Harvard graduate, University of Chicago professor, and literacy director for the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Trust, Srikanth Reddy shares selections from his two books of poetry, Facts for Visitors (2004) and Voyager (2011). Using a variety of methods, including prose, syllabic, and terza rima, Reddy’s form plays like a pop-up book of images and ideas that feel odd and inclusive.
Monday 12/2. Free, 6:30pm. The Bridge PAI, 209 Monticello Rd. 984-5669.
Four County Players’ production of A Christmas Carol has been a local favorite since 2008, but in this go-around director Joncey Boggs and local playwright Miller Murray Susen are keeping it fresh by taking a step back and using Dickens’ age-old text while adding some musical numbers for originality.
Through 12/15. $12-16, times vary. Four County Players, 5256 Governor Barbour St., Barboursville. (540) 832-5355.
As the tragic case of Gus Deeds—who attacked his father, State Senator Creigh Deeds, one day after undergoing a mental health evaluation and being released due to a reported lack of hospital space—shows all too clearly, the way a state chooses to allocate its budget resources can make a huge difference for people in need.
While there are still many unanswered questions about what actually happened to Gus Deeds between the expiration of his psychiatric emergency custody order and the terrible events that ended with his suicide, one fact is undisputed: Virginia’s mental health system is wholly inadequate when it comes to housing and treating people in crisis. As Mira Signer, director of the Virginia chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, put it in an interview with The Washington Post: “If a family with resources and know-how has difficulty accessing and navigating the mental health system, it speaks volumes about what happens to people who don’t have resources.”
To Governor Bob McDonnell’s credit, he immediately ordered his secretary of health and human resources to review the “overall capacity of our mental health system, not just at the state level but also at the local level to see what more we can do.” He also vowed to use his final budget proposal to address any “glaring problems” this review might find.
The problems with this approach, however, are twofold. First, even if McDonnell increases mental health spending, there’s no guarantee it will be approved by the Republican-dominated General Assembly. And even if it is, there’s a high likelihood that services will be cut again once the spotlight has faded. (Following the mass shootings at Virginia Tech in 2007, the GA allocated an extra $42 million for various mental health-related services, but ended up cutting $37 million of that during the recession years of 2009 and 2010.)
The second issue is the question of priorities. While more money would certainly help, Virginia’s current emphasis on “community-based solutions” (as opposed to state-funded institutional care) has created a patchwork system in which private hospitals and psychiatric facilities are paid to take in patients with emergency mental health needs, space permitting. This all too frequently results in time running out (as it did with Gus Deeds, according to the director of the local community services organization that initially took him in) before a suitable institution can be found.
And then there’s the elephant in the room: Obamacare. The massive expansion of federal Medicaid funding that accompanied the passage of the Affordable Care Act would greatly increase the number of low-income and indigent people who could receive quality medical and mental health care. But Bob McDonnell has repeatedly rejected this much-needed infusion of cash, and the Assembly’s elephants have vowed to resist implementing the program, even though Medicaid expansion is a top priority of newly elected Governor Terry McAuliffe.
We can only hope that the horrible tragedy that has befallen one of their own will finally cause the legislature’s recalcitrant Republicans to reconsider their ill-advised position.
Odd Dominion is an unabashedly liberal, bi-monthly op-ed column covering Virginia politics.
I am a mindless follower, a sheep that would walk with the rest of you straight to the slaughter if given the chance.
About eight years ago, while living in Chicago, I started taking down espresso drinks two at a time. You might guess this coincided with the growing popularity of a certain coffee shop chain that rhymes with “hard lucks.” If so, you’re a good guesser.
I started primarily on two-shot lattes, with the occasional macchiato or doppio espresso mixed in. Then I moved to Americanos. I thought to myself, “say, if you’re going to go around drinking coffee, you might as well actually taste the coffee.”
