Author: c-ville-weekly-writers

Tuesday, May 25
Justice O’Connor gives props

Anna-Marie Gulotta, a senior at Charlottesville High School, has a 4.40 GPA. She’s a youth mentor and abstract artist who developed a solar oven that made her an International Science Fair finalist. Thanks to these and other accomplishments, Gulotta today beat out seven other finalists for the $5,000 Emily Couric Leadership Scholarship. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor presented the award to Gulotta in a ceremony at the Boar’s Head Inn, saying, “I have to make some hard decisions sometimes, and I’m glad that wasn’t one of them.” O’Connor picked up an award at the event, too—the Emily Couric Women’s Leadership Award. Security was absurdly tight for O’Connor’s speech—local media were not allowed to take in video or audio recording equipment—in which the most newsworthy nugget was her admission that after getting her law degree from Stanford in 1952, she was told that her that best chance to get a job in the field was as a secretary.

Wednesday, May 26
Kluge rights State’s wrong

U.S. Senator John Warner and Gov. Mark R. Warner today announced that local billionaire John W. Kluge will put up $1 million for the Brown v. Board of Education Scholarship and Fund. The General Assembly only gave $50,000 to the program, which seeks to provide educational funds to Virginians whose schools were closed in the late ’50s as a means of avoiding integration. Kluge’s big-bucks contribution is a matching gift, and Gov. Warner promised to submit a budget amendment so the State can kick in its $1 million. According to a press release from the two lawmakers, Kluge, who is CEO of Metromedia, the 28,000-employee company that runs Ponderosa, Bennigan’s and other restaurant chains, approached Sen. Warner “on his own initiative.”

Thursday, May 27
Drug Court graduation

Toni Gray and Jamahl Elder became the 101st and 102nd graduates of the Charlottesville/Albemarle Adult Drug Court in a ceremony held this morning at the Charlottesville Circuit Court. The 12-month supervised drug treatment program, which is an alternative to time in prison, is entering its seventh year of operation. After receiving his graduation certificate, Elder said, “It’s the best day of my life.” Only 9.5 percent of graduates of the Drug Court, which has struggled to retain its funding, are arrested again within a year after completing the program, while 50 percent of other Virginia drug offenders land back in the hands of police in the same time frame.

Friday, May 28
Four TV stations?

As first reported by Patrick Hite of The Observer, a new ABC affiliate is coming to Charlottesville, meaning that locally produced newscasts could be running on four Charlottesville TV stations in coming months. Gray Television, which also owns WCAV, the CBS affiliate slated for Channel 19, will launch WVAW, the new ABC affiliate and will run both stations out of studios in the Frank Ix building, according to Bill Varecha, WCAV’s general manager. Varecha says the launch date for the forthcoming ABC station is “unknown at this time,” but that Gray is shooting for August or September.

—Written by Paul Fain from local news sources and staff reports

Tag team
Charlottesville Players’ two locations bring 50 Cent fashions to the Keswick crowd

The new line of $27 t-shirts from G Unit, the clothing company founded by the muscle-bound rapper and shooting survivor known as 50 Cent, features gleaming automatic weapons with the phrase “Peace to all my street soldiers killed in the ongoing conflict.”

 The message is probably a little lost in Ivy or Keswick, but that’s where you’re likely to see the shirts.

 “We can’t get them in here fast enough,” says Sherri Robinson, who on weekends runs the Charlottesville Players store at Fashion Square. While black customers hesitate to buy clothes decorated with guns, white kids, she says, want “anything with 50 Cent’s name on it.”

 For seven years, Charlottesville Players has peddled hip hop fashions on W. Main Street. In March, owner Quinton Harrell did what few local retailers do—opened a store at Fashion Square Mall to augment his neighborhood shop and compete with the big chains.

 Harrell and Robinson, his girlfriend, say the Albemarle branch has attracted a new multiracial clientele to Charlottesville Players. “I’ve seen people come through that I’ve never seen before,” says Harrell. “Blacks, Hispanics, Orientals, Caucasians—it seems like a larger market [in Fashion Square].”

 Harrell’s 1,500-square-foot W. Main store relies mostly on walk-ins from the surrounding neighborhoods; he opened the 850-square-foot branch in Fashion Square to find more shoppers.

 “The parking [on W. Main] is horrific,” Harrell says, echoing the complaint of many a Downtown shop owner. “At Fashion Square, it’s a whole other environment. It’s built for consuming.”

 Harrell’s Fashion Square branch is tucked into a corner of the Mall near the Red Robin restaurant, flanked by bubblegum machines in a space inhabited previously by a Christmas shop. Harrell won’t say how much rent he pays, but before he could move in he had to send financial statements to the Fashion Square’s parent company, Simon Property Group.

 “I had to prove to them I was not just a fly-by-night business,” says Harrell.

 Right now, his biggest advantage may be the chain stores’ tardiness in catching on to urban fashion trends. Belk, for example, carries Sean John, a prep-hop brand. And a salesclerk at the Fashion Square branch of Sears sniffed that the giant retailer “doesn’t carry the big baggy things.”

 Most retailers tend to abandon Downtown Charlottesville when they open up shop at Fashion Square, but Harrell says he’s still true to W. Main.

 “This is home base,” he says, leaning on a glass display case full of hip hop CDs in his W. Main store. He founded this store in 1997, after spending three years selling t-shirts and baseball caps in a Cherry Avenue parking lot.

 “I used to drive to New York City every week to pick up merchandise,” Harrell says. “I’d leave Charlottesville at 2 or 3am, shop all day and be back here the same night.”

 Saying this, Harrell points out his most popular items—blue jeans and colorful collared shirts by Akademiks, a brand popular with rap stars. After hitting prices of $300 or more, the “throwback” sports jerseys from the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s that dominated the market are giving way to a cleaner, more mature—and slightly more affordable—look, he says.

 On a recent Saturday, Harrell himself wore a white linen outfit and a gleaming watch the size of a chicken egg that gives the time for Charlottesville, Las Vegas and Houston. “I consider myself a walking advertisement for the store,” he says.—John Borgmeyer

Rent control
Rose Hill neighborhood and PHA keep apartment building cheap

African-American teachers arriving in Charlottesville in the ’60s taught at newly integrated schools. Housing, however, remained a problem, particularly at a teacher’s salary.

 “At that time, there was residential segregation,” says Kendra Hamilton, president of the Rose Hill Neighborhood Association and an incoming City Councilor. “The African-American teachers who moved to Charlottesville from other areas had no place to live.”

 That’s where Virnita Court came in. The squat brick apartment building at 800 Rose Hill Dr., which was built in 1966, became a haven for black educators. Stu Armstrong, the executive director of the Piedmont Housing Alliance (PHA) says the apartment complex has been “a portal for African-American professionals to come into the community.”

 Armstrong says past and present local black leaders have lived in the building, including Alicia Lugo, Claude Worrell and William Lewis. But black teachers were the primary renters of the 16 two-bedroom apartments.

 “At one time, if you did not teach, you did not live here,” says resident Catherine Harris, herself a teacher’s assistant.

 Though James N. Fleming, Virnita Court’s owner, was African-American, Hamilton says the building’s status as an affordable outlet for black educators was due to word of mouth rather than a deliberate marketing effort by Fleming. However, when Fleming died last December, Virnita Court’s affordable rents seemed likely to expire with him.

 BB&T, the bank named executor of Fleming’s will, set the sale price for the building at $1 million. A developer would have to raise rents from the current monthly level of $440 per unit to recoup the investment, particularly with significant rehabbing of the building looming in the near future.

 “That apartment complex would empty out and students would come in,” Hamilton says, noting that a developer told her that after renovations, monthly rents could be as high as $850.

 In another scenario, as Hamilton says, the entire complex might have been razed and replaced with swanky condos that could have capitalized on Virnita Court’s prime location and hilltop views.

 The news of Virnita Court’s likely demise came to Hamilton and other members of the Rose Hill Neighborhood Association when the group was searching for a project on which to spend the last of three $200,000 grants from a Community Development Block Grant. The neighborhood association and the Piedmont Housing Alliance, a private nonprofit organization, began working on a plan to save Virnita Court. Armstrong expected the deal to be closed by press time.

 Armstrong says his organization plans to “hold the rent stable for at least a year, hopefully forever.”

 Bolstered with the $200,000 from the neighborhood association, PHA acquired the building for $850,000. Armstrong says the complex needs at least $400,000 in refurbishments, the money for which he hopes will come from several other grants.

 “We have about a year window to make that happen,” Armstrong says of scoring the grants.

 PHA and the neighborhood association have sought to allay worries from Virnita Court residents, some of whom expressed concerns about PHA’s involvement in the project. PHA, which builds and renovates affordable housing for renters and lower-income homeowners in the region, has been criticized for gentrifying certain neighborhoods.

 Though she says she has concerns about her building’s future, resident Catherine Harris says a meeting among residents, PHA and the neighborhood association bolstered trust about the project.

 “I’d like to think that it’s good thing. Most of us expected some change,” says Daisy Ross, another resident. “It could’ve been worse.”

 But Hamilton, who placed emphasis on affordable housing during her successful campaign for City Council, says the collaboration to retain Virnita Court’s character and demographic is a perfect example of “helping neighborhoods to find their own solutions.”—Paul Fain

To death row and back
Earl Washington’s DNA case makes waves

Depending on how you look at it, Earl Washington, Jr. has had the best luck or the worst. Either way, he’s got quite a story to tell, one that raises serious questions about capital punishment and DNA testing in Virginia.

 In 1983, Washington, who is black and mentally retarded, was arrested in Fauquier County for the rape and stabbing death of Rebecca Williams, a white Culpeper woman. He spent 17 years in prison, nine and half of them on Virginia’s death row, and he was just nine days away from execution before a team of lawyers caught wind of his plight and eventually proved him innocent. Although former Governor Jim Gilmore granted Washington a full pardon in 2000, he has never received an apology or compensation for his lost years.

 Now Washington, who currently lives in Virginia Beach, is suing law and enforcement officers in Fauquier County and the town of Culpeper. The suit, currently pending in U.S. District Court in Charlottesville, alleges that police coerced a confession from Washington, who functions at the level of a 10-year-old, then ignored evidence that might have exonerated him in order to get a conviction and “solve” the case.

 The suit also revealed that the State crime lab in Richmond botched DNA tests that would have cleared Washington and pointed the way to the real killer. New DNA tests done as a result of the lawsuit confirm Washington’s innocence and identify Kenneth Tinsley—a former Albemarle resident currently serving a life sentence in Sussex County for multiple rape convictions—as the prime suspect in Williams’ rape and murder. Tinsley has yet to be charged.

 “It’s 100 percent certain that Washington is innocent,” says Steve Rosenfield, a Charlottesville defense attorney who is assisting in the lawsuit. “So why would he have confessed to the murder? And what is the role of law enforcement? That’s at the heart of this case.”

 Rosenfield says that the State lab’s incompetence should cast doubts about other DNA tests performed in Richmond. “It raises questions about their reliability,” he says. (Last year, an investigation of a Houston crime lab found that poorly trained technicians misinterpreted data, kept shoddy records and allowed evidence to be lost or contaminated. Death penalty activists would like to see a similar investigation in Richmond.)

