Month: October 2022

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News

In brief: PCOB director resigns, and more

Montpelier. Supplied photo.

Montpelier ‘feeling good as hell’

Three months after a dispute between the Montpelier Foundation Board and the Montpelier Descendants Committee was resolved with the historic installation of 11 new foundation board members recommended by the committee, an invitation to musical superstar Lizzo has put the historic property back in international news for a decidedly more entertaining reason. 

“It was a tremendous moment, a beautifully rich moment, where Lizzo kind of bridged so many different areas of history and the present,” says foundation board chair James French of Lizzo’s late September performance on James Madison’s crystal flute at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.

The flute is believed to have been a spontaneous gift to Madison from a Parisian flute maker in 1813, Montpelier’s Director of Museum Programs Hilarie Hicks told WINA. Hicks says the flute is engraved in French with Madison’s name and title, and was likely played by guests at Montpelier during Madison’s life. It was passed on to Madison’s wife and son, and later displayed at museums including the Smithsonian before a later owner left it in his will to the Library of Congress in 1941.

While French said there are no concrete plans yet for Lizzo to perform at Montpelier, morale among the estate’s board and staff is already high after the months of tension and uncertainty earlier this year. The archaeological work at the estate is continuing, and other changes are also underway including the expansion of the annual commemoration of the Constitution from a single day, September 17, to the entire month.

French says the new board will meet in person for the first time in November, and he’s optimistic about the future.

“We have the unique power of place where the Constitution itself was conceived along with a difficult, paradoxical history in which it was conceived. But the context of slavery and in looking at that history in a full way, we believe that we can offer the nation an extended, honest conversation about where we came from and how we move forward to reconcile and explore the strengths of our democracy.”

PCOB director resigns

After just one year on the job, Charlottesville Police Oversight Board Executive Director Hansel Aguilar said he will resign—the latest in a long line of city leadership departures since 2017. He has accepted a new job as the director of police accountability for the City of Berkeley, California.

The City of Berkeley will pay Aguilar $200,000 annually—twice his starting salary in Charlottesville—as well as a housing and relocation bonus, reports The Daily Progress. 

Hansel Aguilar. Supplied photo.

“I think we were able to build some momentum around the police accountability here during my time, and hopefully I was able to contribute to some infrastructure that can be used to continue to work here,” said Aguilar during the PCOB’s October 13 meeting. “It wasn’t an easy decision for sure, [and] I wish the best for the city.”

Aguilar’s resignation comes two weeks after he issued a neutral evaluation of the PCOB’s first case, which determined the Charlottesville Police Department did not “thoroughly, completely, and accurately” investigate the violent arrest of a man experiencing homelessness in 2020. During his tenure, he also helped craft the PCOB’s updated ordinance and proposed operating procedures. 

During last week’s meeting, Aguilar said he would provide recommendations to City Council regarding “a path forward,” and urged the councilors to pass the operating procedures so the board can move ahead with outstanding cases.

Aguilar will leave Charlottesville for his new gig on
October 21.

In brief

Riggleman goes blue

Former 5th District Republican Rep. Denver Riggleman endorsed 7th District Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger in a campaign ad released on October 10, praising Spanberger for ranking as the fifth-most bipartisan member of Congress. In an interview with The Washington Post about the ad, Riggleman—who has been an outspoken opponent of former pres. Donald Trump’s election fraud claims—criticized Spanberger’s Republican opponent Yesli Vega, a Prince William County supervisor and sheriff’s deputy, for questioning the 2020 presidential election results.

Denver Riggleman
Abigail Spanberger
File photos.

(More) shots fired

On October 15, the Charlottesville Police Department responded to a shots fired incident near the Omni Hotel parking lot at around 5:15pm. Officers discovered a male juvenile with serious injuries, who was taken to the hospital. Another male juvenile victim arrived at the emergency room shortly after the shooting with non-life-threatening injuries. “Two male juveniles were detained in the area and the incident is under investigation,” according to a city press release. On October 16, officers responded to a multiple shots fired call on the 800 block of Hardy Drive. Police found shell casings, but there were no injuries. The incident may be connected to the Omni Hotel shooting. Anyone with information about either incident should contact the CPD at 977-4000.

Downtown gets bathrooms

Two public restrooms will open inside York Place on the Downtown Mall on November 1, announced Charlottesville’s Economic Development Authority during an October 11 meeting. The city has signed a one-year lease with York Place’s owners, who will maintain the restrooms. The downtown transit center’s public restrooms—which have been closed since the pandemic started—will also eventually reopen. 

Another Unite the Right?

Maryland Republicans planned to host a Unite the Right rally on October 22, before later changing the name to Maryland United. Event organizers claimed they were not previously aware that the name Unite the Right was associated the infamous deadly 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, and had “no ill intent,” reports The Baltimore Banner.

