Month: January 2019

Categories
News

In brief: Happy hour, Master Charles, prof charged and more

Being able to advertise $1-off drinks for happy hour is a “great business opportunity” to bring more people out and to compete with bars on the Corner, says Kelly Creighton, bartender at Jack Brown’s. Eze Amos

Dead or alive

Virginia’s General Assembly has been hard at it for three weeks now, tackling the 2,000 or so bills legislators filed. While most bills will die quietly in subcommittee, here are a few survivors—and committee casualties.

Alive

A judge has already ruled Virginia’s law that suspends driver’s licenses for unpaid court fines is likely unconstitutional. The Senate got with the program January 25, and passed a bill that repeals the state “debtor’s prison” law 36-4.

Finding out about the best happy hour could get easier, thanks to legislation allowing the advertising of drink specials that has passed both the House and Senate. This, too, was preceded by a lawsuit in which a northern Virginia restaurant owner claimed ABC regs violated free speech.

A bill that would exempt menstrual products from sales tax cleared a Senate committee 14-1 January 25, but the “Dignity Act” still needs to make it out of a House subcommittee.

While all the gun safety bills championed by Governor Ralph Northam died in subcommittee, Republican Senator Dick Black’s packing heat in church bill cleared the Senate January 24 in a 21-19 vote on party lines.

Dead

A bill that would allow localities to set their own minimum wage was killed in a House subcommittee 5-1 January 22.

Undocumented immigrants are not allowed to have driver’s licenses in Virginia, and that won’t change with the January 23 demise on party lines of a Senate bill that would have allowed temporary driver privilege cards.

Delegate David Toscano’s measure to limit campaign contributions by utilities like Dominion to $500 died in a House subcommittee January 24.

Quote of the week

“It doesn’t help us as a community for our mayor to be out there in the public criticizing the people who live here.”—Adam Healey, Charlottesville Albemarle Convention & Visitors Bureau interim executive director, on marketing guru Jerry Miller’s Facebook live, to which Mayor Nikuyah Walker replied, “[Y]ou are the type of citizen who allows the soul of Charlottesville to remain ugly.”

In brief

Experiment gone wrong

The mother of a Greer Elementary student said her 6-year-old was traumatized by a social experiment teacher Vicky Chen conducted. Chen, who has been placed on administrative leave, separated her students by eye color, and gave candy to only the ones with blue eyes for her MLK Day-themed lesson on equal opportunity and inclusiveness. Activists say Chen further marginalized students of color, who typically have brown eyes.

Another creative writing prof

UVA Professor Jeffery Allen has been placed on administrative leave with pay after being charged with felony strangulation and misdemeanor domestic battery in November. He follows English Department colleague John Casey, who was on leave for a year and then retired in December after a disciplinary panel found he violated policies on inappropriate sexual contact with a student.

Synchronicity swami

Master Charles developed high-tech meditation at Synchronicity. Photo courtesy Synchronicity

Master Charles Cannon, founder of the Faber spiritual community, died January 24 at age 73. In 2008, Cannon was in Mumbai at the Oberoi Hotel when it was attacked by terrorists and 162 people were killed, including father and daughter Alan and Naomi Scherr, who were with a group from Synchronicity. After the attack, Cannon and Kia Scherr, wife and mother of the two slain Nelson County residents, called for compassion and forgiveness of the murderers.

Juneteenth organizer

California-born Tamyra Turner, 73, a former Charlottesville School Board member who started the city’s Juneteenth celebration in 2000, died January 16. A professor of English literature who taught most recently at PVCC, she met her husband, former Charlottesville NAACP president Rick Turner, at Stanford. She served on a number of boards, including the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center, the Jefferson Madison Regional Library, and the Virginia Festival of the Book steering committee.

Bye, Buyaki

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The man who wore a Confederate flag-patterned tie to a county school board discussion of  banning Confederate imagery will not seek another term. Jason Buyaki, who’s been on the board since 2011, also caught the ears of community parents and activists in October when he questioned climate change and the nature of fossil fuels.

