Author: c-ville-weekly-readers

Not so Goode
Particularly good(e) simile comparing Virgil Goode to a toenail fungus [“The Odd Dominion: President Virgil Goode,” May 1]. The ex-congressman is so attached to power that he’s changed parties three times, and just refuses to listen to the people who dis-elected him. Like a bad fungus, he won’t go away!
But the problem is, a toenail fungus may be a pain and a nuisance, but Virgil Goode brought us Bush tax cuts, wars that killed and displaced millions, economic disparity, and the social violence of anti-gay, anti-woman, anti-immigrant fear mongering. The destruction wrought under decades of Goode’s so-called leadership has left our country broken, bankrupt, and morally destitute. Goode and his supporters remain willfully ignorant that they live in a society whose survival is based on inclusivity and cooperation, not fear and xenophobia.
Maybe a more apt simile would be to compare Goode (and his Constitution party) to Toxoplasmosis, a parasite that causes paranoid schizophrenia in its victims, and has no real cure. Seriously, Virgil, we’ve figured you out, and we want you to go away.

Evan Knappenberger
Albemarle County

Trail work
I appreciated the recent article on the Rivanna Trail [“The People’s Pathway: Twenty years after it was created, the Rivanna Trail comes to a crossroads,” May 22]. I have lived in Charlottesville since 1982, and continue to be in awe of the beauty of the area. I would love to see the Rivanna Trail be utilized as a community resource for hiking, biking, picnicking, the way that similar trails are used in other communities.
My husband and I went to Lynchburg over the weekend to bike on the Blackwater Creek Bikeway, a six mile paved trail wide enough for two bikes side by side. The Bikeway impressed us with its variety and beauty, and the well marked entrances and side hiking and mountain biking trails. The Bikeway eventually leads into downtown Lynchburg and then crosses the James to go out past Percival’s Island.
There were so many people enjoying the trail, it is an amazing free community resource that encourages people to get outside and enjoy exercise in nature. I strongly suggest that the City of Charlottesville and the Rivanna Trail Foundation look to our southern neighbor as a model for what the Rivanna Trail could be to our community.

Erin Johnson
Albemarle County

Birth of an entrepreneur

In a speech at the Sorbonne in 1910, Teddy Roosevelt said, “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles…The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood…who errs, and comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming…who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”

I was honored to be interviewed by C-VILLE [“The Work Issue: 9 to 5 or 24/7, the way we make our living,” March 13] and give some words on running a business; I hope they spoke to some people. Most of what I’ve learned has been a result of my failures—large and small—and not the successes. It’s easy to skip reflection when everything is going along swimmingly.

However, that’s not what an entrepreneur is. There are hundreds of ingredients that can lead to batch failure, but there is one very potent ingredient to success—perseverance. Most entrepreneurs who have “made it” will tell you about failed previous businesses, bust products, nights on futons, stereotypical ramen meals, and premature gray hairs. Besides the futons (and of course no grays at all), I am right there with them.

Despite all this, I consider myself an incredibly fortunate person. I wake up every morning and absolutely love what I do and who I work with. Mondays are not terrible and I do not use the acronym TGIF. Yes, these jobs exist and no they are not easy. They’re scary and risky and there are many moments of self-doubt and yearning for the cushy jobs that your friends seem to have when you lose that deal to a competitor or stress about cash flow.

There will always be people who surround you—colleagues, employees, investors, bosses—that are happier to dim your light than to pursue their own happiness. Sympathize with those people and move on. Their actions say much more about them than about you. There are many more people that stand behind you and believe in you.

You will fail. You will fail over and over, but when you find it within yourself to get in the arena and to continue putting one foot in front of the other, no one can say that you have not succeeded.

Alexandra Gibson
Charlottesville

 Clarification:
Last week’s story on a Piedmont Virginia Community College degree program for inmates at the Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women [“Fluvanna inmates practice hope in PVCC program,” April 3] said the prison’s felons aren’t eligible for Pell grants. The story should have noted that people with criminal records can receive federal funding for higher education once they are released.

