Month: March 2013

Categories
Living

To top it off: Three designers share their coffee table styling secrets

Jan Roden's coffee table. Photo: Elli Williams

Coffee tables. We all have them. But many of us don’t exactly know what to do with them. Or at least, how to make them functional and artfully styled. What kinds of things belong on a coffee table? How should they be arranged? Matters of scale, practicality, and sentiment all come into question when attempting any type of tablescape. We called in the experts to shed some light on the topic. Here’s how three local interior designers approach their personal coffee tables.

Photo: Elli Williams
Photo: Elli Williams

Kenny Ball of Kenny Ball Antiques and Kenny Ball Design (293-1361)

“The round coffee table is James Mont by Kittinger. It is a beloved vintage piece. On it, I always have things that reflect our interests: dogs, design, and family. Usually a live plant and some candles. Frequently, the items arranged on the table will change and I actually use the books all the time for our design business. The square coffee table is taller than the normal 18″. It is vintage mid-century modern, rosewood. We use it for dining and paper work.”

victoria-pouncey_living_0313
Photo: Elli Williams

Victoria Pouncey of Victoria Pouncey Design (981-2737)

“One of the most important aspects of my design work is the blending of antiques with modern and contemporary pieces. My formal living room has a lucite coffee table in front of a 19th century settee. On the table, I have a wooden model of a horse, because I have a 7-year-old daughter who is horse obsessed, and some of my favorite books. I use the books to bring in pops of color since the walls and furniture are all in shades of gray. Right now, the books are Rajasthan, Walton Ford: Pancha Tantra, and Mark Rothko. Some fresh flowers, and the table is set!”

Jan Roden of Jan Roden Design (244-2800)

“I’ve artfully arranged personal treasures, natural curiosities, and anything that can fit on it. In my world, the more the better. I can’t help but fill up any surface with trinkets. What’s fun is that my granddaughter will come in and reearange all the things that I leave out on the coffee table and it turns into a fun activity.

“It’s important when you’re arranging a coffee table—or any kind of table—to put things at different levels. That means that you might use stands or acrylic risers so that there’s visual interest.”

Categories
News

Family continues to fight for cemetery in the path of the Western Bypass

The grave of Jesse Scott Sammons, a descendant of the Hemings family of Monticello, was in the path of the Western Bypass. Photo by John Robinson

When Erica Caple James visited Charlottesville three years ago, the MIT anthropology professor was here to talk about the cultural impacts of the loss of the bodies of the victims of Haiti’s 1991 coup d’état. Two weeks ago, she was back, again to speak on behalf of the dead. But this time it was much more personal. The long-forgotten cemetery that holds the graves of her ancestors—the Sammons family, descendants of the Hemings family of Monticello —is directly in the path of the controversial Western Bypass, plans for which are awaiting federal approval. A study of the plot commissioned by the Virginia Department of Transportation and released in January found it didn’t rise to the level of historic importance required for officials to consider rerouting the road around it.

The family scored a victory late last month when the Virginia Department of Historic Resources called the report inadequate and sent VDOT and the company it hired, Cultural Resources, Inc., back to the drawing board with directives to dig deeper into the family history.

No matter what they find, the family might not get what they want: preservation of the plot and a new route for the Bypass, as opposed to relocation of the graves. The final decision is up to the Federal Highway Administration, regardless of what state agencies recommend. But James said the half-acre plot on Lambs Road in Albemarle is worth fighting for.

“It’s not just our history,” she said. “It’s your history. It’s the history of this city, this region, and the nation.”

Jesse Scott Sammons, a prominent member of the Hydraulic Mills community in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Photo courtesy of the Albert & Shirley Small Special Collections Library, Accession no. 10176.

Jesse Scott Sammons, a prominent member of the Hydraulic Mills community in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Photo courtesy of the Albert & Shirley Small Special Collections Library, Accession no. 10176.

VDOT has known about the cemetery since at least the mid-1990s, when it first appeared on Bypass plans, spokesman Lou Hatter confirmed. James only learned of its discovery in January when historian and expert on slave life at Monticello Lucia “Cinder” Stanton caught wind of the report and called her.

