Heart of grass: Celebrating banjos in bluegrass might be too conventional for Béla Fleck, who’s spent his career breaking musical barriers, from classical to pop, once winning Grammys for both country and jazz in the same year. But the banjo player comes full circle on his latest album, My Bluegrass Heart, a reference to Chick Corea’s 1976 jazz-Latin fusion record, My Spanish Heart. Joining him onstage is Michael Cleveland on fiddle, Sierra Hull on mandolin, Mark Schatz on bass, Bryan Sutton on guitar, and multi-instrumentalist Justin Moses on everything in between.
Thursday 9/30, $35-60, 8pm. The Paramount Theater, 215 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. theparamount.net.
Lasting laughs: Funny lady of NPR’s “Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me!,” Paula Poundstone earned her chops in the OG comedy clubs of ’80s L.A. before landing TV appearances on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” and “The Late Show with David Letterman.” Poundstone came into her own as a trailblazing political comic in 1993 when she was the first woman to host the White House correspondents’ dinner. With a knack for banter and an improvisational flair comparable to jazz, Poundstone will leave you in stitches.
Sunday 9/26, $38-48.50, 7:30pm. The Paramount Theater, 215 E. Main Street, Downtown Mall, theparamount.net.
The proposed Stribling Avenue development project has gone back to the developer for additional review. Supplied photo.
After a public hearing last week, the Charlottesville Planning Commission sent a proposal for 170 new housing units back to the developer for updates.
Southern Development is asking the city to rezone 12 acres of land in the Fry’s Spring neighborhood to allow the construction of a new complex of townhomes and apartments. Fifteen percent of those units would have to be designated affordable housing.
“The Planning Commission told us very clearly [they] wanted to see something more dense and less suburban,” said Charlie Armstrong, vice president at Southern Development.
The development’s fate could depend on whether or not the city and the developers can scrounge up enough cash to fund sidewalk upgrades and other safety improvements around the area.
Last year, the Fry’s Spring Neighborhood Association expressed support for the development on the condition that such updates went through. Armstrong then negotiated an agreement with the Office of Economic Development, promising that Southern Development would give a $2 million loan to the city to build those improvements. The city would then pay Southern Development back over a period of years out of the increased property taxes that it’s set to receive.
At the meeting, the city and the developer clashed over the specifics of the deal: Southern Development estimates the infrastructure upgrades will cost around $1.6 million. City Engineer Jack Dawson said he’d only seen the proposal two days before the meeting, but that it could cost as much as $2.9 million in his estimation. “It isn’t just a sidewalk. It’s essentially a streetscape, because when you touch a road you need to bring it up to code,” he said.
Armstrong expressed frustration at the discrepancy between the estimates. “That’s not a number that I’ve ever seen published, or have ever heard,” Armstrong said, even though the company has “been talking with the city, and been in this review process with the city, for months and years.”
The city doesn’t have much to spare by way of capital improvement funding: Last week, council opted to transfer funding allocated for the West Main Streetscape to the $75 million reconfiguration of Buford Middle School. Budget staff said that could require as much as a 15-cent tax increase next year.
“Right now, every penny we are going to have in capital funds is going to get allocated for school reconfiguration,” said City Councilor Lloyd Snook.
The co-president of the FSNA appreciated the work that went into the agreement, but said it was not yet enough to satisfy his concerns.
“There is a potential to find a solution here, but there is a big but,” said Jason Halbert. “It’s about safety on that street and the JPA intersection.”
Halbert said the agreement had not been fully reviewed by the appropriate staff. He asked for the project to be delayed while the details of the agreement are worked out.
Planning Commissioner Hosea Mitchell said he liked the project overall but agreed it might not be ready.
“I think it could use a little more baking,” Mitchell said. “There would be value in sitting with the engineers and the economic development people and working out the details and logistics.”
Another commissioner suggested the city has to do a better job of communicating internally on matters like this, especially given that the current draft of the city’s new comprehensive plan encourages the creation of more dense housing across the city.
“It’s endlessly frustrating to me, the degree of dysfunction within the city,” said Commissioner Rory Stolzenburg, “that the economic development office is negotiating this agreement and isn’t even telling [the city engineer] about it until literally two days ago.”
Southern Development requested an infinite deferral to see if the details can be worked out.