Bad advice
Your recent “Work” issue [“The Work Issue: 9 to 5 or 24/7, the way we make our living,” March 13] included a short piece titled “Trade Secrets” about Alexandra Gibson. You quote her as touting her leadership skills, business savvy, and business ventures, all of which put her in a position to dispense advice. With respect to Gibson Design Management, one of the corporations she founded, I would like to offer an informed comment.

I loaned money to Gibson Design Management, but the company defaulted when the notes matured. Due to the company’s failure to honor its debts, we ended up in court in February of 2012. Though the warrants in debt were decided in my favor, since then I have received only a few dollars, and that only by garnishing the company’s bank account, as she claims her corporation had virtually no money, assets or prospects for future business. It’s hard to see how a firm with this status is in a position to help other businesses be more “profitable and effective,” a claim she makes regarding Gibson Design Management in your interview with her.

Margaret Nash
Crozet

Open space
For decades McIntire Park East has been a large, but unused and unappreciated swath of green space for most local citizens. The park has been a lightly used golf course, with only 3,143 public golf visits in 2011. While the golfers understandably feel strongly about keeping golf in the park [“McIntire Park planning—any end in sight?” March 20] using such a large and central portion of the park for a game that is only played by a small percentage of the population does not provide the benefit to the community that this park should. A park this size should be used by many more people, and I believe it is not possible to create a park that is a worthwhile destination that has a golf course at its heart. Putting a trail around the perimeter of the golf course will do little to change what it has always been. The city should help the First Tee program find a new home at Pen Park and other local golf courses.
If the city looks at its own data that is has collected, it is clear that most residents want a true, passive recreation park. A 2005 Needs Assessment survey found the top four desires in our parks to be: walking and biking trails, nature trails and a nature center, wildlife habitat and natural areas, and wanting a large community park. This is what McIntire Park East could be—a place for picnicking, napping, strolling, frisbee, or your choice of relaxation. And an arboretum would fit nicely into this plan by adding some formal gardens, but also natural landscapes, a conservatory, a large fountain or whatever fundraising allows to make the park a more beautiful place.

The 2004 Park Master Plan also envisioned removing golf from the park and replacing it with an open park and arboretum with water features. Golf was seventh on the Needs Assessment survey with only 11 percent placing it in their top four choices.

When I think of Darden Towe Park, Pen Park, and McIntire West Park I think of organized sports. It’s time the city had one large park dedicated to passive use recreation. A private-public partnership could be created that would fundraise to turn this little used park into part of the city’s social fabric—a beloved destination by locals and visitors, much like the Downtown Mall or UVA’s Lawn.

Darren Pace
Charlottesville

Faith and football
I am writing to answer the question that was on the front page of C-VILLE Weekly [“God & football: Does locker room Christianity at UVA violate the First Amendment?” March 27]. The question posed was, “Does locker room Christianity at UVA violate the First Amendment?” I am not sure why this question was asked, because the answer is so obvious. The article states that the First Amendment states in part that, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” This is the key part of the First Amendment to address the answer to your question. What does locker room Christianity have to do with Congress making a law? The answer is nothing!

When UVA is having “locker room Christianity,” no law has been made by Congress respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. So the answer to the question on the front page is obvious… No! I believe this area of the First Amendment is too often extended into areas that it does not belong. The article later mentions the Thomas Jefferson letter regarding the wall of separation between church and state. However this letter is not part of the First Amendment to the Constitution. The question on the front page asks if it violates the First Amendment. It does not ask if it violates separation of church and state. So the answer is NO, locker room Christianity at UVA does not violate the First Amendment.

John Pedersen
Fluvanna County

Ungodly locker room
Your March 27 article on “God & football” and locker room Christianity at UVA is an affront to those of us who love reason, logic, and intelligence. UVA’s athletic department and the head football coach, Mike London, are clearly ignoring the historic liberty and constitutional principle of separation between church and state.
I take exception to the opinions expressed by the assistant and head coaches, and would like to tell them, “Please don’t pray in Thomas Jefferson’s school, and we won’t think in your church!” Nothing fails like prayer, and the way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason!
It is indeed tragic to stop the thinking minds of those young athletes by forcing them into locker room prayer and scripture reading, knowing that they do not have much choice. It is refreshing to be reminded—“Give a man a fish, and you’ll feed him for a day, give him a faith, and he’ll starve to death praying for a fish!”
The players have a right to sue, and the UVA coaches and athletic department will have no prayer! Here’s my advice to Mike London and the athletic department: If you have no legs to stand on, it is best not to kick.

