Month: April 2024

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News

Hide and seek

Photo by Stephen Barling.

On a recent cool morning in Gordonsville, a cadre of a half-dozen cops in street clothes assembled next to the local fire department. Their commanding officer for the day, Lt. Patrick Sheridan of the Louisa County Sheriff’s Office, was ready to get started.

“8:25!” Sheridan shouted. It was the time that the trail was laid; crucial information for anyone using a man-trailing animal, and served as the green flag in this particular race.

The first one to take him up on the challenge was Charlottesville Police Department’s Darius Nash and his 18-month-old bloodhound, Blue. Nash walked to his cruiser, cracked the back door, and out shot an energetic hound who was clearly in need of two things: affection and a bathroom, in that order.

After some slobbery kisses and a quick stop in a grassy patch next to the fire department, it was time for Blue’s favorite game: hide and seek.

Gordonsville was the site of Group A’s first day of training in the 12th annual Louisa County Bloodhound Training Seminar. The group was led by Sheridan, who has owned, trained, and employed bloodhounds in his work for over 20 years. In that time, he has traveled across the country and to Europe, both as teacher and student, and has been the driving force behind Louisa’s annual Bloodhound Training Seminar, where dozens of law enforcement organizations from throughout the state and the country send their handlers to learn from some of the best canine officers and search-and-rescue personnel in the country. The event has become so popular that there’s a substantial waiting list to attend.

“I got Annie, my first dog, in 1997,” Sheridan says. “Then there was Maggie, then Rizzo, and now Ally, so I’ve had four dogs in my career.”

He was brief in mentioning the name of K9 Maggie. Her’s is a story he doesn’t tell very often, but it’s one that, for many people in this area, he doesn’t have to: In December of 2011, Maggie was attacked by another dog while on a call for service. Initially, the attack appeared survivable, but a bacteria from the other dog’s saliva got into her bloodstream and Maggie passed away as a result. Her image can be found everywhere in Sheridan’s life, from his social media pages to the walls of his home.

Patrick Sheridan, pictured here with Ally, is a K9 officer and patrol lieutenant for the Louisa County Sheriff’s Office. As a handler and trainer for the office’s bloodhounds, he also shares his knowledge and expertise with agencies across the nation and in Europe. Photo by Stephen Barling.

Sheridan’s successes have been as well-known as his tragedies. He has been in the news often, both in this area and nationwide, and has set important case law in Virginia. Along with former Louisa County Sheriff’s Office handler Stuart “Buck” Garner, and the help of their bloodhounds, Sheridan was instrumental in catching and convicting Adam Pelletier in the rape and murder of Aimee Marie Meadows. Their work, and subsequent testimony, set the precedent that allowed bloodhound identification to be used as expert testimony in Virginia courts. Garner was again in the news in 2016, when he testified in the case of Hannah Graham—his dog was able to track the murdered University of Virginia student’s scent to the car and apartment of Jesse Matthew, more than 24 hours after she’d gone missing. Matthew was eventually convicted of her murder.

In addition to Sheridan’s duties as bloodhound handler for the department, he also manages half of the patrol division, all of the school resource officers, and event security for school events throughout the county. He’s run hundreds of calls in central Virginia as a K9 handler, and found “dozens” of people, both criminals on the lam and civilians, lost or injured in the endless woods of the Piedmont.

Officer Nash and Blue tracked the “runner” about 300 yards west on Baker Street toward Main Street in Gordonsville. Blue was a frenetic bundle of affection and slobber three minutes ago, but after Nash put on his harness and gave the order, Blue became a different dog. He was all business now.

Blue got sidetracked, and headed to a local resident’s chicken coup. “Nope,” Nash said. Theirs was a balance of communication and natural ability. Blue has the superpower, a million more olfactory receptors than a human, but he needs information and feedback in order to use it.

“When you see that head go down and that tail start wagging,” Sheridan says, “that’s when you should be ready.”

Next to Sheridan was Deputy Christian Amos of the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, who will get his first dog in the coming months. He was along the trail with Nash, Blue, and the rest of the group as an observer.
“That means you’re close?” Amos asks. Sheridan nods.

Blue’s head was down now, and his tail was wagging. He rounded the corner, and looked at the porch of a local dentist’s office. He scanned the area with his nose, and darted into the apparently empty bushes. Buried inside is Terry Davis, president of the Virginia Bloodhound Search and Rescue Association. Also known as “the runner.” Immediately, Blue reverted back into the chaotic, lovable slobber machine he’d been roughly 15 minutes before. His reward: Vienna sausages and more slobbery kisses.

Humans have been using hounds to hunt since the Middle Ages. It’s believed they’re the modern descendants of the extinct Norman Hound breed. In France, they’re called “le chien de Saint-Hubert” or St. Hubert’s Hounds. In the U.K., they’re known as “sleuth hounds,” and have been employed, along with beagles and other types of hounds, in their traditional fox hunts. Tradition also holds that they were used to track the famous Scottish rebels William Wallace and Robert the Bruce during their flight from English capture in the late-13th and early-14th centuries.

Their ability to track a scent hours, even days, after the trail has been set, is well recorded. A famous story in bloodhound lore is that of the unnamed record-breaking dog in Oregon in 1954. In a newspaper article, it mentions a “local bloodhound” finding the trail of a missing family over 330 hours after they’d gone missing. Unfortunately, the family had died of exposure in the Oregon wilderness.