County approves 254 units near Forest Lakes
Also last week, the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors approved a development that will see 254 apartments—190 of which will be set aside as affordable housing—constructed just off Route 29. The project was approved in a 5-1 vote. The county’s comprehensive plan had highlighted the area as a good spot for potential growth.
“I personally live in an area where many apartment units have gone up,” said Ned Gallaway, chair of the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors. “And they fill quickly. The question is whether the infrastructure is there to support the density.”
Throughout the approval process, the community association of the nearby Forest Lakes neighborhood argued against the project, saying it was out of scale with their existing neighborhoods.
“We talk a lot about how we are an inclusive and welcoming place to live. This is an opportunity to create a place for people to live that have not been able to live in our community,” said Supervisor Diantha McKeel.
In her support for the project, McKeel noted that VDOT has invested nearly $230 million in road improvements in Albemarle within recent years, and is currently studying how to further expand transit to the area.
UVA alum Christina Wagner says she’s drawn to tea ceremonies because of the community they create. Photo: Eze Amos.
Sitting on the back deck at the Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar, Christina Wagner carefully measures out tea leaf with her fingers. “Tea is a great place to exercise intuition,” she says.
Laid out on the table before us are the elements of a Chinese gong-fu tea ceremony. There’s a metal teapot filled with hot water heated by a candle, an empty glass pitcher, and a traditional Chinese gai-wan—a tea-steeping cup with a saucer and lid. We each have a tiny tea bowl, and an offering cup sits nearby.
In Mandarin, gong-fu means “with skill.” In a tea ceremony, this refers to the effort of drawing out the best possible flavor from the leaf. To do so, a gong-fu ceremony uses more vessels than your typical teapot and mug. To begin, Wagner puts the loose leaf tea (a Chinese green called Ancient Forest) into the gai-wan and covers it with hot water. After 15 seconds, she deftly picks up the gai-wan with one hand and tilts the lid back with her finger, letting the liquid strain into the glass pitcher. This is also called the fairness pitcher, since it halts the steeping process and lets everyone taste tea that’s the same strength. Wagner holds the pitcher up to the light, admiring the “clean golden color.” The first serving goes to the offering cup, as thanks. The next pour is for us.
The first infusion is the time to notice the tea’s lighter, more floral tones. As we go through the infusion process four more times, the florals are replaced by a fuller mouthfeel and a strong taste of camphor emerges. We learn how one batch of tea morphs and evolves. “You would never brew it fewer than three times, because it’s disrespectful to the leaf,” says Wagner.
Growing up in Madison County, tea wasn’t a large part of Wagner’s life. After graduating from UVA and moving to Portland, Oregon, she took a job at a shop called Tao of Tea. “I didn’t even know that that level of tea world existed,” says Wagner. For training, she toured warehouses, tea packing facilities, and teahouses. When she wasn’t preparing tea ceremonies for others, she was trying new teas, working her way through Tao’s extensive menu. When she returned to Charlottesville in 2015, her next career move seemed obvious—the Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar was started by a former Tao of Tea employee.
Wagner says she’s drawn to tea because of the community it creates. “I would rather drink mediocre tea with good people and share that,” she says, “than use that time to source excellent tea and drink it all by myself.” She loves how once tea is served, time gets stretchy. It gives space for people to relax and open up. Deep conversations flow, connections spark. She calls it steaming open the time-space continuum.
When tea gatherings became jeopardized during the pandemic, and Twisted Branch shut down for months, Wagner decided to share her ceremonies through Zoom and launched the Twisted Branch Tea Club.
Participants preorder the tea of the month, which can be picked up at Twisted Branch or shipped to your address. It’s recommended that the ceremony be held in a quiet space, where you can gather around your teaware, log onto a computer, and go through the infusions along with the rest of the club.
In each session, Wagner walks through the infusions and discusses the tea’s flavor notes and origins. When she began the tastings in February, she had no idea if it would take off, but a passionate group of customers coalesced, eager to jump in. “They’re really great about being inquisitive minds,” says Wagner. “Everyone brings a really different perspective, and the questions are all different angles on the same thing.”
It’s gone so well, in fact, that Wagner isn’t sure she’ll transition off Zoom. Some participants are tuning in from other states, and she doesn’t want to leave them behind. She will also continue to host Sunday Afternoon Tea, a drop-in, in-person event at IX Art Park on the last Sunday of the month.