The plot’s existence might have been news to both of them, but they were already intimately familiar with the lives of the people buried in it. Stanton has been researching the descendants of Monticello’s slave families for decades, and James had spent years digging into her own family’s past. The two scholars suddenly found themselves faced with a missing link.

Jesse Scott Sammons and the family buried with him after his death in 1901 were the most prominent members of the Hydraulic Mills community, a tight-knit collection of prosperous post-Civil War black families clustered along what’s now Hydraulic Road. It was unique in Albemarle County— and rare in the South, said Stanton. Its inhabitants were businesspeople, teachers, doctors.

“You have this very large community of landholding African-Americans in the post-Emancipation years and up into the ’30s,” Stanton said. “The more we look at it and study it, the more remarkable it seems. The importance of the people buried there is extremely significant in terms of the history of this county after the Civil War, and it’s a part of history that’s been hard to grasp.”

That’s partly because very little of it is left. The old Hydraulic Mill itself disappeared under the waters of the Rivanna Reservoir when it was dammed in 1966. The all-black school where Sammons served as principal has been demolished.

But on March 7, his descendants got to see one last tangible remnant: his grave.

“Going through the process of learning about your family is moving in and of itself,” said Sammons descendant Linda McMurdock, a psychologist* and Dean of Students at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. A day after she flew into Charlottesville with her mother and aunts to tour their ancestral home, she and James sat in the lobby of the Omni Hotel—the site of another local African-American neighborhood all but erased by development—and reflected on the brief but intensely personal history lesson they’d received. “When you hear the common themes, the commonalities—I described it as a visceral experience for me,” McMurdock said. “I felt like I had to be here. I was compelled to come.”

The family is deeply frustrated about the way VDOT has dealt with the discovery of the cemetery. The agency could have disclosed its existence earlier, James said. The researchers commissioned to study it could have done more to learn about the history it held. She knows of two other cemeteries near the Bypass right of way, but not in its path. Both are white graveyards. “The road wasn’t designed to cut through those cemeteries,” she said. “The road is directly coming through ours.”

Even worse, said James, is the fact that VDOT shifted the planned path of the roadway to avoid an SPCA pet cemetery, according to a request for proposals issued by the agency in 2011.

“Presumably, the SPCA didn’t have to demonstrate the national historic significance of their cemetery,” she said.

VDOT is pledging to do what it can to honor the family’s wishes as it moves forward with the Bypass project. “We certainly understand their concerns, and we’re working with them to make sure they’re involved with the process,” said Hatter.

Convincing the state that the cemetery meets eligibility criteria for the National Historic Register is the first step in getting what they want, the family said. But it’s a difficult bar to clear, particularly for African-American sites like the Lambs Road cemetery, because black families often didn’t leave the same written and photographic records that whites did. It’s a persistent problem in making the case for preserving black history, said Stanton.

“I don’t think that there’s anything inherently racist in the methods of how this all came about,” she said. “But functionally, it is unbalanced in terms of what is preserved and what isn’t.”

James said she and her family won’t give up. “We feel a moral obligation, but also a familial obligation to protect these people, because they don’t have a voice. They can’t speak at this point,” she said. “And we stand on their shoulders.”

*The print version of this story incorrectly stated that Dr. McMurdock is a psychiatrist. She is a psychologist.

Categories
Arts

We cannot live without books: Festival hosts 200+ events over five days

Olympian John Carlos will appear at the Paramount Theater to discuss vision and action for world change. Photo courtesy of Festival of the Book.

For many, the notion of literary endeavor evokes isolation and a dash of depression, the image of a lonely writer drinking Scotch in a frozen garret, warming herself with a burning manuscript. Though I can’t promise that those things never happen—say, in the course of writing a newspaper article—this year’s Festival of the Book turns such stereotypes on their heads. Hosted by the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, these five days of literary celebration (beginning March 20) will draw more than 20,000 attendees. According to Rob Vaughan, president of the VFH, “it’s the largest festival east of the Mississippi, if not the country.”