“They call them bloodhounds for a reason,” says Franklin County Sheriff’s Office Deputy John Lavinder, another handler and trainer from Virginia Bloodhound Search and Rescue Association. “They can use your blood, sweat, urine, or any other bodily fluid as a scent article to track you.”

Lavinder also clears up the famous Hollywood myth about running in bodies of water to get bloodhounds off your trail.

“Actually, that water takes those cells off your skin and spreads them out over a larger area, meaning the dog will be able to tell where you went and hold on to that scent easier,” he says. “You’ll just go to jail wet.”

As Nash returns from his successful hunt, the other members of Group A are standing in a circle, making small talk. The other bloodhounds bark their congratulatory remarks at Blue, as he darts toward his second home: the custom, back-seat doghouse of Nash’s cruiser, complete with its own dog bowls built into the floorboards.

The next team to take on the hunt is Officer Emma Orr, from Rock Hill, South Carolina, and her 7-year-old black and tan bloodhound, Lucy. Sheridan has known Lucy since she was a puppy, and she runs right up to him the minute she gets out of her cruiser.

Despite being from out-of-state, the handlers and trainers at the training seminar seem like they’ve known each other all their lives. Most of them have trained together before. They’ve got nicknames for one another, know each other’s dog’s names, and tease each other incessantly. Orr’s nickname is “Teeter,” which the group refuses to explain. No more evident is this camaraderie than in the way Lucy reacts to Sheridan when she sees him, jumping up for a full, standing hug, and a big slobbery kiss.

“Oh, I love this dog,” Sheridan says, grinning, “I could put people in jail with this dog.”

“I have,” Orr says, sharing his smile.

As the harness comes out, and the scent article is chosen, Sheridan again shouts the time the trail was laid, “8:25!”

Orr looks down at her partner, and gives Lucy the words she’s been waiting for: “Get to work.”

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News

In brief

File photo.

Money talks

Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced on April 8 that he would not veto the entire state budget created by the legislature, instead putting forward a swath of broad-reaching amendments.

The governor’s “common ground budget” has some key differences from the version passed by the state legislature earlier this year: It cuts all tax increases from the bill, but also includes none of the tax decreases he championed in his December budget proposal.

“I believe strongly that Virginia could be reforming and reducing the tax burdens on Virginians today,” said Youngkin at a press conference announcing the 233 budget amendments. “We have to make a decision together. And I will propose today that that decision together is that we do not fight over tax decreases, but we also recognize it’s not time, nor will it ever be, for tax increases that will interrupt this economic model that is working so well.”

One notable change to the budget is an amendment that would remove language requiring Virginia to reenter the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. Prior to Youngkin pulling Virginia from RGGI in 2023, the program brought in millions of dollars in funding for local governments, but also came with slight increases to resident’s electricity bills.

During his presentation on the budget rewrite, Youngkin described RGGI as a “tax,” a characterization he has previously made that is disputed by proponents of the initiative.

State legislators will return to the capitol to consider the budget changes alongside other amendments and vetoes on April 17. Among those returning is Charlottesville representative Creigh Deeds, who serves on the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee. In response to a request for comment from C-VILLE, Deeds said, “[the Governor’s] amendments will receive due consideration.”

Skyclad Aerial

To market

Charlottesville City Market kicked off its 51st season on April 6, boasting over 80 vendors on opening day at its Water Street location.

The market—which runs from April to November—is open every Saturday from 9am to 1pm. Shoppers can check out a range of fresh produce, baked goods, crafts, and more from both returning and new vendors, including Khadijah’s Kitchen, Arepas on Wheels, Pit & Pastry, Petite Buzz Farm, Qut Lil Garden, and more.

This year marks the first full season of the city’s partnership with Virginia Fresh Match, which aims to double SNAP purchases at farmers markets by matching eligible purchases. Shoppers using SNAP dollars can visit the city management tent at the market for a match of up to $50 per visit.

Downtown Saturday morning shoppers can find even more vendors a few blocks away at the Market at Ix, which is open from 8am to noon during its spring season.

For more information about other area farmers’ markets, visit charlottesville.gov/619/Charlottesville-Farmers-Markets.

Mika Meyers memorial

Albemarle County Fire Rescue held a memorial service for firefighter Mika Meyers, who died off duty on March 29. Over 100 firefighters attended the April 6 service at the Monticello High School auditorium. An obituary posted on the Hill & Wood Funeral Service website says Meyers’ family “is steadfast, moving forward, about stripping the stigma, shame and misunderstanding of mental illness and suicide. This is a disease, not a flaw of character.” At press time, a GoFundMe had raised over $45,000 for Meyers’ family.

Sips for SARA

Four local breweries have partnered with the Sexual Assault Resource Agency to raise money for the organization during Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Each brewery has created a limited edition drink flavored with Simcoe hops, with a portion of proceeds going to SARA. Decipher Brewing and SuperFly Brewing Company kicked off the month-long fundraiser last week with release parties on April 1 and 5, respectively. To support the “Simcoe for SARA” effort, head down to Högwaller Brewing on April 11 or Selvedge Brewing on April 20 to sip the unique brews.