Back on the deck of Twisted Branch, five infusions and almost two hours have slipped by. As I leave, I see Wagner pick up the offering cup. She gently pours the tea into the soil of a nearby plant.
Avoid infusion confusion with these FATQs
What tea should I start with? “Most people have had tea before, and have an idea of what they like or don’t like,” Wagner says. Let that be your guide. “But,” she adds, “a classic Chinese green tea can be a great place to start.” Try Dragonwell or jasmine pearls in loose leaf form.
I don’t own a gai-wan or other traditional teaware. It’s not necessary. If you’re using a mug, Wagner suggests putting loose-leaf tea into a steeping basket, so that the leaves can still move around.
Boiling water, right? Not necessarily. Boiled water is only appropriate for herbal and black teas, whereas green teas don’t need to be brewed hotter than 175 degrees. Experiment with water temperature, and while you’re at it, play around with the amount of tea leaf you use. This is a good time to tap into your intuition!
Everything’s set up, I’m about to pour my first cup…what should I pay attention to? There are five components to traditional tea tasting: Observe the shape of the leaf; smell the aroma of the dry leaf, then the wet leaf; notice the color of the infusion; and finally, taste the flavor itself.
I’m hooked! Where do I find my fellow communi-tea in Charlottesville?
< The Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar: teabazaar.com
< Christina Wagner’s website: theradiantleaf.wordpress.com/about
Navigating the corn-ers: There’s no better way to kick off the spooky season than by getting disoriented in five acres of corn. Test your navigational skills (and sanity) with a walk through the Blue Ridge Mountain Maze, and when you reach the other side, fall-themed activities await, from a pumpkin patch and petting zoo to a pumpkin-slinging competition. And if that doesn’t butter your popcorn, go for an extra pump of adrenaline in the night maze.
Through 11/7, $12, 10am-10pm. Blue Ridge Mountain Maze, 165 Old Ridge Rd., Lovingston, blueridgemountainmaze.com.
Heavy meta: Do you struggle to avoid touching the art in museums? Welcome to MetamorphIX Art Fair, a hands-on experience, where you can get down and dirty. Paint murals, sculpt, and participate in performances alongside more than 40 visual artists while enjoying live music from Swan Song, Bristol of New York, and more. Your ticket also includes a trip through The Looking Glass, Virginia’s first immersive art gallery.
Friday 9/24, $10, 5pm. IX Art Park, 522 Second St. SE., ixartpark.org.
Questions remain about the firing of former Charlottesville police chief RaShall Brackney, who spent less than three years on the job. Photo: Eze Amos.
By Brielle Entzminger and Ben Hitchcock
Three weeks ago, Charlottesville City Manager Chip Boyles announced that he had decided to fire Police Chief RaShall Brackney. The city will open a national search for the next chief of police, though community members and city councilors alike feel the reasons for Brackney’s dismissal remain murky. And for a city beset with organizational turmoil—and a police department that’s proven itself resistant to reform—the path forward is anything but clear.
Questions remain
Brackney, the first Black woman to serve as Charlottesville’s police chief, was hired in the aftermath of the Unite the Right rally and relieved of duty after less than three years in charge. Shortly before her departure, the area Police Benevolent Association released an anonymous survey of 66 police officers, in which they expressed their dislike for Brackney and a lack of faith in her leadership. After that, the city made public multiple documents detailing police officers’ bad behavior, and implying that Brackney’s unpopularity was a result of her attempts to change the department’s racist and sexist culture.
Boyles has not taken media questions about Brackney’s firing, though he has penned two press releases and a Daily Progress op-ed explaining his decision.
The survey of officers “revealed substantial concerns of trust and confidence in the leadership,” wrote Boyles in the Progress last Sunday. “While great strides were made during Chief Brackney’s time with the department in areas of racial equity and addressing officer conduct, many of these changes came about at the expense of leadership mistrust among many of the officers we depend on to protect and serve our city.”
Boyles claimed that he wished he could have involved City Council more in his decision and worked with Brackney to develop an “improvement plan,” but felt that he needed to act quickly before the department became “gripped in chaos.”