Since its inception, the Festival has grown from 55 to 210 programs, most of which are free and open to the public. Ninety-four fiction and 235 non-fiction authors will discuss subjects ranging from romance to art, memoir to aging, fantasy to family to literacy and leadership. Twenty-six professional poets will share insights and readings, and 30 participants from the publishing field will give practical advice to aspiring writers. Check out the highlights below, and build your own “book bag” personalized schedule at vabook.org.

For visionaries 

On Saturday, March 23 at 8pm at the Paramount, see two American icons in conversation: The Honorable John Lewis (D-GA) was a Freedom Rider and a founder of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and 1968 Olympian Dr. John Carlos made history when he and fellow Olympian Tommie Smith gave the black power salute on the winners’ podium. They will discuss how vision and action can change the world.

For sports lovers

If you love athletics as much as you love books, don’t miss Sports Night at the Paramount. Panelists include 50-year Sports Illustrated veteran and multi-genre author Frank Deford, former Washington Post sports and feature writer Jane Leavy, political sportswriter Dave Zirin, moderator and author of Summer of ’68: The Season That Changed Baseball Tim Wendel, and Charlottesville’s own John Grisham.

For kids

“Kids get really excited during the Festival,” said Susan Coleman, director of the Virginia Center for the Book. StoryFest!, a series that caters to youth, includes a kids’ book swap, live animal viewing, empowerment workshops, and plenty of readings, including 40 in-school events. Eric Wight, whose graphic novel Frankie Pickle and the Closet of Doom is a nominee for the Virginia reader’s choice list, will bridge the gap between adults and children with his lectures at the Omni Hotel and middle schools around the city. “The point I focus on most in my workshops is that we are all creative,” he said. “Anyone can create stories.”

For thrillseekers

Suspense lovers are in for a treat with Crime Wave, a series of genre-specific panels including Murder in the Name of God, Who Knew This Work Could Be So Dangerous? and Friday Night Thrillers. Even if thrillers aren’t your thing, don’t be afraid to stop by. As Ed Falco, Scenes of the Crime panelist and author of cinematic Mario Puzio-inspired The Family Corleone, explains: “good novels are good novels regardless of genre.”

For truthseekers

Of the festival’s myriad non-fiction topics, one of the hottest will be Thomas Jefferson. This is Charlottesville, after all. Three separate programs focus on T.J., including Jefferson’s Legacies with Henry Wiencek and John Ragosta (Friday at 4pm at CitySpace). Wiencek’s Master of the Mountain: Thomas Jefferson and His Slaves received much attention for its highly-charged topic. “There was so much about Jefferson I didn’t understand,” Wiencek said. “There’s a saying among authors, ‘I write to find out.’”

For lovers of verse

Current U.S. Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey first read at the festival in 2000, alongside then-Poet Laureate Rita Dove. “It was the first time I’d gotten to spend any time with a poet whose work was deeply important to me,” Trethewey said in an interview with Kevin McFadden, COO of the VFH. “My father, who is also a poet, was in the audience, beaming.” Relive the moment on Saturday at 2pm at the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center, when Trethewey will read from her latest book, Thrall.

For party hoppers

Kick off your literary weekend with opening ceremonies that include winners of the Letters about Literature competition and The Hook short story contest. At 6pm that night, winners of the Bus Lines Community Poetry series will read at the Downtown transit center, and Thursday offers more local talent: Verbs & Vibes Open Mic (7pm, Student Bookstore) and Big Blue Door, a night of true stories on the theme of books (8pm, The Bridge PAI). On Friday, trade happy hour for a literary soiree. At the Sweet Reads Reception, parents and kids can eat dessert with festival authors (6pm, Charlottesville Catholic School), and at the Emily Dickinson After Party, Paul Legault will trade verse with Dickinson herself, then deejay a night of dancing (8pm, The Bridge PAI).

For writers

Saturday at the Omni Hotel is Publishing Day, a series of seminars for writers that includes Promoting the Smart Way, How to Make Writing Pay, and Creating a Great Writing Group. Writers will critique audience submissions in How to Hook an Editor on the First Page. Perennial favorite Agents Roundtable returns, along with Digital Publishing for Your Book and Digital Publishing in 2013 with Jen Talty of Cool Gus Publishing and Jon Fine, director of author and publisher relations at Amazon.com.