Change in counsel

As of April 15, the City of Charlottesville will temporarily be represented by Richmond law firm Sands Anderson while City Attorney Jacob Stroman is on leave. The firm is set to serve as acting City Attorney of Charlottesville for 60 days. In a press release announcing the interim counsel, the city said “all active litigation is being managed to ensure the City does not fall behind,” including the lawsuit aiming to stop the new zoning ordinance.

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News

Meet the beetles

The Laricobius beetle is small, but its impact on protecting the area’s towering hemlock trees could be large. Image by National Park Service.

On a warm day early in spring, a group of volunteers led by the National Park Service is surveying Sugar Hollow Reservoir, hoping to find a new resident living on hemlocks in the forest. They hold broad, white sheets under a tree and knock the needles with a long stick. What they’re looking for is so tiny that they need to use magnifying glasses to identify it.

Laricobius osakensis is a dark brown beetle between 2 and 3 millimeters long. It may be small, but its impact on the forest could prove to be quite large, particularly for the area’s towering hemlock trees. The beetle preys exclusively on hemlock woolly adelgid, an aphid-like insect that has been ravaging hemlock trees up and down the East Coast. The hemlock woolly adelgid has no natural predators in the area. So, in an effort to control the pest’s population, biologists with Shenandoah National Park released 500 Laricobius beetles at Sugar Hollow Reservoir in 2017.

“We call them Larry beetles for short,” says Rolf Gubler, a biologist with the park service. “As long as there’s hemlock infested with HWA, those little Larry beetles will disperse and find hemlock that’s infested. It has to be infested so they have a food source.”

Larry has been introduced to several sites in the park after being studied, and eventually reared, at Virginia Tech.

“We have over 13 different release sites throughout the park,” Gubler says. “We’ve released over 6,000 beetles since 2015, working closely with Virginia Tech and their entomology department.”

Scott Salom, director of entomology at Virginia Tech, first found and collected Larry beetles in British Columbia. Later, a Japanese source was found and started to be released in 2012. Salom says the Japanese version is preferred now to limit genetic variability in the area.

Larry’s prey, the hemlock woolly adelgid, also came to the area from Japan. It was initially found in an ornamental garden in Richmond in 1951. Shenandoah was the first park to encounter an infestation in 1988. A few years later, the park’s hemlock trees were rapidly declining and eventually dying.

“During that time, we lost a number of hemlocks,” Gubler says. “Hemlocks are typically found along streams, in riparian areas, or on northeast facing slopes, moister slopes, so they’re not that common. They were less than 1 percent of the cover type. But we saw this precipitous decline and mortality. By 2002, 2003, the park had lost anywhere between 90 to 95 percent of its hemlocks.”

Gubler says the decline looks like a gradual withering in the crown of the tree over the course of several years. If you stood under the branches looking up, over time you would see more and more light as the leaves turn yellow and fall.

The insect attaches to the base of the leaf where it meets the wood and penetrates the tree with a long, straw-like needle.

“The adelgid is sucking the sap, the sugars and the starches, out of the tree,” Gubler says. “It’s making it difficult for the tree to transport nutrients and water.”

Shade is actually a crucial ingredient that eastern hemlocks add to the forest ecosystem. Its tentlike cone of dense foliage creates a pool of shade around it.

“The hemlock creates this unique, cool microclimate that has a year-round canopy,” Gubler says. It creates cool, moist conditions that are important to the preservation of a number of different species.”

That includes the eastern brook trout, the black-throated green warbler, the red squirrel, and many others. Eastern hemlocks are considered a foundational species, meaning they occur in the mature stages of the forest, when the ecosystem is at its most complex and a wealth of species rely on ecological factors that have grown over time.

“They’re the mothership,” Salom says. “They’re the dominant species among a diverse collection of species. Another term would be a climax species. They’re the species that a lot of other plants and animals rely on, and they are critical in a lot of riparian habitat.”

Hemlocks can live for hundreds of years, which means they significantly shape the character of the forest around them, and their loss leaves a giant hole.

“We had 300- to 350-year-old hemlocks at Limberlost Trail,” Gubler says. “There were 100 old-growth trees in there, just beautiful trees that were 3-and-a-half, 4-foot wide at the base. We lost all of those due to HWA.”

The hemlock woolly adelgid is hard to control because its population can rebound quickly. In fact, extreme cold events in winter have killed up to 99 percent of the adelgid’s population in the past, but they built back up in a couple of years.

The adelgid population goes through two reproductive cycles each year. A spring generation hatches in April, matures in mid-June, and lays eggs. Those eggs hatch in early July, go dormant around August, and reactivate around the middle of October. That winter generation then lays eggs in March for the spring cycle to start again.

Larry beetles are active in the winter too and go dormant in the summer. “So, they’re really well adapted to their prey,” Salom says.

The beetles are effective in controlling the winter generation of adelgids, but since they’re dormant in the summer, that leaves a gap where the spring generation is able to rebound.

“Virginia Tech and others have always wanted to look for a complementary biocontrol to address that feeding gap,” Gubler says. Other potential predators are being studied to fill that gap, most notably the silver fly. But the park is looking to Larry as the primary biocontrol for the hemlock woolly adelgid.

Fortunately, there’s a good chance that Larry will make a home in Shenandoah as a protector of hemlocks. After examining the sheets, the group of surveyors counts 21 adults among their samples.