Categories
Arts Culture

Not Chevy’s Fletch

John Hamm charms as the wisecracking investigator in the breezy comedy Confess, Fletch. Photo: Amazon.

If you say “Fletch” to people 40 and up, Chevy Chase immediately comes to mind. Chase’s portrayal of Irwin “Fletch” Fletcher, a former investigative-reporter-turned-detective in the ’80s comedies Fletch and Fletch Lives, linked him forever with the title character.

But Jon Hamm has wanted to revive the wisecracking investigator for years, and his long-gestating pet project has finally come to fruition with director Greg Mottola’s funny and unpretentious Confess, Fletch. Hamm’s take on the lead character is less goofy and more self-effacing than Chase’s, cleaving more closely to Gregory Mcdonald’s original Fletch novels. He successfully reinvents Fletch in a straightforward, breezy comedy that defies deep analysis and stays consistently amusing.

Set mostly in Boston, Confess, Fletch finds the private investigator looking into an Italian count’s kidnapping and missing paintings, including a $20 million Picasso. After discovering a seemingly unrelated corpse in his Airbnb rental, Fletch finds himself being questioned for murder by police detective Morris “Slo Mo” Monroe (Roy Wood, Jr.) and his assistant Griz (Ayden Mayeri). Fletch’s work is further complicated by romantic involvement with the count’s daughter, Angela (Lorenza Izzo), and the irksome presence of her stepmother, the contessa (Marcia Gay Harden). An inveterate liar, the relentlessly glib Fletch assumes various ridiculous aliases and personas to solve the mystery and clear his name.

Confess, Fletch is largely character driven, and the cast and the script really sell it. Mottola’s direction is not about visual flourishes or tricky camera angles: He points his camera at his very able cast and lets them do their work. This approach works better in comedy—especially a modestly budgeted one like this—than perhaps any other genre.

The supporting cast members make distinct impressions in their disparate comic roles, particularly Kyle MacLachlan as a shady art dealer, Annie Mumolo as Fletch’s stoned, oblivious neighbor, and Hamm’s fellow “Mad Men” alum John Slattery as a foul-mouthed, cantankerous former co-worker. Airhead interior decorator Tatiana’s (Lucy Punch) klutzy attempt to define bespoke is a standout scene. And hilarious bits by Kenneth Kimmins as a yacht club’s chatty commodore and Eugene Mirman as its security guard are vivid reminders of how skilled character actors can make even minimal roles funny and memorable.

Another highlight of Confess, Fletch is its soundtrack of vintage Blue Note Records jazz. Mottola is an avowed Blue Note fan, and building the film around the label’s classics was a labor of love. By making Detective Monroe a jazz aficionado, tracks get organically worked into various scenes throughout the film, and the audience is treated to outstanding pieces by Astrud Gilberto and Walter Wanderley, Chet Baker, Dexter Gordon, and Art Blakey. 

Confess, Fletch isn’t deep cinema; it’s a relatively low-key comedy that will amuse some people and probably not others, which is all it needs to be. Fans of the ’80s Fletch might be put off by the lack of goofy disguises and Chase-style farce, but younger viewers won’t remember them. The steady stream of laughs from solid performers—anchored by Hamm—make Confess, Fletch a worthy stand-alone film and not just another dull reimagining.

Confess, Fletch

R, 99 minutes
Amazon Prime

Categories
Arts Culture

Life and death in Italy

New Dominion Bookshop will host The Marriage Portrait author Maggie O’Farrell for a free public reading and book signing on Sunday, October 16, at the Irving Theater in the CODE Building. Photo: Murdo Macleod.

From the opening lines of The Marriage Portrait, author Maggie O’Farrell does not hedge: The Duchess of Ferrara will die. As historical fiction based on the real life and death of the 16-year-old Lucrezia di Cosimo de’Medici—the details were set in stone more than 460 years ago—this new novel probes the who and the how through a vibrant exploration of passion and fate. 

Woven between sections describing the hours leading up to the Duchess’ death in Fortezza are lush and melodic stretches that detail Lucrezia’s childhood in Florence and eventually follow her as she is condemned to marry the Duke of Ferrara, Alfonso II de’Este, and move to Ferrara to live with his family and provide an heir. Lucrezia is utterly singular for much of her life, an odd child in her father’s court and a naive, young wife once in her husband’s unfamiliar world. As the two timelines converge and death draws near, O’Farrell succeeds in creating a striking portrait of a spirited young woman, as untamed in her desire to live as she is in her appreciation of the world in painterly detail.

O’Farrell is the author of other acclaimed novels, a memoir, and even two books for young readers. But she is perhaps best known for Hamnet, the 2020 historical novel about Shakespeare’s son and the nature of grief, which won her the Women’s Prize for Fiction and the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction, among other accolades. 

