Caicos the Doodle as envisioned by Lesli Devito. Courtesy artist.
By Madison McNamee
Ten years ago, Lesli DeVito created a unique birthday gift—an original painting of
a friend’s dog. Things went from there, and now DeVito paints a dog a day.
These aren’t traditional, stuffy pet portraits. DeVito, who is based in the area, has an
eccentric style, blending bright colors to exemplify each pooch’s personality.
“I’m more trying to get the painting not to look exactly like the dog, but to kind of come alive, so that you feel like you can sort of see a little bit of your own,” she says.
To achieve that
effect, customers send DeVito photographs of their pets—but also describe the pup’s personality. From there, she creates life on canvas. She often adds personal touches like tennis balls or favorite toys. She was once asked to paint a sleeping bulldog, because the customer said that’s all the dog ever did.
But even when painting a dozing animal, DeVito creates excitement. She says she was drawn to bright colors from her earliest days as an artist, when she worked with simple house paint. Over the last decade, she’s upgraded to acrylic paint, and her work has continued to improve.
“I felt like I was painting with mittens on and all of the sudden I got fingers,” DeVito says. “That growth process, I wouldn’t trade
it for anything.”
And her business has grown, too. Her art Instagram (@lesli_devito_art) has 7,000 followers. She’s expanded her range to include other
animals like cats—and, on a few occasions, cows. DeVito had tons of time on her hands
this past summer, and ended up painting more than she ever had. It was a way of connecting with others in a time of isolation.
Like so many pets
around the world,
Morris the cat has helped his owner get through a tumultuous year. Photo: Tristan Williams
By Sam Baars
One of the best things about my cat is that he can’t read a newspaper.
Nearly half a million people have contracted COVID-19, and the body count of this global health crisis continues to climb. The planet is warming at an alarming rate. And a certain white supremacist ex-president staged a literal attempted coup at the symbolic center of American democracy. But Morris doesn’t know about any of it.
When I’m stuck at home curled up in the fetal position beside a phone that’s flooded with New York Times push notifications, he crawls onto the fattest part of me he can find and we share a special moment: I look at him like all 15.7 pounds of my orange, anxiety-reducing cat blanket are God’s greatest gift to earth—and he thinks curling up on me is slightly more comfortable than the floor.
Plenty of times in this year of social unrest, it’s felt bad to be of the same species as the people still making the world so unjust and ugly. But there were some days when I got to press pause, and feel with Morris the simple thrill of rediscovering the dust-covered Satan’s Pony cap he’d batted under the fridge. His innocence keeps me grounded, and even if just for a moment, life feels really good. We’re living in a kitty world where bottle caps are king, fluffy tummies are celebrated, and civilization isn’t falling down around our ears.
I cherish the days we’ve spent trapped inside together while hiding out from the coronavirus, but we go outside, too.
Fifty-eight percent of respondents to a recent study conducted on behalf of the Recreational Boating & Fishing Foundation said they didn’t appreciate nature as much as they should have before the COVID-19 crisis, and 32 percent said they’re participating in more outdoor activities than ever.
Morris isn’t one of them.
Though he may look like a meager house cat, he’s a longtime outdoor enthusiast and my go-to guy when it’s time for some fresh air. The way he shrieks by the front door when he wants to get out is almost endearing. The way he slinks like a caterpillar down the sidewalk definitely is. And the heads a leashed cat and his disheveled mother can turn in town are the cherry on top.
When I took this handful of fur home from the shelter eight years ago, I’ll admit I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. But I’ve learned a lot from the tabby cat who’s worried only about where his next quarter cup of Science Diet is coming from.
Now I know the weight of the world isn’t only mine to carry, and while ignorance is a privilege it truly can be bliss, too. Sometimes a quick bite and a short walk are a cure-all. And one can never be too finicky.
City Council denied a special use permit for construction of a Belmont apartment complex, which would have included five affordable units.