Gubler deems that a success. “We’re only sampling a small percentage of that hemlock tree’s foliage, so that’s pretty good,” he says. “If we’re recovering that many adults, that’s pretty decent.”

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News

Working it out

UCW UVA member Olivia Paschal has been working on the Cut the Checks campaign since January 2023. Supplied photo.

The local chapter of United Campus Workers of Virginia met with University of Virginia President Jim Ryan and other leaders on April 4 to discuss issues related to graduate student wages. The meeting was prompted by the union’s attendance at the March 1 Board of Visitors meeting.

Delegations from both UCW UVA and the university sat down at 1:30pm in Madison Hall.

Prior to the meeting’s start, negotiations were already underway over the meeting agenda, according to UCW UVA.

On April 2, organizer Olivia Paschal says she sent university representatives a proposed agenda, which allotted time for introductions, a presentation from the union, questions, potential solutions, and discussion. In an email shared with C-VILLE by UCW UVA, a representative of Ryan and Provost Ian Baucom sent a resequenced agenda at 11:35am on April 4—two hours before the meeting start time—which substantially reduced the union’s presentation time and discussion time in favor of a presentation on progress made by the university. Further, the email stated that the room would be used for another event at 2:30pm, and the meeting needed to adjourn by 2:25pm.

UCW UVA responded with a compromise agenda at 12:02pm, giving time for both delegations’ presentations and discussion time.

During the meeting, attendees reviewed progress made on stipend task-force recommendations by the university, and examples of graduate student workers’ concerns with ongoing payment issues. University officials did not agree to all of the proposed solutions from UCW UVA, but did agree to hold a follow-up meeting with the union.

“We’re disappointed that administrators failed to commit to solving late payments in our meeting,” the union posted on Instagram. The group emphasized the need for raising wages and benefits for Graduate School of Arts and Sciences departmental employees, and said late payment fees should be instituted.

After the meeting, UVA Deputy Spokesperson Bethanie Glover shared meeting notes with C-VILLE, saying the newspaper had previously written about “concerns related to the timely delivery of graduate student aid.” According to Glover, GSAS has processed graduate student payment with a 99.7 percent accuracy in the last year. “The 99.7% accuracy rate that we shared factors in all delivery errors in stipend and wage payments, including incorrect values, delivery delays, student errors such as incorrectly reported account/personal information, and more,” she wrote in an email.

But organizers with UCW UVA claim different accuracy estimates were provided by the university during the meeting. According to a quote from the meeting shared by Paschal in an email, attendees were told by a university official that “our estimation is that about 98% of students are experiencing no problems at all in GSAS. In terms of individual payments, that number is about 99.8%.”

Additionally, an organizer with the union argued that the characterization of graduate student wages as “aid” was misleading. “Some of the issues have been wage issues,” said union member Lucas Martínez. “When you run a business … you [don’t] call what you pay your workers aid.”

While UCW UVA acknowledges the progress made since issues with payments to graduate workers arose in December of 2022, members say current solutions to payment issues are not sustainable and require additional labor from the graduate student worker.

“All of the onus of this problem being solved relies on extra labor being done by the graduate worker, to let them know that they’ve been paid incorrectly,” said Martínez.

At press time, a follow-up meeting between UCW UVA and university leadership had not been scheduled.

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The Big Picture

Photo by Susan Sorensen.

The top of the Water Street Garage was a popular spot on Monday, April 8, when residents gathered a little before 3pm to see the partial (about 86 percent) eclipse, when the moon blocked a large part of the sun from view. If you missed it, you’ll have to wait a while for a similar experience: On March 30, 2033, only Alaska will be included in the path of totality, but a partial solar eclipse will be visible over most of the rest of the United States. In the contiguous U.S., totality will occur again on August 22, 2044, over North Dakota and Montana.

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News Real Estate

One exit

The Altamont Circle apartments, which were built in 1929, have only a single staircase. Photo by Albemarle County.

Any structure erected in Virginia must conform to building codes created around a century ago to ensure safe construction methods are followed and that people inside can get out if there’s a fire. Such provisions spread across the country after the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in March 1911 in New York City that led to the deaths of 146 workers who were blocked from leaving the burning building.

Virginia updates its code every three years, and several advocates of reducing the cost to construct housing have been lobbying for deregulation of some aspects, such as mandates that multifamily buildings have two staircases and at least two ways out.

Last week, Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed legislation directing state officials to convene a group to study the possibility of allowing only one exit for apartment buildings up to six stories.

“This puts the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development in the best possible position to make positive changes in the building code to improve safety and affordability and allow the kinds of high-quality ‘missing middle’ designs common in other countries and Seattle and New York City,” says Charlottesville Planning Commission member Lyle Solla-Yates.

Both Solla-Yates and Planning Commissioner Rory Stolzenberg participated in a DHCD workgroup in the spring of 2022 to suggest reform. Neither is an architect or civil engineer.

In June of that year, Solla-Yates put forward a proposal to allow up to 20 units in a five-story building. He claimed the cost of requiring an additional staircase added $380,000 to the cost of a building. The idea had the support of a fellow workgroup member who works for the Home Builders Association of Virginia.

However, the minutes of the meeting indicate that several people from the state building codes office were not in favor, due to safety concerns and feeling that the issue should be discussed nationally first.