 Charlottesville Police Chief Tim Longo, who has sent dozens of local DNA samples to the lab in hopes of tracking down the local serial rapist, says he hasn’t heard of the Washington case. “I’ve never had a reason to question [the State lab’s] competency or skill in anything involved with our department,” Longo says.

 The Commonwealth executes more people than any other state except Texas—91 since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. Death penalty activists are mildly optimistic that Washington’s case will spur reform in Virginia.

 There’s already been some change—the 2004 General Assembly eliminated a Virginia rule that prohibited courts from hearing new evidence more than 21 days after a conviction. The new rule removes the time limit, but it restricts prisoners to one claim of innocence on any conviction.

 Death penalty activists would like a moratorium on executions in Virginia, similar to one imposed in Illinois in 2000 when evidence showed that the state might have executed innocent people.

 “In any other state, there would be a moratorium on executions and people would start looking at the death penalty,” says Marie Deans, a Charlottesville activist who helped assemble the team ofpro bono lawyers who freed Washington.

 “But I worry,” she says, “because we have legislators who believe Virginians really want the death penalty. I don’t think they do.”—John Borgmeyer

Tuesday, May 18

Turn out the lights

Thunderheads rolled through the area around closing time this evening, bringing violent wind and lightning that knocked down power lines. About 9,340 customers of Dominion Virginia Power were without electricity for several hours, according to The Daily Progress. The power outage was practice for Dominion crews, who, according to a release from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), may face bigger problems this fall. NOAA is predicting an “above-normal” hurricane season that should create six to eight Atlantic hurricanes, as many as four of them major.

Wednesday, May 19

MLK honored at CHS

Two days after the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Brown decision, the City officially celebrated the renaming of the Charlottesville Performing Arts Center as the Martin Luther King, Jr. Performing Arts Center with a party tonight at the Center. Among local luminaries speaking at the event were Reverend Alvin Edwards, Mayor Maurice Cox and George Tramontin, a former City schools superintendent who shepherded the schools through early integration in the 1950s. The Martin Luther King Community Choir also performed at the shindig. The next change for the Center is a statue of MLK, which is planned for the lobby.

Thursday, May 20

29N meeting draws a crowd

Around these parts, nothing sparks civic engagement like big-box development. Tonight, around 400 people packed the gym at the Hollymead Elementary School to hear developers and Albemarle planners discuss plans for the massive Hollymead Town Center and North Pointe developments. Attendees of the meeting, which was arranged by County Supervisor Ken Boyd, politely applauded each developer’s speech, prompting Steve Runkle, who has a share in Hollymead, to remark, “This is the first time I’ve ever heard a crowd clap for a group of developers.” But the meeting wasn’t a lovefest, as concerned residents grilled the presenters over the developments’ likely additions to transportation, water supply and environmental woes along 29N.

Friday, May 21

Vote, or else

Chris Nowinski, a Harvard grad who mixes it up on the mats for World Wrestling Entertainment, was in town today to encourage voter registration. The wrestler, who checks in at 6’4", 270 pounds, spoke to students at Monticello High this morning, then flashed across town in a stretched limo to speak to the media and later sign up voters at Fridays After 5. Nowinski, whose finishing move in the ring is reportedly called “The Honor Roll,” came to Charlottesville as part of the WWE’s Smackdown Your Vote campaign and to help launch the UVA Center for Politics’ National Symposium on Youth Civic Engagement.

Saturday, May 22

Foiled break-in and robbery

A young Charlottesville woman awoke early today to an apparent attempted break-in, Charlottesville police told The Daily Progress. The attempted crime, which occurred in the 400 block of Brandon Avenue, follows several break-ins to apartments and homes in recent weeks, many occupied by young women. In other early morning crimes, two men were reportedly held up at gunpoint on the 1200 block of Gordon Avenue today. After the victims ran into a house without giving up any money, the two assailants, who were wearing t-shirts around their faces, apparently threw bottles at the side of the house.

Sunday, May 23

UVA lands championship trophy

The UVA women’s lacrosse team today won the national title by knocking off two-time defending champion Princeton 10-4 on Princeton’s home turf. The win was UVA’s first championship since 1993 and first under coach Julie Myers. It avenged last year’s 8-7 overtime title game loss to Princeton. Amy Appelt of the Cavaliers had four goals while Caitlin Banks tossed in three. Goalkeeper Andrea Pfeiffer, who battled off a flurry of Princeton shots early in the game, earned the tournament’s Most Valuable Player award.

Monday, May 24

Goode gets the nod

WINA today reports that Rep. Virgil Goode has a big fundraising lead over Democratic challenger Al Weed for the November race for the 5th District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Goode had $450,000 in his coffers by the end of March, while Weed had only $25,000 by mid April. Goode was officially nominated for the race in a party convention at UVA on Saturday. Bob Gibson of The Daily Progress reports that during his address Saturday, Goode defended his support for the Bush Administration’s tax cuts. He also touted his focus on the 5th District, saying, “If you want someone who’s going to be ponying up to The New York Times, the L.A. Times and the other liberal national media, then you should be pushing Weed and not Goode.”

—Written by Paul Fain from local news sources and staff reports.

Unarmed services

Local man travels to Iraq to support peaceAt the end of April, Louisa resident Brian Buckley, 32, and four fellow peace activists traveled to Iraq to spread the word that not all Americans support the war there. Buckley was able to deliver this message while visiting the southern Iraqi cities of Karbala, Kufa and Najaf, where American soldiers are surrounding renegade cleric Muqtada al Sadr and his militia of supporters.

 Buckley, a carpenter who lives in the Little Flower Catholic Worker community in Louisa, says many Iraqis were grateful for the peace offering. Others, however, shared the sentiment of one young man on the streets of Kufa, who told them, “thanks, but just get the hell out of here…we’re about to die,” according to Buckley.

 American military commanders weren’t exactly thrilled about Buckley’s mission either.

 “U.S. citizens entering a place like Najaf, which is in suffering from heavy conflict and is very dangerous, is a distracter and adds another unwelcomed dimension,” says Brigadier General Mark P. Hertling, the deputy commander of the U.S. Army’s 1st Armored Division, via e-mail from a camp near Karbala. “While [Buckley and the other protesters] were conducting their peace demonstration, the forces of Muqtada al Sadr conducted a mortar attack on the base where they were demonstrating, and we had to be concerned with protecting these American visitors as well as our normal duties of attempting to secure the Iraqi citizenry from the insurgents.”

 For his part, Buckley says the group never asked for protection, but knowingly took the extreme risk of traveling to the war zone to “be with the people of Najaf and try to allay an attack” by offering what he calls “protective accompaniment.” Buckley also says a goal of the trip was to show support for U.S. troops by wishing them a safe and “immediate” return.

 “I wanted to make real the war,” Buckley says of his motivation. “I don’t want it being waged in my name.”

 The peace delegation was an ad hoc group of activists from around the country that received funding from friends and supporters. They flew to Amman, Jordan, on April 18, then rented a car and drove to Iraq. At the border, they easily passed through a checkpoint at which Buckley says he saw no Americans. Though the U.S. Department of State strongly advises American civilians against traveling to Iraq—a warning reinforced by the recent beheading of entrepreneur Nick Berg—a U.S. passport will suffice for entry into the country.

 Sadr’s militia seized Najaf and neighboring Kufa, which are home to sacred Shiite mosques, just weeks before Buckley and crew arrived in the city. Having already met in Karbala with a representative of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who is perhaps the most influential of Iraqi Shiites, Buckley’s group was approached by advisors to Sadr after they arrived in Najaf.

 Buckley says his group politely refused an offer of armed bodyguards from Sadr’s representative, claiming that the group didn’t want to “take sides” or associate too closely with the radical cleric. The group never actually met Sadr, nor learned his location—information U.S. forces might want.

 “Not knowing where he is was something we preferred,” Buckley says.

 The peace delegation twice visited coalition troops at a base outside of Najaf, which, according to Buckley, was a requisitioned hospital. Though Buckley says he heard gunfire every night in Najaf, when coalition forces fired a warning shot over his group, it was the only shot fired in his direction.

 “It shook us up, certainly,” Buckley says.

 The peace delegation mingled with American soldiers, hearing how the troops missed pizza and mowing the lawn. Buckley also claims he met soldiers who were fed up with the war.

 “The dissent was certainly fluid, and it did come out,” Buckley says.

 Having spoken with combatants on both sides, and to many Iraqi civilians, Buckley’s group left the country after 11 days. Back in the United States, Buckley promises to continue his opposition to the war.

 “I think the fight certainly is here, for me,” Buckley says.

 Asked if he thinks the trip made a difference, Buckley says, “I can’t really measure the fruits of something symbolic.”—Paul Fain

VDOT takes a turn
New rule may speed up the Meadowcreek Parkway

For years, Charlottesville’s progressive transportation activists have been pushing for more local control of State and Federal road money. Now it looks like the Virginia Department of Transportation might give them their way.

 Currently, the State has a lot of control over how, when and where roads get built. Cities can suggest projects, but VDOT has the final word and does all the work.

 VDOT is a conservative agency, however. With the State in the driver’s seat, it’s been hard for Charlottesville to get money for transit improvements and bicycle lanes. Furthermore, VDOT’s engineers see nothing wrong with a one-size-fits-all approach that would address Charlottesville’s traffic problems with superhighways and NoVA-sized interchanges.

 Now the cash-strapped VDOT wants to relinquish more responsibility to the cities. The State would still approve projects, but VDOT would funnel money to local governments, which would design and build the roads. During its regular meeting on Monday, May 17, City Council unanimously voted to tell VDOT that Charlottesville is interested in that idea. Council will likely take a final vote on the issue on June 1.

 Councilors Kevin Lynch and Maurice Cox have favored local autonomy as a way to put more transportation dollars into alternative transportation. But what they also understand is that the change will make it easier to build the controversial road they most despise—the Meadowcreek Parkway.

 “I like the opportunities for transit funding,” said Cox at the Council meeting. “I’m not too thrilled about the Parkway.”

 For example, the Parkway has stalled because only three Councilors support the project, but four Councilors must agree to sell VDOT the right-of-way for the City’s portion of the road through McIntire Park. If the City takes over road-building duties, the right-of-way issue would become moot since the City already owns the McIntire land.

 Further, both Lynch and newly elected Councilor David Brown say they would support the Parkway if it were built with an interchange at its intersection with Route 250 and McIntire Road. Lynch says the City could build the Parkway for less than the $30 million VDOT has allocated for the project. It would use the savings to build the interchange, which would help to ease the massive traffic jams the Parkway is projected to cause along Route 250.

 But Butch Davies, Charlottesville’s liaison to VDOT’s Commonwealth Transportation Board, doesn’t agree that local control means more savings.

 “It doesn’t cost less, it costs more,” he says. Henrico and Arlington counties already have local control, says Davies, and their projects tend to cost more because citizens don’t want their roads and bridges built on the cheap. Whereas VDOT could ignore public outcry if people thought the work was shoddy, local politicians are not so immune to discontent.