A pivotal moment in The Marriage Portrait occurs in Lucrezia’s childhood, after her father purchases a tigress to add to his menagerie housed in the Sala dei Leoni of their castello in Florence. Upon surreptitiously witnessing the animal’s arrival in the dead of night, young Lucrezia later visits her cage and experiences a transcendent moment of connection with the exquisite beast, a moment in time that proves to have a lasting impact on her life and reputation. “Her life, her name, her family and all that surrounded her receded and became void. She was aware only of her own heart, and that of the tigress.” 

The themes of bestial prowess and fecundity that run throughout the novel are seen most vividly in Lucrezia’s obsession with the tigress as well as other animals’ majesty, pulsing with the threat of savagery while mirroring her own feelings of imprisonment. Though trapped in the gender politics of Renaissance Italy—where high-born women are only to marry and give birth while men are born to rule—Lucrezia is steadfast in her sense of self. When challenged, she is certain that her spirit “might uncurl, crawl out into the light, blinking, bristling, furling its filthy fists and opening its jagged red mouth.” 

Unlike the other women in the high courts where she spends her time, Lucrezia defies the expectations of family and tradition, again and again. Even when faced with the certainty of her death, she pokes fun at the performance of social graces: “Her husband, who means to kill her, either by his own hand or by his order to another, takes up the end of his napkin and dabs at his cheek with its pointed corner, as if a spot of soup on one’s face is a matter of importance.”

As a result, the only authentic relationships Lucrezia seems to have are the bonds with the servants in her life, pointing to the alienation that she feels from her own ruling class. Her maid, Emilia, in many ways saves her, offering a connection to her childhood, her true self, and a nurturing that she rarely received since she left the care of her nursemaid, Sofia, from whom she learned a Neapolitan dialect as a secret language that endures into adulthood. In the care she receives from Emilia and Sofia, Lucrezia experiences rare moments of real love and affection. This is also true in her connection with Jacopo, a painter apprenticed to the master Il Bastianino, who is commissioned to paint the eponymous marriage portrait. When completed, Lucrezia sees as “another self, a former self … a self who, when she is dead and buried in her tomb, will endure, will outlive her, who will always be smiling from the wall, one hand poised to begin painting.” 

In the end, the Duchess is entombed in the portrait but freed by her own painting, which she began to practice as a child and continued to use as a creative outlet and coping mechanism. Her small artworks are thick with underpaintings that depict hidden desires and other lives expressed only when she is alone, before being covered up again by more acceptable paintings of animals and plants. Despite also being used against her by the tempestuous and vindictive Alfonso, Lucrezia’s artwork, her vivid appreciation of the natural world, and even an appreciation for her own animal body, all provide her with enduring strength. Indeed, at its heart, this is a sensuous novel about the ways that art and language might save us, even when all seems lost. 

Categories
Arts Culture

Pick: Latin Ballet of Virginia

Latin Ballet of Virginia performs at PVCC on October 15. Supplied photo.

Gonna get hot

Feel the passionate fury of flamenco and the smoldering heat of tango at the Latin Ballet of Virginia’s Alma Latina. The production uses rhythm, music, and dance to celebrate the history of Latin America by weaving together tradition, culture, and politics. The company is joined by internationally known flamenco dancer Francisco “El Mesa” Nano, and backed by Richmond-based Ban Caribe’s blend of Afro-Cuban, Latin, and Caribbean music.

Saturday 10/15. $12-15, 7:30pm. PVCC’s V. Earl Dickinson Building, 501 College Dr. pvcc.edu

Categories
Arts Culture

Pick: Jake Blount

Jake Blount gives a thoughtful performance at The Front Porch on October 16. Supplied photo.

Future awakening

Jake Blount makes music rooted in care and confrontation. A multi-instrumentalist and scholar of Black American music, Blount draws on the past and imagines the future on his latest record, The New Faith. Described as a work of dystopian Afrofuturism, the 2022 release draws connections between the climate crisis and the disproportionate burden Black Americans face as a result. Blount’s soulful voice is backed by radical arrangements that include stomps, handclaps, textural synth, and spirited banjo. Also taking the stage with Blount is George Jackson on fiddle, Nelson Williams on bass, and Gus Tritsch on guitar.

Sunday 10/16. $18-20, 7pm. The Front Porch, 221 E. Water St. frontporchcville.org

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Arts Culture

Pick: The Flaming Lips

The Flaming Lips plays the Ting Pavilion on October 18. Supplied photo.