Virginia Festival of the Book/Various locations/March 20-24

 

Categories
Arts

ARTS Pick: Mostly Cyrano

The man and myth, Cyrano de Bergerac, has inspired many theatrical productions including Play On!'s Mostly Cyrano. Image: Wikimedia Commons

Nasal passages: Although Edmond Rostand’s theatrical classic Cyrano de Bergerac needs no other proof of success beyond the introduction of the word “panache” into the vernacular, the folks over at Play On! have done him another favor. In local playwright Peter Coy’s take, Mostly Cyrano, a troupe of actors prepares to tackle the gargantuan piece only to have its themes resurface as probing questions about their own lives. Dueling over the existence of romanticism, honor, and selflessness modernity.

Thursday-Sunday 3/21-24 $5-17, 8pm. (2pm matinee on Sundays). Play On! Theatre, 983 Second St. S.E. 872-0184.

 

Categories
News

Research on the chopping block as UVA faces sequestration

A student works in UVA chemistry Professor John Bushweller’s lab, one of many that could see major cuts in federal grant funding due to sequestration. Photo: Christian Hommel

The University of Virginia expects to lose up to $12 million in research funding in 2013 and could see significant financial aid reductions in the coming years due to sequestration, the massive package of federal spending cuts that went into effect March 1.

As the University braces for the effects of the sequester, originally intended as a trigger so undesirable it would force legislators to come to an agreement about a more suitable way to control spending, UVA’s medical research centers and Federal Work-Study program have emerged as early casualties.

“This is about not only the school and discovery,” said Jeffrey Blank, UVA’s assistant vice president for research. “It’s about jobs, local jobs here in Charlottesville. This has an impact on people’s lives.”

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have blamed each other for railroading a strategic plan to cut spending. But wherever the blame lies for the stalemate, the sequester will amount to a loss of $85 billion in federal aid, with 9.4 percent of the defense budget slashed and the non-defense discretionary budget suffering by 8.2 percent. The Congressional Budget Office forecasts up to 750,000 Americans could lose their jobs due to the reductions. Other economists say that number could be higher.

“The across-the-board cuts required through sequestration are stupid on steroids,” said Senator Mark Warner. “And while much of the discussion has focused on the impact on our military and national defense, the impacts are significant for our world class research universities like UVA.”

Medical research stands to be the hardest hit at the University. Of its $300 million overall research budget, roughly $200 million is federal money. About $23 million of that came from the National Science Foundation last year; the National Institutes of Health granted $129 million. Since all federal research funding will be cut at least 5 percent and up to 7 percent, the bottom-line loss for the University is expected to be $10-12 million, according to Blank.

Blank said NSF plans to maintain funding for its current grants but significantly reduce new grants going forward. NIH, which has already been operating at a 10 percent reduction, has left it up to its individual institutes to decide how to make the additional cuts. Blank said NIH will decrease the amount of funding granted, the number of new proposals funded, and the length of existing grants. He said UVA has encouraged faculty members to talk to their funding manager about their individual research projects.

“The sequester is just right on top of cuts we have already experienced,” Blank said. “Not to the best of my recollection has it ever all piled on like this.”

The UVA Cancer Center reports it will take a 10 percent, $100,000 cut in its federal funding in the first six months of the year, according to the center’s director, Dr. Michael Weber. The center receives $2 million annually from NIH, and Weber said the reduction to $900,000 for the first six months of the year will limit the effectiveness of ongoing and developing research. What’s more, NIH has deferred its decision on the following six months, which hamstrings the center in hiring decisions and puts the brakes on pilot programs that drive innovation.

“As a nation, have we decided to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in the fight against cancer?” Weber asked.

While the details of the sequestered research funds have become increasingly clear, many decisions about financial aid cuts have been delayed to ensure spring aid will not be affected. The University’s Federal Work-Study allocation from the U.S. Department of Education (a small portion of the aid UVA offers) is expected to decline by $92,000 in the 2013-14 school year. Pell Grants are exempt for the current school year but could be eligible for cuts in later years. The Federal Supplemental Education Opportunity Grant, which could be cut at other universities, is not expected to be touched at UVA.