Alan
Charlottesville

Astro love
I have never in my life have liked or looked forward toward reading a horoscope the way I do for C-VILLE’s Rob Brezsny. He is always on point with what is going in my life. He is the most accurate astrologer I have ever read, and it’s free! I don’t read his astrology and then wait for the events or the circumstances to occur, but rather the opposite. They happen and then I read Rob, and it is exactly as he proclaimed or he helps me to make sense of it. I was hoping that the C-VILLE could put a link for him on the website, since I couldn’t find him on there. If he is there, I apologize, but I went to New York and wasn’t able to get the C-VILLE and went online to retrieve the astrology section and nothing. Please thank him for me for his work.

Diane Bitler
Charlottesville

Closing the gap
When Rose Atkins came to Charlottesville, she was surprised to see so many people in her office. She came from a place that had a lot more children than Charlottesville and was surprised to see the number of secretaries and workers in her office. So we could start there in eliminating some workers [“City fills $3 million gap in school budget,” March 6].

Also, the children in Charlottesville public schools are decreasing not increasing. If they have to count Charlottesville college kids that go here to increase their numbers so Richmond will send more money, then something is wrong with our system. In that same article, the Daily Progress reported that the school board wanted to entice families to move into the city so more children would go to city schools. Since our tax rate is .95 a hundred, compared with Albemarle County’s at .76 a hundred, I don’t think that is going to happen. Also many of the city students go to private schools.

Our graduation rate is very low in the public schools, and I don’t see a lot of new ideas. There was a reading program in the Washington Post (March 7, 2012 on p.B2) that offered a unique way of helping kids to improve their reading. It was called, “Reading program offers tutoring that helps both ways.” There are a lot of people out there trying to help kids and that includes our teachers. But I think Charlottesville is not very frugal, and they waste a lot of our money on non-essential items.

Carolyn J. Belt
Charlottesville

Metrics of ecology
In her article about recycling clothes hangars [“Plastic hangers (and other stuff you don’t need),” February 21] Rose Brown stated that plastic hangers were not easily recycled, and that “Metal hangers aren’t much more eco-friendly. The plastic coating that is applied to keep them from rusting also makes them difficult to recycle.”

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Per the Wikipedia page on “Ferrous Metal Recycling” and my own personal experience, steel coat hangers are one of the most “eco-friendly” and recyclable products we have in the home. When steel is recycled, scrap steel is placed in a furnace and heated to a temperature that melts the steel, about 2500 degrees. At that temperature, the plastic quickly goes away. Home appliances are also easily recycled, even those that are enamel coated. The enamel also melts, albeit at a much higher temperature than a plastic coating. Metals other than steel are unlikely to be used for hangers because of the cost, but most metals are easily recycled.

Ms. Brown advocates the use of recycled cardboard hangers. I have no firsthand knowledge of these hangers, but my guess would be that more energy is used and more pollutants are generated in the initial manufacture and the subsequent recycling of paper. Also note that if one purchased heavy guage metal hangers, they would easily last a lifetime.

That brings up a concern I have for any claim of a product being “eco-friendly” or recyclable—how is that measured? To properly evaluate any product, you should do a full mass and energy balance of the manufacture of the item, then do a life-cycle analysis of the product to the end of it’s life. For example, for either a plastic, cardboard, or metal clothes hanger, one should compare the cost of the raw materials that went into the item, the energy required to produce it, and the emissions generated during production. Then one should look at how the item is disposed of a the end of its life, to include energy required to destroy it, pollutants generated, or cost of land filling. None of this information is easy to acquire on something like a clothes hanger, and including it for hangers would increase the initial cost, but it is the only way to compare the options.

I enjoy the articles on sustainable living, but we need more accurate information.