National spotlight

Charlottesville native Natalie Hoffman was convicted January 18 after leaving water and food for migrants crossing the desert into Arizona. Hoffman, who was working with the group No More Deaths, was charged with entering and driving in Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge without a permit.

New clerk

City Council hired Lynchburg deputy council clerk Kyna Thomas to become its clerk and chief of staff for $105,000. City spokesman Brian Wheeler, who makes $116K, has filled in since former council clerk Paige Rice took the chief of staff job in July for $98,000 and left in September.

Child porn charges

Forrest Butler, ACPD

Albemarle police charged Avocado Capital co-founder Forrest Butler, 58, with two counts of child pornography distribution January 22. He was released from jail on bond and will appear in court April 8.

Wawa on the way?

The county’s Architectural Review Board has approved plans for a Wawa convenience store and gas station off Route 29 and Proffit Road. It could be built by the end of the year, as long as the Board of Supervisors gives it a thumbs up.

Free tax help

The local branch of the United Way is offering free tax preparation for most taxpayers with household incomes of $55,000 or less. Through its program called Cville Tax Aid, partners such as the UVA Community Credit Union have prepared nearly 20,000 returns since 2007, and organizers expect to help more than 2,700 community members this year. To schedule an appointment, call United Way at 434-972-1703 or visit www.CvilleTaxAid.org.

Categories
Arts

ARTS Pick: New Works Festival

Charles Hurt, Casey Breneman, Isaac Tolliver star in Play It Cool by Ibrahim Muhammad as part of UVA Drama's New Works Festival.

Staging it: UVA Drama’s New Works Festival highlights fledgling playwrights in collaboration with other students for three original works. They’re Still Friends by Savannah Hard explores trauma and connection; I’m Game by Jessica Harris finds a group of recent high school grads pondering their lives as they prepare for next steps; and Ibrahim Muhammad’s Play It Cool follows its main character as he chases the girl of his dreams while meeting unusual obstacles.

Thursday 1/31–Saturday 2/2. Times vary, $5. Helms Theatre, 109 Culbreth Rd. 924-3376.

Categories
News

Trash truck driver fights DUI charge

Dana Naylor, who drove the Times Disposal garbage truck hit by an Amtrak train a year ago, was acquitted of involuntary manslaughter in the death of Christopher Foley. Photo by Jack Looney

First he was hit by a train. Now his attorney is attempting to prove that he was also hit with a bogus DUI charge.

Dana Naylor, the driver of the garbage truck that was hit by an Amtrak train in Crozet last year, was in court January 22 to dispute evidence being used against him. The event made national headlines because the train was chartered by Republican congressmen en route to a retreat at The Greenbrier.

Naylor is charged with involuntary manslaughter and DUI maiming in the accident that left Christopher Foley dead, and Dennis Eddy seriously injured.

The prosecution is alleging that Naylor was under the influence of marijuana when he steered around the downed gates and attempted to drive the Times Disposal truck across the tracks before the train barreled into it.

Naylor tested positive for THC after the accident, but attorney William Tanner is arguing what many marijuana studies have already suggested—that THC levels aren’t an indication of impairment, and that the active ingredient in marijuana can stay in one’s system for a couple months after smoking it. He asked that the toxicology report be thrown out.

However, it’s Commonwealth’s Attorney Robert Tracci’s position that the presence of THC in Naylor’s blood at the time of the crash, coupled with statements he made afterward about trying to beat the train, prove that he was impaired.

The defense is also requesting a special hearing, called a Frank’s hearing, where Tanner would challenge the credibility of the police officer who obtained the search warrant needed to collect blood and urine samples. According to Tanner, the officer who was with Naylor in the hospital after the crash was only able to get the warrant by saying he smelled alcohol—and that Naylor’s wife agreed.