“There is not a hard and fast timeline to any of this,” said UVA spokesperson McGregor McCance.

To offset the sequestration reductions to work-study aid, which is earned through employment on or off Grounds and based on financial need, the University has indicated it will consider reducing the number of students in the program. UVA did not disclose the number of individuals losing aid due to the $92,000 funding cut in 2013-2014 but indicates award amounts range from $1,000 to $4,000 for undergrads and up to $3,500 for graduate students.

Deferring financial aid cuts could ease the burden, according to the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, because Congress could still find a way to overturn the sequester. McCance said UVA will not cover the losses in the meantime.

“While every dollar of aid is important, the anticipated cut in work-study is only about 0.1 percent of the total federal, state and University funds UVA provides in financial aid,” he said.

On the research side, Blank said the University’s primary means of counteracting the cuts are bridge funding and aid diversification. Each department has a certain amount of administrative funds it can allocate to selected research projects to maintain its momentum, or bridge the gap, until federal aid returns or the funding can be secured through other means. Funding can be diversified through state allocations, private company investments, or philanthropic donations.

Still, despite UVA’s best efforts, some of the 3,400 individuals employed in a research or research support capacity at the University will lose their jobs in the wake of sequestration. And some of the damage won’t be easy to fix, Weber said.

“Over the past 10 years, we have been putting less into medical research than ever before,” he said. “People are bailing out. Labs are shutting down. Once the teams start to fall apart and people take other jobs, it takes a long time to build them back up. It is not an activity you can turn on and off like a faucet.”—Shea Gibbs

Categories
Living

In with the old: Caffe Bocce is an Italian throwback just off the Downtown Mall

Caffe Bocce’s chef-owner Christopher Long eschews gimmicks in favor of a formula that relies on fresh ingredients and warm hospitality. Photo: John Robinson

For as long as I can remember, food has been my passion. I feel fortunate to have lived through the food renaissance our country has experienced over the last few decades. In taking over the reins of this C-VILLE column, I hope to do my small part to document the effects of that renaissance here in Charlottesville.

For the most part, its effects have been positive. Now that food is king, customers, chefs, and purveyors are more knowledgeable and daring than ever before. The renaissance has improved the quality and variety of food accessible to the average consumer. Yet, today’s food-centric culture has had its casualties, too—perhaps the most common being a lost focus on customers. If food is king, customers are not. Thus, for some chefs, a negative review on a restaurant website means a shortcoming in the reviewer, not the restaurant.

Caffe Bocce, which opened in November on Market Street, seems largely immune to these effects. After closing nearly a decade ago in Scottsville, it reappeared in Charlottesville, as if the lost years had never happened. To walk into Caffe Bocce is to enter a time capsule—a place where Mom and Dad would go on Saturday night while the kids stayed home with pizza and a sitter.

No recent food trends appear. There is no molecular gastronomy, no foam, and no list of purveyors. In fact, there is no mention at all of “local,” “organic,” “artisan”—or any of the other latest buzzwords. Don’t you have anything with Pork belly? Or Pop Rocks?

Nope. At Caffe Bocce, the menu simply lists the choices, and the customer is still king. White cloths drape the tables, Miles Davis sets the mood, and servers greet guests at the door with warm offers to hang their coats.

This is largely by design, says chef-owner Christopher Long, who instead of chasing ever-changing fads, keeps his focus where it has always been: on the experience of his guests. His mission at Caffe Bocce is simple. “Improve lives,” he said.

This people-focused approach derives in part from Long’s philosophy. “I just live one day at a time trying to do something for someone else,” said Long, who once served as Scottsville’s mayor and is known for inviting children to cook in the restaurant kitchen. It also stems from decades in restaurant service, including many years as maître d’ at a classic Italian-American restaurant, where the servers were tuxedo-clad professionals who needed their earnings to raise families, not college students seeking beer money.

When former Scottsville regulars learned that Long had returned to the area after eight years in the Hudson Valley, they flocked to the second coming of Caffe Bocce, no doubt lured by the warm hospitality. Of course, the food warrants a following too.