 Another danger for the City is that the budget bends both ways. For example, just as the City would retain extra money if it built the Parkway for less than the $30 million VDOT has allotted, the City would also be liable if it spent more than $30 million on the Parkway.

 Davies—who supports both the Parkway and the City’s efforts to revamp its bus system—favors local control, however, because it makes local politicians more accountable to citizens. He says City Council, for example, would no longer be able to put off the Parkway and blame the delays on VDOT. “It makes local elected officials responsible to the community. At some point, you have to complete the projects you have planned,” says Davies.—John Borgmeyer

Rollin’ in it
Compared to County, City workers make bank

Charlottesville pays its workers better than Albemarle, which is good news if you happen to work for the City. It’s not so great, however, if you’re one of those who complain the City’s budget is too fat and property taxes are too high.

 The list below shows the 10 highestpaid employees in Charlottesville and Albemarle. The list does not include year-end bonuses the City pays to many of its employees; the County, in general, does not give such bonuses, according to spokeswoman Lee Catlin.

 The City, with a 2004 budget of $100.1 million, pays about 272 of its 900 full-time employees more than $40,000. In the County, with a 2004 budget of $207.9 million, about 226 of its 750 full-time employees earn more than $40,000 (total employee figures do not include school personnel). The area’s median income is $27,780.—John Borgmeyer

The two towers
NBC and CBS scrap over new antennas

Before it can begin beaming Dan Rather and Dave Letterman into television sets around Charlottesville, Gray Television, Inc., the owner of a new local CBS affiliate, needs to build a television antenna tower up on Carter’s Mountain.

 On May 11, Gray received approval from the Albemarle County Planning Commission for the new tower. But thanks to a study commissioned by the company that owns NBC 29, Gray’s competitor, fears were raised that the new tower could boost radio frequency radiation from antennas on the mountain to potentially dangerous levels.

 However, those fears don’t seem to be thwarting NBC 29 from itself building a new tower on Carter’s Mountain so it can broadcast digital television. And, according to another study conducted for NBC 29 by the same engineering firm that cited radiation concerns about the CBS tower, the total level of radiation, or RFF, from both current and planned antennas in the vicinity will be well below legal levels.

 In the study filed with the Planning Commission, Donald Everist, the president of an engineering firm in D.C., found that “when the RFF levels that will be generated by the proposed Channel 19 [CBS] television station…are added to the RFF levels generated by existing and authorized transmission sources on Carter’s Mountain, an unacceptable risk of harm to human safety may occur.”

 This analysis differs wildly from Everist’s take in NBC 29’s recent filing to the Federal Communication Commission, which states that radiation around the new NBC and CBS towers would be only 20 percent of the legal limit—even at 10 meters above the ground—and that “members of the public and personnel working around the proposed [NBC digital antenna tower] would not be exposed to RFF levels above the commission’s guidelines.”

 NBC 29’s general manager, Harold Wright, did not return calls for this article.

 Tracey Jones, Gray’s regional vice-president of television, says she did not learn of the second, contradictory filing from NBC 29 until two days after the Albemarle Planning Commission meeting.

 “I would be very frightened to do anything like that,” Jones says of submitting two reports with “completely different results” with two different government agencies. Jones says her company also conducted a radiation study in which the consulting engineer confirmed that radiation levels on the mountain would not be dangerous and would be in compliance with the FCC rules.

 After getting the go ahead from the Planning Commission, the new CBS tower application now moves to the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors for a June 2 public hearing. If approved, Gray plans to have the tower up and the signal live by mid August.

 The CBS tower will join about a dozen other towers, satellite dishes and other broadcast facilities—ranging from 60 to 300 feet tall—in the “tower farm” on Carter’s Mountain. The tower farm sits in the Crown Orchard Company, which is owned by Henry Chiles. Chiles did not respond to several phone calls for this article.

 NBC’s current tower is 250 feet tall, with a 50-foot antenna at the top. Built in 1973, when NBC 29 first went on the air, the tower was upgraded in 1993, making WVIR the most powerful TV station in Virginia. The new NBC digital tower, which was approved in December 2002, will be about the same size as its 31-year-old predecessor.

 The proposed CBS tower would sit about 160 feet away from NBC’s digital tower. The CBS tower would be 190 feet tall, and will replace a low-power television transmission tower Gray currently owns on Carter’s Mountain.—Paul Fain

Worst management practices
Of all our water problems, the biggest is the RWSA

Pollution, drought, population growth, government regulations—the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority must wrestle with a litany of problems to solve our water issues. But the biggest problem of all may be the RWSA itself.

 “It’s not anybody’s fault personally,” says John Martin, an interested citizen who has attended nearly every meeting of the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority for the past seven years. “It’s the way the RWSA is structured. The board of directors is controlled by its customers. That’s a problem.”

 The RWSA is led by a five-member board of directors comprising City Manager Gary O’Connell, City Public Works Director Judith Mueller, Albemarle County Executive Robert Tucker, Albemarle Service Authority Director Bill Brent and appointed Chairman Michael Gaffney. An executive director heads the RWSA—on May 13, the board hired Thomas Frederick for that position.

 The RWSA sells water to the City and County, and they in turn sell it to local users. The RWSA’s revenues come entirely from water bills paid by City and County customers.

 Because the RWSA board comprises City and County officials who answer directly to City Council and the Board of Supervisors, they face political pressure to keep the RWSA budget small and keep people’s water rates as low as possible.

 That means the RWSA has been run on the cheap, says Liz Palmer, a member of the League of Women Voters who has closely followed the water drama.

 “The Board won’t allow the RWSA to be financially viable, so the RWSA can’t do very much,” she says. “They keep it down to bare bones.”

 RWSA board chairman, homebuilder Michael Gaffney, admits that in the past rates had been kept low and as a result infrastructure deteriorated.

 During the dry summer of 2002, however, a public campaign to conserve water caused rates to jump (as people used less water, the RWSA had to charge higher rates to keep its revenues steady). The board has kept rates higher even after the drought, and Gaffney says the RWSA has used the extra money to repair dilapidated buildings and parking lots.

 In fact, the RWSA budget has climbed recently, to $15.5 million in 2004 from $12.4 million in 2003.

 New money aside, having the Authority’s board stacked with senior City and County officials prompts a broader question: Who’s watching the watershed?

 Martin says the board “micromanages” the RWSA, keeping the Authority narrowly focused on the region’s four reservoirs—Sugar Hollow, South Fork Rivanna, Ragged Mountain and Beaver Creek. The board does not want the RWSA worrying about the larger network of streams and rivers in the Rivanna Watershed that feeds those reservoirs.

 Former RWSA director Larry Tropea, who resigned last year, came into conflict with the board in part because he tried to expand the RWSA’s scope. During the drought, Tropea spoke of the RWSA’s mission as “protecting the Rivanna Watershed,” while board members said the RWSA should simply provide enough water to meet the City and County’s demands. Because the RWSA board is run by City and County officials, it will not take positions on the environment that may conflict with growth plans set by City Council or the Albemarle Supervisors.

 But Martin and Palmer believe that any long-term water strategy must take a broad view of the relationship between growth, development, river and stream health and the reservoirs. It’s not clear, they say, that anyone in local government is taking that view.

 “The people we elect are totally hands-off, even though there are significant policy issues,” Martin says.—John Borgmeyer

Tuesday, May 11
Free Clinic has it covered

To mark “Covering the Uninsured Week” in Virginia, Del. Mitch Van Yahres today presented a proclamation signed by Gov. Mark Warner to the Charlottesville Free Clinic. Among Virginians ages 18 to 64, 14.2 percent do not have health insurance, according to a study cited by the Free Clinic, which is one of 49 Virginia clinics that offer free or discounted health care.

Wednesday, May 12
Antiabortion tour hits town

Around lunchtime today, drivers on Route 250 near Pantops passed a gauntlet of demonstrators hoisting giant anti-abortion placards, most of which featured gruesome photos of aborted fetuses. The huge pictures seemed to depict fetuses that had been aborted late in pregnancies—a rare procedure. The demonstration, which included about 80 people, many of them children, was one stop on an 18-city tour by a group called Missionaries to the Preborn. Pastor Matt Trewhella of Milwaukee’s Mercy Seat Christian Church founded the traveling group. Trewhella is an extremely militant fundamentalist Christian who calls gays “sodomites” and is vehemently pro-gun. Trewhella befriended Paul Hill, who was recently executed for killing a doctor who performed abortions. Additionally, Trewhella has a son-in-law who, to protest gay marriage, was among a group that tried to forcibly block a door in San Francisco’s City Hall. While holding a sign by the road in Pantops, the affable Trewhella was asked why he brought his group to Charlottesville. “We wanted people to see what pre-born babies look like after they’ve been in the hands of abortionists,” Trewhella said. Also holding a sign on the steamy afternoon was Evan Murch, 10, of Brookneal, which is south of Lynchburg. Wiping sweat from his forehead, Murch said he would be along for the whole tour.

Thursday, May 13
Water czar hired

Thomas Frederick’s appointment as the new director of the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority and the Solid Waste Authority was announced today. The City-County agencies oversee local reservoirs and water treatment plants as well as the Ivy Landfill and recycling operations. Neither agency is in great shape—the Solid Waste Authority faces escalating costs to clean up the Ivy Landfill, which has polluted nearby groundwater. The Water and Sewer Authority has been struggling for years to implement a water supply plan. “We won’t be afraid to change,” said Frederick, who managed the water supply for Asheville, North Carolina, before joining a consulting firm. “But we won’t change just for change’s sake.”

Friday, May 14
Guv hits Mudhouse

Gov. Warner today held an informal chat with reporters in the conference room above Mudhouse. In town to speak at PVCC’s commencement, Warner said he was traveling the State to explain the newly passed budget and to thank people for “hanging in” during lengthy wrangling in the General Assembly. Warner said the plan achieves 80 percent of the tax adjustments he had sought. Though Warner listed many services that will benefit from the $60 billion budget, including public safety, mental health services, jails, higher education and a $1.5 billion boost for K-12 education, he also stressed that the tax plan would not mark a return to the “tax burden” of the mid-’90s. Of the long, cantankerous standoff in Richmond, Warner said, “It felt good at the end, but it was hell getting there.”

Saturday, May 15
Video for Quanmetrice

In a collaboration between Light House Youth Media and the Music Resource Center, renowned music video director Sam Erickson was in town today from New York City to help local students create a video to back a song memorializing Quanmetrice Robinson, the Charlottesville High student who was accidentally shot and killed in February.

Sunday, May 16
Adios, Charlottesville

More than 5,000 UVA students snagged their diplomas today. The graduation ceremony on The Lawn was expected to draw 30,000 attendees.

Monday, May 17
Case closed—case open

Charlottesville Police today announced the arrest of Daniel A. Hudson of Esmont for the April 29 assault of a woman at a residence on Stribling Avenue. Hudson, who has a lengthy rap sheet including sexual assault and battery, was linked to DNA evidence from a cap left at the scene. Police Chief Timothy J. Longo also announced a sexual assault that occurred early today on the 1200 block of Wertland Street. Longo said a description from the morning assault did not appear to match the serial rapist.