G.P. Burdell
Albemarle County

To bridge or not to bridge

Is it Opposite Day? One entry in the Belmont Bridge Design Competition [“Bridge Builders,” February 14] took all the top awards. But, it designed no bridge. Here’s why.
The Belmont Bridge was falling down. We needed a solution. MMM Design (of $7.5 million bricklaying fame) was paid $800,000 and they drew up: The Belmont Bridge, rebuilt, with flags. We held our own competition. Thirty-six entries later, we found a huge mistake had been made —in 1961.

Then, the same civic forces that buried Vinegar Hill also bulldozed Belmont, and left us with another ugly legacy: The Belmont Bridge, a hyphen of highway, fit for Eisenhower. Four lanes of liberty from the city’s perils to the cul-de-sac’s promise, ready to ramp to a highway to tomorrow…which never quite materialized.

So, Belmont’s viaduct-junction, what’s your function? What are you bypassing now, besides the heart of the city? The trains? Not so fast.

A word on choo-choos and coal. Our neighborhood’s Buckingham Branch Railroad hauls mostly freight, primarily coal from West Virginia mines out to Newport News for export. O.K., it’s not all coal. Most of the 150-car freights are empties. An omen of trains to come.
Coal is running out. The Appalachian Basin passed peak coal in 1990. The DOE’s 2012 Overview predicts a huge decline in Appalachian coal by 2020. CNN Money reports that the feds predict coal from Central Appalachia “will decline 40% in the next five years.” It’s what the Charleston Gazette calls: “The Coming Coalfield Crisis.”

So, let’s back-track logically: No coal…no trains…no bridge…no 1961 mistake repeated. And we get? Belmont (Un)Abridged, the winning entry in our competition. Retrospectful. Radical. Our ideal could be our inverse.
Inspired by the Downtown Mall’s original “Halprin Plan,” UVA students removed the bridge, in favor of an at-grade crossing, allowing acreage for a permanent Farmer’s Market, public orchards, and a shade park, while recouping old bridge easements for low-profile mixed-use.

“Rather than leaving large areas of urban potential to languish beneath and around a highway viaduct that bypasses the city,” wrote one juror, “this scheme uses Avon Street to integrate underutilized publicly and privately owned blocks into the city fabric.” Another juror noted, “The discussion of the bridge site is no longer the by-pass end of the Downtown Mall but the cross roads of an extended city center.”

Taxpayers save millions on a bridge. And the City gains revenue on valuable parcels at their best use. Idealistic and pragmatic. A bargain on both sides of the tracks.
Impossible? That’s up to you. And what you foresee. City planners predict problems. That’s their job. Yours is to envision opportunities. Picture our city without the coal trains, the bridge, or the bureaucrats asking you to live according to their ledger sheet. It looks like a farmer’s market, with a trellised path where you walk with your kids and tell them about how you wrote a letter to the Mayor one day about a bridge.

Brian Wimer
Charlottesville

Moving the Y

The so-called debate between single-interest groups for golf and/or a botanical garden in McIntire East isn’t really the entire issue. If one were to take off the blinders, they might consider that McIntire Park, the City’s largest public green space, consists of both McIntire East and McIntire West.

Considering it as one McIntire Park, one might quickly realize that we should also be debating the City’s plans to locate a YMCA in five acres of McIntire West, in the spot where three public activity shelters now stand. To overlook the impact of this YMCA on McIntire West, while single-mindedly focusing on plans for McIntire East, is short-sighted, to say the least.

While I am not a strong supporter of the YMCA being located in McIntire Park, it is apparent that City Council intends to move forward with that plan. While planning McIntire East, we have an overlooked opportunity to locate the YMCA to a better site in McIntire East that could have many benefits to taxpayers and the YMCA, while avoiding many negatives. To date these opportunities are being ignored. If we must have a YMCA in McIntire Park, we should consider the many benefits to be gained if it was to be located in McIntire East, adjacent Melbourne Road and Charlottesville High School.