“I took decisive action to prevent key leadership positions—which were in jeopardy of becoming vacant—from erupting into deeper divides within the department,” he explained. “I did not expect to be confronted with such anger and vitriol…I felt the larger community would respect my intentions.”
Mayor Nikuyah Walker, who criticized Brackney’s firing, said it was the last straw in a decision to cancel her own November re-election campaign. At Monday night’s City Council meeting, she pressed Boyles for answers about his decision-making process.
Boyles said he spoke with half a dozen police officers, met with the Police Benevolent Association twice, and consulted other law enforcement agencies including the UVA Police Department, the Albemarle County Police Department, and the Emergency Communications Center. The city manager said he couldn’t go into more detail because he felt the officers and leaders he’d consulted had a “confidentiality right” when they spoke with him about the chief.
“You have said in the past that the reforms that were taking place were necessary,” Walker told Boyles. “I think you should be able to give us a general understanding of what the complaints were, and how you made a decision that those complaints were more important than reforming racist policing practices that have devastated the Black community in this city.”
Walker reiterated that she felt her fellow city councilors were not concerned enough about the circumstances surrounding the firing. “The rest of you just sit there and don’t say anything,” Walker said. She specifically addressed Lloyd Snook, a defense attorney: “Unless you’re motivated by getting more clients for you to provide inept defense for, you should be concerned about how police treat citizens in this community.”
“I certainly want greater clarity on motivations of the decision, and what the plan is for the future direction of the department, as well as criminal justice reform efforts that the department was involved in,” Councilor Michael Payne said to Boyles. Payne felt that the timing of the firing suggested the decision was a “direct response to the PBA.”
“Regardless of intent,” Payne said, “it sends a message that reform had gone too far.”
Brackney in hindsight
Charlottesville leaders who have followed the police department closely in recent years say the city has to learn from this saga in order to move toward its stated police reform goals.
Local activists Don Gathers and Rosia Parker appreciated Brackney’s efforts to modernize the department and address longstanding racial issues. They praised her for ending the department’s relationship with the Jefferson Area Drug Enforcement Task Force and dissolving the CPD SWAT team after reports of misconduct surfaced. Brackney also was supportive of the Obama administration’s report on 21st-century policing, which emphasized police transparency and accountability, outlined specific use-of-force policies, and detailed critical steps toward police reform.
Gathers also understands the immense pressure Brackney faced.
“Coming in on the heels of the Unite the Right rally, any chief was going to have issues,” says Gathers. “I’m not sure if she ever fully embraced the community as some would have hoped she would have, but I’m certain there was at least a popular segment of the community who never embraced her.”
Albemarle County detective and Central Virginia Police Benevolent Association president Mike Wells worked to push the survey into the public eye, and has praised the decision to fire Brackney. Wells did not respond to a request for comment.
Parker had issues with the former chief’s communication—she says that Brackney lied to the community about her actions multiple times, and spoke publicly against her and other community members. She wishes that Brackney had established a memorandum of understanding with the city’s public housing communities, too, in order to keep “out of control” officers in check.
Local civil rights attorney Jeff Fogel supported Brackney’s efforts to eradicate the department’s outdated “warrior mentality.” He thinks Brackney shouldn’t have hesitated to alert the public of the changes she made.
“I’m sorry she didn’t talk more about some of the things she had done inside of the police department that got some of these officers rattled,” says Fogel. “The community would have supported her in those endeavors, instead of being critical of her in certain other endeavors.”
Job description
To successfully implement the crucial reforms many in the community have called for, the new police chief must understand Charlottesville’s complicated history and politics, and be committed to 21st-century policing, the activists say. They should also be strong-willed and have thick skin, but be able to listen to the entire community and find common ground.
A new chief should “at least have some type of knowledge of what it is that you’re going to do when you come here to Charlottesville,” says Parker, who was a key part of the creation of Charlottesville’s Police Civilian Review Board. “You’re coming in behind so many different things that have taken place within the department. And have an understanding of what is the meaning for what Black people are going through today.”
Parker emphasizes that the chief should have a “no-nonsense” attitude, and not hesitate to hold officers accountable and discipline them when they are out of line. They should also prioritize building strong, transparent relationships with the community and the Police Civilian Review Board.