Written by Paul Fain from local news sources and staff reports

Small world
Guaranty’s sale leaves two community banks

Earlier this month, Union Bankshares Corporation closed a $54.4 million deal to buy Guaranty Bank, a 23-year-old community bank with seven local branches. Guaranty’s $200 million in assets bolstered Union’s assets to $1.5 billion, making it the second-largest Virginia-based banking company. Though Union Bankshares announced that it was eliminating “certain back-office positions” at Guaranty, the biggest impact of the sale is the loss of one of three independent community banks—leaving only Virginia National Bank and Albemarle First Bank.

Currently, the top four banks in Charlottesville, as determined by deposit volume, are mega banks Wachovia, Bank of America, SunTrust and BB&T. Wachovia, with 300 branches in Virginia, is the biggest bank in the City and the State, and is a $400 billion company. In contrast, Albemarle First Bank’s total assets as of March 31 were $115.7 million.

The local dominance of banking conglomerates is not unique. It is due to a long period of bank mergers dating back to the deregulation days of the Reagan Administration. The drawback of overreliance on big banks, according to community bank supporters, is that Wachovia and others are less likely to go the extra mile for small customers. As an example, Wachovia might pass on a loan for a local entrepreneur looking to open a restaurant on the Downtown Mall, deeming the loan not worth the hassle despite the fact that Wachovia could undercut community banks with a cheaper loan price.

“Big banks, the bigger they get, the less it’s in their interests to invest around town,” says Matthew Hirst, who, in addition to writing reviews for C-VILLE, edits SNL Financial’s Bank & Thrift News, a subscriber-based publication.

 Instead, larger banks often work with big fish, such as retail chains, leaving community banks to focus on consumer and small business loans.

 “Banking the big-box retailer…can offer a challenge to a smaller bank,” says Thomas M. Boyd Jr., president and CEO of Albemarle First. “I think people look to us as a local lender, and come to us for advice.”

 Boyd cites the speed and quality with which customers can negotiate loans as evidence of an advantage community banks have over the biggies in local investment. Rather than dialing 800 numbers and negotiating automated systems to perhaps talk to a bank rep in another state, “you can talk to a person when you call Albemarle First,” Boyd says.

Union Bankshares, citing a larger lending capacity, has promised that Guaranty’s buyout will benefit locals.

 “We look forward to providing the Guaranty customers an expanded menu of products and the exemplary service that our customers have come to expect from us," said G. William Beale, Union’s president, in a press release.

 Despite Guaranty’s sale, Boyd thinks there remains strong demand for community banking in Charlottesville. Albemarle First had a rough 2003, in which it lost $1.9 million, mostly due to the Ivy Industries check-kiting scheme. But the bank is bouncing back, and boosted its assets by 20 percent between the first quarter of this year and first quarter of 2003. Virginia National, the larger of Charlottesville’s two remaining community banks, had a strong 2003, in which its assets grew by more than 25 percent.

 However, even with Albemarle First’s recent performance, Boyd says the bank’s directors would be obligated to review any reasonable buyout offers. But, if possible, they would try to make the case that the bank could stand as an independent.

 “Our bank looks forward to a long future in this market,” Boyd says.—Paul Fain

Wooden soldiers
Enviros decry voluntary logging “rules”

Virginia’s Department of Forestry has a long list of suggestions on how loggers can prevent water pollution. The DOF publishes a hefty 216-page manual “Best Management Practices for Water Quality,” which explains the most effective strategies for preventing soil erosion and water pollution on logging sites, plus a 90-page pocket-sized version of the same information. None of these best management practices (BMPs) is mandatory, however, and a recent survey by the Department of Forestry indicates loggers, including some in Albemarle, don’t always comply.

 That’s why environmentalists say the guidelines should be mandatory.

 In a recent random survey of 30 logging sites in Virginia, the DOF found that 26 sites did not use all the recommended BMPs, and 22 sites had inadequate water protections. Erosion was occurring, or just a hard rain away, on 10 sites. In 2003, the DOF listed 585 statewide violations, including 145 in Region 3. Albemarle, Charlottesville and 26 other cities and counties comprise Region 3. Also in 2003, the DOF found 25 sites in Albemarle with compromised water quality due to improper logging practices. (To view the record of water-quality citations, see www.virginiaforestwatch.org.)

 What do these statistics mean? The debate over Virginia’s forest typically plays out as a shouting match between an environmental group called Virginia Forest Watch and the Virginia Forestry Association (VFA), a group of loggers and paper manufacturers.

 Not surprisingly, then, Forest Watch says the survey indicates Virginia needs mandatory regulations to govern logging on private lands. “The voluntary program is simply not working,” says Gerald Gray, director of Forest Watch. “The DOF needs to mandate compliance with BMPs.”

 “Forest Watch continues to bleat the same old worn out and unproven propaganda,” counters VFA vice-president Paul Howe on the group’s website (www.vaforestry.org). “As long as [loggers] adhere to already existing laws, it is not appropriate to require them to seek approval for government or private groups before implementing forestry plans and operations.”

 The DOF mediates this ongoing argument. The agency’s current board of directors is slightly skewed to favor industry—seven of the 12 board members represent industrial interests. In contrast to the western United States, where environmental activists have made more gains in local government, regulatory agencies in Virginia and the rest of the Southeast echo industry’s claims that rules are an affront to private property rights.

 Virginia’s current rules say that loggers must notify the DOF before beginning a job, or face a fine. Many don’t, however. Virginia Forest Watch says that last year at least 145 loggers didn’t tell the State about their operations.

 Matt Poirot, Water Resources Program Manager, says the DOF usually finds loggers who try to duck the rules anyway. “We’re going to see a logging truck, or somebody’s going to call us,” he says.

 Once the DOF knows about a site, they inspect it for potential water pollution. The DOF first asks the loggers to fix water problems, and then fines them up to $5,000 per day if the loggers don’t comply.

 Many of those fines never get collected, however. Last year, the DOF assessed $155,000 in fines but collected only $29,000, according to a Forest Watch press release that cites DOF statistics. In the past decade, only $184,000 of the $685,000 in fines has been collected.

 Poirot says that if loggers don’t pay, the DOF can get a court judgment against the land on which the violation occurred. The DOF will collect the money when (or if) the land is sold.

 More strict laws would only maketimber sales more cumbersome, and “probably wouldn’t improve anything,” Poirot says.

 Of the 15.5 million acres of forest in Virginia, about 12 million acres are held by private landowners. Paper companies own 1.5 million acres, and another 1.5 million acres are in the National Forest System.—John Borgmeyer

Talking Pointe
County to huddle with neighbors and developers on next big-box project

The Forest Lakes neighborhood to the east of 29N sits just across the road from the Hollymead Town Center currently under construction, and to the south of the proposed North Pointe Community—a 269-acre development set to include 893 housing units and three “big box” retail buildings. Surrounded by inevitable and likely development, some Forest Lakes residents think it’s time to chat with developers and County officials about the “progress” rapidly coming toward their door.

 After receiving an e-mail from Forest Lakes resident John Oliver, Albemarle County Supervisor Ken Boyd arranged a community meeting for 6:30pm on Thursday, May 20, at Hollymead School. The meeting, which will be attended by County staff, officials from the Virginia Department of Transportation and developers, will include presentations on Hollymead, North Pointe and the widening of Airport Road.

 Though Hollymead will likely draw some heat at the meeting, the project has already been approved and bulldozers currently chug around the site. North Pointe, however, is still in play, as primary developer Great Eastern Management and County Supervisors continue to negotiate the project.

 Barbara Fehnse is the president of the Forest Lakes Community Association. Though she says the organization is neutral on North Pointe, Fehnse says her neighbors attending the May 20 meeting are likely to air gripes about the development’s potential impact on traffic, water supplies, schools and the environment.

 Forest Lakes residents won’t be alone in raising concerns at the meeting, as members of Advocates for a Sustainable Albemarle Population (ASAP) and the Piedmont Environmental Council say they’re likely to attend, too.

 “We are generally unhappy with a development of the size and scale of North Pointe,” says Richard Collins, a founding member of ASAP and professor of urban and environmental planning at the UVA School of Architecture.

 Charles Rotgin Jr., president and CEO of Great Eastern, will bring visuals of the latest North Pointe plans to the meeting. Though Rotgin says negotiations concerning the development “should have been done quicker,” he acknowledges that “very positive adjustments” have resulted from the four years of haggling with County staff. In defending the development, Rotgin stresses the $3 million in net revenue the project will generate for Albemarle and the $25 million worth of infrastructure—such as roads, a school and a storm and wastewater management plant—included in the latest batch of proffers, or voluntary perqs, Great Eastern has offered to the County.

 Furthermore, Rotgin says the relatively dense, pedestrian-friendly North Pointe plan is in line with County’s neighborhood model. For example, Rotgin says, a section of North Pointe “bears a lot of similarities to Downtown Charlottesville.”—Paul Fain

Mane attraction
Keswick’s Marilyn Boyle has been the “horse lady” for 50 years

Nine ponies crowd the gate. To the right of the barn, a broken down school bus sits, overgrown with weeds, and behind the bus are a couple of coops full of clucking chickens. Inside the barn Marilyn Boyle, or Mrs. Boyle as her riding students for the past 50 years know her, talks to one of her protégés, 30something Tracey Diehl, visiting from Wyoming.

 “Do you think he’s real young?” Boyle asks Diehl about a horse who’s recently arrived at the barn. “He’s 5,” Diehl responds. “He’s just never been fed, I guess,” says Boyle. “His feet are awful looking and his knees are too close together…and he has a U-neck, but I think a lot of it’s nutrition.”

 When it comes to horses, Boyle knows knees and U-necks. Growing up in Richmond, she started riding at 4 years old. She collected bottles to pay for lessons and has been hooked ever since. Her obsession with horses landed her at Brecon Stables, the barn she and her late husband built in 1974 on 107 acres of prime Keswick property.

 The square barn is built around an outdoor riding ring with stalls on one side, tack and common rooms on another, hay storage opposite and a covered riding area across from the stalls. The aisle by the tack room is piled high with junk from mice-eaten jodhpurs to canned artichoke hearts to a box of toy trucks, and dogs seem to materialize from bales of hay.  

 At one point, she walks over to an especially decrepit dog. “This dog is 22 years old. Dr. Pangloss is his name…because when he was a tiny puppy he was very optimistic, and I think it’s…in Candide that this guy has everything falling down around him…and he says, ‘Oh! This is the best of all possible worlds!’ But,” she laughs, “he turned out a rather grumpy dog.”

 In the mid-’50s, Boyle was a young, married French major at UVA. “I was very lonely,” she remembers. “There weren’t many girls…My husband was eager to be a fraternity, party guy…so I got a job at [The Blue Ridge School],” which kept horses. While teaching French, she began teaching riding as well.

 Boyle left Blue Ridge in 1959 with Ginger, the “one old mare I could not leave,” and who became the grand dame of Boyle’s herd. She moved from from barn to barn until she settled at Brecon and has taught riding ever since. From 1972 until 1995 she offered classes through the Parks and Recreation Department, raising generations of horse-crazy city kids, until liability concerns cancelled her gig. Today, for her 27 horses, she has only about 15 students, relying on her Social Security to pay the bills.