So there I’d be, sipping my espresso with hot water, smugly declining when the barista would ask if I’d like “room for cream,” and looking down my nose at all the people who ordered milky, flavored coffees. This went on for several years. (The Americano drinking that is. The smugness continues.) Then, this past spring, I met Dan Pabst of Mudhouse. This dude knows more about coffee than Deepak Chopra knows about chilling out.
“There is a science to brewing coffee,” Pabst said. “If we could get everyone following the science, coffee would be better everywhere.”
When I first encountered him, Pabst was in the only place I’ve ever seen the man—standing behind one of Mudhouse’s single cup coffee bars. He was manning the booth on the south side of the Charlottesville City Market, carefully pouring hot water in a tight circle into an inverted cone over a cream-colored Mudhouse mug. He was talking about bitterness—coffee should have none if it’s prepared properly, he said. He was talking about water-to-grounds ratios—too much or too little H20, and you won’t achieve the right flavor profile, he said.
I took the cup of coffee he’d poured for me (not quickly, by the way). I sipped it. It was phenomenal. The floral notes Pabst had mentioned were there. The citrus notes he had mentioned were there. The bitterness he’d derided? Not there. It was, simply put, like no other cup of coffee I’d ever had. A question filtered into my mind: was this the next big thing in coffee in the post-latte world?
I figured Pabst could help me with the answer, so I visited him at Mudhouse last week to put him on the hot plate. While bitterness and water levels were the two things that struck me during my first meeting with Pabst, those two attributes turned out to be but a few details in the story of the perfect single cup of coffee.
Each morning, Mudhouse baristas select only one coffee worthy of being prepared on the shop’s hand-pouring bar.
“Every coffee has a blossoms-on date,” Pabst said. “After we roast a coffee, we taste it every single day. We are noticing how the flavor changes over time.”
Pabst said coffees can take anywhere from three to 15 days to reach their peak, but they typically achieve maximum flavor at four to seven days. Depending on the roast (where the beans fall on the spectrum of light to dark), each varietal lends itself to a certain ratio of water-to-grounds. Using a standard 400 milliliters of hot water, Mudhouse experiments to determine how many grams of coffee will yield the desired flavor profile. It’s usually somewhere between 22 and 25 grams. According to Pabst, all of this is done in the lab ahead of time.
Brew time, which is controlled by the consistency of the grounds, is also critical. Each cup requires between 2.5 and 3.5 minutes of water-to-grounds contact. For a coffee that needs more time, a finer grind does the trick; for one that dictates a shorter brew cycle, a coarser grind is in order. And what lab would be worth its salt if it didn’t also account for temperature? The water has to be poured at or just above 200 degrees to optimize extraction (the percentage of coffee flavor in the drink) and concentration (the ratio of actual coffee solids to water content).
Mudhouse makes sure all these science-y parameters are in place before starting the hand pour at its bar. The barista begins by washing the unbleached white filters favored by Mudhouse to cleanse them of paper flavor and distributing the pre-set amount of grounds evenly in the cone. A pre-pour follows. It’s a chance for the grounds to degas and the fines (extremely small coffee particles) to settle in.
“It’s like calisthenics for the coffee, stretching before the workout,” Pabst said.
Next comes the carefully practiced, circular pouring motion, designed to keep all the grounds moisturized throughout the brewing process and allow the water to spread from the center of the coffee bed to the outside before funneling to the bottom. When the pour is finished, Pabst said the grounds should be level enough to take a comfortable power nap on them.
The result is, undoubtedly, a damn good beverage. And Pabst believes the single cup preparation is indeed destined to be the next big coffee trend. He guessed Mudhouse’s hand pouring sales have increased by 500 percent in the last two years and called the trend the “third wave” of American coffee drinking, a natural follow-on to the second wave of espresso drinkers who were fueled by that Seattle-based behemoth.
“We treat coffee like an artisanal food product,” Pabst said. “In a way, what we are doing is taking the same approach as espresso—made fresh to order—and applying it to our brewed coffee.”