Gathers wants the new chief to be a person of color. At the same time, Charlottesville must drastically improve its treatment of Black leadership, he says. Since the Unite the Right rally in 2017, two Black police chiefs and two Black city managers have either resigned or been fired, and the Black mayor has decided not to seek re-election.
Mayor Nikuyah Walker recently called off her re-election bid, saying Brackney’s dismissal was the “final straw” after months of contemplating dropping out of the City Council race. Photo: Eze Amos.
“The person who was next in command [to Brackney] was a Black man with over 30 years of service to the community,” says Gathers, referring to Captain Tito Durrette. “Instead of giving [the position] to him, we asked Mr. Mooney to un-retire and lead the charge…that truly was a slap in the face to the Black community.”
Fogel believes the city needs to do more than hire a new chief to solve its policing issues—it needs to completely overhaul the department. The new chief must recruit new officers who are committed to progressive policing, and fire everyone who is not, he says.
“We have to start sweeping up that department from the bottom up,” says Fogel. “And if Chip Boyles expects somebody to come in and clean out that department without having some upset police officers, he’s got his head buried in the sand.”
“Overall, we’re going to have a hard time replacing [Brackney]—there aren’t that many police chiefs who have a progressive view of the role of police,” he adds.
In the meantime, Fogel remains concerned about the department’s current leadership, and fears that officers will retaliate against local residents, pointing to the survey participants who expressed disdain for the community.
“They don’t trust this community. They are making demands to trust [them], yet have not shown any reason why the community should trust them,” he says.
No matter who takes charge of the department next, activist Ang Conn of Charlottesville Beyond Policing does not expect much to change.
“We’re speaking about trying to reform an institution created by white men in order to inflict harm and even death, at will, upon Black and Indigenous people to benefit white property—structural and human beings—owners,” says Conn. “These same ideals and practices have been transformed over time to fit in with social norms.”
“There’s no reforming that,” she adds.
Now hiring
At the end of Monday’s council meeting, city leadership discussed the process for hiring a new chief. Boyles said the city will first have to hire an interim chief, and that person would ideally be someone from within Virginia who could start almost immediately. Then the city will conduct a national search for a permanent candidate. The search process will require retaining a firm and consulting with community groups.
The last time Charlottesville had to retain a search firm to select a candidate for a major position was in January, when Tarron Richardson’s resignation left the city without a city manager. That hiring firm wound up calling off their contract when the firm’s boss told Snook that he had “never seen a level of dysfunction as profound as what he was seeing here.”
Both Walker and Payne said they were concerned that the applicant pool of potential chiefs wouldn’t exactly be brimming with reform-minded progressives. Boyles agreed with the councilors that it was vital for the new chief to arrive with a desire to change the department.
Walker suggested amending the city’s charter to allow City Council to have approval on high-ranking city appointments such as police chief. Currently, the hiring power lies with the city manager.
“This may be a very difficult position to fill,” Boyles said of the vacancy he created.
Students lounged in a parking-space-turned-park on the Corner last Friday. Staff photo.
By Kristin O’Donoghue
Usually, the strip of pavement outside the Bodo’s on the Corner is reserved for parked cars. Last Friday, that space was filled with bright green turf, spiky potted ferns, students in lawn chairs, and a three-foot tall Connect Four game.
The set-up was created by UVA’s Student Planners Association to celebrate Park(ing) Day, an international day of advocacy in which environmentally minded groups convert parking spaces into mini parks, or “parklets.”
Park(ing) Day is a “global, public, participatory art project,” and serves as a day on which people across the world convert parking spaces into tiny parks and places for “art, play, and activism,” write the artists behind the project on the Park(ing) Day website. The event has been observed on the third Friday of each September for the past 16 years. What started as a guerilla art project has evolved into a global movement to reclaim urban space and engage in urban transformation.
By participating in Park(ing) Day, SPA hopes to “raise people’s awareness of how much public space has been taken over by automobiles, and offer an alternate vision for what can be done with the space,” according to Alan Simpson, workshop director of the Student Planners Association at UVA.
Simpson, an urban and environmental planning student in the university’s School of Architecture, says thinking about parking is key if Virginia hopes to become more green.
“There is too much focus on making more space for cars by expanding highways and building more parking lots,” he says. “Virginia should disinvest in auto-centric development, and instead invest in public transportation options such as commuter rail, light rail, and bus rapid transit, in addition to enhanced infrastructure for pedestrians and bicyclists.”