These benefits include:
1. Leaving the west side of the park undisturbed and avoiding the considerable disruption of public park use that will be required to construct YMCA in McIntire West.
2. Preserving existing heavily-used and much-needed public activity shelters. This saves Charlottesville taxpayers 100% of the replacement costs for these picnic shelters, including their parking lots, barbeques, and benches.
3. Preserving existing mature canopy trees in McIntire West that will have to be razed to build the YMCA. Note that there are NO mature canopy trees in the 5-10 acres of McIntire East adjacent to Melbourne Road.
4. Avoiding the inevitable parking conflicts that will arise between YMCA users and existing ball parks users (April to November), and attendees to the Dogwood Festival, July 4th celebrations, and other events in McIntire West.
5. Planning the YMCA location with a better means of entry, parking, and exits, while easily avoiding all dangerous cross-traffic conflicts between ped-bike travel and auto and mass transit traffic. This is NOT possible in McIntire West.
6. McIntire East location is more convenient to CHS school bus routes.
7. McIntire East location is more convenient to all auto traffic coming and going to/from the proposed YMCA.
8. YMCA construction costs will be reduced dramatically due to “friendlier” topography in McIntire East adjacent Melbourne Road.
9. Simplifies pedestrian and bike commuter routes through McIntire West to CHS and Hydraulic Road destinations, while avoiding conflicts with increased YMCA traffic.

If nothing is done to stop the YMCA from being constructed in McIntire West at its presently planned location, there will be many negative (and) avoidable impacts including:
1. Locating the YMCA on the west side of the park will force public transportation routes to increase through the Rugby Ave. residential entrance, causing noise and safety concerns for this stable and peaceful neighborhood.
2. All traffic flows to/from the YMCA (including public transport buses) MUST cross most available parking spots, bicycle & pedestrian routes. This will be a significant and on-going risk to public safety. These traffic flows will also negatively affect traffic flows going on and off the bypass. Especially of note… the Rt. 250 Eastbound exit ramp at Rugby Ave. is already a dangerous intersection with frequent accidents. Increased traffic to/from the YMCA will cause increased accidents at this ramp.
3. Up to 50 mature (canopy) trees will have to be removed from McIntire West and one of the most beautiful spots in McIntire West will be displaced by a large rectangular building that has no relevance to the McIntire West natural forest immediately adjacent.
4. Two or three heavily-used public activity shelters and their parking lots will be destroyed, and taxpayers will have to pay at least several hundred thousand dollars for their replacement elsewhere in the park or the City.
5. The proposed YMCA location in McIntire West is a domed hill that will require “leveling,” causing increased construction time and costs, and will cause environmental damage.
6. Public use of McIntire West will be impaired or impossible during much of the YMCA construction period, which will likely be a year or more.
In summary, McIntire West isn’t broken now, but it will be if we put a YMCA there. Locating this YMCA in McIntire East along Melbourne Road can easily be folded into the planning and construction of McIntire East with no negative impact to the public or the park, and does not prevent construction of a botanical garden, golf course, skatepark, playing fields, or passive park spaces in McIntire East. This proposal makes good sense and deserves serious consideration as we plan development of McIntire East.

David Stackhouse
Charlottesville

 Women and war

I liked the intro to the Perspectives on 9/11 piece in the September 13-19 issue of C-VILLE, but was disappointed, though not surprised, to see that none of the perspectives offered came from women. It seems that the narrative C-VILLE wishes to perpetrate is one devoid of women’s experience. Pieces like this serve to devalue, and erase women’s experiences from the cultural narrative surrounding war. Women were affected. Women joined the military in response to the attacks. Women have opinions on the legacy of the violence. Where are their voices?

Not so nice

A response to Chiara Canzi’s story “Making nice,” August 30, which looks at Charlottesville’s Democratic City Council candidates and their efforts to create a unified election ticket.

Mr. Nix,

Potentially skyrocketing water and power bills ARE an integral part of the big picture for a city whose home ownership numbers are below the national average (44% vs 67%) and whose percentage of renters is above the rage (56% vs 33%). Individuals in the city under the poverty line number 21%. This percentage does not include the working poor, technically above the poverty line but unable to make ends meet.  (These figures are from The American Community Survey, a publication of the Population Estimates Bureau, for 2005-2009.)  Rising utility costs can only undermine a less than satisfactory local economic situation.

Ms. Galvin,

In the article, you describe speaking with many black city residents. Were they asked if they would support a water plan that would likely cause their water and power bills to increase? Were they asked if they approve of the Bypass plan given that it will do nothing to facilitate transportation to potential jobs and could eat up our share of state and federal transportation funds?