But Naylor’s wife contends she never said the smell was alcohol and in fact suggested that it was coming from the hospital, according to the attorney. And the test detected no alcohol in the driver’s blood.

Tracci says the cop never explicitly said Naylor’s wife agreed that the odor was alcohol, and for such a hearing to be granted, the prosecutor says there must be allegations of deliberate falsehood or reckless disregard for the truth.

Judge Cheryl Higgins ruled not to throw out the toxicology report, and said she needed time to consider granting a Frank’s hearing. She’s scheduled to give her decision January 30.

Categories
News

Mallek seeks fourth term

Supervisor Ann Mallek wants more economic development and less stream degradation. She's running for a fourth term representing the White Hall District. staff photo

Albemarle native Ann Mallek likes serving on the Board of Supervisors so much that she’s running for a fourth term.

“I enjoy all the work,” she says. “And meeting people. Especially meeting people.”

The 68-year-old farmer and educator, who represents the White Hall District, says, “My skill over the past 11 years is to listen carefully to these diverse opinions and to learn my constituents’ needs and concerns.”

At a January 16 announcement in the Albemarle County Office Building, she listed her accomplishments, including an agreement with the city to improve court infrastructure and parking that will keep county courts downtown, and an ordinance in the works that will have the Charlottesville Albemarle Convention and Visitors Bureau focus on more programming and destination activities. Mallek had previously expressed concern that the county was not getting its money’s worth from the bureau and its wishes were ignored.

She cited a need for economic development after learning that 465 families in her district had both parents working and were still earning below the poverty line. She noted that for a long time, the board saw economic development as anti-environmental.

If businesses grow and provide better jobs, that also shifts the tax burden from residential property owners, who now pay over 80 percent of the tax revenue pie, she said.

When Mallek was first elected, growth was seen as the biggest threat in the county. That slowed with the recession, but as population has risen—along with the demand for services—she’s hearing some of the same concerns from 2007: “Where are all these people coming from?”

Growth means the county has to provide the capital expenditures that were postponed during the recession, such as school additions, parks, and improved fire stations, as well the services citizens demand, like sidewalks and recycling. “We can and must find these solutions together,” she said.

Mallek also revealed her own growth while on the board, and acknowledged the history she didn’t learn while a student at Albemarle High in the 1960s. She didn’t know that families were forced off their land to build the Shenandoah National Park, and she has worked on a chimney memorial to recognize those families.

“I also never learned about the lynching of John Henry James in Ivy in 1898,” she said. “We must find ways to share the history that has divided us.”

Mallek ran unopposed in 2015. And so far, no one else has indicated plans to challenge her.

 

 

 

Categories
Opinion The Editor's Desk

This Week 1/23

“If Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence,” my 7-year-old asked me the other day, “why did he have slaves himself?”

The notion that “all men are created equal” was a radical and noble idea, and it still is, if you take “men” to mean “human beings.” But back then, as I struggled to explain to my daughter, many white men’s conception of humanity didn’t extend to people of other races. Nor did it include women, who were not allowed to vote or own property, and were often unable to go to school or hold a job (cue hilarious disbelief).

Our country has since expanded its definition of what constitutes a human being and who deserves equal treatment under the law, though clearly some of us are still not on board. And in similar ways, Charlottesville’s government and its residents are evolving in our ideas about who we are as a city, which neighborhoods matter, and who deserves to be heard.

As the city weighs a new land-use map, part of a Comprehensive Plan that will shape development for decades to come, we look back at how our neighborhoods came to be.

In particular, our feature story examines the history of the city’s neighborhood associations, groups that advocated to protect their neighborhoods from noise, traffic, and unwanted development–all seemingly worthwhile goals. But since city government ignored the concerns of black residents, while prioritizing those of white ones, that local advocacy ended up reinforcing Charlottesville’s segregated and unequal neighborhoods.