PC: City of Charlottesville
Nothing special
Charlottesville’s fraught debates over how to address the city’s affordable housing crisis continue. At Monday night’s meeting, in a 3-2 vote, City Council denied a special use permit that would have allowed a modest number of new affordable units to be constructed in Belmont.
The proposed apartment complex at 1000 Monticello Rd. would have contained 11 apartments, with five priced for those making 65 percent or less than the area median income. The land is currently a vacant parking lot.
The permit is required in order to construct new units on the site—as things currently stand, without the permit, the only development allowed by-right would be commercial.
Last month, the city planning commission recommended the project move forward in a 4-3 vote. Those in favor of the proposal argued that some affordable housing was better than none, while those opposed pointed out that half-measures wouldn’t be enough to dig the city out of its housing hole.
Those same philosophical fault lines appeared at the council meeting.
“The five units that are affordable offer a significant subsidy to folks that are trying to get into affordable housing,” said developer Justin Shimp. “It’s very difficult to get affordable housing into developer projects.”
Councilor Michael Payne cited community feedback against the project. “There’s a lot of history here,” he said, referring to a 2019 renovation of the Belmont Apartments, directly next door and owned by the same developer, that had displaced several long-time tenants.
“I think there’s a strong case to be made that there are adverse impacts on the surrounding neighborhood, including displacement of existing residents and businesses,” said Payne, before moving to deny the permit. He was joined by Mayor Nikuyah Walker and Vice- Mayor Sena Magill, with Councilors Lloyd Snook and Heather Hill in support of the project.
__________________
Quote of the week
“Playing baseball games will help kids have the fun we all missed—and we really missed having fun this past year.”
—Walker Upper Elementary student Abraham Jaspen asking City Council to allow little league baseball to play games again
_________________
In brief
Big shot
Another long-vacant store has finally been put to good use. The Blue Ridge Health District—in partnership with UVA Medical Center—opened a second COVID-19 vaccine clinic inside the former Big Lots in Seminole Square Shopping Center on Sunday. CAT and JAUNT are providing free transportation to the site, which also has ample parking. As the district receives a lot more vaccines over the next few months, the large facility will help to vaccinate people more quickly and efficiently.
Face off
Charlottesville Commonwealth’s Attorney Joe Platania is officially vying for reelection. In a video announcement last week, the prosecutor, who was elected in 2017, touted his progressive track record, including the establishment of a therapeutic docket and a drop in incarceration rates. Platania will face off against public defender Ray Szwabowski in a Democratic primary on June 8. In an interview with C-VILLE in January, Szwabowski said, “It seems like criminal justice reform is happening far too slowly here in Charlottesville.”
Joe Platania PC: File photo
Crowded room
Just like the other side of the aisle, the race for the Republican nomination for governor is getting more and more crowded. Millionaire investor Glenn Youngkin threw his hat in the ring last week, describing himself in an announcement video as a conservative businessman from a humble background—with no mention of his Washington-based private equity firm The Carlyle Group, and its $230 billion in assets. Retired Army officer Sergio de la Peña, entrepreneur and former Fox News contributor Pete Snyder, Virginia state Senator Amanda Chase, and state Delegate Kirk Cox are also competing to be the GOP nominee.
LaQuinn Gilmore claims a group of Charlottesville police officers racially profiled and brutally assaulted him.
PC: Eze Amos
LaQuinn Gilmore felt sick to his stomach. He had not eaten enough before taking the antibiotics his doctor had prescribed him for a hand infection, and knew he needed to throw up.
While driving down Monticello Avenue on the night of January 11, Gilmore pulled over, got out of his car, and leaned over next to the vehicle. He soon saw a car pull up beside him, and a man asked him if he was all right.
“I’m thinking it’s just a concerned citizen or something, and I’m like ‘Yeah, I’m all right man. I just took some antibiotics,’” says Gilmore, a local musician. After he started dry heaving, the man repeated his question, “and I’m like hold up—this can’t be no concerned citizen.”