Vinegar Hill Cafe Celebrates its “first” First Friday in December
Vinegar Hill Cafe will be hosting its first First Friday event at the Jefferson School City Center next Friday, December 6, from 5 to 6 pm. Cafe Manager Joel Schectman will have complimentary hors d’oeuvres and beverages on hand. The cafe will be showcasing the work of Ellen Osborne, Executive Director of Literacy Volunteers—a fellow tenant organization at Jefferson School City Center.
“It’s interesting to be mixing my work life and my ‘other’ life,” Osborne said. “This work represents the type of thing I do when I’m not here!”
Osborne is showing two series of small collages using old photographs, an inkjet printer, acrylic paint and color pencil. “My artwork has always involved some sort of photography,” Osborne said. “We relate to photos in such a positive way. We tend to see our similarities more than our differences when we share our personal histories.”
One of the collage series is from a group of 1940s photos from Osborne’s family friend who served in Europe. “The letters and the poses in the photos he sent home could have been expressions from any number of soldiers at that time,” said Osborne. “They all wrote about missing home and they all posed in front of famous monuments.”
Osborne refers to the other series as Ode to a Normal Childhood. The collages are made from a number of photos from the 1960s and 1970s of her family during regular life events such as birthday parties, first days of school, and vacations.
Schectman hopes the event encourages other local artists to consider using the Cafe to display their work. Interested artists can email inquiries to vinegarhillcafe@jabacares.org.
JABA & Literacy Volunteers at Alternative Gift Fair Today
Join Jefferson School City Center tenants JABA and Literacy Volunteers at The Paramount Theater’s Second Annual Gift Fair today, November 29, from 12 to 7 pm. Last year the Alternative Gift Fair helped channel thousands of dollars in donations to seventeen Charlottesville non-profits dedicated to energy, poverty, animal rescue, nature, the arts, education, innovation, and more. This year, The Paramount will feature nearly double the number of participating nonprofit and charity organizations.
At The Paramount’s Alternative Gift Fair, there will be no ‘things’ for sale at all. Instead, holiday shoppers at this virtual “mall” will visit dozens of local organizations, learn about their work and challenges, and decide whether to name a gift to that organization in honor of a friend, colleague, or loved one. Paramount staff offers a one-stop checkout so there is no pressure on buyers. Charities don’t know who their donors are until they receive a list after the event, and even then the donor may choose to remain anonymous. Shoppers may pay by cash or credit card, and one hundred percent of their donations goes to their designated charities. The Paramount absorbs all the overhead costs, which this year is again underwritten by Victor Millner of Northwestern Mutual.
Forte Jazz Band to Perform at Carver Rec December 7
Tickets are still available for Forte Jazz Band, an eight-piece jazz ensemble from Smithfield, Virginia, playing Saturday, December 7 at Carver Recreation Center. The evening will kick off at 8:30 pm and tickets are $20 per person. Hors d’oeuvres will be provided by Mel’s Cafe. Carver Rec Center Manager Dan Carpenter warns this event will sell out fast and urges music lovers to purchase their tickets early by calling the Center at 434-970-3053.
Common Ground Hosts Restorative Yoga Workshop
On December 7 Sandra Pleasants will lead a restorative yoga workshop at Common Ground Healing Arts. Restorative Yoga is designed to allow deep relaxation for body and mind. The measurable benefits of deep relaxation include more balanced cholesterol, blood sugar, blood pressure as well as improved digestion and elimination. Restorative yoga is also known to help with insomnia and release muscle tension.
Pleasants will aid participants in achieving deep relaxation through use of props and holding postures for extended lengths of time. Pleasants has been practicing and teaching yoga for nearly 30 years. The cost is $30 and the workshop will be held from 2 to 4 pm. Fees received from workshops like this enable Common Ground to offer a sliding scale fee for many of their other services, so that the healing arts are available to all.