Trip ahead

After 40 years of pushing the bounds of experimentality, The Flaming Lips have a catalog that includes everything from space rock and noise pop to collaborations with artists like Miley Cyrus and Nell Smith. American Head, the band’s 16th album, is a nostalgic ode to its American roots, drawing inspiration from frontman Wayne Coyne’s time spent in Oklahoma. The Lips are also known for carnival atmosphere concerts, replete with balloons, confetti cannons, lasers, dancers, and Coyne crowd surfing in his signature giant plastic bubble.

Tuesday 10/18. $49, 7pm. Ting Pavilion, 700 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. tingpavilion.com

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News

Give it another shot

File photo.

After two-and-a-half years of living with COVID-19, many of us carry a sense of dread when the temperatures drop. Will winter coronavirus, colds, flus, and other infections rise as we gather in smaller spaces for longer periods of time? In a word: Yes. 

But fear not. Vaccinations work to keep infection rates lower for many pathogens, and they may also help make diseases less severe and death rates lower. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention puts it bluntly: “The CDC recommends COVID-19 vaccines for everyone ages 6 months and older, and boosters for everyone 5 years and older, if eligible.” 

To determine whether you are medically eligible for a COVID shot or any other vaccine, please consult a health-care provider. (Most people can get vaccines without any problems.) 

As of October 7, 76.3 percent of the Charlottesville population has had at least one dose. Albemarle County has surpassed that level at an 87.9 percent rate. Ryan McKay, director of policy, planning, and COVID-19 operations for the Blue Ridge Health District, says the district has one of the highest vaccination rates in the state. 

Free vaccines are available in doctors’ offices, pharmacies, and through BRHD. To schedule an appointment, visit vdh.virginia.gov/blue-ridge/covid-19-vaccination or vaccinate.virginia.gov. Sometimes an administration fee is charged, so ask ahead.

The BRHD underestimated how bad last winter’s COVID transmission rate would be—the omicron variant emerged and the vaccine didn’t fight it. This fall, the new bivalent vaccines protect against both the original strain of COVID and the two current omicron variants. 

McKay encourages everyone to get the initial two COVID shots or their boosters when they are due, plus the seasonal flu shot—at the same time, if desired. They are given as two shots, not a combined shot.

Patrick Jackson, M.D., an assistant professor in the UVA Division of Infectious Diseases & International Health, says October is a good month to get these two vaccines, so you can “build antibodies before flu starts circulating” and “combination is perfectly fine.”

The strict COVID recommendations of 2020 have softened nationwide and locally. “COVID vaccination is less of a front burner issue now, because of the reduction in the number of transmissions, and the moderated-disease transmission,” says Phil Giaramita, Albemarle County Public Schools strategic communications officer. “We are not in a position to require or collect vaccination data on our employees or among students—student data is blended into the state COVID information registry.” Nonetheless, employees of ACPS have a vaccination rate of more than 90 percent, teachers most of all. 

UVA’s COVID health and safety policy, updated for the fall 2022 semester, says, “All students, full-time and part-time UVA faculty and staff, including those working remotely, are strongly encouraged to receive their primary series of COVID-19 vaccine and booster doses when eligible per CDC guidance.”

Despite vaccination progress, the September 30 UVA COVID-19 Modeling Weekly Update predicts another possible surge this December. “It is critical that Virginians get boosted this fall. Models suggest that a bivalent booster campaign could prevent 150,000 cases by March.”  

Jackson recommends reviewing your vaccine history with your health-care provider: “Vaccine reviews should be part of your regular health evaluation,” he says. 

Besides the COVID vaccine, there is a new vaccine for monkeypox, which can cause a painful though usually not fatal infection. Monkeypox and many vaccines are given throughout the year, as needed, as are booster shots for certain vaccines. 

A healthy dose

Before you panic about another possible winter COVID surge, take a look at our guide to vaccines to consider this fall and beyond. Please consult a medical expert with any questions before you get vaccinated.

Monkeypox.
Tetanus.

COVID-19 vaccines and boosters

Who should get these? Everyone 6 months and older who is eligible—ask your health-care provider or health department.

How often? The VDH says, “The first two doses of Pfizer-BioNTech or Novavax vaccine should be given at least three weeks (21 days) apart and the first two doses of Moderna vaccine at least four weeks (28 days) apart.” Do not get the second dose earlier than recommended. The Janssen/Johnson & Johnson vaccine is a single first dose only authorized for use now in certain situations.

An extended interval option may work for individuals 6 months of age and older based on an individual’s risks and benefits. A longer (up to eight-week) interval may be optimal for some people, especially for males ages 12 to 39 years. Talk to your health-care or vaccine provider about the timing of the second shot.

According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, those 18 years and older can have a single booster of the Moderna bivalent if it has been at least two months since their primary vaccination or if they have received the most recent booster dose with any approved monovalent COVID-19 vaccine (the first booster shot that was available).