The president of the Fry’s Spring Neighborhood Association told us his own house, built in 1946, came with a racial covenant that would have prevented him and his wife from living there, if it was still in effect. Which is to say: Things change. We learn to welcome new neighbors. We can build a better city, if we want to.—Laura Longhine

Categories
News

Bea LaPisto Kirtley joins Board of Supervisors race

Bea LaPisto Kirtley is running for the Rivanna District seat on the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors. Photo by Norm Carter

Standing on a stepstool behind a podium marked by her campaign sign, a former Bradbury, California, city councilor of 20 years was the second person to announce her run for the Rivanna District seat on the Board of Supervisors.

Bea LaPisto Kirtley said addressing the “critical lack of broadband coverage” in Albemarle will be a priority if she’s elected. That echoes the top concern of Jerrod Smith, her only known opponent, who announced last week.

At her announcement that drew a crowd of about 30 people, the Keswick resident of 12 years also emphasized protecting natural resources, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and supporting and preserving the county’s many family farms.

Two growth areas, Pantops and U.S. 29 north, are in the Rivanna District. LaPisto Kirtley said they should be “developed thoughtfully” with attention paid to regional transportation issues, because growth can overburden critical infrastructure like roads and highways. She also advocated for better public transportation, which would reduce traffic and carbon emissions.

“How do you make things happen?” she said. “By listening to what the community needs and serving the residents as a strong voice for action, being innovative, and working with others. If you can’t work together, nothing gets accomplished.”

In her career, LaPisto Kirtley served as a teacher, principal, and then a director for the Los Angeles Unified School District, where she was responsible for 24 elementary schools. Locally, she has volunteered with CASA, which provides advocates for children in foster care, for four years and fundraised for nonprofits such as Hospice of the Piedmont.

“I will be both accessible and attentive,” she said, adding that her strengths are listening, being a hard-worker, being “adept at identifying workable solutions, and getting things done.”

Supervisor Liz Palmer attended LaPisto Kirtley’s campaign announcement, but said she hasn’t endorsed any candidates yet.

Said supporter Mary Miller, “I know her to be a powerhouse, and better than that, she listens to people. I have never seen her fail to get the job done.”

Categories
Arts

Album reviews: Tallies, Ultramarine, You Tell Me, Gnash, Kero Kero Bonito, Bunny Lee/Prince Jammy/The Aggrovators, and Park Hye Jin

Park Hye Jin's IF U WANT IT will get you through the winter. Publicity image.

Tallies

S/T (Kanine)

Tallies kicks off with a frosty amalgam of ‘80s and ‘90s atmospheric alt rock—the Bunnymen and The Cran-
berries come to mind—and when “Mother” follows up somewhere halfway between The Smiths and The Go-Go’s, it becomes clear that the past is where Tallies live. Sarah Cogan’s vocals get a little yelpy, and “Not So Proud” and “Trouble” are the only undeniable jams to my ears, but Tallies is more than palatable and promising. ***1/2

https://tallies.bandcamp.com/album/tallies

Ultramarine

Signals Into Space
(Crepescule)

Originating in the halcyon early-’90s, this British pastoral electronic duo never got as much traction as fellow travelers like The Orb, and drifted in separate directions about 20 years ago. Signals Into Space sounds like a lost album from the early days, for better and worse. The electroacoustic am-
bience of “Du Sud” is dreamy and richly detailed, and guest Anna Dom-
ino’s rap on “$10 Heel” is dated in a funny/not funny kinda way. ***1/2

https://soundsoftheuniverse.com/sjr/product/ultramarine-signals-into-space

You Tell Me

S/T (Memphis Industries)

This debut album by the superduo of Peter Brewis (Field Music) and Sarah Hayes (Admiral Fallow) sounds like music made by smart kids who sketch elaborate plans while enjoying wholesome snacks. Brewis and Fallow’s tweaks of indie and pop structures are inspired, eccentric and artsy, but the songs often fall between the cracks, their pop pleasures subverted but not supplanted by weirdness. ***1/2

https://youtellme.bandcamp.com/

Gnash

We (Atlantic)