During several group meals I have recently enjoyed there, we have sampled appetizers, pastas, and entrées, but our favorite dishes consistently involved seafood, with the standout being a grilled whole sardine, drizzled with olive oil, pine nuts, raisins, and lemon juice, aside fennel slices grilled until golden brown.

Another fish served whole, the grilled branzino, reflected the deft touch of an experienced chef, having been removed from the grill in that narrow window when the flesh is still flaky but not chewy. It was so ably cooked that the assertive tomato sauce that smothered it seemed unnecessary.

Cephalopod fanatics will like the abundance of choices, from a salad of chili-spiced grilled octopus to a frequent special of grilled calamari stuffed with sausage. Desserts, in the capable hands of Joy Kuhar, also turn back the clock with classics like cheesecake, tiramisu, and, our group’s favorite, a flourless chocolate torte.

The wine list is designed to please, too—with affordable and versatile glasses like a refreshing Tiamo Prosecco ($7) and a fruit-forward 2009 San Lorenzo Montepulciano d’Abruzzo ($7).

For lunch, there are not only smaller portions of dinner items but also offerings like a grilled lamb burger. Sit-down lunch off the Downtown Mall can be a tough market to crack, but the value and quality at Caffe Bocce might just do the trick.

In an era when food is king, Caffe Bocce is a welcome throwback. The sincere care that Long and his staff show his guests recalls the original sense of the word “restaurant”—which derives from the French word for restore. “It’s strange,” said Long, of his return to the area. “It’s like the last eight years never happened.” Indeed.

Categories
News

Saturday shooting instigated by Elks Lodge fight, warrants show

Two men were wounded in an officer-involved shooting at this spot on 2nd Street NW near the Downtown Mall on March 16. Photo by Graelyn Brashear.

New details about the Downtown shooting that sent two men to the hospital early Saturday morning—one with a bullet in his abdomen that police believe came from an officer’s gun—were revealed yesterday in search warrants filed in Charlottesville Circuit Court.

According to the warrants, Frank D. Brown, 56, of Albemarle, and Leon T. Brock, 22, of Culpeper County, were involved in an argument that started in the Elks Lodge on 2nd Street NW, just north of the Downtown Mall. A witness driving past the lodge told police his car was blocked when the fight spilled out of the building and escalated.

Police are still investigating what happened next, but they believe Brown shot Brock shortly before officer Alexander Bruner arrived on the scene and shot Brown. Bruner fired twice, according to warrants, and one bullet apparently hit Brown in the abdomen. A report and photographs from that night published by The Hook show the two men cuffed and bleeding on the ground, surrounded by a throng of onlookers.

Brown and Brock were taken to UVA Medical Center, where they were in stable condition Tuesday, according to Charlottesville Police Lieutenant Ronnie Roberts.

The police investigation is now focused on the Friday night guest list and membership rolls for the Elks Lodge, according to warrants.

A Daily Progress story reports that Brown obtained a concealed carry permit in 2010, which would have allowed him to have a gun inside the lodge, as long as he wasn’t drinking alcohol. Brock, too, would have been legally required to be sober, the story says, due to a series of convictions in Albemarle and surrounding counties.

Previous news stories in Culpeper indicate Brock has been arrested for assault. Court records show Brown has an arrest on his record for fishing without a license.

Categories
Living

Open and honest: County campaign encourages frank discussions about alcohol

File photo.

Albemarle County Project Director Alex London-Gross is leading a county-wide campaign to reduce drinking and driving, and is encouraging parents to talk to their kids.

“Talk to them about everything: what’s going on, who their friends are, what they’re doing after school,” she said. “One of the best preventative factors is knowing you can have open conversation with your children, so when they reach high school, you know you can talk to them about drinking.”

Albemarle County has one of the highest rates of alcohol-related car crashes in Virginia, London-Gross said, and it’s something parents and their kids need to be more aware of.

The campaign will include advertisements targeting 15- to 24-year-olds, and a free event open to the public on April 15 with speakers and breakout groups aimed at high school students and their parents. The event is right before prom, and London-Gross said she hopes high school students will take the information to heart and make safe decisions about drinking.

“I can’t tell you not to drink, but if you’re going to, we can teach you how to do it safely,” she said.