For the Pfizer bivalent, those 12 years and older are eligible for a single bivalent booster dose under the same two-month circumstances. 

For more information, go to vdh.virginia.gov/covid-19-vaccine. 

Seasonal flu vaccine

Who should get this? The CDC says everyone over the age of 6 months, to protect as many as possible. Those 65 and older likely will receive the high-dose seasonal flu shot that the CDC recommends.  

When? Once a year, about this time of year (October). Flu activity peaks from December to February.

According to the CDC, this annual vaccine is made to protect against the most common strains, year to year. This vaccine can be given along with the updated COVID bivalent vaccine.

Monkeypox vaccine

Who should get this? People who have sex with multiple or anonymous partners are currently at the highest risk for monkeypox. The VDH says that avoiding these activities greatly reduces your chance of catching or spreading monkeypox.

When? Now, if you are at risk or know you have been exposed to someone with the disease.

Anyone can get and spread monkeypox, which is transmitted by close contact with an infected person. Close contact includes sex or intimate contact, hugging, kissing, cuddling, massage, touching skin lesions, bodily fluids, or clothing, towels, and linens that have been in contact with an infected person. Spread can also occur during prolonged face-to-face contact.

Tetanus/DTaP vaccine

Who should get this? Jackson says this is an overlooked vaccine. It is recommended for all ages, and, according to Jackson, pregnant women should also get the shot to help confer immunity in a fetus to fight whooping cough (pertussis). The Mayo Clinic recommends the shot between 27 and 36 weeks of pregnancy.

When? During childhood, and every 10 years thereafter. 

The DTaP vaccine works against diphtheria, tetanus, and whooping cough infections. Diphtheria is caused by a poison produced by a bacterium, and it can be deadly. Tetanus is caused by a bacterium usually when a wound is infected by contaminated soil, dust, rust, or
animal or human feces. Diphtheria and tetanus are rare in the U.S. because of vaccination. Whooping cough is more common.

Other vaccines

Newer formulations include the Shingrix vaccine for shingles (two doses two to six months apart for those aged 50 and up) and two new pneumonia vaccines: PCV15 (Vaxneuvance) and PCV20 (Prevnar 20) for those older than 65 and younger people at high risk because of a weak immune system or a chronic medical condition. 

Keeping abreast

A quick word about women who still need to get an annual mammogram: Don’t let having a recent COVID or seasonal flu vaccine stop you from getting your annual mammogram. In early COVID vaccine days, the guidance was for women to wait about six weeks after a COVID or flu shot because vaccine material was attacked by enlarged lymph nodes. Enlarged lymph nodes, however, are also a possible sign of cancer. 

File photo.

“Many women came in shortly after their first vaccinations, and we were seeing higher rates of enlarged lymph nodes,” so the six-week wait time began, said Lisa Vick, team coordinator for mammography at Martha Jefferson Hospital. “We no longer want patients to delay their care.” Vaccination questions are asked and recorded, but vaccines should not postpone mammograms, she says.

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(Don’t) melt ’em down?

Jefferson School Executive Director Andrea Douglas (right) and attorney Christopher Tate speak to a crowd prior to a court ruling that a lawsuit to stop the city’s Lee statue from being melted down will go to trial. Photo: Eze Amos.

Charlottesville Circuit Court ruled that a lawsuit to stop the city’s infamous Robert E. Lee statue from being melted down will go to trial in February.

On October 10, Judge Paul M. Peatross heard motions for the case filed against the City of Charlottesville by two organizations that unsuccessfully bid on the statue, the Trevilian Station Battlefield Foundation and the Ratcliffe Foundation. The plaintiffs—represented by the same attorneys as the Monument Fund, which sued the city for trying to remove the Lee and Jackson statues in 2017—claim the city violated state code, the Virginia Public Procurement Act, and the Freedom of Information Act in December when it donated the Lee statue to the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center, which plans to melt down the monument and use the bronze to create a new public artwork. (The Jefferson School was initially named as a second defendant but was later removed, and is now a party to the suit.)

“There weren’t really any surprises,” said lawyer Christopher Tate, representing the Jefferson School, following the hearing. “We again remain very confident in our legal position and think we’ll prevail in trial.”

“I feel pretty confident about what happened in the courtroom today,” added Jefferson School Executive Director Andrea Douglas, “and think that we are making significant strides towards the appropriate and proper outcome.”

In April, Peatross sustained the plaintiffs’ claim that the city does not have the authority to melt down the Lee statue due to a state code section forbidding localities from destroying war memorials. Last year, the Virginia Supreme Court ruled the law did not apply to statues erected before 1997, but the code has since been amended to apply to all war memorials regardless of when they were erected. He also sustained two of the plaintiffs’ other claims: that the city violated FOIA during a December meeting regarding the awarding of the statue, and that the bidding process fell under the Virginia Procurement Act, allowing the plaintiffs to seek legal relief.

