in the context of history, past and future, is a challenge, to be sure, but doing so improves our understanding of events of the past, links the past with the present, and pushes us towards the future. It forces us to look up, look out, consider context—things that are good for everybody.” She and McDermott are currently seeking a location for their mural.

Have your say. Drop a line to mailbag@c-ville.com, send a letter to 308 E. Main St., or post a comment below.

 

Categories
The Editor's Desk

Soccer is still a passport to world culture, but it’s also an American game

The U.S. U20 Women's National Team celebrates its World Cup victory in Japan earlier this month. Morgan Brian (#6) is a sophomore midfielder at UVA. Photo: TORU YAMANAKA/AFP/GettyImages

Before I fell in love with America, I fell in love with the rest of the world. I guess it had to do with growing up in Washington, D.C., a place full of people from everywhere else. I memorized the flags that hung outside the sandstone townhouses on Embassy Row. Hey mom, where’s Equatorial Guinea? I cruised Adams Morgan and Dupont, fixating on the exotic faces and accents. My mom worked at a British newspaper, so the family swapped houses with one of her colleagues for a few summers, and I learned how foreign you could feel in a place where they spoke the same language. Soccer, field manual for world citizenship, tied all of it together.

As a kid, I learned the sport from a combination of well-meaning Americans who treated it as an abstract youth coaching challenge—informed by basketball, and even in some cases, football—and foreigners who used a game they loved and understood as a meal ticket. One of my first (and still one of my favorite) coaches was a Ghanaian expat named Ozzie, who was purported to have played for his country’s full national team in the ’70s, even bragging that he had marked Pelé in a friendly game during the famous Africa tour. Over the course of my youth career, I had coaches from Iraq, Morocco, France, Holland, Congo, and Pakistan. In high school, I had my first licensed coach, who was from Jersey. Cue the recitation, like a dutiful kung fu student, of my coaching lineage: Manfred Schellscheidt, Bruce Arena, Bob Bradley, Steve Pfiel. The Jersey school. The grand masters.

This week’s feature is about UVA Women’s Soccer Coach Steve Swanson and his star player, Morgan Brian, who helped lead the U.S. to a FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup title earlier this month. As an editor, I can write about whatever I want, but it always feels like adding a whole new job to the one you’re doing. Stories like this make it worthwhile. You can tell the UVA women are well-coached just by watching them closely in warm up, but seeing Swanson with his players in practice is a lesson in what a coach should be. A voice of positivity, structure, and wisdom. Someone who sets the bar high, holds it steady, and takes care that everyone who works hard gets over. I still have to pinch myself that it takes me 15 minutes and $8 to get a seat at Klockner for a men’s or women’s game that proves, beyond all shadow of a doubt, that the world’s sport is ours now too.—Giles Morris

Categories
News

Fresh off a World Cup win, UVA’s Steve Swanson and Morgan Brian eye ACC and NCAA titles

Photo: Matt Riley

When University of North Carolina standout Kealia Ohai scored the game-winning goal in the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup earlier this month in Tokyo, UVA’s Morgan Brian was one step behind her. She had followed the play from midfield and arrived at the right time. The goal could have been hers, but it fell to her teammate. Ohai needs to score to change a game. Brian doesn’t.

Sitting in UVA Women’s Soccer and U.S. U20 Women’s National Team Coach Steve Swanson’s office a week later, still recovering from jet lag and the resumption of their real lives, the two of them, Swanson and Brian, filled the room with quiet intensity.

UVA Women’s Soccer Coach Steve Swanson was selected to coach the U.S. U20 Women’s National Team for the FIFA U20 World Cup in Japan earlier this month. Swanson led the team, which included UVA sophomore midfielder Morgan Brian, to a victory over defending champions Germany in the final. Photo: Matt Riley

Swanson is stocky, somewhat bow-legged, with a square jaw and a sharp-etched English face. His body crackles with energy, like it’s an effort to sit still even when he’s tired. Brian is lean, almost gangly, with matter-of-fact brown eyes that give nothing away. She is “Mo” to her teammates.

“I think she has her own unique style,” Swanson said. “She’s a little bit of a freak of nature in that she has so many aspects to her game. She can take people on like a Messi, but she can distribute like a Julie Foudy…I’m not sure there’s someone right now in the women’s team you can compare her to.”

In 2006, the last time the international governing body of the sport conducted an official count, an estimated 26 million women played soccer, just over 7 million of them in the U.S. As the men’s game continues to explode into the American mainstream, driven by the success of the MLS and ESPN culture’s embrace of the world’s favorite sport, women’s soccer is coming into its own. Who hasn’t heard of Alex Morgan and Hope Solo? Or Norio Sasaki’s Yamato Nadeshiku, the Pink Carnations, for that matter, and their version of Pacific Rim tiki-taka?