The proposal was listed officially as “non-consensus,” and the idea did not move forward in the code update that took effect in January of this year.
Solla-Yates is glad the discussion will move forward with the passage of the bill.

“No consensus, no change, unless there is clear direction from the legislative body,” he says.

Virginia did not adopt a building code until the early 1970s, which means there are examples of single-staircase buildings in Charlottesville, such as the Altamont Circle apartments in the North Downtown neighborhood. Those were built in 1929, according to city property records, and there are over 20 units.

The stakeholder group is required to deliver their report to the General Assembly by the end of the year.

At least one stakeholder is prepared to make sure the deregulation doesn’t occur.

“The Virginia Fire Prevention Association has grave concern of the consequences of considering a six-story dormitory, apartment, hotel, motel, etc. [with] a single means of egress,” says organization president Gerry Maiatico. “This should not even be considered, let alone sent to a committee for discussion.”

Categories
Arts Culture

April galleries

Ann Cheeks in the Vault Virginia Great Hall. Image courtesy of the gallery.

Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library 2450 Old Ivy Rd. “Their World As Big As They Made It: Looking Back at the Harlem Renaissance,” plus other permanent exhibitions.

Chroma Projects Inside Vault Virginia, Third St. SE. In the Micro Gallery, “Topography: Travis Childers with Ashe Laughlin.” In Vault Virginia’s Great Hall Galleries, “David Copson: Events from the Ultima Thule,” and “Ann Cheeks: Body and Spirit: Moving Through Infinity.”
Crozet Library 2020 Library Ave., Crozet. Staff art show.

C’ville Arts Cooperative Gallery 118 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. “Beauty Meets Function,” featuring sculpture and furniture by Alex Pettigrew.

Elmaleh Gallery Campbell Hall, UVA Grounds. “Almost Useful: The Michael Owen Jones Exhibition” explores objects at the edge of utility, curated by Glenn Adamson. JT Bachman’s “Waste Not, Want Not” transforms discarded materials into long-lasting objects and building material prototypes. “Inclusive Narratives: Exploring Equity On The Manifesta Bookshelf,” an interactive exhibit.

The Fralin Museum of Art at UVA 155 Rugby Rd. “Structures,” a selection of 20th- and 21st-century artworks from the museum’s permanent collection, and the Charlottesville Indigenous Art Takeover.

Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of UVA 400 Worrell Dr. The Charlottesville Indigenous Art Takeover.

Les Yeux du Monde 841 Wolf Trap Rd. The Charlottesville Indigenous Art Takeover.

McGuffey Art Center 201 Second St. NW. In the Smith Gallery, “Turn Up the Color!” by abstract artist Sara Gondwe. In the First Floor Galleries, “Counting the Days,” by Rosamond Casey. In the Second Floor Galleries, “(m)other,” a group show examining motherhood. Through April 28. First Fridays reception at 5:30pm. 

Northside Library 705 Rio Rd. W. “Color in Motion,” paintings by Randy Baskerville.

New City Arts 114 Third St. NE. In the Welcome Gallery, “Voroboros,” featuring new work by Adrian Wood. Through April 20.

Phaeton Gallery 114 Old Preston Ave. Group show featuring painters Karen Blair, Laura Wooten, and Priscilla Whitlock.

The Rotunda UVA Grounds. In the Upper West Oval Room, the Charlottesville Indigenous Art Takeover. Through July 7.

Second Street Gallery 115 Second St. SE. In the Main Gallery, “Jac Lahav: Foster Paintings.” In the Dové Gallery, “Leisure Suit” by Lou Haney.

Studio Ix 969 Second St. SE. “Visions,” by April Branham from the Monacan Indian Nation.

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News

Greener pastures

The Southern Environmental Law Center’s Senior Attorney Nate Benforado is leading the nonprofit’s campaign to return Virginia to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. Photo by Tristan Williams.
By Laura Vogel

The Southern Environmental Law Center has fought—and won—some mighty environmental battles in its 35 years of existence. Right now, though, it’s in the midst of one of its biggest legal challenges: Pulling Virginia away from the brink of leaving the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative for good, after Governor Glenn Youngkin encouraged the state Air Pollution Control Board to repeal the regulation.

RGGI (sometimes pronounced “Reggie”) is a 2009 Northern creation that was making great headway in the South. The first group of states to join the greenhouse-gas-fighting, regional intergovernmental market included Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont.

As a program, RGGI works by mandating a cap on CO2 emissions from fossil fuel-powered stations within each states’ borders by making facilities buy allowances equal to the pollution they produce. The funds collected by RGGI then go toward investments in their communities: Residents get help with home improvements like weatherization, bill assistance for lower-income households, and other clean-energy benefits.

A study by the Clean Air Task Force on public-health benefits of the program found that the transition to cleaner energy in RGGI-member states saves hundreds of lives, prevents thousands of asthma attacks, and lowers citizens’ medical expenses by billions of dollars. As well, more than $6 billion has been raised in RGGI states from sales of CO2 allowances.