Jefferson School City Center is a voice of the nine nonprofits located at Charlottesville’s intergenerational community center, the restored Jefferson School. We are a legacy preserved . . . a soul reborn . . . in the heart of Cville!
The legal battle over Charlottesville’s controversial ordinance banning panhandling within 50′ of traffic crossings on the Downtown Mall is back in the hands of a federal judge who threw out the case last year.
Judge Norman K. Moon previously dismissed the argument that the ordinance unfairly restricts the First Amendment rights of people who beg on the Mall, but the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed his ruling, sending the case back to Charlottesville. Both the plaintiffs and the city have asked for summary judgment, which puts the ball squarely in Moon’s court—no jury needed.
Last Thursday’s hour-long hearing included long-winded arguments about just how much space was necessary to keep distracted pedestrians from being driven into traffic by panhandlers. But ACLU-backed Charlottesville human rights attorney Jeffrey Fogel, who is representing a local homeless man named Albert Clatterbuck and one other plaintiff, said it’s about more than that.
“You’ve really got to look at this as a fight over a symbol,” he said. “And the symbol to me was that the city singled out panhandlers.”
Fogel’s argument goes like this: By writing the ordinance to specifically ban soliciting for money—as opposed to, say, petition signatures—the city made it clear its goal was to curtail begging. That makes it what’s known as a content-based restriction, said Fogel, something the law takes very seriously.
If the city wants to ban a certain kind of speech, it has to prove it used the least restrictive means possible to do so. Even if Moon doesn’t agree with the content-based claim, he said, the city still has to show it narrowly tailored its rule, and that the restrictions were a “reasonable fit” to address public safety concerns.
And it can’t do either, said Fogel. Even the city’s attorney, Richard Milnor, agreed that nobody could determine who decided a 50′ buffer zone would be sufficient to keep potentially distracted pedestrians safe. It was, Fogel contends, an arbitrary number supported by a city traffic engineer after the fact, and he says that proves officials weren’t weighing the impact the rule had on free speech.
Milnor said the 50′ buffer—approximately the length of three cars–—was reasonable. Even Clatterbuck agreed in earlier testimony.
“He said pedestrians would move away from him even if there were cars in the street,” Milnor said, evidence there was a real risk that people might dart into traffic to avoid panhandlers.
Moon called the idea of a buffer zone between panhandlers and cars “common sense.”
“Asking a person to go into their wallet, their purse, is distracting,” he said, and potentially dangerous. “It seems to me the question in this case is, where do you draw the line?”
We’ll have to wait for the answer. It could be months before Moon hands down his ruling on the case.
In the meantime, Clatterbuck, who could be awarded some money in damages if he prevails, is doing well, said Fogel. He has a room at The Crossings now. A disability suit was settled in his favor, and he bought a scooter with his payout, which he uses to get around town.
But the case that bears his name is about more than one man. It comes down to whether people have the right to make others uncomfortable in a public forum, Fogel said. “We can’t judge the law based on people’s hostility to free speech,” he said.
“I am a 33-year-old man applying for a job as an elf,” wrote David Sedaris at the outset of his career. Like most great writers, Sedaris has worked a variety of menial, often humiliating, jobs to support his literary career, and the humorist’s turn as an elf at Macy’s in New York City may be the funniest. The Santaland Diaries is a one act, one-man show featuring Crumpet, Sedaris’ sour elf persona, recalling hilarious tales about the psychosis of gift givers, gift receivers, and parents who force screaming children to sit on a strange man’s lap.
Through 12/26. $12-26, times vary. Blackfriars Playhouse, 10 S. Market St., Staunton. (540) 851-1733.
August 26, 2013 was a momentous day for Taste of India’s manager Kamal Khatri. Not only did the Nepalese-born restaurateur open the Downtown Mall restaurant on that day with his uncle, Ashok Kunver, but halfway around the world his wife gave birth to their first son. Khatri has yet to meet his new baby, busy as he is running the third restaurant in the family’s crown, but he tries to stay focused on making the restaurant a success before his wife and son’s arrival from Nepal in February.