O.K., maybe not, but one thing is for sure: The next Mia Hamm will make a lot more money, and while she may be kicking a ball in her own backyard right now, she just may be playing up the road here, at Klockner Stadium.

Just over two weeks ago, Swanson and Brian, as coach and player, led the U.S. to victory in the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup. The win, coming on the heels of Olympic triumph this summer, gave notice that the future of U.S women’s soccer is brighter than ever. They say styles make fights. The U.S. played two African, two Asian, and one European team, Germany, en route to the championship. Games make tournaments too. The U.S. lost to Germany 3-0 in its final group stage match, then turned around and beat a North Korean team that fielded nine Olympians in double overtime in the quarterfinal.

“If we don’t have that Germany game, we don’t beat Korea,” Swanson said.

After outclassing Nigeria in the semifinal, with goals from Brian and Ohai, the U.S. avenged itself 1-0 against the defending champion Germans in the final in front of 40,000 fans in Tokyo.
“The emotion was crazy. It’s kind of indescribable. I don’t think I’ve wrapped my head around it yet. It hit us all at once and we were really excited,” said Brian of the victory.

For Swanson, the World Cup win was a sweet confirmation that his coaching approach can be as effective in the tournament format as it has been in every other phase of the game, but it was doubly satisfying because he did it with Brian. Swanson and Brian have spent nearly every day of the past year together, either on the practice field at UVA or in a U.S. camp preparing for the tournament. It’s been grueling, taking them both away from their friends and families, and for the past month, from their team.

When the final whistle blew in Tokyo, after the players disassembled from their ecstatic dogpile celebration, the player and the coach hugged.

“I try to treat her like I would any of the players in that environment, even though she’s more near and dear,” Swanson said. “I think it came out a little bit after the final between the two of us. We just embraced and you kind of let it all out.”

Swanson knows he has a once-in-a-lifetime player on his team. For a coach who has hung his hat on player development, teaching, and sustained success, there isn’t a better feeling.

“For our team, both this team at Virginia and the U.S. team, she’s our engine. She’s the one that dictates play. Most often in the games we’ve played, if Morgan’s playing well, then the team’s playing well,” he said.

Brian’s list of accomplishments over the past two years is exhaustive: Parade Magazine National Player of the Year in 2010, Gatorade High School Athlete of the Year in 2011, Soccer America Freshman of the Year, 2011 NSCAA Women’s Soccer First Team All-American, and, now, FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup champion.

She’s the best young midfielder in the game, a rangy two-footed box to box player who idolizes Leo Messi. Having watched a lot more of the men’s game than the women’s, the only way to describe Brian is that it’s like watching Cesc Fabregas in Steven Gerrard’s body. She’s all elbows and knees as she tears up terrain with her long stride, but on the ball she is upright, patient, happy to let a defender move out of her way, but also capable of moments of unpredictable magic. She’s been told that she’s not physically imposing so many times that she sighs when you bring it up.

“Everybody’s eyes were on Morgan Brian last year in college soccer,” Swanson said. “She’s coming in, no question the undisputed best player in the country, and then she has a year like she had. It takes mental strength to do that. She’s humble and she’s a hard worker. I’m glad she can hear me say that, because I know when we go out to practice today, she’ll be going harder than anybody else.”

Now everybody’s eyes are on the two of them. In his 21 years as a head coach, Swanson has built three successful programs, recorded 20 straight winning seasons, and made 16 NCAA Tournaments, but he’s never won an NCAA title.

I ask about winning the tournament this year.

“I don’t think I’m a failure because I haven’t won an NCAA championship yet,” Swanson said. “And I don’t think I’ll have won the holy grail if we do win it, right?”

“Well, I don’t know,” Brian said. “In the same year it’d be nice.”

Categories
News

Human Rights Task Force nears deadline for recommendation on Commission

Human Rights Task Force
Human Rights Task Force co-chair Jesse Ellis listens to colleagues during a recent Task Force meeting. Photo by Graelyn Brashear

More than seven months, two community forums, and several field trips later, Charlottesville’s Human Rights Task Force is approaching a deadline. In December, the 10-member Task Force will make a recommendation to the City Council on whether Charlottesville needs a permanent Human Rights Commission to combat discrimination, and just what such a commission should look like.

Task Force co-chair Jesse Ellis seems largely convinced on the first point. A Philadelphia native who moved to Charlottesville in 2011, Ellis said he applied to join the Task Force because he wanted to give back to his new community. These days, he sounds a little wearied by the feedback gathering of the last half-year, but he’s hopeful the efforts to study residents’ opinions will pay off in the long run.