You go on to state that you and Mr. Huja were elected, which is not the case. The primary only qualified you to run in the election. You do not reveal the number of votes you received, but describe it as a “clear majority” and insist that it represents a mandate to stop considering the controversial aspects of the 50 Year Water Plan and the Parkway

The two sitting Council members supporting the 50 Year Plan were elected before this year’s in-depth reporting on crucial details of the Plan and the mechanics of how it was nursed along. In this “Firehouse Primary,” 2,582 people cast ballots, a 60% increase over 2009.  According to the recount, Ms. Smith received 1,188 votes and Mr. Beyer 1,159. If Ms. Blount had received 300 more votes, she would have qualified.   These numbers indicate not that we’ve “had enough” but that we’re just getting started!

In 2009’s Council election 16,268 residents voted, an increase over 2007 when 15,612 people participated. There are three seats to be filled in November. Three Democrats, one an incumbent, and five Independents are running; anything can happen. The election is not over. 

James Simcoe

Charlottesville

 Mr. Wood

Hopefully, the writer of the ugly article about Wendell Wood’s mansion [Best of C-VILLE p. 123] will live as long as Mr. Wood and have the health, energy, and initiative to keep working seven days a week. With that same perseverance, the writer may even earn enough money to build a mansion of his own and not have sour grapes about the success of others.

Disgusted Reader in Crozet

You had your say online at c-ville.com

Readers’ responses to “My house is your house,” a news story on the redevelopment of public housing, August 23

Alan Harper: Residents bill of rights? They have the right to stop mooching off the taxpayers. Why are the units crumbling? Why are these people not required to maintain the units? Why are they allowed to live there for generations? If they are not working then buy some paint and make them barter for their rent. Make them trim the bushes and cut the grass. They want to spend 210,000 dollars per unit? No wonder they can’t get a grant, even the PENTAGON would know how ridiculous that number is. ….and stop beating that Vinegar Hill dead horse that place was a toilet and everybody got a better home out of the deal. A lot of the homes didn’t even have indoor plumbing.

Ben: You’re an ignorant person, Mr. Harper. Please move away!

Krues: This is only half the story – without involving the county (and closing the egregious public housing loopholes that exist there), no progress can be made. And what became of all the hard work that IMPACT did on housing here? We need to look at the bigger picture to solve the problems.

Readers’ responses to “Restless Farewell,” a goodbye to local musicians Paul Curreri and Devon Sproule, August 23

Jan: We certainly do love Paul and Devon here in Europe! I’ve seen them live many times and have bought all their cds. Am sorry that you will miss having them in Charlottesville but I’m sure they’ll be back for gigs.

Alexis: I saw Paul perform for the first time in 2007 and couldn’t believe how brilliant he was! I really believe that his work is too smart for the average person! Best of luck, both of you.

Readers’ responses to “We are what we drink,” a look at how drinks can reflect personalities, August 23

Paul Ward: I got into a taxi cab in New York, ordered up a ride to Grand Central Station, and got dropped off, only to remember that, instead, I really wanted Penn Station. So, what does such an airhead order to drink? 1. When with Angela and special friends: Prosecco, cava, or champagne. 2. When it’s hot: Gotta go with bitters/soda/lime or Campari and soda (recently moved to the top of the list after we were served it by our favorite beveragista). 3. When it’s chilly: Single-malt scotch, two ice cubes. 4. When alone: I order something light to eat with enough fat in it to justify a red, enough savory in it to justify an interesting red, and enough European stuff in it to justify France, Italy, or Spain as the source. Not sure what this says about me. I blow with the wind? Seasonal affective drinking?

According to Supervisor Boyd, “We have to deal with the transportation issue in this county. We can’t just keep growing and not build any roads.” [“Albemarle road race,” August 2] For years his has been the loudest voice on the Board of Supervisors in favor of rapid and rampant development, with only a rare reference to burgeoning transportation problems. Has Mr. Boyd had a conversion experience, or is this simply another case of Mr. Boyd changing his mind on an important issue for purposes of convenience?

R. G. Dimberg

Albemarle County, Rivanna District