But Virginia’s Air Pollution Control Board removed the commonwealth from RGGI in June 2023. That August, the SELC filed a petition on behalf of four clients challenging the action. In a November 3 ruling, the Fairfax Circuit Court dismissed three of those clients—Faith Alliance for Climate Solutions, Appalachian Voices, and Virginia Interfaith Power & Light—and transferred the case to Floyd County, where the SELC’s fourth client, the Association of Energy Conservation Professionals, is headquartered. Now, the pending state budget proposal includes a provision that would require Virginia to rejoin RGGI. At press time, Youngkin had not made a decision on the budget.

For the SELC, these are promising steps forward. Senior attorney Nate Benforado, who is the leader of the nonprofit’s initiative to get Virginia back into RGGI, says, “We are pleased with [the court’s] decision, which allows this case to move forward and will ensure the administration’s decision to leave RGGI—which we have repeatedly alleged is unlawful—will be reviewed by a court. We look forward to the next steps in this action and will work as expeditiously as possible to get Virginia back in RGGI.”

Some may wonder why the Youngkin administration is against what seems to be an overwhelmingly positive environmental program. When asked by C-VILLE for a statement, the governor’s press office replied with a quote from Secretary of Natural and Historic Resources Travis Voyles, who says, “RGGI functions as a regressive tax that does not do anything to incentivize the reduction of emissions in Virginia. Our state Air Pollution Control Board has concluded that Virginia is not required to be in RGGI and that the citizens of Virginia should not be forced to pay higher energy bills to support the previous administration’s failed programs. The Office of the Attorney General confirmed the state Air Pollution Control Board has the legal authority to take action on the regulatory proposal using the full regulatory process—and the board voted to do just that—furthering Virginians’ access to a reliable, affordable, clean, and growing supply of power. Virginians will see a lower energy bill in due time because we are withdrawing from RGGI through a regulatory process.”

Cale Jaffe, the director of the University of Virginia’s Environmental Law and Community Engagement Clinic, filed an amicus brief for Virginia Clinicians for Climate Action and the Virginia Energy Efficiency Council in support of RGGI in Virginia in the Fairfax hearings. When questioned about the Youngkin administration’s repeal of RGGI, he says, “It’s impossible for me to conjecture what their motives are.” When asked if he believes SELC and other stakeholders will reinstate RGGI, Jaffe says, “There’s a really strong argument in the law that participation in RGGI is in the Virginia code, which makes it more than just an easy-to-repeal legislation. It was codified in statute, a legislation that had passed both houses and was signed by the governor, not just a simple law that a past governor [Democrat Ralph Northam] approved and the next one can repeal.”

Cale Jaffe, director of UVA’s Environmental Law and Community Engagement Clinic, filed an amicus brief in support of RGGI. Photo by University of Virginia Law School.

The positive effects of RGGI are quantifiable. “The science and the policy are clear: We need to reduce carbon pollution, and generating power is the largest source of this pollution in our atmosphere,” Benforado explains. “RGGI gives flexibility to power-plant owners. It’s not micromanaging, it’s giving a market-based solution to reigning in greenhouse gas. In RGGI’s first two years in Virginia—we joined in 2020—carbon emissions from power plants dropped a whopping 22 percent.”

The state of Virginia gives about half the proceeds of RGGI fees to communities along coasts and rivers that face the threat of flooding. The remaining 50 percent goes to new energy-efficient, affordable housing, reducing pollution and lowering utility bills for families—most of whom are lower-income.

“Most of our effort is aimed at monopoly utility companies, like Dominion and Appalachian Power,” says Benforado, “as they produce 70 percent of carbon emissions. RGGI is focused on pollution going down, steadily reducing emissions over time. Since we’re in active legislation, I can’t really go into the defense; the Youngkin administration says it’s not working. It obviously is. This is a very successful policy tool, bringing down emissions, bringing in cleaner energy.”

When asked how RGGI is benefiting the Charlottesville area, Benforado excitedly talks about the energy-efficient redevelopment of Kindlewood (formerly Friendship Court), the downtown low-income housing complex. “One of the really cool things that RGGI money has done for our town is helped fund the complete renewal of this community-owned property,” he says. “The Piedmont Housing Alliance was able to use RGGI proceeds to make new units with super-efficient HVAC systems as well as weatherizing and updating the systems in older housing. So, instead of, say, $100 a month in utilities, a tenant may now pay as little as $10.”

Set just a few blocks southeast of the SELC headquarters, Kindlewood was initially a Section-8 complex. First built as a 12-acre master block after the previous African American neighborhood fabric was erased during “urban renewal,” the community has largely remained economically and physically isolated from the rest of the city, but the Piedmont Housing Alliance is working to change that. The 150-unit structure has recently undergone new-unit construction and energy-efficiency upgrades funded by RGGI capital.

Sunshine Mathon, executive director of the Piedmont Housing Alliance, is the leader of the Kindlewood renovation and new construction. “We are driven to promote deep energy efficiency and affordable housing benefiting lower-income Charlottesville residents,” he says. “For about 20 years, we have worked diligently to highlight the good stories and impact of RGGI funds.”

Sunshine Mathon, executive director of the Piedmont Housing Alliance, says RGGI proceeds have helped to build Kindlewood. Photo by Eze Amos.

“Each state has its own control over its RGGI funds—here, 50 percent goes into HIEE [Housing Innovations in Energy Efficiency], so a lot goes into weatherization for low-income houses,” Mathon continues. “One of the beautiful things about RGGI is that it pairs HIEE program funding parallel with other sources. Rental projects that would be out of our reach are made possible by RGGI money. It’s a game-changer. Before Virginia officially joined RGGI we were learning about deep energy efficiency, and now we are able to put that knowledge to use for people that need it most.”