It might seem foreboding that “I Hate U I Love U,” Gnash’s international hit of 2016, shows up on We two years later—but the problem with Gnash isn’t a shortage of material; it’s the material. Gnash wants to be nerdy and cute—and his ceaselessly cheery voice should be a welcome antidote to the semi-moral bleat of Lil Peep—but the same narcissism that cheapens Lil Peep’s nihilism also reduces Gnash’s bedroom pop to irritating twaddle. **

Kero Kero Bonito

Bonito Generation
(Polyvinyl)

For those who missed this London electro-twee trio’s bubbly 2016 debut, here’s Polyvinyl with a reissue that serves as a companion piece for KKB’s busier, slightly rougher latest, Time ‘n’ Place. And actually, this older album kinda kicks the shit out of the new one, as singer Sarah Bonito delivers the knowing, per-
formative cuteness of Cibo Matto on top of catchy stripped-down track after track, from the poppy “Heard a Song” to the clubby “Lipslap.” Bonito Generation may be feather-light, but it holds up. ****

Bunny Lee/Prince Jammy/The Aggrovators

Dubbing in the Front Yard
& Conflict Dub (Pressure Sounds)

This rereleased twofer comes from 1977 and 1982, and features a trio of Jamaican legends—a quartet if you count King Tubby Studios, where the magic happened. Hitmaker Bunny Lee (“Cherry Oh Baby,” “Better Must Come”) was the producer. Dub pioneer Prince Jammy was the engineer. The Aggrovators, King Tubby’s house band which included literally dozens of reggae stars through the years (Sly & Robbie, Jackie Mittoo, for starters), were the musicians. Throw in sleeve notes and copious photographs, and you’ve got an absolute treasure. *****

https://pressuresounds.bandcamp.com/album/dubbing-in-the-front-yard-conflict-dub

Park Hye Jin

IF U WANT IT (Clipp.Art)

Twenty-four-year-old South Korean DJ and producer Park serves notice with this assured debut EP of minimal house and and proto-dubstep. It’s hypnotic, dark, and sexy throughout, with some added lounge-jazz piano on “ABC” and a wistful closer in “Call Me.” Park’s vocals are invitingly cool, and IF U WANT IT sounds like something I’ll be coming back to all winter while waiting for her next one. ****1/2

https://parkhyejin.bandcamp.com/releases

Categories
Best of C-VILLE

Best of the Best 2018: Ragged Mountain Running Shop

Ask Mark and Cynthia Lorenzoni about the secret to their success as owners of Ragged Mountain Running Shop, and they’ll tell you it’s all about balance. The pair, who’ve been outfitting Charlottesville athletes since 1982, welcomes 20,000 customers a year to their Elliewood Avenue shop, a place that feels like a combination clubhouse, support group, town square or simply, as Mark’s brother, Peter, told us a few years ago, “a place to gather.”

“We sell shoes,” Mark says. “We work hard at it, and we’ve been blessed to make a good living doing what we enjoy.” But according to Bill Guerrant, who’s been shopping at Ragged Mountain since it opened almost four decades ago, Mark and Cynthia do much more than sell shoes: “They’re knowledgeable because they’re runners. And they take what they know, their own unique, personalized experience, and use it to help their customers. They value friendships and their customers, and they feel obliged to put you in the right shoe. They take it personally and feel responsible if you’re not happy, if you’re uncomfortable or dissatisfied.”

Over the years, Mark has served on 18 boards and he puts together weekly free running clinics. Both he and Cynthia organize races for a wide variety of local charities, and Cynthia is the longtime volunteer race director for the Women’s Four Miler, which has raised millions of dollars for the University of Virginia’s Breast Care Program.

“I get a great deal of satisfaction in that this town is small enough that you can make change and be involved in things that help people’s lives,” Mark says. “We’ve been honored and fortunate where the business has thrived, and we invest back into the community.”