 “I have far too many horses. I don’t get rid of horses unless there’s a real serious reason, like it’s a rotten horse. And when have I ever had a rotten horse?” she asks. “They’re just magic. And it’s wonderful to have people share that magic…[Horses] are just great geniuses, you know.”

 Boyle’s devotion to her horses and to her students does not go unnoticed. Twelve-year-old Jordan Pye, one of Boyle’s current students, remarks that, “She knows her horses a lot better than other people do because she spends all her time around them.”

 It gets to be dinnertime. The little appaloosa Boyle and Diehl were talking about earlier needs to be fed separately, but out in the field, Boyle realizes she has forgotten his halter. “Come on, guy,” she says and he follows her docilely to the barn.

 Done feeding the appaloosa, she returns with a wheelbarrow full of hay for the others. Pausing at the gate, she surveys the night. “There comes the moon,” she says. “It’s a great sky.” She then unlatches the chain and steps into the pasture, carefully distributing the hay among the horses as they circle around her. —Nell Boeschenstein

The gripes of wrath
SUUVA calls State grievance system biased

Elizabeth Coles isn’t rude, she just doesn’t hear well. It took one year and $3,800 to prove it to UVA, though. Now Coles, a 25-year UVA employee and vice-president of UVA’s Staff Union (SUUVA), says employees need a better way to challenge their supervisors.

 Coles most recently worked in UVA’s internal medicine department. Most of her co-workers know that Coles is hard of hearing, and that’s why she talks so loud. Two years ago, however, a secretary and her supervisor filed a complaint that could have put Coles on probation.

 “They said I was disruptive and rude,” says Coles. “A lot of times, when a black person talks loud, it comes off as being aggressive.”

 To get her probation overturned and her record cleared, Coles first complained to UVA’s Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which denied her request. So Coles began the grievance procedure—a process similar to arbitration by which State employees can contest punishments handed out by supervisors, or address other problems in the workplace. Coles first met with the supervisor who filed the complaint against her, and then with the chair of the Internal Medicine Department. Both upheld her probation.

 Finally, after a year, Coles argued her case before the Virginia Department of Employee Resolution (DER) and—with the help of a Richmond attorney to whom she paid $3,800 —the DER hearing officer ruled in Coles’ favor and her record was cleared.

 “You shouldn’t have to spend that much time and money to prove yourself innocent,” says Coles. “But that’s how it works. The good ol’ boy system is still in place.”

 It’s not unusual to hear UVA and Medical Center employees claim that supervisors promote ass-kissers and punish squeaky wheels. Coles, however, was lucky—records indicate that most State workers who file grievances against their supervisors never get relief. Mark Wilson, a SUUVA attorney who has argued three grievance cases, says that in other states, where neutral judges hear the disputes, employees do much better.

 In 2003, two hearing officers at the DER heard 248 cases. Of those, they granted employees full relief only 16 times. That, says SUUVA President Jan Cornell, is evidence that the hearing officers don’t want to rock the boat for State employers.

 “It’s a kangaroo court,” she says. “The hearing officers work for the State. How good can that be?”

 SUUVA provides free legal help to its members, but other State workers don’t have that luxury, says Cornell.

 Last week, Cornell drafted a letter she will send to Governor Mark Warner, asking him to investigate her allegations of bias in the DER. She says she wants the full-time hearing officers replaced with part-time attorneys who Cornell says would be less biased.

 Claudia Farr, director of the DER, says the agency used part-time attorneys until 2000, when the General Assembly approved funds to hire full-time hearing officers.

 “No matter how good a lawyer you are, if you’re only hearing one or two cases a year, you don’t have the experience to decide the cases consistently,” says Farr. She denies bias at the DER, saying it is an independent State agency not subsumed by any other department.—John Borgmeyer

Tuesday, May 4
Chain saws in Jefferson National Forest?

The Charlottesville based Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) today released a report claiming that 313,00 acres of Virginia’s forests could be available for logging and road-building if the Bush Administration reverses a 2001 conservation law, as many enviros are predicting. The forestland at risk, which is approximately 50 times the size of Charlottesville, is in the George Washington and Jefferson national forests. “It’s a short-sighted view of natural resource management that will harm future generations,” says SELC senior attorney David Carr, in a press release, of the Bush Administration’s moves toward opening national forests to logging.

Wednesday, May 5
Everybody loves fire trucks

Hordes of kids descended on the parking lot of the Albemarle County Office Building today to hang with County employees and their work gizmos. The event, held in honor of National County Government Week, included dozens of elaborate displays from government agencies. Big draws for kids were a fire truck, with its long ladder extended, and the more sinister police crime scene unit truck and paddy wagon from the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail. One mother was overheard saying to her little boy, who was playing in the jail van, “Why are you in jail?” Another boy was clearly enjoying his seat atop a police motorcycle, and all around the event kids were digging into the free bags of popcorn.

Thursday, May 6
School superintendent hired

The Charlottesville School Board today announced the hiring of a new superintendent, Dr. Scottie J. Griffin, who will replace the retiring Ron Hutchinson. Dr. Griffin, who is an area superintendent for the New Orleans public schools, will be the first African-American superintendent for Charlottesville’s schools. In an introduction ceremony today at Walker Upper Elementary, Griffin said “academic achievement will be first and foremost” among her priorities. One challenge Griffin will face is controversy over the Standards of Learning (SOL) tests, a problem raised today by Sheila Bowles, a former Charlottesville public school teacher. Bowles, who joined an impressive panel assembled by the Stillwater Institute for Social Justice to mark the 50th anniversary of the Brown v. Board desegregation decision, said the focus on standards testing contributed to the “burnout” that led her to quit after four years of teaching in Charlottesville.

Friday, May 7
The next Grisham

WVPT, Central Virginia’s Public Television, today announced the 15 winners of the 2004 Reading Rainbow contest. The winning novelists and illustrators, all students in grades K-3, included six kids from Albemarle. Billy Livermon, a kindergartner at Virginia L. Murray Elementary in Albemarle, took first place with his entry, “The Lego Robot and Baby Mystery.” The lone Charlottesville winner was Lane Easterling, a first grader at Burnley-Moran, who snagged second place for “Life on Mars.”

Saturday, May 8
Community leaders lauded

The Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, a 96-year-old organization founded by black women, today presented its 2004 SPIRIT Awards at a brunch at the Doubletree Hotel. The winners, who were honored for their “outstanding contributions to our community,” were Jonathan Spivey, the choral music director at Charlottesville High School, developer Chuck Lewis, Mozell Booker, the former principal of Walker Upper Elementary School, Holly Edwards, a registered nurse and member of the City School Health Advisory Board, and Alvin and Barbara Edwards, the “first family of Mt. Zion First African Baptist Church.”

Sunday, May 9
UVA baseball to make a run?

The UVA baseball team today dropped the tiebreaker of a three-game series with Florida State University by a score of 4-1. On a hot day at the UVA Baseball stadium, the Cavs’ bats were cold. The pitchers’ duel was decided, in part, by overly aggressive base running by UVA that led to runners being thrown out at second and third bases. UVA avoided the sweep by drubbing FSU 15-2 on Saturday night. The Cavs still hold a slim lead in the ACC coming into the last stretch of their season.

Monday, May 10
Al Weed fires up campaign

As one local campaign concluded last week, the race for the 5th District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives begins in earnest this week. Democrats on Saturday nominated Al Weed of Nelson County to take on four-term Republican incumbent Virgil Goode in the November 2 election. During his acceptance speech, Weed, a former runaway, a Yale and Princeton degree holder, farmer and Vietnam vet who served in the Army special forces, said “the Democratic Party does not believe in the sort of fiscal irresponsibility that sticks coming generations with trillions in debt to reward its better-off supporters.”

written by Paul Fain from local news sources and staff reports

Blue skies
Democrats own City Council and they have Republican Rob Schilling to thank for it

“We cleaned their clocks!” exclaimed Mary MacNeil on Tuesday, May 4, as reports of a Democratic landslide victory arrived via cell phone to the party’s headquarters on the Downtown Mall.

   With the City’s electronic voting machines providing results just minutes after the polls closed at 7pm, the Democratic celebration was in full swing by the time the three winners—Kendra Hamilton, David Brown and Kevin Lynch—arrived.

   “When the first precinct came in, Walker [School], I could tell instantly we had it in the bag,” said Dem chair Lloyd Snook.

   In 2002, Democrat Alexandria Searls lost the Walker precinct to Republican Rob Schilling by about 50 votes. This year, the Democrats won Walker by 179 votes and fared even better in the City’s seven other precincts.

   Schilling’s victory in 2002 loomed large over this year’s contest, and ironically his win seemed to help Democrats more than Republicans. For the past three months, the Democrats organized, raised money and rallied voters with a newfound vigor, clearly fearing that Republicans Kenneth Jackson and Ann Reinicke’s “throw the bums out” message would resonate.

   “I was seeing a nightmare,” said sitting Democratic Councilor Blake Caravati, admitting to worries that both GOP candidates would win and dominate Council for the first time in decades. Democrats usually have a lock on City elections, but during the campaign Republicans seemed to gain traction by painting Dems as elite cronies who spend too much time and money doing much too little.

   “When you listen to the drumbeat of all the things we’re doing wrong, you start to wonder,” said Hamilton. “Then the votes come in.”

The prelude

“The party as a whole was embarrassed by what we did not do in 2002,” Snook says.

   That year, Searls and Caravati, the two Democratic candidates, seemed like they belonged to different parties. Searls was a Green-ish progressive, in contrast to the centrist incumbent Caravati. The party’s campaign slogan, “Keep a Good Thing Going,” excluded Searls, a first-time candidate. The pair often disagreed, and seemed to dislike each other. Moreover, Snook and other party leaders underestimated Schilling’s candidacy.

   This time around, the Democrats’ desire for a unified ticket compelled them to oust two-term Councilor Meredith Richards at the party’s convention in February [see sidebar]. Outgoing Mayor Maurice Cox recruited neighborhood activist Kendra Hamilton to run in his stead, and she joined incumbent Kevin Lynch and former party chair David Brown on the ticket.

   Snook tapped an all-star lineup to run a hard-charging campaign—former Mayor David Toscano led a fundraising effort that netted more than $30,000; former Councilor John Conover was an aggressive, unabashedly partisan campaign manager; Michael Signer, who interned with Al Gore and worked with Democratic Governor Mark Warner, tailored the party’s message.

   The Republicans, meanwhile, hoped to capitalize on Schilling’s surprising success. Party chair Bob Hodous recruited two candidates: Kenneth Jackson, a charismatic African-American who—as a gay, working-class, native Charlottesvillian—defies Republican stereotypes. His running mate, Ann Reinicke, a recent transplant to the Orangedale neighborhood from Albemarle, was (like Schilling in 2002) largely unknown in the political arena.

   Reinicke and Jackson had a tough challenge: to convince voters that Democrats have mismanaged the City when a recent, well-publicized book ranked Charlottesville as the best place to live in America. They turned to the GOP’s chestnut complaint—government spending.