When asked about the Youngkin administration’s repeal of RGGI, Mathon says, “It doesn’t make sense. I don’t know why he did it.”

The cool office that’s cooling the planet

Started in Charlottesville in 1988 by environ­mental lawyer Rick Middleton, a native of Birmingham, Alabama, the SELC has always been at the forefront of environ­mental law in the United States. Many organizations had given up on fighting environmental injustice in the South due to its conservative politics, but SELC flourished, and grew from a small office in downtown Charlottesville to also encompass centers in Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee, with over 200 employees in total. The Charlottesville office remains its headquarters, with a sprawling new modern space, and a team of over 50, just south of downtown on Garrett Street.

Apex Plaza at 120 Garrett Street is the largest mass-timber building on the East Coast. Encompassing the entire fourth floor of the building, the SELC offices are LEED Gold–certified.

The building is made of structural wood harvested from fast-growth timber, and the building is actively helping the environment: Much like a healthy tree stores carbon dioxide, one square meter of cross-laminated timber can remove approximately one ton of the greenhouse gas from the atmosphere. Additionally, the building’s 875 solar panels produce approximately 364,000 kWh per year of electricity, the equivalent of 88 tons of recycling being saved from landfills.

The SELC offices at Apex Plaza are LEED Gold-certified. Photo by Hourigan Group.

The SELC headquarters was awarded Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Gold certification in August 2022, and features progressive amenities such as bike parking, a shower and changing room, and EV charging stations. Apex Plaza was constructed on an underutilized lot in Charlottesville, just a five-minute walk from downtown’s existing amenities, helping to reduce sprawl and promote dense, multi-use neighborhoods.

During construction, emphasis was put on reducing waste and repurposing materials. To that end, more than 60 percent of the furnishings, by cost, were reused or salvaged and contractors diverted more than 70 percent of their waste from the landfill. Recycling stations for paper, cardboard, plastics, aluminum cans and metals, batteries, and e-waste are distributed throughout the space to continue minimizing what is sent to landfills.

Other more subtle design choices with a green impact include window placement to maximize natural light, and toilets, faucets, and dishwashers all chosen for their efficient use of water.

Additional features contributing to the office’s LEED status are hydration stations to avoid single-use water bottles, sensors that turn lights out when a room isn’t being used, compost collection, and power sourced from solar panels.

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In brief

Charlottesville residents called on city councilors to pass the ceasefire resolution ahead of the vote. Image by City of Charlottesville.

Peace talks

Charlottesville City Council passed a resolution on April 1 that calls for an immediate ceasefire in the conflict between Israel and Palestine.

The resolution was first introduced at the March 18 council meeting and failed, with three councilors voting no. Though he originally voted against the resolution, Councilor Brian Pinkston joined Councilors Michael Payne and Natalie Oschrin in support of the measure.

“I believe it’s important to change your mind and to revisit a decision if upon new information or further reflection you believe you made a mistake,” said Pinkston ahead of Monday’s vote. The councilor emphasized the importance of the resolution, given Charlottesville’s large refugee population and the national defense industry’s role in the local economy.

“I realize that there are also concerns about unintended consequences, especially in a place like Charlottesville,” said Pinkston. “I can only say that I’ve thought about that, and I still believe that this is the right and courageous thing to do.”

The packed City Council chamber erupted with applause after Pinkston’s remarks.

Echoing their colleague’s statement, Payne and Oschrin also emphasized the importance of the resolution.

“We lend our voice to many, so alone we might not be effective … we join all of your voices individually to become one of many, and that’s where we have power,” said Oschrin. Payne referred to his previous statements on the measure, but added, “I do think we have a very small voice, but still a voice to weigh in.”

In addition to a ceasefire, the resolution also calls for the immediate and safe release of all hostages and the entry and provision of humanitarian aid to Gaza. Council passed the measure 3-1, with Councilor Lloyd Snook abstaining and Mayor Juandiego Wade voting no.

Payment pains

University of Virginia President Jim Ryan will meet with graduate workers April 4 to discuss payment concerns.

The meeting comes after months of organizing by the UVA chapter of United Campus Workers of Virginia, and was prompted by the group’s presence at a March 1 Board of Visitors meeting. Organizers report continued problems with late stipend payments, despite previous promises from university officials.

In a December 4 statement to C-VILLE, UVA Deputy Spokesperson Bethanie Glover said “the university is unaware of any systemic delays associated with graduate student stipends and funding. When isolated issues have occurred, schools and departments have acted quickly to resolve them.” This sentiment was echoed in March by Provost Ian Baucom, who acknowledged the protester’s presence and told the BOV that issues had previously been addressed, and more recent payment issues were limited in scope.

BBQ break in

Ace Biscuit & Barbecue will be closed for the next few weeks as the restaurant recovers from an apparent break in. On March 30, Ace posted photos on its Facebook page of smashed windows, bashed-in register screens, broken bottles, sinks, and toilets, and back rooms in disarray, writing that the incident happened overnight. According to CBS19, the damages totaled $50,000. In an April 1 Facebook post, Ace said, “We’re deeply moved by the overwhelming support from our community. Though our doors may be shut, our spirits remain unbroken.”