Best of the Best

At a certain point, it’s just redundant to keep recognizing some folks—everyone knows they can’t be beat. Which is why, in 2016, Best of C-VILLE began honoring the Best of the Best: businesses we felt set the standard for all of the winners you just read about in the preceding pages. In 2018, we asked readers to do the job. Find all of the VIPs below, then turn to page 186 to see this year’s top honoree.

2016

106.1 The Corner

McGuffey Art Center

Swett Dentistry

ACAC

Mas

Bodo’s

Angelo

Daedalus Bookshop

Oasis Day Spa & Body Shop

Pampered Pets

2017

C&O Restaurant

The Paramount Theater

The Boar’s Head

Categories
News

Hingeley runs: Veteran defender wants prosecutor job

Jim Hingeley promises a more “progressive, humane approach” to criminal justice in his campaign for Albemarle commonwealth's attorney. Staff photo

Dozens of people, many from the legal community, braved the chill January 23 to stand in front of Albemarle Circuit Court, where Jim Hingeley, founder of the Charlottesville Albemarle Public Defender Office, announced his campaign for Albemarle commonwealth’s attorney.

“It’s time for criminal justice reform in Albemarle County,” said Hingeley, 71. He said he wants to take a more “progressive, humane approach” to prosecution, because lengthy prison sentences come at a cost to society.

Hingeley will seek the Democratic nomination, and he took aim at the Republican incumbent. Commonwealth’s Attorney Robert Tracci, said Hingeley, was putting nonviolent offenders in jail and had increased by 29 percent the number of cases tried last year in circuit court, where felonies are heard.

“Many times Mr. Tracci has asked for jail time for driving with suspended licenses,” says Hingeley. “I won’t do that.”

The state’s policy of automatically suspending driver’s licenses for unpaid court costs and fines is murky since a judge ruled December 21 the practice is likely unconstitutional.

Tracci, who plans to run for reelection, says he has stopped prosecuting those cases since the injunction. He also says the county has seen an increase in felony offenses in recent years.

Hingeley stressed his 43 years of experience as an attorney handling thousands of cases. “We’ve seen examples of how inexperience can affect justice,” he said. And he drew applause when he said he would not pursue the death penalty.

So far, Hingeley has raised over $10,000, most of that from a committee for Andrew Sneathern, who ran for the 5th District congressional seat last year and who was encouraged by some to run for commonwealth’s attorney. Sneathern introduced Hingeley

He lauded Hingeley’s “recognition of the dignity of every member of the community,” while excoriating the war on drugs and Virginia’s punitive misdemeanor marijuana possession laws, which “take driver’s licenses away for something that has nothing to do with driving.”

Hingeley, currently a city resident, says the law allows him to run in the county, and notes that former commonwealth’s attorneys Denise Lunsford and Jim Camblos lived in the city when they were elected and subsequently moved to the county. He says he’s planning to move to the county before the election “because I’m very committed to this.”

Among those gathered at Hingeley’s announcement were Albemarle Clerk of Court John Zug, Charlottesville Clerk Llezelle Dugger, who used to work for Hingeley in the public defender’s office, Albemarle sheriff candidate Chan Bryant, and City Councilor Wes Bellamy.

“I’m entering this race because we need to turn Albemarle County’s criminal justice system in a different direction,” he said. “I’m entering this race because our community can and should end the politics of mass incarceration.”

 

 

Categories
Living

Warm up with ramen: Whole Foods offers the noodle soup on Fridays

Soups from Whole Foods Market’s ramen bar have been a hot commodity for two years. Photo: Amy Jackson Smith

One of the worst-kept secrets in Charlottesville is Whole Foods Market’s excellent ramen soup bar, which is only open from 11am to 3pm Fridays during the winter months. Andre Susilo, district manager in Virginia for Genji, the contractor that also provides sushi to Whole Foods, says that the bar’s limited hours have not diminished its success since it opened two years ago.