A rough and tumble race

In April Council passed a $100.4 million budget for FY 2004, an increase of more than 7 percent over the current budget. Although Council did not raise property taxes, rising assessments mean many residents are paying more into City coffers, and Republican campaign literature denounced Charlottesville’s “crushing tax burden.” Reinicke and Jackson specifically attacked consultant spending—more than $1.2 million in 2003—and a multimillion-dollar project to integrate the City’s computer database systems.

   While Republicans complained that Council spends too much, the Democrats complained that Republicans in Washington and Richmond spend too little. Charlottesville needs an active government to pay for education and police, to protect the environment and promote well-designed development, the Dems said, especially now that Federal and State conservatives have cut local funding for schools, jails and social services. “You’ve got to pay for civilization,” Lynch said on several occasions.

   The philosophical differences were clear—Democrats believe in a strong, active City government to balance business interests and the political powers in Albemarle and Richmond. Republicans say City government should cut both services and taxes, and follow Albemarle’s lead.

   Right when the Republican message seemed to be gaining a hold, Reinicke and Jackson proved to be their own worst enemies.

   Jackson admitted to a not-so-distant criminal past that included four assaults, three involving knives. Reinicke said she thought creationism should be taught in public schools as an “alternative theory” to evolution. (Democrats considered the admission so damning that at Tuesday’s victory party Snook thanked Clive Bradbeer, the citizen who at a candidates’ forum asked Reinicke about her views on creationism.)

   As the campaign heated up, Jackson’s credibility seemed to slip as his attacks on Council grew increasingly hostile. At one forum, he called the current Councilors “bold-faced liars” without backing up the charge. While his stance in favor of the Meadowcreek Parkway earned him some support (presumably among business leaders who are hot for the road), Jackson inexplicably argued that Council was wrong for playing political hardball with Albemarle to protect the City’s interests. Also, he didn’t seem to know the difference between an intersection and an interchange—an important element in the Parkway debate.

   Nevertheless, The Daily Progress performed its role as house organ for the Chamber of Commerce and dutifully endorsed Jackson, along with Reinicke and Hamilton, two days before the election. Many Dems were flabbergasted. And very nervous.

Aftermath

It was a resounding victory for Democrats. Hamilton led all candidates with 3,465 votes, followed by Brown with 3,366 and Lynch with 3,183. Reinicke netted 1,782 votes while Jackson pulled down 1,557. The write-in category drew 778 votes—driven by an unofficial campaign for Richards. Independent Vance High (the only candidate to articulate his platform in haiku) won 717 votes.

   Overall, 27 percent of the City’s 19,820 registered voters turned out—up from 22 percent in 2002, but down from 28 percent in 2000. City Registrar Sheri Iachetta said she expected a higher turnout, but the Dems didn’t complain—before the election they created a new list of more than 5,000 local party members, and clearly won the race by getting their people to the polls.

   “There’s a tendency for Democrats in Charlottesville to take these elections for granted,” says communications director Signer. “We told the base that this was a very important election that they couldn’t afford to roll the dice on.”

   A post-election news story reported “rumors of intimidation tactics,” but Iachetta said she received no specific reports of intimidation.

   “It was rumored that people were going to see how long people were taking in the booth,” Iachetta says. People spending a long time at the voting machine would presumably be casting a write-in vote. Iachetta said “a couple” people told her they were going to feel “uncomfortable” voting without curtains around the machines, so the electoral board installed them just before the election.

   While the Dems danced, Republicans struck an optimistic note.

   “I think it’s been an excellent few weeks,” Jackson said at the Republican’s post-poll party at Wolfie’s Bar & Grill on Rio Road. “We put the issues first. We gave the other party a scare and a run for the money.”

   During his time at the microphone, Republican mastermind Hodous told the crowd of about 50 supporters—including County bigwigs like Albemarle Delegate Rob Bell and County Supervisor Ken Boyd—that he was disappointed by the fourth and fifth finish of his two candidates for the three open spots on Council.

   “Losing was not fun, and I’m not going to pretend that it was enjoyable seeing the results this afternoon,” Hodous said.

   News of the Democrats’ election sweep arrived soon after the polling places closed at 7pm, before attendees had begun helping themselves to the buffet of barbecue, baked beans and homestyle mac and cheese.

   Linda McRaven, a County resident and campaign volunteer who recently lost her bid for a seat on the Albemarle County School Board, wore an American flag-patterned sweater to the party, one of several flag-emblazoned apparel items seen at the gathering. Though she thought the candidates did an excellent job, she was frustrated by the outcome.

   “I think the City Council is full of more yuppies,” McRaven said. “They all want to use Charlottesville as some sort of experiment.”

   The candidates themselves expressed no such bitterness after the election, each graciously congratulating the victorious Democrats during their concession speeches. Hodous commended the level of civility by both parties.

   “Most of what was said during the campaign was positive and issue-focused,” Hodous said.

   Not surprisingly given their party chair’s lead, neither candidate cited the creationism or anger-management flaps when asked if they had regrets about their campaigns.

   Jackson’s concession speech, though apparently delivered off the cuff, garnered several enthusiastic rounds of applause. During the speech, Jackson cited the strong morals of his Republican peers.

   “That’s the reason I’m a member of this party,” Jackson said.

   But Jackson has repeatedly stressed that party affiliation is not important to him. A former Democrat who says he came over to the Republican camp after meeting Schilling during his campaign two years ago, Jackson answered a reporter’s question of whether he’d remain active in Republican politics by saying he’d continue to work in “local politics.”

   Questions about Reinicke’s political future also came up at Wolfie’s. In fact, as soon as she stepped away from the stage, Reinicke was asked if she would run for Council in 2006.

   “We’ll see what happens,” Reinicke said of her political plans. “You’ll probably see me around.”

Looking ahead

Despite the Republicans’ decisive loss, Hodous says the election wasn’t a failure, in large measure because of the issues Jackson and Reinicke managed to lob into the limelight.

   For example, when Schilling proposed converting Council from an at-large body to a ward system, Democrats saw it as a Republican attempt to secure a ward loyal to the GOP, and they essentially ignored his request to examine the issue. During the campaign, however, the ward issue earned plenty of airtime and all three Democrats signaled they would be open to a study.

   Republican charges of fiscal irresponsibility could stick, too.

   Mayor Maurice Cox drove much of the consultant spending that Reinicke attacked. The outgoing mayor, an architect and UVA architecture professor, encouraged contracts with outside architects. Lynch is poised to be the next Mayor, and during this campaign he continued his shift toward the political center.

   As a rookie Councilor four years ago, Lynch espoused the liberal “Dems for Change” platform, but over the course of his first term he has supported strategic road building and has sided with Schilling on some fiscal issues. Both Lynch and Schilling, for example, raised hackles in the art community by questioning the City spending on the McGuffey Art Center.

   Schilling’s party may have lost the election, but he’s poised to wield greater influence in the next Council—if he chooses to do so. So far, Schilling’s strategy has been to spout Reagan-esque critiques of the governing process for TV cameras, but he’s come up short with behind-the-scenes legwork. Now that he’s no longer the rookie, he may be able to turn his rhetoric into policy if he decides to roll up his sleeves.

   And what of the oft-debated Meadowcreek Parkway? Lynch, Brown and Hamilton all said during the campaign they will support the Parkway as long as it comes with quality replacement parkland, an interchange where the parkway would intersect the 250 Bypass, and County support for connector roads that would prevent Charlottesville from becoming a cut-through for suburban drivers.

   The Dems say they’re trying to protect the City’s interests, but Parkway supporters suspect the promises are more like attempts to stall and ultimately block the controversial road. If Schilling and his Republican County buddies really want to see the Parkway unveiled, perhaps they could work to meet the Dems’ conditions and hold them to their word.

   “There is one group in Charlottesville that will hold them up to their promises,” Hodous said on Tuesday, “and that’s the Republican Party.”

Round three on 29N
County Supervisors discuss North Pointe development

In the last two years, Albemarle planners have wrangled over three major mixed-use developments on Route 29N. Of the three projects, all of which combine residential and commercial elements, Albemarle Place and the Hollymead Town Center have already been green-lighted. But the big daddy of the trifecta, the 269-acre “North Pointe Community” slated for the east side of 29N between Proffit Road and the North Fork of the Rivanna River, remains stuck in limbo at the Albemarle County Office Building.

   Last week, the County Board of Supervisors conducted a work session to begin bridging the gulf between the plan from North Pointe’s developers and the critique from the County Planning Commission, which nixed the project last November. The two-hour work session on Wednesday, May 5, in which almost every comment opened a can of worms, was evidence that the Board can expect trouble in settling the North Pointe controversy.

   One major disagreement is over the quality of “proffers” made by North Pointe’s developer, Great Eastern Management Co., the Charlottesville-based group that built the Pantops and Seminole Square Shopping Centers, among many other local developments. The proffers are, as Charles Rotgin Jr. of Great Eastern says, the “cream” volunteered by developers to sweeten the deal for County government, and include offers of green spaces, road funding, affordable housing and other perqs.

   However, the developers’ proffers have not satisfied County planners. And, as Rotgin noted with irritation, the back and forth over proffers has consumed three of the four years that Great Eastern has spent haggling with County staff over North Pointe.

   A proposed next step for the Board of Supervisors is to compare the proffers made for North Pointe with those made by Albemarle Place and Hollymead’s developers. But even this is difficult, because North Pointe dwarfs both of those projects. The most recent publicly available iteration of North Pointe, submitted last October, included 893 housing units, three big box retail buildings and about 650,000 square feet of commercial and office space. That means North Pointe would include three times the housing units and a somewhat larger chunk of retail space than Hollymead, all on a site that is four times bigger than Hollymead.

   “It’s apples and oranges,” says Mark Graham, Albemarle director of community development, of stacking North Pointe against other developments.

   But according to Rotgin, the comparison might help the public see “that there’s $25 million worth of infrastructure going in there.” As Rotgin says, North Pointe’s developers are forking up big cash to help the project fit into Albemarle’s pedestrian friendly, mixed-use neighborhood model.

   Besides, “both apples and oranges taste good,” Rotgin says.—Paul Fain

WCAV, coming to your TV
CBS affiliate and Channel 9 keep rolling toward fall on-air dates

Developments continue in Charlottesville’s shifting TV landscape, a week after news of a CBS television affiliate moving into the old Ix building and of veteran news director Dave Cupp’s plan to leave WVIR-TV, Channel 29 this fall [“Station gestations,” The Week, May 4].

   Gray Television, Inc., which owns the new CBS affiliate slated for Channel 19, has announced call letters for the station—WCAV— and the slogan, “Where Community Counts.” The call letters were obtained from a TV station on Saint Croix, in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Gray has also launched a website for WCAV-TV, www.wcav.com.

   Tracey Jones, Gray’s regional vice-president of television, says the new website is primarily for recruiting purposes. In addition to hiring reporters, producers and engineers, Gray is working on scoring a slot for WCAV on Adelphia, the primary local cable company. Jones says cable negotiations “are not buttoned up,” but “I certainly anticipate cable carriage.”