The public forums the Task Force held—most recently at First Baptist Church on West Main Street September 13—brought out a lot of residents who feel passionately that the city has to take steps against discrimination, he said. “People want to have their stories told,” said Ellis. “They want to hear, and they want to be heard from.”

But despite concerted efforts to drive the public conversation toward specifics—what an ideal commission would look like, and what powers it should have—a lot of the input has come in the form of general anger, especially from the African-American community, over systemic racism. Some of that nebulous frustration is due to the fact that previous efforts to formally combat discrimination have failed, Ellis said.

“Some people are in the mode that if you’re not going to do anything, don’t have these forums, and don’t waste the people’s time,” he said. But he believes the public input has been valuable. He’s heard many times the conviction that to affect change, Charlottesville needs a commission with enforcement powers that can actually resolve complaints through a quasi-judicial process. In short: real results.

“We’ve seen it work in Fairfax County and Prince William County,” Ellis said, both of which have commissions with enforcement components.

Members of the local business community have objected to a commission because they fear it will result in a small group of people being granted the power to make legally binding decisions on discrimination disputes. “I think there is a fear that people will be called on the carpet,” said Ellis. But a commission doesn’t have to pit stakeholders against each other, he said. It can help both sides, offering training and guidance in addition to conflict resolution.

Alex Gulotta, executive director of Charlottesville’s Legal Aid Justice Center, was more blunt. “We’ve had enough talk,” said Gulotta, whose LAJC colleague, Abigail Turner, serves on the Task Force. “It’s time for action. It’s that simple. I think there’s a small but vocal minority of people here that doesn’t want a commission with any enforcement power, and their strategy is to talk the subject to death.”

Right now, he said, there might be laws against discrimination, but the avenues for redress are difficult to navigate, and it takes a long time to get results. A lot of people just give up, he said.

Gulotta acknowledged that not every complaint is going to get a judgement. “There are many people who feel like they were discriminated against and weren’t,” he said, but a commission can help with that, too, through education efforts. Whatever the outcome, “we’re better off if these kinds of issues are dealt with right away,” he said.

But when the Task Force members gathered in City Hall last week for their monthly meeting, it was clear there’s still no consensus. Even as Ellis talked through draft organizational charts for possible future Commission, some members seemed unconvinced.

“You feel the evidence is in,” said member Harvey Finkel. But, he pointed out, there’s still work to be done—public comments to be reviewed, local complaint data from the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to pore over—before the Task Foce makes its recommendation to City Council in December.

Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce President Timothy Hulbert reiterated concerns he had raised in the past: If people already have recourse for discrimination complaints, he said, “why do we need a commission?”

Task Force co-chair Dorenda Johnson, silent for most of the meeting, weighed in then, frustration evident in her voice.

“It’s really hard for people to understand that it’s a lot more than charts and points on this graph here until it’s happened to you,” she said, gesturing to the PowerPoint slide projected on the wall behind her. “So trust me when I tell you, we need a commission to stop this from going on. We need something to help these people.”

 

Categories
News Uncategorized

Virginia shows improvement, but can’t overcome perennial power TCU

UVA quarterback Michael Rocco was 13-28 for 126 yards and two interceptions against a staunch TCU defense.

Mike London was encouraged. Gary Patterson wasn’t.

But it was Patterson’s TCU team that thumped Virginia, 27-7, Saturday in Fort Worth.

“We found a way to get to 3-0,” Patterson said. “It was not pretty.”

Unbeaten and ranked No. 15 nationally, TCU ran its winning streak to 11 games, the longest active streak in the country. The Horned Frogs have won 28 of their last 29 home games and are 38-3 since beating UVA in Charlottesville in 2009.

“Even though the score is indicative of the way they played, believe it or not there are some positive things that occurred for us against a top 20 team,” London said. “We’re 2-2. We are what we are right now, with a chance to get better, a chance to go back home and do some things, play some games, get these things corrected.”

Virginia’s ground attack improved upon lackluster performances against Penn State and Georgia Tech, but the offense committed four turnovers and converted just three of 16 third down opportunities.

“They were fast, they were physical, but we moved the ball,” UVA quarterback Michael Rocco said. “Take no credit away from them, they’re a great defense, and they force turnovers, but I believe in our offense. I believe we can play with anybody.”

TCU picked off Rocco twice, but also allowed a touchdown for the first time this season – a 5-yard pass from Phillip Sims to E.J. Scott with 4:22 remaining in the game.