Shortly before Monday’s proceedings, several dozen supporters of the Jefferson School’s project, titled Swords Into Plowshares, gathered in front of the courthouse. Eight speakers—including student activist Zaneyah Bryant, former City Councilor Kristin Szakos, state Delegate Sally Hudson, and Deanna McDonald of Descendants of Enslaved Communities at UVA—praised the project’s aspirations, and called for the lawsuit to be dropped.

“This is about our willingness to step forward … to create a space that is meaningful for the lives that we live today, not meaningful for the lives of the past but [recognizing] that our past is our future,” said Douglas. “We can’t dissociate ourselves from that but can move forward and do better.”

During the hearing, the plaintiffs pushed for the Jefferson School to reveal the Lee statue’s location to the public, claiming the public “deserved to know” that information. Tate cited safety concerns over publicizing the location, worried it could incite further violence from statue supporters. One lawyer representing the plaintiffs accused counterprotesters of inciting violence at the white supremacist Unite the Right rally, sparking cries of protest among hearing attendees.  

The two parties later agreed to a protective order allowing only an expert and lawyers from each side to know the statue’s location and inspect its condition. Though the statue—currently in storage at an undisclosed location—has not been melted down yet, it’s been broken up into multiple pieces, Douglas told The Daily Progress in July.

The city and Jefferson School requested the court permit the claim regarding the state code be reviewed by a state appellate court, citing concerns over subject-matter jurisdiction, but Peatross denied the appeal. Peatross also denied the plaintiffs’ partial summary judgment motion, which asked the judge to issue a ruling on their procurement act claim without waiting to go to trial.

However, Peatross granted the plaintiffs’ motion for a bill of particulars, requiring the Jefferson School to explain its claim alleging that the plaintiffs have “unclean hands”—meaning the plaintiffs did something unethical in relation to the lawsuit—in further detail.

Throughout the hearing, the city and Jefferson School argued the state procurement act did not apply to the statue bidding process, since the city already had taken down the statue and was not requesting removal services. They also asserted that the plaintiffs’ FOIA claims were not relevant to the case, and did not entitle them to legal relief.

If they win the case, the plaintiffs want the Jefferson School to return the statue to the city, and for the bidding process to be redone—with the school barred from participating. 

A trial is scheduled for February 1.

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Questionable investigation

Charlottesville Police Civilian Oversight Board Executive Director Hansel Aguilar determined that the Charlottesville Police Department did not thoroughly investigate a case concerning the violent arrest of a man experiencing homelessness on the Downtown Mall in 2020. Supplied photo.

After more than two years of internal disputes and legislative setbacks, Charlottesville’s Police Civilian Oversight Board has finally delivered an evaluation of its first case.

The board was scheduled to hold its initial hearing in July—but on the day of the hearing, complainant Jeff Fogel, a local attorney, and the Charlottesville Police Department agreed to an alternative dispute resolution, due to Fogel’s claim that two board members were biased against him. After city attorney Lisa Robertson expressed concern over the board’s lack of operating procedures and a facilitator for an ADR, the board and two parties then decided in August to allow PCOB Executive Director Hansel Aguilar to conduct a neutral evaluation of the case.

On September 28, Aguilar issued his evaluation, which determined the CPD did not “thoroughly, completely, and accurately” investigate Fogel’s complaint. “There were elements or investigative tasks missing from the Department’s investigation,” as well as “instances where the objectivity and impartiality of the Department’s investigation could reasonably be called into question,” reads the 63-page report.

Fogel filed his complaint against the CPD in July 2020, after a Charlottesville police officer—identified as Officer Houchens in Aguilar’s report—arrested 36-year-old Christopher Gonzalez, who was lying down on the Downtown Mall. Gonzalez admitted to drinking alcohol, and said he was homeless. Houchens threatened to arrest him for public intoxication unless he left the mall, which Gonzalez refused to do. Houchens tried to handcuff him, but Gonzalez pulled away. Houchens then pinned Gonzalez to the ground, and put him in a headlock for nearly a minute, according to a now-deleted Instagram video. Gonzalez was later charged with assault of a police officer, public intoxication, and obstruction of justice, and was held without bail for almost three weeks at the local jail. Though Gonzalez’s charges were later dismissed, in September 2020 the CPD exonerated Fogel’s allegations of excessive force, and concluded that the allegations of bias-based policing were unfounded.