Categories
Living

Peter Chang sneaks back into town to say ‘thank you’

Chef Peter Chang and Mary Lee go over the menu during a VIP banquet at Peter Chang's China Grill in Charlottesville last week. Photo: Justin Ide.

Very few things about prize-winning Szechuan chef Peter Chang are absolutely clear. He has a Wikipedia page, for instance, but it doesn’t list a birthday. Stanley Tucci is reportedly making a film about his life, but until it comes out, every story about him will likely continue to contain words like ‘elusive.’ In the meantime, we have his food, and at least occasionally in Charlottesville, his smiling face.

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Braised beef and potatoes with Szechuan red chili pepper. Photo: Justin Ide.

Last Thursday  at Peter Chang’s China Grill, an invite-only event brought together a few folks from the chef’s past and a number of others from his most recent endeavors, a mixture of restaurant regulars, media types, and food industry people. Chang’s personal attention has mainly been focused on his new West Broad Street Richmond location. His model, now as before, has been to set up a kitchen, get it running smoothly, and move on. Amidst the chaos of the kitchen, Chang said through his translator, “Tonight is a thank you to customers who have given us so much in the last two years.”

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Stuffed cucumber appetizers and a happy guest. Photo: Justin Ide.

Organized by his Charlottesville business partners Gen and Mary Lee, the dinner was a social function, but it was also a showcase for Chang’s cooking. Watching him put together a banquet with his wife Lisa working alongside him is to understand what makes the couple tick. They are humble, gracious, and devoted to their food. The food is classic Szechuan fare, heavily spiced, oily, and delicious, integrating the black peppercorn when appropriate.

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Chefs Lisa and Peter Chang plate scallops with a sauce thickened with rice flour. Photo: Justin Ide.

Appetizers for the evening included stir-fried chicken wontons with XO sauce, Szechuan hot chili beef, cumin shrimp kabobs, and a cucumber stuffed with a pine nut mixture.  Dinner courses came one on top of the other: a diced sea bass with hot chili peppers, braised beef shank in wine sauce, and duck breast with shiitake mushrooms and bamboo shoots.

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Chef Peter Chang (right) hand stretches noodles. Photo: Justin Ide.

By far the star of the show were the hand thrown Han Zhong style stir-fried noodles, a spicy appetizer served table side, the glutinous noodles soaking up the oily sauce and just the right amount of heat. Moments earlier, Chang and his kitchen mates had stood on crates in order to stretch them to the appropriate length. Not an everyday item for a high-volume restaurant in the U.S., but heavenly.

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A grateful VIP customer passes on her appreciation after the meal. Photo: Justin Ide.

 Chef Chang has never been short of press, allure, or adulation. Still, the event got a message across from him and the Lees to the people of Charlottesville. He still cares about the food that comes out of that kitchen as much as he ever did. And the response from his customers? The photos tell the story…–Justin Ide

Justin Ide is a Charlottesville-based food blogger and photographer. You can find his work at justinide.com and his food blog at f2percent.com.

Categories
News

HUD report criticizes foundering, divided housing authority

Westhaven, one of Charlottesville's public housing projects. Photo by Jack Looney.

The Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority (CRHA) got a thrashing last week with the release of a highly critical report on its operations by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and since then, parties on all sides of the debate over how to fix public housing in the city have been leveraging the feds’ findings to support their own arguments. But there’s one thing CRHA Commissioners, staff, residents, and HUD officials can agree on: The system is thoroughly broken.

The 41-page report is a portrait of an agency in crisis. The CRHA has failed to change its policies to stay caught up with federal guidelines, it says, and has been reluctant to follow many of its own rules. The result, says HUD, is a housing authority that struggles with maintenance of its 376 units, charges many residents too little, fails to collect unpaid rent, doesn’t evict those who don’t pay, and is facing a shaky financial future in an era of shrinking federal support.

For Connie Dunn, who became the latest in a revolving door of CRHA executive directors last April, the report is something of a validation. Dunn has spent her first year at the helm pushing for some of the changes the report demands, including better documentation of residents’ income and stricter eviction policies. But she’s been met with resistance from CRHA’s divided Board of Commissioners.