“It’s very hard,” said Khatri. “But I keep telling myself I am doing it for them, to make the business good for my family.”
And business has been pretty good for the family. Khatri and his uncle, aunt, mother, father, and brother have three restaurants: one in Harrisonburg, another in Staunton, and now the Charlottesville location. His mom, Jaya, and aunt, Sita, run the Harrisonburg restaurant, and his dad, Rudra, and brother, Nishan, run the one Staunton, while his uncle, who first opened an Indian restaurant in Connecticut decades ago before moving down to Harrisonburg, oversees them all. Khatri said it took two years to find the Charlottesville space, in the former Henry’s Restaurant below Vita Nova Pizza, and so far it has been a wonderful experience for them.
“A while ago I got a call from the visitor’s bureau telling me that a thousand people would be arriving by train to visit the Mall,” he said. “But what was really amazing was that I got another call letting me know the train was late, and that I should plan on keeping my restaurant open. That has never happened before.”
And already, Khatri said they have established a loyal lunch crowd, with people coming in repeatedly to enjoy their $8.95 buffet.
“We had 100 people for lunch the other day,” he said. “Because of lunch, we are surviving.”
Still, Khatri said it’s been a challenge to get the public to notice the restaurant, given its below street-level location. That’s why he believes it’s important to treat people well when they do find their way into the restaurant.
“When people come inside they should feel welcome, like family,” he said. “And when they leave they should feel like they didn’t waste their time or their money.”
As for the food, well, chef Raj Ghale uses the same family recipes that Khatri’s uncle brought to America decades ago. Most of the dishes hail from from Northern India, where his uncle moved to from Nepal when he was a young man. As Khatri pointed out, the foods in Nepal and India are similar in style and flavor, and dishes like Dal Makhani—a mixture of lentils and kidney beans flavored with ginger and cilantro—and Saag Paneer—a combination of cheese and spinach—typify both regions. And, of course, there’s the popular Chicken Tikka Masala, with chunks of tender chicken in a colorful, flavorful sauce of tomatoes and cream, laced with ginger and garlic, over a bed of saffron basmati rice.
For those willing to turn up the heat—and they mean really turn it up—Khatri said their home-made Indian hot sauce is not for the timid. He and his family have it for dinner almost every day, but he said most Americans can’t take that kind of heat. But there are exceptions.
“One customer I had in Staunton liked things very hot,” said Khatri, laughing, “and he came in the kitchen and challenged us. The next day he came in and said, ‘Oh, man, you really almost killed me!’”
But don’t worry. Khatri said they can adjust the level of spiciness in most dishes, from very hot to very mild, and everything in between.
To cool down, Taste of India offers a selection of Indian beers, including 22-ounce Taj Mahal and Flying Horse. But perhaps the best way to soothe the burn is with a Mango Lassi, a thick, creamy kind of shake made with mangos and yogurt. They also have an extensive wine list.
Khatri, who drives from his home in Harrisonburg to the Downtown Mall every day, looks tired but happy after a long lunch shift. He’s clearly determined to make sure you feel welcome when you walk down that spiral staircase and step inside, building as he is his life in America while he waits for his wife and child to arrive.
“I try not to think about it,” he said about not having yet seen his new-born son. “And just stay focused on building this business.”—Dave McNair
It’s an interesting feeling, knowing that the person standing next to me could knock me to the ground by barely lifting a finger. Luckily, she wants to teach me to do the same thing.
It’s 9am on a Thursday. I’m in leggings, a t-shirt, and socks, facing the mirrored wall of one of ACAC’s exercise rooms, ready to try my hand at t’ai chi, the ancient Chinese internal martial art. I’m the youngest in the class by at least 20 years, and I am clearly the only newbie.