In Aguilar’s report, he emphasized that his job was not to “reinvestigate” Fogel’s claim, but rather to determine whether the CPD “thoroughly, completely, accurately, objectively, and impartially” investigated whether Houchens assaulted, kicked, and applied a chokehold on Gonzalez, as well as the appropriateness of Houchens’ threat to arrest Gonzalez, his arrest of Gonzalez, and his charging of Gonzalez with assaulting a police officer. During Aguilar’s investigation, he reviewed the unredacted 100-page internal affairs report, third-party videos of the incident, on-the-scene body-worn camera videos, BWC videos of prior encounters officers had with Gonzalez, emergency communication recordings, and calls to witnesses and Fogel. 

During the department’s criminal investigation into Houchens’ use of force and Gonzalez’s resistance to arrest, investigators only interviewed Houchens, and did not refer the case to the commonwealth’s attorney, claiming that no criminal violation took place. “It is unclear how that conclusion was reached,” wrote Aguilar.

In regard to CPD’s administrative investigation into the use of force and arrest, Aguilar argued the department could have better evaluated the “tactical, strategic, and training implications” of the incident, questioning why Houchens did not wait for backup to help de-escalate the situation. He also criticized the department for not interviewing Gonzalez—investigators only made one phone call to his attorney. “Had C.G. been willing to provide a narrative of the event in question, this may have answered key questions regarding his level of intoxication, his resistance to the officer’s actions, and his ‘assault’ on the CPD officer,” wrote Aguilar.

The CPD should have evaluated the appropriateness of Houchens’ threat to arrest Gonzalez “through the lens” of its public intoxication policy—which directs officers to arrest intoxicated people when they “may cause harm” to themselves or others—instead of just its biased-based policing policy, said Aguilar. Investigators also should have better questioned Houchens to determine if his actions were biased.

“I like to give them the opportunity to go sober up or go somewhere,” explained Houchens during an interview with a CPD investigator. “I know that these people don’t have anywhere to go, really anywhere to be. But since I am the mall officer, I get complaints all the time about intoxicated people on the mall. … Once we start getting calls from citizens about it, that’s kind of when it starts to become a problem, but I still will try to get them at least out of the public’s view.”

“Who are ‘these people’ that the officer is referring to?” asked Aguilar. “Was C.G. ‘causing a problem’ other than community members calling in about him? Under what departmental guidance, practice, or procedure is Officer L.H. operating under when he states the need to ‘try to get them at least out of the public’s view’? Is Officer L.H. suggesting that being intoxicated in public is acceptable just if it is not on the downtown mall?”

“It is unclear … how the officer determined C.G. was intoxicated to a degree that the officer believed C.G. could ‘cause harm to himself/herself or others,’” continued Aguilar. 

However, Aguilar agreed with the CPD that “there is sufficient support that the officer had established probable cause to affect the arrest of C.G. in violation of the state’s public intoxication law,” which states that “if any person is intoxicated in public … he is guilty of a Class 4 misdemeanor.” He also agreed there was “probable cause to support” Gonzalez being charged for assaulting a police officer. 

“When informed that he was being placed under arrest C.G. stated, ‘let’s do this.’ A reasonable officer … could interpret the underlying behavioral cues of C.G. to be pre-assault indicators,” explained Aguilar. “During the probable cause hearing before the magistrate, C.G. clarified to the magistrate, ‘I was whooping his ass, he wasn’t whooping my ass.’ This admission of guilt [makes] the charge of assault on a police officer an accurate charge.”

Concluding his report, Aguilar provided the CPD with nine recommendations to help increase transparency and accountability. Most notably, he urged the department to consider: “revising the public intoxication general order [to] further guide officers;” “retraining officers [about] the purpose of the public intoxication statute and the options officers have;” “retraining the subject officer on the importance of utilizing backup officers to de-escalate;” and “revisiting how much information is made available to complainants of misconduct.”

Aguilar also suggested that City Council examine the disproportionate impact public intoxication policies have on vulnerable communities; that PCOB take steps to improve its efficiency and credibility; and that the city manager provide the board with more resources.

Fogel says he was impressed by the “thoroughness” of Aguilar’s report, and believes the director raised strong questions and made helpful recommendations. But he remains frustrated with the CPD for not providing him with more evidence—he cannot adequately evaluate Aguilar’s report since he has only seen Houchens’ BWC footage and one video of the arrest taken by a witness.

“There were something like nine videos that were used, and I was only aware of the one that I asked for that they refused to give me. And as [Aguilar] points out in his report, there’s no explanation for why they wouldn’t give me that video,” says Fogel. “Can you have a fair hearing with secret evidence? … In my view the answer is clearly no.”

The CPD has until October 24 to respond to Aguilar’s report. Fogel will then have 10 days to respond to the department. 

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In brief: Youngkin policy rejected, and more

Supplied photo.