Both the tonkotsu—a rich, slightly creamy pork-bone broth, served with slices of roasted pork belly—and vegetable broths are winners. Each soup comes with a generous helping of ramen, bean sprouts, scallions, pickled ginger, and shallots. You can eat in the store or take your soup to go, and Susilo says catering is in great demand. “Even during Thanksgiving, we had a lot of catering orders for the ramen,” he says.

New direction for Commonwealth

Ten Course Hospitality has been playing a bit of staffing Tetris at some of its high-profile restaurants on the Downtown Mall, as it rebrands Commonwealth Restaurant & Skybar.

Chef John Shanesy, formerly of The Whiskey Jar, has taken over the top spot in the kitchen at Commonwealth. He is building on a fresh foundation created, in large part, by local stalwart chef Harrison Keevil, who had been working as a consultant on rebranding the restaurant, which has adopted the tagline “Modern Virginia Cuisine.”

“We have a good restaurant, and we want to make it bigger and better and bolder, to show how it fits in the community in Charlottesville and tighten down its focus,” says Will Richey of Ten Course Hospitality, which manages the restaurant. He credits Shanesy with taking Keevil’s consulting work in the kitchen “to the next level.”

Richey says Commonwealth’s offerings will reflect Virginia’s culinary history—with a nod to the classic 1824 cookbook The Virginia Housewife, by Mary Randolph—as well as current influences, such as the infusion of foods from both Vietnamese and Latino immigrant cultures.

Commonwealth is also touting a new cocktail program, under the direction of River Hawkins, formerly of The Bebedero. Hawkins recently returned from a stint in Mexico, where he immersed himself in all things mezcal. “He’s probably the leading guy in Virginia in mezcal education,” Richey says. “He’s known for theatrics at Bebedero, and we’re very excited to see what he’s launching for us here.”

Overseeing the management team at Commonwealth is general manager Rachel Snogles, who’d been with Ten Course’s Brasserie Saison and worked previously for renowned New York restaurateur Danny Meyer.

The ripple effect of the changes at Commonwealth include the promotion of David Helbling from sous chef to head chef at Whiskey Jar; a move up at the bar for Marah Ballard at Bebedero; and the appointment of Tres Pittard as head chef at Brasserie. “Tres is a young chef but very motivated,” Richey says. “We didn’t realize what he could bring to the table but he kept wowing us with special events. He is killing it.”

Some vino with your joe?

C’ville Coffee is now C’ville Coffee and Wine, thanks to owners Toan Nguyen and Betsy Patrick’s passion for the fruit of the vine. The shop is selling a moderately priced selection for taking home or drinking onsite (with an $8 corkage fee). “All of our wines are under $20, and we taste all of it to make sure it’s good,” Nguyen says. “We’ve received rave reviews from our customers who know they can always count on what’s in our portfolio.”

Nguyen grew up in Europe drinking wine, and led wine tours in Sonoma and Napa early in his career. “I’ve always loved wine, so it’s a dream to bring back the wine into our world,” he says.

Dining assistance

The Shops at Stonefield is participating in a program to help mitigate some stress for family and caretakers of loved ones with dementia, by giving them safe spots to dine out. Two restaurants in the shopping complex, Burtons Grill and Travinia, will offer a “memory cafe,” where people with dementia, their family, and caregivers can dine at the restaurants between 3 and 5pm. Those hours are typically quiet and suitable for, say, enjoying a meal with grandchildren.

Victoria Tremaglio, Stonefield’s general manager, says the program has been successful elsewhere, and it was recommended by Susan Friedman, President and CEO of the Alzheimer’s Association. Staff members at both restaurants attended an afternoon of training before the program was implemented, learning to provide not just dining service but appropriate support. “It’s a socially safe environment for the family during our restaurant’s quietest hours,” Tremaglio says. “Dementia affects many families in the region. We hope to expand [the program] center-wide in the future.”