Sims has now thrown for three touchdowns and zero interceptions and completed more than 62 percent of his passes in limited time. (Rocco is the ACC’s only starting quarterback with more interceptions than touchdowns). After Sims’ late-game scoring drive, London was questioned about a potential change at quarterback.

“I know we didn’t score any points till the very end down there, and I know we had four turnovers, I know that for sure, and then that’s something we have to look at tomorrow and then talk about it as a staff about what we do, how do we correct it. Whether it’s personnel, whether it’s scheme, whatever it might be, we gotta do better.”

TCU quarterback Casey Pachall threw for 305 yards and three scores, and UVA allowed an opening drive 60+ yard play for the second consecutive week, but defensive coordinator Jim Reid was encouraged by his unit.

“I was really proud of the way our players played today,” Reid said. “I still think we were a little shaken from last week at the beginning of the game, and we ran back on our heels a little bit. Then I thought we went hell-bent for election, and started playing with a little bit of a swagger and a little bit of confidence.”

Up next for UVA is a home date with Louisiana Tech. The Bulldogs are averaging 54.7 points per game.

Categories
Living

Small Bites: This week’s restaurant news

Hill & Holler. Photo: John Robinson

The hills are alive
Enjoy a four-course family-style dinner paired with Barboursville wines amidst the vineyards’ very vines on Sunday, September 30 at 5pm. Palladio’s Melissa Close-Hart teams up with chef husband, Matthew Hart from The Local, at this $100 dinner organized by Hill & Holler. Visit hillandholler.org/events.php to reserve. Proceeds benefit the Scottsville Center of Arts & Nature.

Tasting blind
You won’t be blindfolded at Wine Made Simple’s blind tasting class on Thursday, September 27 from 6:30-8pm, but the wines will be. For $15, you’ll get to test yourself on six different varietals while nibbling undisguised appetizers.

Going native
Get Virginia wine month (that would be October) off to an early start by celebrating Norton, Virginia’s native grape, at Keswick Vineyards on Friday, September 28 from 6:30-8:30pm. For $20 (or $15 for wine club members), you’ll get a glass of the 2011 Norton Reserve plus bites from Horse & Hound. If you like what you’ve tasted, you can buy it by the case at a discounted price. Call 244-3341 x105 for tickets.

Eat your veggies
You don’t have to be a vegetarian or a vegan to attend the 16th annual Charlottesville Vegetarian Festival in Lee Park on Saturday, September 29 from 11am-5pm (all 6,000 people it attracts each year surely aren’t), but don’t come expecting any meat.

Categories
News

Charlottesville’s childcare crunch

File photo

Childcare costs are higher than ever and rising nationwide. Families of all backgrounds and income levels are grappling with the conundrum of how to balance care and costs, from couples with college degrees forced to choose between careers and stay-at-home parenthood to low-income families who want more options than public care.

Child Care Aware, a national organization that helps families and providers determine childcare quality, recently released Parents and the High Cost of Child Care: 2012 Report which examines financing challenges and potential solutions. According to the report, the annual cost of infant care ranges from $4,600 in Mississippi to $15,000 in Massachusetts. Childcare costs more than in-state college tuition in 35 states and the District of Columbia, the report says, and the expense of care for two kids is higher than annual average rent in many places.

Unspooling the why of rising costs of childcare is complicated, as a recent article in U.S. News and World Report pointed out. An expert interviewed for that story explained that the rising cost of higher education is pushing service costs upward. At the same time, parents are reevaluating the trade-off of working just to dish out the better part of a salary to pay for preschool.

The struggles of families here in Virginia and Charlottesville to afford childcare mirror those of parents nationwide. In the Commonwealth, where the median family income is $61,616, daily infant care costs as much as $10,670 a year. According to Gail Esterman, who works for Children, Youth & Family Services, Inc. here in Charlottesville, 80 percent of kids with working moms are in childcare centers for up to 40 hours a week, and she described it as a fragmented system.

I’m working on a four-part series on the topic, and I want to open up the discussion and hear from you. Parents, why did you make the decisions you made for your kids? How satisfied have you been with the options in town? Providers, how do you accommodate families without jeopardizing quality? What pressures do you face when hiring caregivers?

Categories
Arts

Comedienne Margaret Cho talks “30 Rock,” songwriting, and being Asian

Margaret Cho is a dragonslayer of sorts. She’s had showdowns with drugs, alcoholism, weight, racism, and sexual discrimination which in turn resulted in activism, recovery, and a successful comedy career. Fearless and offensive behind the microphone, she crafts smart, shocking, sexually and politically charged humor that makes the audience squirm while they nod, cheer, guffaw, and giggle along. Cho brings her no-holds-barred stand-up act to The Jefferson Theater on September 26. She spoke to C-VILLE via e-mail about hippies, Spam, and the Palins.