Collective bargaining approved

Charlottesville City Council unanimously passed a long-awaited collective bargaining ordinance during its October 3 meeting, giving many city employees the right to unionize. After union supporters pushed back against the ordinance initially proposed by interim City Manager Michael Rogers and D.C.-based law firm Venable LLP in August, city leadership and Venable representatives worked with the Amalgamated Transit Union, representing Charlottesville Area Transit employees, to improve the ordinance, and took public comments into consideration.

While the original ordinance limited unionizing to police, firefighters, and bus drivers, and only allowed units to bargain over wages and salaries, working conditions, and non-health and non-welfare benefits, the revised ordinance creates three additional units—Labor and Trades, Administrative and Technical, and Professional—and permits bargaining over health and dental insurance premiums, deductibles, and co-payments, as well as disciplinary procedures, which may be negotiated using binding arbitration. Only three units are allowed to be certified at first, but the other three can be recognized after the city’s first year of bargaining.

The final ordinance gives employees the right to request a representative during disciplinary interviews, use city technology for union communications, and hold union meetings on city premises, among other rights. It also clarifies prohibited labor practices and unit certification procedures.

After rejecting interim City Manager Michael Rogers’ initial proposal, union supporters say they’re pleased with the collective bargaining ordinance approved by City Council earlier this month. Supplied photo.

If mediation fails, all parties are now required to automatically adopt a neutral fact-finder’s recommendations (the original proposal allowed the city manager or City Council to reject the recommendations). If a party disputes the recommendations, then council will hold a public hearing regarding the issue, and take a binding vote on how to resolve it.

“We’re really pleased with the outcome of what’s happened here,” said John Ertl of the ATU during a public hearing on the ordinance. “It’s not everything we wanted, but it’s a strong step forward for the city’s workers.”

However, several community members urged the city to exclude police from unionizing, claiming it could put a stop to the city’s criminal justice reforms. 

“Unions would go further to decrease police accountability … [and] interfere with the work” of the Police Civilian Oversight Board, said Kate Fraleigh. “Police have already shown themselves to be quite well represented by the Police Benevolent Association, and that PBA did a serious number on our city [in] the face of reform,” added Brandon Collins.

Mayor Lloyd Snook explained that the local PBA sent a letter to council last month asking to be included in collective bargaining, and claimed Charlottesville—which “does not actually have a police violence problem”—would not have the same issues as bigger cities with police unions.

“In many cases what has been the problem has been mandatory arbitration of the grievance procedures,” said Snook, “so that’s if you end up with somebody being fired and the person doesn’t like the fact that he or she is being fired, then you have mandatory arbitration, which can result in the person being put back in.” 

Councilor Michael Payne noted that PCOB matters are not subject to negotiation under the revised ordinance. “I do think there’s been real thought given to ensuring there is still accountability for police,” he said.

The new ordinance will go into effect January 1, 2023, allowing unions to be certified as early as March 2023. If the city and units engage in mediation or fact-finding, then a collective bargaining agreement may not take effect until July 1, 2024, at the start of the new fiscal year.

In brief

CAT pay raises

Starting pay is now $21 per hour for Charlottesville Area Transit operators and school bus drivers, and $18 per hour for bus aides, interim City Manager Michael Rogers announced during City Council’s October 3 meeting. All bus drivers, technicians, and maintenance workers with more than one year of service will also receive a 12 percent market adjustment raise. Rogers noted that CAT—which is currently down 20 transit operators, and 25 school bus drivers—is able to fund the raises due to its large number of vacancies. “We hope that this pay increase will continue to provide incentive and withdraw back the people we need,” he said.

School boards reject Youngkin policy

The Charlottesville City and Albemarle County school boards have called on Gov. Glenn Youngkin to drop his controversial proposed transgender student policy and consult with local school districts on new guidelines. “It is unfortunate that the proposed policies were not research-based and are without the input of school divisions and the population most directly and severely affected,” reads the county board’s October 5 statement. “We will not retreat to fear, misunderstanding, and bullying,” reads the city board’s October 6 statement.

Glenn Youngkin. Supplied photo.

Police chief update

POLIHIRE plans to begin interviewing police chief candidates later this month, and provide a recommendation to Rogers in early November. The D.C.-based executive search firm is currently holding meetings with community stakeholders, and has met with Charlottesville police to “discuss what the department would like to see in a new chief,” reads the city manager’s October report.

First Hindu Heritage Month

This October marks Virginia’s first-ever Hindu Heritage Month, thanks to a resolution passed this year by Del. Suhas Subramanyam—the first Indian American and Hindu American elected to the General Assembly. The resolution recognizes several Hindu holidays in October, including Bathukamma and Navaratri. Hindu Heritage Month “is a symbol of recognition and celebration for the contribution of Hindus to the Commonwealth, and an opportunity to continue to grow awareness and appreciation,” Subramanyam said in an October 3 statement.