   WCAV’s recently hired general manager, Bill Varecha, has previously run a new TV station in a small market. Jones says Varecha helped Gray launch an NBC affiliate in Grand Junction, Colorado, which is about the same size as the Charlottesville market, in 1996. At the time, CBS and ABC stations were already entrenched in Grand Junction, but Jones says Varecha shepherded the NBC affiliate to the top rating in Grand Junction.

    Two former Channel 29 reporters think their old newsroom is up to the challenge posed by CBS and the other proposed local television channel—Albemarle entrepreneurs Bob Sigman and Denny King’s planned community station, Channel 9—but that news director Cupp will be missed.

   From her new job as an anchor for a CBS affiliate in Charleston, West Virginia, former WVIR anchor and reporter Brooke Baldwin says, via e-mail, “Dave Cupp is quintessential Charlottesville. Period. His departure will leave a huge hole in NBC 29.”

   “I think their coverage can only get better,” Baldwin says of how WVIR will perform with two challengers. She says because Channel 29 reporters have the “home field advantage,” it will sting when they are bested on stories. “So, they’ll just have to up the ante,” Baldwin says.

   Though Luke Duecy, a former NBC 29 anchor who has just signed on with WRIC, Channel 8 in Richmond, predicts competition will be a good thing for his old station as well as for TV viewers, he says, also by e-mail, “Let’s just hope for all journalists’ sake the competition between them doesn’t produce exaggerated, sensationalistic stories that don’t really impact anybody.”

   While WCAV-TV moves toward a mid-August on-air date, Channel 9’s King says his phone is ringing off the hook. King says he and Sigman have received around 300 calls, e-mails, faxes and letters “from every walk of life” about the new station.

   Many people contacting Channel 9’s creators have submitted ideas for shows, ranging, King says, from “equestrian life” to law enforcement and senior-oriented programming. King also says a “very famous author living in this area” has expressed interest in a show about books.

   King now calls the deal for a studio under the Water Street parking garage “inevitable.”

   “We’re getting real close,” King says of making Channel 9 a reality.—Paul Fain

Raising the glass
The building that almost wasn’t

It’s not often you hear Downtown developers sing the praises of City Hall. When the Board of Architectural Review presented its 2004 “Preservation Awards” during City Council’s meeting on Monday, May 3, Oliver Kuttner and Lisa Murphy took home a “Best Adaptive Use and Revitalization” certificate for reconfiguring the former Cavalier Beverage building into what’s now known as the Glass Building on Second Street.

   “This project never would have happened if we had been in a design-control district, under the BAR’s purview,” Kuttner said at the meeting. What sounded like the preamble to one of Kuttner’s rants against red tape turned into a shout-out to planning director Ron Higgins.

   As C-VILLE reported, the Glass Building spurred a surge of modern architecture in South Downtown [“Split personality,” March 2]. But this keystone site nearly became a parking garage before Kuttner and Murphy put a contract on the building in early 2000.

   Kuttner says Higgins helped with his plan to develop the site with minimum investment.

   The City allowed Kuttner to divide the site into two parcels even as the final sale was still pending. Then, Higgins greased Kuttner’s plans for a 70-car parking lot through the Planning Department. The City’s speed allowed Kuttner to finish the parking lot before actually purchasing the building, thereby increasing the building’s assessed value by about $100,000, Kuttner says. With the increased value, Kuttner was able to secure a bigger loan—about $1 million, he says—from BB&T Bank.

   In March 2000, Kuttner and Murphy purchased the Cavalier Beverage site for $851,000, according to the City Assessor. In 2003, it was assessed at $3,394,900.

   The City allowed Kuttner to develop the building piecemeal as new tenants signed on. The City could have required the developer to submit a new site plan for each piece, and had the site been under the BAR’s purview each new addition would have required the Board’s approval.

   “All the T’s were crossed and all the I’s were dotted on his site plan,” says Higgins. “So I didn’t make him go through the process for each phase. I don’t think he had the cash flow in that project that allowed him to take large delays.”

   Kuttner often clashed with the BAR in the late ’90s as he built The Terraces atop the Downtown Mall’s Foot Locker. In that case, Kuttner started some work on utility lines and internal supports before getting BAR approval, and when the Board ordered him to stop work he echoed a common complaint among developers that the BAR has a chip on its shoulder.

   “The current BAR is a good one, but there was a time the BAR would deny me things just to show me they were in charge,” says Kuttner.

   The City’s revised zoning ordinances have complicated the process of approving site plans as City staff gets more familiar with the new rules, says Higgins.

   “If somebody understands our standards, we can help anyone the way we helped Oliver,” says Higgins.

   Does that signal a new harmony between developers and bureaucrats? “Well, we don’t roll over and play dead, either,” Higgins says. “It goes both ways.”—John Borgmeyer

Tuesday, April 27
General Assembly raises taxes

The Virginia House and Senate today agreed to a package of tax increases, more than six weeks after the March 13 scheduled conclusion of the General Assembly. Albemarle Del. Rob Bell, a Republican, voted against the plan, which will boost Virginia’s two-year, $60 billion budget by about $1.6 billion through increases in sales, cigarette and other taxes, and by capping car-tax reimbursements. After passing the tax increase, lawmakers began debating how to divvy up the pot, much of which was put aside for cities and counties to spend on schools.

Wednesday, April 28
Thug life, campus style

Aaron Joshua Robinson, a UVA engineering student, allegedly shot Jamaine Winborne, also a UVA student, in the leg early this morning. Winborne, a football player who had just signed a contract with the New York Giants, was apparently not seriously wounded in the incident. Robinson fled the scene of the attack and surrendered later in
the week. Just 10 days earlier, campus police nabbed a handgun-toting Robinson when they pulled him over for speeding. According to Reed Williams of The Daily Progress, Robinson had a permit, so UVA police let him keep the gun. Robinson’s bond was set at $12,500, and his next court date is May 27.

Thursday, April 29
Cruising to fight breast cancer

A fleet of 18 silver BMWs could be spotted cruising through the east side of Charlottesville today. Though the shiny armada may have looked like Euro cannonballers or a drug lord’s posse, it was actually a fundraising stunt for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. For eight years, BMW has launched two convoys of beamers in a criss-crossing tour of the country. People are invited to test drive the cars at each stop. BMW then donates $1 to the Komen Foundation for every mile driven. The fundraiser has netted $7 million over the past seven years.

Friday, April 30
Schoolin’ the principals

A joint program of the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration and the Curry School of Education today announced that it is the recipient of a two-year State grant to teach 10 school principals how to turn around failing Virginia public schools. The program, part of Gov. Mark R. Warner’s “Education for a Lifetime Initiative,” will select 10 principals for training at Darden. Once schooled in the art of fixing public schools that need help, the principals will be assigned to assist 10 such schools during the 2004-05 school year. Tierney Fairchild, executive director of the Darden/ Curry Partnership, said the program seeks to combine business and education strategies to help “reverse the decline in low-performing schools.”

Saturday, May 1
Early morning shooting

A 26-year-old man was shot twice in the chest early this morning. The shooting occurred near the man’s home, on Swanson Drive, one block west of the Hydraulic Road-U.S. 29 intersection. Hours later, police arrested the alleged shooter, Dominick J. Turner. According to The Daily Progress, Turner, whose nickname is “Freaky,” has been charged with malicious wounding and the use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. The victim was in critical condition.

Sunday, May 2
Break-in alert
Local media today reported that Charlottesville Police Chief Timothy J. Longo has asked City residents to lock doors and windows and, in the case of a possible break-in, to not confront an intruder. The warning comes in the wake of a recent incident in which a young woman fought off an attacker described as a young black male. After the attack, which occurred near Stribling Avenue in the City, the man fled, leaving a plaid Adidas cap at the scene.

Lights out
After tonight’s thunderstorm, several hundred area residents may be without power. According to Dominion Virginia Power, the affected homes are in the vicinity of Charlottesville High School.

Monday, May 3
A new super?

The Charlottesville City School Board hopes to hire a new superintendent of schools before the end of the day. The Board and a consulting firm winnowed the field of 140 applicants from 38 different states down to two finalists, both of whom were interviewed on Friday. Four other candidates were eliminated from consideration last week. Contributing to the final decision and participating in interviews were several parents and representatives from City Council, the NAACP, the Charlottesville Education Association, a school principal and others.

—Written by Paul Fain from local news sources and staff reports

The big wheezy
Could development contribute to pollen spikes?

The golden-hued dusting of Charlottesville, the annual spring gift from the region’s trees, is a major irritation for anyone with even a minor allergic sensitivity to pollen. A pollen count of 90 is considered high. On April 22, the tree pollen count in Charlottesville peaked at 2,293.

   According to Thomas Ogren, a California-based expert, development and landscaping can contribute to pollen spikes. Ogren claims that because cities and developers often plant an overabundance of certain types of trees, such as pollen-producing oaks, a new subdivision can jack-up pollen counts. Additionally, Ogren says landscapers depend on male trees, which don’t produce seeds or fruit, but do have a penchant for spreading pollen.

   But several local experts, though not discounting Ogren’s theories, think it’s unlikely that landscaping could substantially boost pollen production in this area.

   “It’s definitely true that what gets planted can affect pollen counts,” says T’ai Roulston, a scientist and the associate director of UVA’s Blandy experimental farm.

   However, Roulston says, “It depends on what people are planting and what they’re cutting down.” He says that in the Charlottesville area, landscapers would be hard-pressed to plant trees that were bigger pollen producers than any natural growth they might be replacing. In fact, the un-greening of Charlottesville could actually reduce pollen.

   “There is already a ton of pollen in the air from what’s natural,” Roulston says.

   Dr. Gretchen Beck of Blue Ridge Allergy & Asthma Inc. is Charlottesville’s pollen guru. Every few days, Beck collects a “rotorrod” from a tower atop the Sperry Marine Center on U.S. 29. She then takes the contraption back to her office and, using a microscope, counts the pollen it collects. Pollen counts are based on the number of pollen grains collected per cubic meter during a period of approximately 24 hours. Beck’s estimate is Charlottesville’s official pollen count.

   “It was wall-to-wall tree pollens,” Beck says of her April 22 count. The main offenders that day were pine, maple and oak. By April 28, the tree pollen count had dropped to a still sky-high 1,463.

   With this much pollen in the air, “if you are even mildly sensitive, you’re going to notice it,” Beck says.

   Dave Rosene is an arborist with the Van Yahres Tree Company, which cares for but does not plant trees. He says he doubts local developments are contributing to pollen spikes.

   “Even if you looked at one of our bigger developments…what they put in is either native or closely related to native,” Rosene says, citing the common practice of replacing Virginia pines with non-native white pines. In this case, both trees pump out a large amount of pollen.

   Rosene says as long as there are trees in the Charlottesville area, there are likely to be pollen problems.

   “If you want the benefits of trees, you’ve gotta put up with other things, and that’s pollen in the spring,” Rosene says.

   Besides, as Beck says, not all of Charlottesville’s pollen is homegrown. From her collection perch above the tree line, Beck has collected sagebrush pollen, which is native to the parched plains of Oklahoma and other western states.