Instructor Hiromi Johnson, who runs Hiromi T’ai Chi Cheng-Ming Martial Arts Association Charlottesville Branch, stands among her students rather than at the front of the room. We start with light stretches, which at first is comparable to what I’ve done in past yoga classes, until Johnson gently reminds us to keep our joints relaxed.
“No hallelujah hands,” she tells us as we’re reaching our arms above our heads. I look around and, sure enough, everyone’s wrists are bent, fingers loosely dangling. I relax my wrists and let my hands flop down, feeling a little silly.
One of the warm-up moves involves holding my right arm out in front of me at an angle, at hip level, then flicking my hand upward toward my body, making a fast circle so my arm ends up in the original position. I don’t give much thought to its meaning, but it feels sassy, like my left hand should be on my hip and a snap should be involved.
Once we’re warmed up, Johnson reminds us to remain focused on our center.
“From the top of your head to your tailbone should be one unit,” she says.
We begin cycling through the sequence of movements, and the only thing we hear is the soft flute music playing quietly in the background. I have no idea what I’m doing, but I’ve been strategically placed in the center of the group so that every time we make a 90-degree turn, I have a clear view of someone who does in fact know what’s going on. Johnson continues reminding us to keep our bodies relaxed—knees and elbows slightly bent, standing lightly on our feet, no harsh movements. The motions are slow, but they’re so foreign to me that by the time I figure out where my left wrist is supposed to be in relation to my right elbow, I’m already two steps behind. Luckily we go through the sequence several times, and by the time we bring our feet together for the final bow, I feel a little less silly, and pleasantly relaxed.
Johnson’s been practicing t’ai chi for more than 30 years, and she said feeling a little weird is normal for first-time students.
“It was very awkward, and I felt strange,” said Johnson, who took up the practice as a teenager after her second knee surgery. “So when students say it’s strange, I understand. Everybody goes through that process.”
After regular practice, she was back to full mobility and flexibility, with little to no knee pain. Johnson said she sees incredible improvements in the balance, coordination, and strength of her students, especially athletes and people recovering from injuries.But patience is a virtue.
“The benefit doesn’t come in one day. In the western world, everybody’s waiting for the immediate results,” she said. “I tell people to give it three months.”
T’ai chi is held by three pillars: martial, medicinal, and meditation.
It was originally created as a form of self-defense, based on a Chinese legend that Taoist monk Chang San-feng watched a crane battle with a snake and mimicked the animals’ contrasting graceful and sharp movements. It’s practiced slowly and meticulously, relying on internal power to be forceful. Every motion we learned in class has a meaning, Johnson said, and when put together with more speed, it’s a quick, effective form of self-defense.
The medicinal aspect is all about the chi, or the body’s natural energy flow.
“If you take the correct posture, you are circulating your chi in the body,” Johnson said. “You have to have a good buildup of chi to be healthy.”
And once you’ve got the movements and positions down pat, and you don’t have to think about what comes next, Johnson said, you reach the meditative state.
Johnson said some of her students don’t necessarily want to learn to hurt people, and she understands if they want to focus solely on the medicinal and meditative aspects without learning the martial application.
Class is wrapping up, and we form a circle around Johnson. She steps in front of each of us in turn, showing us the martial application of that strange arm-circle movement from earlier. She makes her way over to me, and I grab her left wrist tightly, per her instruction. Before I know it, my right arm is twisted all the way up to my shoulder, and in one quick, swift motion, she’s flipped her hand over mine and is out of my grip. I watch as she easily does the same thing to the man next to me, who’s a solid 12″ taller than her.
“See?” she says after she’s made her way around the circle. “It’s not about muscle strength. Your body has to be soft and supple. It’s the opposite of external martial arts, but the goal is the same.”
Getting started
– ACAC offers t’ai chi classes nearly every day for everyone ranging from beginners to seasoned practitioners. Check the calendar at www.acac.com/schedule/charlottesville.
– Stop by Hiromi Johnson’s Downtown studio for a special beginners’ offer. www.hiromitaichi.org.