Activists say that consequences of auto-centric development include increased pollution, the expansion of environmentally damaging urban sprawl, and more injuries and deaths for pedestrians and bicyclists.
According to the Park(ing) Day creators, the phenomenon of parklets exploded during the COVID pandemic, and the group decided to develop a manual for those seeking to create their own installations.
“All over the country, almost overnight, parking spaces and streets have been transformed into places for people,” Parking Day co-creator John Bela wrote in The Dirt.
According to Simpson, the Park(ing) Day event was a “huge success,” as the installation got a lot of attention from passersby, and the club, which has about 30 members, added a few new recruits.
The next big item on SPA’s calendar is the 15th annual 100-Mile Thanksgiving potluck for urban and environmental planning students and faculty. All the food will feature recipes using local ingredients sourced from within 100 miles of Charlottesville. In the meantime, they’ll be parked close by.
Terry McAuliffe (left) and Glenn Youngkin. Supplied photo.
McAuliffe and Youngkin take debate stage
Gubernatorial candidates Terry McAuliffe and Glenn Youngkin butted heads in the 2021 election’s first debate last week.
McAuliffe, a longtime Democrat insider who served as governor of Virginia from 2014-2018, stood by his record, while former private equity boss Youngkin styled himself as a businessman who knows how to “get things done.”
When asked about his position on abortion, Youngkin said that he would support a “pain-threshold bill” that included exceptions in the case of incest, rape, or if the mother’s life was in jeopardy. “My opponent wants to be the abortion governor, and I want to be the jobs governor,” Youngkin said.
McAuliffe warned that if Virginia instituted a ban like Texas, high-tech companies would be driven out of the state. The former governor pledged to defend women’s right to abortion, and advocated for enshrining Roe v. Wade in the Virginia constitution.
One of the moderators pressed McAuliffe on his decision to mention Donald Trump in so many of his campaign ads, and in his rhetoric throughout the campaign. “My opponent is a Trump wannabe,” McAuliffe responded.
McAuliffe repeatedly stated that Youngkin’s economic plans would “run Virginia into a ditch.” The Republican’s plans include a $10 billion education cut that McAuliffe said would force 43,000 out of work.
When asked about climate change, Youngkin said he would not have signed the Virginia Clean Economy Act—which was passed in 2020 and aims to get Virginia electric utilities to 100 percent renewable generation by 2050—while McAuliffe said “of course” he would have signed it.
Both candidates opposed ending qualified immunity for police officers.
When candidates were given the opportunity to ask each other questions, McAuliffe asked Youngkin if he believed a nurse treating an immunocompromised patient should be required to get a vaccine. Youngkin asserted that it should be the nurse’s choice, and criticized McAuliffe for his intentions to mandate vaccines.
Youngkin has made “election integrity” a major talking point in his campaign, echoing false assertions from national Republicans that the 2020 presidential election included voter fraud. When pressed by moderators, both candidates pledged to absolutely accept the results of the election, win or lose. The next debate will take place September 28.—Kristin O’Donoghue
Early voting is now open
Early in-person voting for Virginia’s November 2 election began last Friday. Charlottesville residents can submit ballots at the City Hall Annex downtown, and Albemarle County residents can vote at the County Office Building on Fifth Street. Everyone in the state will have an opportunity to vote for governor, lieutenant governor, and attorney general, as well as their House of Delegates member. City residents will have to choose two of three City Council candidates, as well. Stay tuned in the coming weeks for a comprehensive election preview from C-VILLE.
“It is a cruel irony that schools have only just returned to the classroom for full-time instruction since the start of the pandemic and we are already grappling with another act of senseless gun violence.”
—Virginia Congressman Bobby Scott, after a Newport News school shooting left two students injured
In brief
Map mixers
Virginia’s new bipartisan redistricting commission continues its attempt to create a map of state House and Senate districts that both parties consider fair. The commission is comprised of eight Democrats and eight Republicans, and each cohort hired a consultant to draw up statewide map drafts. Those drafts were submitted this week, and now the commission is tasked with mashing the maps together to create something passable for everyone. The group is supposed to finalize a new map by October 10.
Bus bidding war
Photo: Skyclad Aerial.
