Nikuyah goes national
The first black female mayor of Charlottesville sat at the table with co-hosts of “The View” on Martin Luther King Day to discuss the current state of the city, which has pushed a narrative that Unite the Right participants brought their hate from out of town, she said. Richard Spencer and Jason Kessler are UVA alumni, Walker noted. “You have to be honest to move forward and we have been unwilling.”
We’re on edge
A photo of two thick brown ropes with eyelet holes hanging in front of the Central Library on the night of Friday, January 12, was picked up by multiple outlets—including C-VILLE Weekly—and circulated widely before police confirmed that the ominous ropes were rigging for the banners that go across East Market Street and not, in fact, nooses.
New editor
The Daily Progress has named Aaron Richardson its editor-in-chief. The former assistant city editor and reporter at the Progress has also reported for Charlottesville Tomorrow, and succeeds Wes Hester, who stuck it out for 15 months before taking a job as a deputy spokesperson for UVA.
“Literally speechless. In the greatest stroke of irony since Alanis Morissette wrote a song about irony that wasn’t about irony, I lost my voice at the beginning of this, my last week as a professional spokesperson.”—Miriam Dickler in her sign-off from the city last week
Oh, hoppy day
The Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a special use permit for expansion at Keene-based hopyard Greenmont Hopworks, where owners will build a new 10,000-square-foot facility to process the plant used to flavor beer.
Lock your doors
City police say they’ve taken several reports from people in the Rosser Lane, Blue Ridge, Hessian and Rugby Road areas who say their unlocked vehicles were ransacked between 11pm and 4am late January 14 and early January 15. In one case, cash was stolen.
McAuliffe’s greatest hits—and misses
When Terry McAuliffe first ran for governor in 2009, many saw him as a carpetbagger with stronger ties to the Clintons than to the commonwealth. Despite being edged out in the Democratic primary by state Senator Creigh Deeds, McAuliffe ran again and won the governor’s mansion in 2013, and even won the grudging respect of some of the Republicans who controlled the General Assembly during his term—but not all. Vetoing a record 120 bills, many on social issues, probably didn’t help.
As Governor Ralph Northam begins his term, we took a look back on the record of the man whose name keeps popping up as a Dem presidential candidate for 2020—along with another Virginian, Senator Tim Kaine—and who kept touting accomplishments right up through the morning of Northam’s inauguration.
Hits
- Restoring voting rights of 173,000 felons
- Unemployment down from 5.4 percent to 3.7 percent
- Revitalization of the Port of Virginia, which was on the chopping block
- Used economic development to ward off divisive social bills like the transgender bathroom bill North Carolina passed—and for which it suffered boycotts
- $20 billion in capital investment, including Facebook and Amazon facilities in Virginia
- Functional end to veteran homelessness in Virginia
“I have a message to all the white supremacists and the Nazis who came into Charlottesville today: Our message is plain and simple. Go home. You are not wanted in this great commonwealth.” Terry McAuliffe on August 12
Misses
- Unsuccessful at getting Medicaid expansion through the General Assembly, despite having Republicans over for beers
- Sued by the GOP leadership for the blanket restoration of felon voting rights
- Support of natural gas pipelines irked environmentalists and citizens whose properties are in their paths
- Duped into a state grant of $1.4 million to a Chinese company that failed to open a plant in Appomattox, while repayment of a $5 million loan to another Chinese company, Tranlin, to build a paper plant in Chesterfield has stalled
- In a radio interview on his way out the door of the governor’s mansion he blames Charlottesville officials for the events of August 12 because they granted a permit