When Gilmore again said that he was fine, the man ordered him to get back into his car and stepped out of his own vehicle. Through the brightness of the headlights, Gilmore finally realized the man was a Charlottesville police officer.
The officer, who is white, approached Gilmore and asked to see identification. Gilmore, who felt he was being racially profiled, pulled out his phone and started recording. From there, Gilmore says the incident escalated into a violent altercation that left him with serious injuries.
A brief Facebook livestream shows Gilmore say “stop walking behind me” and “I haven’t done anything.” He accuses the officer of harassing him and claims that he knows his rights, while the officer continues to follow him down the sidewalk.
In the video, the officer orders Gilmore to calm down and put his phone away, and tries to snatch or knock down the device. When Gilmore refuses, the officer handcuffs him and the livestream stops.
While he was being pursued and detained by the officer, Gilmore says that four or five more police cars arrived on the scene.
“The way I see that they were set up, I thought they were going to shoot me,” he says.
After body slamming Gilmore to the ground, six to nine officers “jumped all over his body,” he says. Gilmore was already wearing a splint on his injured hand.
“The pressure they were putting on my body, I could feel stuff cracking,” he adds. “They were trying to kill me.” They also searched his entire body and pockets, Gilmore claims.
After seeing Gilmore’s livestream, his friend Morris Rush, who lives nearby, drove to help him, arriving shortly after the officers yanked Gilmore up off the ground.
“When I first got there, they were standing. There were several officers around [Gilmore], I would say four to five,” says Rush.
According to both men, the white officer who first confronted Gilmore then brought him across the street to speak with the shift commander, who had arrived on the scene.
“[Gilmore] was still in handcuffs and upset about what had happened,” says Rush.“I asked [the officers] was he under arrest, and they said no. I asked them why was he still in handcuffs then, so they took them off of him.”
Gilmore says the shift commander then asked him about what happened. The commander apologized multiple times, but claimed that the officer who initially confronted him was a “good officer.”
“I could tell by the officer’s body language that he was very frustrated,” says Rush. “He knew he had done something wrong.”
“The pressure they were putting on my body, I could feel stuff cracking. They were trying to kill me.
LaQuinn Gilmore, local musician
The shift commander then let Gilmore leave. He was never arrested or charged.
“I’m glad I came down there, because I don’t know what could have happened,” adds Rush.
Following the incident, Rush drove Gilmore to his house.
By the next morning, Gilmore could barely walk. He went to the emergency room, where he was diagnosed with a closed head injury, a concussion, contusions on his legs, acute bilateral lower back pain, and acute post-traumatic headaches.
Because he does not have the money to pay for rehab, Gilmore plans to do it on his own from home. He’s also had to delay a planned new album release.
Since the alleged assault, Gilmore has filed an internal affairs complaint with the Charlottesville Police Department. The department has 45 days to complete its investigation and announce its findings. If the complaint is found unfounded, exonerated, or not resolved, it can then be investigated by the Police Civilian Review Board.
According to police spokesman Tyler Hawn, the department cannot comment on Gilmore’s allegations at this time, and cannot comment on whether or not it plans to release body camera footage of the incident.
With the assistance of his lawyer, outspoken local criminal justice reform advocate Jeffrey Fogel, Gilmore plans to sue the department. He’s also started an organization called Capture Cops, encouraging people to record police activity.
Gilmore has set up a GoFundMe to help support himself and his family over the next few months.
“It still bothers [Gilmore] a lot physically and mentally. He’s still having problems with his back. He’s in and out of the hospital, taking a lot of medication,” says Rush of the aftermath. “He’s making it through, but it still bothers him.”
Correction 2/4/21 – An original version of this story said the department did not plan to release body camera footage, when in fact at publication time it had not determined whether or not it would release body camera footage.