No smoke

Gov. Glenn Youngkin shot down a bill that would have legalized marijuana retail sales in Virginia, after previously stating, “Anybody who thinks I’m going to sign that legislation must have been smoking something.” The bill would have paved the way for retail markets to open in May 2025. Youngkin’s veto comes after his administration’s big push to open a new sports arena in Alexandria fell through. As a result, Virginians now live with uneven marijuana laws—it is legal to both possess and grow weed at home, but only medical marijuana is legal to purchase.

Station to station

Charlottesville Fire Department’s Station One, located along the 250 Bypass, will be rebuilt and reopened in spring 2025, with construction slated to be complete by that March and move-in by May. “The original Station One building has served this city well, and now the time has come for a much needed upgrade,” says Michael Thomas, CFD fire chief. “Station One will be built from the ground up to accommodate the 21st-century needs of the fire service and our growing city.” Concept drawings for the new station are available at charlottesville.gov.

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Questioning

Senlin Means and Ellie Picard opened The Beautiful Idea, a trans-owned, anti-facist bookstore and queer market on the Downtown Mall in September 2023. Photo by Tristan Williams.

Dozens of Charlottesville residents braved the rain on March 31 to attend the first-ever trans Q&A at The Beautiful Idea. While the weather outside was gloomy, the atmosphere inside the trans-owned, anti-fascist bookstore was cozy, with chairs set up under string lights, and pride flags draped across the ceiling.

The event was the brainchild of store co-owner Senlin Means, a local trans woman and C-VILLE contributor.

“The inspiration was something that happens all the time here in our shop … this woman came in … and very nervously asked us if she could talk to us about something,” said Means ahead of the event. “We get a lot of people in here who have questions to ask, and they’re often nervous about it, or think they’re gonna get in trouble, or something like that. And it made me think, ‘Hey, why don’t we offer people a way to ask these questions?’”

After months of consideration, Means decided to host the panel on International Trans Day of Visibility—held annually on March 31. Attendees were encouraged to bring questions and an open mind, with a reminder that “You don’t have to be an ally, just don’t be an asshole!”

“Normally, you shouldn’t do this. I’m not trying to say, ‘Hey, it’s okay to ask trans people random questions all the time,’” said Means. “I’m hoping this comes across more as, ‘Look, you might have these questions, and you might rightfully not feel like it’s appropriate to ask them. This is a time when you can.’”

Joining Means on the panel were Professor Veró Dávila Ellis and student Marco Seaberg, both from James Madison University.

Kicking off the Q&A, Means emphasized that “trans people are not a monolith” and panelists’ answers should not be interpreted as wholly representative of the entire community, before moving on to audience questions.

Event attendees were initially hesitant, but soon asked about the experience of being transgender, the process of transitioning, pronouns, allyship, and how to talk to and support trans family and friends.
One topic that came up repeatedly was how to talk to trans and questioning youth.

“Gender has nothing to do with sexuality or with sex. And our body parts aren’t inherently sexual or sexualized. That is something that society has put on us,” said Dávila Ellis. “Allowing a child to transition in whatever way, or allowing a child to know what are the options as they grow up for becoming the person or the gender they want to be has nothing to do with sex, and does not sexualize someone.”

Seaberg, who started transitioning as a teenager, shared his personal experience and the realities of the transitioning process—breaking it into social, medical, and legal categories.

While medical and legal steps, like taking hormones or changing the gender marker on a driver’s license, are most frequently in the news, Seaberg emphasized that most trans people start transitioning socially first. “It can be a haircut, it can be what you’re wearing—it’s how people are referring to you,” he said. “When youth are transitioning, or when anyone’s transitioning, social [transition] is usually the first thing they do or explore.”

“I was too old for puberty blockers, but I did hormones later in life. And that was something that I had to go through gender therapy for, and have many medical professionals sign off that I was ‘trans enough’ or that I was of mental state to be deciding that as a minor,” said Seaberg. “Young children who do have a strong sense of identity [are] not getting irreversible surgery at 12 in almost every case.”

Panelists also spoke about pronouns. Originally from the Caribbean, Dávila Ellis shared their unique experience of being trans nonbinary and Latinx. Following one audience member’s question about using traditionally plural they/them pronouns to refer to one person, Dávila Ellis said the discussion was specific to English, and did not necessarily apply to other languages.

Reflecting on the Q&A, Means said “that it gave me some idea of the kinds of questions that people are going to have, the kind of things we need to focus on: parenting questions, we certainly need to talk to people of color—BIPOC folks, explore nonbinary-ness more.”

Several audience members stayed after the Q&A to talk to participants, find resources, and ask more personal questions.

“I came here with my parents because I feel like it’s just something that a lot of people just don’t know about,” said Adeline Sokolowski. “It’s really nice to hear in person from people who have their own personal experiences.”

For Chad Sokolowski, the panel was “just another day” as the parent of a nonbinary teenager. “I thought it was a wonderful icebreaker,” he said. “I learned so much here tonight, you can easily write a thesis on all the information that was here. … I’m really looking forward to learning more and meeting some really great people.”

“There’s this vulnerability that all the people talking had,” said parent and event attendee Helgi Townsend. “The questions being asked were so helpful … we’re all having questions and we’re all trying to figure out being human.”