CVILLE Weekly: Congratulations on your Emmy nomination for “30 Rock.” Did you have any hesitation about playing Korean dictator Kim Jong Il?
Margaret Cho: “Thank you! I was so excited to do it. I loved playing him and I can’t wait to do it again. It is also very exciting to be nominated.“

You are on the Mother tour, which you describe as your “edgiest show to date.” Has your mother seen it?
“She has seen parts of it, but not the entire thing. It is fairly filthy, and so she might get mad, but I think she will laugh too.”

Our small city of Charlottesville, Virginia just hosted its first ever gay pride festival. What have you noticed regarding society’s comfort level with the LGBTQ community?
“I love it! It is very important to have gay pride festivals, and the very first time is the most memorable. Congratulations. I want there to be gay pride festivals in every town in the world.”

You grew up in the waning heydays of the hippie movement. Were you ever a hippie? What is the strangest thing you witnessed as a kid in San Francisco?
“I was a hippie, but not particularly one who fit with the times, as they were around before I was born. I think the strangest things for me were watching how drugs affected the people, as it went from pot to heroin to coke to crystal meth, and that had a detrimental effect on a lot of the counterculture. I think crystal meth is really deadly, and I could see it happening in front of me there in my youth.”

You have collaborated with many talented musicians. Do you write with a partner in mind or choose a name from your contact list when the song is ready?
“I do both. It depends on my collaborator really, and how we end up getting together. It happens all different ways, but it is always great. I have written songs with the best—Andrew Bird, Patty Griffin, Ani Di-Franco…I am so blessed.”

It’s reported that you had a coach on the set of “All American Girl” to teach you how to be more Asian. Beyond the insult, did you learn anything?
“To put Spam in things, which I loved doing. Spam is very Asian.”

Chris Rock stated recently (in regard to his July 4 Twitter comment) that the immediacy of today’s media inhibits the creative process. You were recently taken to task for a comment on “Watch What Happens Live.” Do you think comedians should play by the “rules”?
“I don’t know, but I think that with the way that media is, comics will always be in trouble. I think that comics haven’t changed, media has. We have always been the same, telling inappropriate jokes and saying the right or wrong things, but media captures it all now. It’s just the way things are.”

You and Bristol Palin had somewhat of a social media “postdown.” Are you still at odds? Can we expect any political humor at the show?
“Yes, there will be some political humor, I mean there always is, as politics are hilarious. I don’t think of the Palins as political as much as I think of them as a kind of American monarchy, or like a weird bastardization of a reality T.V. phenomenon, gossip and conservative ideology. The Palins don’t want women or gays to have rights —that is offensive to me.”

You have overcome personal and professional obstacles, turning to activism over victimization. What is your sense of accomplishment now and what responsibility does that hold for you personally?
“I just feel happy that I have some control over my life in a way that I didn’t have as a child, or as a young adult trying to start my career. It’s fantastic to be able to make good choices instead of desperate choices and I am really happy. I guess the responsibility lies in just continuing to do the best work I can do and take care of myself and others as well as I can.”

Who is the biggest diva you know?
“Oh, I am a big diva, but only to myself. No one really knows. It’s a big secret.”

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Notes from the news desk: What’s coming up in Charlottesville the week of 9/24

Notes from the news desk

Each week, the news team takes a look at upcoming meetings and events in Charlottesville and Albemarle we think you should know about. Consider it a look into our datebook, and be sure to share newsworthy happenings, too.

  • Charlottesville Area Transit holds a public meeting from 7 to 9pm tonight on proposed route adjustments for city buses at City Space, 100 Fifth St. NE. There will be a public question and comment period after a presentation on the adjustments.
  • The Albemarle County Planning Commission meets from 6 to 9pm Tuesday in Lane Auditorium at the County Office Building. On the agenda: the approval of a cell tower on Scottsville Road and discussion of the 2013 comprehensive plan.
  • The Charlottesville Metropolitan Planning Organization Policy Board meets from 4 to 6pm Wednesday at the Water Street Center, 407 Water Street East. The agenda includes a look at the MPO’s long-range transportation plan and adjustments to the Transportation Improvement Plan.
  • The most anticipated meeting of the week is VDOT’s citizen information meeting on the proposed Western Bypass, which takes place from 6 to 9pm Thursday at Jack Jouett Middle School, 210 Lambs Lane. State officials will solicit public input on the recent environmental study on long-planned road. The meeting will be held in an open forum format, and residents will have an opportunity to speak with VDOT staff and leave written comments.