“The executive director cannot change policy without board approval,” Dunn said. “When I’m trying to act according to HUD’s guidelines, I am not always supported by all Board members.”

HUD’s report backs her up, citing the Board’s lack of support for policy enforcement as one of the agency’s main failings. Some are pointing to one finding in particular as a cause for concern about the Board’s governance. The report notes that City Councilor and former CRHA Board Chair Dave Norris received $9,200 in HUD funds for contract work with the Public Housing Authority of Residents during his time on the Board, a relationship HUD flagged as a possible conflict of interest. The payments were for consulting work on a federal grant awarded to PHAR to help the group improve quality of life for residents, and the funds were never administered by the CRHA—which Dunn confirmed.

But Commissioner Bob Stevens called the finding disturbing. The Housing Authority was sued last year by PHAR and other parties claiming residents are being overcharged for utilities, and Norris sat in on litigation strategies, something Stevens said would never have been allowed had they known PHAR was paying Norris.

“I don’t think any of us knew he was an employee of theirs,” said Stevens. “That’s a huge conflict of interest.”

Norris disputes that claim. His fellow Board members were well aware of his close relationship with the residents’ group since its founding, he said, and all his payments were fully disclosed. He said he wished he’d been more clear about the connection, because it’s now being leveraged by people he says see public housing residents and those who support them as adversaries.

“Ultimately, this is not about me,” he said. “This is part of a bigger effort to undermine PHAR and its allies.”

Commissioner and public housing resident Joy Johnson agreed. She said she supports some policy changes, including the report’s recommendation to double the CRHA’s minimum rent from $25 to $50 a month. But she’s quick to defend Norris, and blame his detractors for targeting him.

“This feels like an attack on the residents and on PHAR,” she said.

The real question, said Johnson and Norris, is how to build a better model of governance for the foundering agency. They want to see it become a city department. Only then will it be able to tackle its other mission: redevelopment of the city’s public housing stock, a project that’s widely seen as too complicated, too expensive, and too contentious to touch.

“It’s hard to see how that happens in an atmosphere of such antagonism and distrust,” Norris said.

Norris left the CRHA Board earlier this year shortly before announcing he didn’t intend to run for another term on City Council. But he continues to push for reform, and a newcomer is angling to fill both his seat and his role as an elected ally of housing residents: Wes Bellamy, the 26-year-old teacher and mentoring group founder who announced his run for Council last week. He read the report, he said, and came away with a lot of the same concerns Norris had. And he pledged to fight “emphatically” to replace the longtime Councilor “and serve as a voice for low-income residents.”

Stevens said he agrees with a lot of the points made by Norris and others critical of the report. He’s also frustrated with HUD’s lack of communication since handing it down. In a year when federal funding is likely to be slashed nearly 20 percent, the least HUD could offer is some support for its findings and policy demands, he said. Regional officials had planned to meet with local staff last week, but cancelled at the last minute when they learned the CRHA intended to make the meeting public.

“This is not what I was looking for when we asked for this review,” Stevens said. “To me, they’re saying ‘Here’s our report. Do it, and we’re not explaining why.’”

But there’s no chance the city will absorb the CRHA completely, he said, especially not while it’s plagued by policy issues and fiscal troubles.

While the fractious local authority wrestles with the report, HUD officials remain firm: The CRHA has to get its house in order. In a time of major funding cutbacks, there’s no room for operational inefficiency.

“Times are getting tougher,” said regional HUD spokesman Jerry Brown. “There’s a 5 percent cut to every line item at HUD. We’re all going to be seeing less, so we need to be doing things right.”

Update: C-VILLE ran the following brief the week after the above story was published.

The Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development says that City Councilor Dave Norris’ work for the Public Housing Association of Residents while Norris was chair of the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority did not pose a conflict of interest.

HUD had noted Norris’ close relationship with PHAR and the fact that the group had paid him nearly $10,000 out of a HUD grant for consulting work in a recently released report that was highly critical of the CRHA. Norris maintained that his long relationship with the residents’ association did not conflict with his work as an elected and appointed official. On Monday, a HUD official confirmed that after looking into the issue, it had deemed there was no financial conflict of interest.