– Wear something comfortable, but don’t expect to be doing much sweating. Shoes are optional.
– Go in with an open mind, and don’t be surprised when you feel a little goofy. Everyone around you has been there too.
Check c-ville.com daily and pick up a copy of the paper Wednesdays for the latest Charlottesville and Albemarle news briefs and stories. Here’s a quick look at some of what we’ve had an eye on for the past week.
McAuliffe names Republican Bypass supporter as transportation secretary
Governor-elect Terry McAuliffe has announced his pick for Secretary of Transportation: Aubrey Layne, a Virginia Beach businessman who voted to fund the Western Bypass around Charlottesville during his time as the Hampton Roads representative on the Commonwealth Transportation Board.
Layne, a Republican who has a background in property management, heads up a partnership between businesses and Newport News public schools called Achievable Dream Academies. He has served on the CTB since 2009, when he was appointed by Tim Kaine. In 2011, he voted to steer nearly $200 million to Albemarle County’s controversial Bypass project.
“Aubrey’s experience in statewide transportation planning and in the private sector give him valuable perspective on the pivotal role that transportation planning, construction and maintenance play in creating an environment where businesses can locate and thrive,” McAuliffe said in a press release last week. “He will be a Secretary of Transportation for the entire Commonwealth, and together we will work to find bipartisan, statewide solutions to growing our economy, creating more jobs here, and improving the quality of life for all Virginians.”
New stations on the way for Charlottesville radio?
Charlottesville radio listeners may soon have more stations to choose from, according to records filed with the FCC, where at least five applications by local folks have been submitted for what’s known as “low power FM stations.”
The FCC opens up such filing windows periodically, according to former longtime WNRN station manager Mike Friend, and this time, the filing window was open from mid-October to November 15. Friend is an applicant for 101.3, one of the four available frequencies in our area. The other stations are 97.9, 94.7, 92.3.
Low power stations have shorter reach, Friend explained, and the FCC intends them to be nonprofit entities that serve the community. Friend declined to offer details on his plans for his frequency, citing the competing entry for the same frequency by UVA and the fact that the FCC hasn’t yet approved any applications. Other local applicants include Dave Mitchell, former owner of 107.5FM, and local probation officer Jeff Lenert, who’s partnering with local businessman Rod Howard and applying for 94.7FM under the name Promise Land Communications.
“We have short, medium and long term goals,” said Lenert. “Short is to get on the air; medium is to develop programming that is both needed and absent in the Charlottesville market.”
Stay tuned!
Blight hearing scheduled for Landmark property
The still-skeletal Landmark Hotel now bears a blight notice, courtesy of Charlottesville Neighborhood Development Services, and the city planning commission is preparing to address what to do with the property at its December 10 meeting.
Atlanta-based developer John Dewberry bought the stalled nine-story boutique hotel project of former billionaire Halsey Minor at auction last June, and said at the time he planned to start construction within a year. But there’s been no progress, and trespassers have apparently regularly accessed the Downtown Mall property to tag walls and ceilings with graffiti.
That led NDS director Jim Tolbert to preliminarily declare the Landmark blighted, a move that starts a process of public hearings that could ultimately allow the city to place liens on the property. Dewberry responded angrily in a letter to officials last month, saying he’d done his part by erecting a high plywood fence around the site.
The public hearing portion of the upcoming planning commission meeting begins at 6pm.
UVA prof indicted for child porn distribution
The UVA associate dean arrested on child pornography charges earlier this month has been indicted by a federal grand jury.
Michael Morris, an information technology professor and Associate Dean for Graduate Programs at the University’s McIntire School of Commerce, was indicted on two felony counts of distributing or receiving child pornography and one count of possession. Court documents say Morris accessed a child porn site nearly 200 times from his Crozet home and at least once using his UVA email address.
The University has suspended Morris, but he is still listed on the McIntire School’s faculty page.
If convicted, Morris could face 40 years in prison. He’s currently being held without bond.