Thanks in part to the pandemic, local school districts are facing a dire shortage of bus drivers. In an effort to address the problem, this summer Charlottesville City Schools gave its drivers a $2,400 bonus. That sparked a bit of local free market competition—Albemarle County has announced that it’s now offering a $2,500 bonus for new drivers. The Daily Progress reports that Charlottesville is 20 drivers short and Albemarle currently has 18 transportation jobs open.
More shots for all
This week, Pfizer announced that its coronavirus vaccine is safe and effective for children ages 5 to 11, based on robust trial results. The company plans to apply for emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration by the end of the month, according to the Associated Press. Also this week, the FDA is expected to approve Pfizer booster shots for high-risk adults. The Blue Ridge Health District continues to hold vaccination events regularly, including walk-in vaccination opportunities five times per week.
Denise and Steve Yetzer say it’s community engagement that has made the fresh-food business exciting for the past 20 years. Supplied photo.
By Megan Irvin
At first, produce distribution might not sound all that exciting. But imagine a world where your favorite restaurants don’t have the fresh lettuce, sweet corn, and tangy tomatoes they need to create their specials—it’s a dark image.
For 20 years, Denise and Steve Yetzer have kept that from happening. The pair runs Cavalier Produce, which distributes fresh ingredients to restaurants throughout the area. From the moment they bought the business—then called Four Seasons Produce—the Yetzers found that highlighting local farmers and purveyors in central Virginia and connecting them with chefs, restaurateurs, and the community is extremely rewarding work.
In Charlottesville, the pair strove for something special: “We envisioned providing high-quality ingredients and excellent, personalized service to people who are passionate about creating great food,” says Denise Yetzer. “Our company has always focused on building great relationships—with our vendors, our customers, and our team.”
Though 2001 marked the couple’s first time running their own business, it was not their first foray into the produce world. The duo found themselves hooked on the industry after working in the field in different roles in the Washington, D.C., area—Denise as a produce importer and wholesaler and Steve in an operations role.
But as the Yetzers’ wholesale division grew, space increasingly became an issue, and in 2014, they made the difficult decision to close the Belmont retail operation that had been part of the original business. Now, they focus solely on providing high-quality ingredients to the restaurant and food service industry.
Brian Helleberg, owner of Fleurie and Petit Pois, says the secret to his restaurant’s long-term relationship with Cavalier Produce is the customer service. “Cavalier has been great to work with,” Helleberg says. “Denise, Steve, and Spencer [Cavalier’s customer care manager and local program coordinator] have always treated us as valuable customers and continue to nurture our relationship…which I value since we work with them every day.”
Of course, the key to the company’s success is also its produce. “Shop seasonally, shop fresh, shop local,” says Denise Yetzer. “It is a great time of year to visit local farmers markets, to get to know what is available locally and support local farmers and producers.”
Last year brought new challenges for the business with the coronavirus pandemic. “The restaurant and food service industry were dramatically impacted, as well as the entire food industry, from growers to shippers and distributors,” says Denise. “No one was insulated from the closures and health concerns of the pandemic. It was a very difficult year, and we are so proud of our staff and customers who weathered the storm with us.”
Early in the pandemic, Cavalier Produce felt it had to do something, leading to the Industry Tight food box program, which distributed fresh produce boxes to food service workers who had lost their jobs due to COVID-19 (at no cost to recipients). The company also began selling directly to the public through its Buy A Box, Give A Box initiative, reaching consumers who wanted to take advantage of online ordering of fresh produce, grocery items, dairy, and meats while also giving back to those in need. More than 3,000 boxes were sponsored, and Cavalier continues to support the local community through food donations.
Today, Cavalier services over 500 customers a week, delivering fresh produce, meats, cheese, and specialty items on a daily basis. The company’s 66-person team works with customers throughout central Virginia, from Charlottesville to Blacksburg to Richmond to Virginia Beach, and everywhere in between.
Always at the mercy of mother nature, the changing seasons and weather events guide menus and product availability, and keep things interesting for the team. Denise says not a day goes by that they aren’t looking for an unusual ingredient, running a last-minute delivery, or fulfilling a special request.
“Food connects people,” she says. “Building relationships and helping chefs put their best food forward by helping them service their customers well—that is really what it has always been about. The food and the people. We are honored to be here and so grateful for the opportunity to do what we do.”