   “Pollens definitely can travel hundreds, even thousands of miles,” Beck says.—Paul Fain

Station gestations
Change is in the airwaves with local TV scene

Don’t touch that dial! Channel 29, WVIR-TV, will have a fight on its hands this fall. And they’ll have to do it without one of their heavyweights. Unfortunately for WVIR, the station will take on two contenders without Dave Cupp, its longtime leader in the newsroom.

   Cupp, who has been WVIR’s news director for more than 25 years, will leave the station “at some point in the fall,” he says.

   During his tenure at NBC 29, Cupp has seen the news team increase from five people and one camera to more than 40 employees and three news trucks.

   In a statement, Cupp says he’s leaving WVIR to join his wife, who is teaching at Harvard University.

   “My primary focus in the time remaining to me at NBC 29 will be to help find and train the next news director and to help put new equipment and strong staffing in place to prepare Dateline 29 News for the exciting challenges of the future,” Cupp says.

   One of those challenges will be from Channel 19, a CBS affiliate owned by Gray Television, Inc., which is slated to begin broadcasting in mid-August. Gray has recently filed permits for studio facilities in the Frank Ix building on Elliott Avenue and for a new antenna tower on Carter’s Mountain.

   According to the Federal Communications Commission, Gray paid the Charlottesville Broadcasting Company $1 million for the Channel 19 license. The company promises “a full complement of daily local news broadcasts” for the new CBS affiliate. On May 11, the Charlottesville Planning Commission will hold a public hearing on Gray’s proposal for satellite dishes at the future studio in the Ix building. Also that day, County planners will hold a public hearing on the company’s plan to replace an antenna tower on Carter’s Mountain with a slightly shorter, 190-foot tower and antenna.

   The other new player on the local TV scene, Bob Sigman and Denny King’s planned Channel 9, an independent community station, also plans a Downtown broadcast studio, which they say is in the works for the Market Street parking center on the Mall. Once fully operational, King estimates the two proposed television stations would create 60 to 75 new jobs.

   The big question is whether the small Charlottesville media market of approximately 70,000 television households, which Nielsen Media Research ranks 186th in the nation, can support three TV stations.

   If like-sized television markets are any indication, the two new stations may indeed find enough viewers to stay afloat. Meridian, Mississippi, which is just above Charlottesville in the rankings, has three local network affiliates, while Great Falls, Montana, which is slightly smaller than this market, has four.—Paul Fain

The art of cool
2Fly Designs gives local artists a big-time look

As any up-and-coming musician knows, you need more than just a tight band and a catchy set list to make your mark.

   Unless you want club owners or record executives to flick your demo toward the circular file, your band needs a product—a good-looking press pack, a website with lots of flashy graphics or perhaps a CD-ROM that includes your latest video.

   “I know what I like to look at, but I don’t know how to make it,” says Jamal Millner, a local jazz guru whose rapid-fire guitar lines have added a touch of shred to the likes of John D’earth and Corey Harris.

   Millner’s got the flashy licks, but when he needed a flashy website and video for two upcoming albums, he turned to Scott Wilson’s company, 2Fly Designs.

   Since Wilson founded the company in 2000, he’s been the designer of choice for many of Charlottesville’s local heroes, and for some bigger national acts as well. The company specializes in Web design, but the 32-year-old Wilson also works on videos, TV commercials, photography and graphic design for his clients, which range from the Charlottesville Area Association of Realtors to the shock-rappers Insane Clown Posse.

   “If it’s interesting, or if it’s for a good cause, I’ll do it,” says Wilson.

   His specialties are Flash, a Web format that allows viewers to see audio and video without a media player, and vectorized images, a technique for tweaking photographs.

   “Even though he’s using computers, his artwork always looks very organic and original,” says Millner.

   After arriving in Charlottesville from Breckenridge, Colorado, five years ago, Wilson met music promoter and Dave Matthews Band manager Coran Capshaw at the C&O Restaurant, which led to Wilson’s year and a half tenure at Capshaw’s merchandise company musictoday.com. In the fall of 2000, he started 2Fly, which now includes his partners, Tom Walker and Chris Wilmer.

   “I’ve never had an investor, never took out a loan,” says Wilson, who puts in 12-hour days at his office in the Linen Building at the corner of Market Street and Meade Avenue. The funky industrial space, with its corrugated metal roof, exposed ductwork and Razor scooter leaning in the corner, looks like an Internet company from the boom days.

   In some ways, Wilson’s company reflects the trickle-down economics of DMB. Some of Wilson’s A-list clients, like David Gray and the North Mississippi All Stars, are signed to Capshaw’s ATO Records. Wilson also designed a t-shirt commemorating DMB’s free benefit concert in Central Park last summer. One of Wilson’s newest clients is DJ Sasha, who recently signed to Capshaw’s Red Light Management.

   “They throw me some bones,” Wilson says of his connections to the Capshavian empire.

   Despite the big names in its portfolio, though, 2Fly’s success speaks to a sturdy local music scene, one that’s cool enough to inspire image-makers like Wilson, whose chief product is, after all, coolness.

   “I like filming artists like [singer-songwriter] Devon or John D’earth,” says Wilson. “If I can take someone that has talent and elevate them a little bit, it elevates us all.”—John Borgmeyer

Passing of the paws
Batesville resident helps animals and their owners deal with death

Seeking help after the death of a loved one is a fairly regular occurrence. Many pick up the phone for comfort after losing a sister, brother, mother or aunt. But Batesville resident Rita Reynolds gets calls from those grieving different kinds of companions, ones with names like Fido, Rover or Tabby. At her farm, Howling Success, Reynolds cares for her own sick and dying animals, and also assists others going through the process.

   “I receive many calls from people whose companions have just died and their grief is usually tremendous,” Reynolds says. “But people calling to ask whether or not they should euthanize an animal companion experience a greater agony just trying to make the decision.”

   Reynolds, also a writer and publisher of the quarterly journal La Joie: The Journal of Appreciation of All Animals, says that death is not an end, but rather a transition to the next stage in the life of the animal’s spirit. Death, she believes, is also an essential part of the relationship we share with our companions. By assisting them in the transition from the “here” to “there,” we honor them. To be “present” physically, spiritually, emotionally and mentally during this transition is the greatest gift we can give them and also helps us to live to the fullest and richest extent possible.

   Reynolds says it is important to “converse” with dying animals to find out their preferences—whether they wish to die on their own or die through the mercy of euthanasia. She offers three suggestions on how to go about this: “First, I tell the dying creature it is O.K. to die. ‘If you need to go,’ I say, ‘go ahead, I support your journey every step of the way.’”

   Next, she asks the animal to show her how they would like to proceed—for instance, whether or not the pet would like veterinary assistance. Finally, Reynolds suggests entering a calm and peaceful mental state to wait for the answer.

   She also offers some suggestions to ease a pet owner’s grief. Of her hundreds of experiences helping animals of all types—including mice, dogs, cats, cows, and donkeys—transition, she says, “When the death of an animal is complete, I often feel suddenly and desperately alone—it can be overwhelming—but relieved that the animal’s soul is free of pain. Now I can begin to mend my own pain of loss through ceremonies of grieving, burial of the body and establishing a memorial.”

   Letting go of any guilt concerning the euthanasia decision, celebrating the animal’s new existence, completing goodbyes, finding a truly understanding person to talk with and creating a tribute—such as writing a farewell letter to the pet—all help relieve our grief and pain. Reynolds says the grieving process takes as long as it needs to take and that people should let grief itself out so that they are finally at peace with the transition that the pet has made.—Jane Morley

Pressing effect
Bush-bashing Mall vendor waves flag, t-shirts

Come November 2, Mac Schrader doesn’t want you to reelect Bush, or reject Bush. He wants you to “reeject” Bush, since, Schrader says, he didn’t win the election the first time.

   “When I saw how the election went, it upset me,” says Schrader. “I had to do something.” That something has been a year-long stint on the Downtown Mall, weather permitting, promoting the single-minded notion of “reejecting” Bush in 2004—a slogan Schrader created that he hopes will “infect the nation.”

   Nonargumentative, and supposedly nonpartisan, Schrader, a writer who helps run a nursing home part-time in Belgium, is not looking for controversy. “It’s not anything against the Republicans. They can be a part of this,” he says.

   His beef with Bush? “I have so many reasons,” says Schrader. “Lying about going to war upset me the most.” Regardless of the reason, his message has struck a chord with some.

   “From the very first day, I was very accepted by the community,” says Schrader, now in his third t-shirt printing; he’s sold about 500 so far. Governor Mark Warner took a “Reeject Bush” button. The entourage of the Mayor of Besancon, Charlottesville’s French sister city, gave him a thumbs-up on their recent visit. Allegedly, even Republican Congressman Virgil Goode tried to buy two buttons, but walked away miffed when Schrader wouldn’t give him a discount.

   “If Bush is on TV, I turn him off,” says Rebecca Wood, a local who paused at Schrader’s table while walking her dog. She says she likes his literary approach.

   Schrader has his detractors, too. He says one irate passerby told him, “Have you thought of something easier…like a Jewish fan club for Hitler?” Other Mall walkers don’t get his message immediately. “I can be perceived by some as a nice, young Bush supporter one moment and then a split second later I’ve become some kind of liberal-commie-terrorist.” And then there was the Marine who kicked over his table.

   Schrader says the experience, his first foray into activism, has been educational. He keeps an Oxford Dictionary of Politics on hand for further edification, pointing out one of his favorite words, “hegemony,” a euphemism for empire frequently used by neoconservatives (as in “benevolent global hegemony”), but which the dictionary definition concludes is “a system with a built-in tendency to self-destruction.”

   Another relevant word defined therein is fascism: “A rightwing nationalist ideology or movement with a totalitarian and hierarchical structure that is fundamentally opposed to democracy and liberalism.” Schrader shrugs, “Rich, corporate entities are setting the agenda.”

   Schrader, too, has an agenda. Beside his wares stands a stack of voter registration forms. “Nothing is more rewarding than when an 18-year-old fills one in,” he says, smiling.

   Schrader plans to continue selling his slogan until November 1. On November 2 he will serve as an election official.—Brian Wimer

Blood on the tracks
Are the CSX tracks the most crime-friendly spot in Charlottesville?

Every community has its proverbial “dark alleys,” mysterious places where boogiemen live.

   One of UVA’s scary spots is a half-mile leg of CSX railroad that arcs northeast from University Avenue to Rugby Road. The tracks form a popular, but potentially dangerous, shortcut from the Corner bars and restaurants to the houses and apartments in the student neighborhoods north of campus.

   “It’s like an urban legend,” says Jen Silvers, a junior and president of the Delta Delta Delta (“Tri-Delt”) sorority on Virginia Avenue, located just yards from the CSX line. During rush, she says, the older sisters tell prospective Tri-Delts that “a bad little sorority girl got eaten on the tracks.”

   Silvers is joking, of course. Yet there’s a serious undercurrent to the conversation about safety along the popular informal thoroughfare.

   On April 2, three male students were robbed on the CSX tracks in two separate incidents that occurred within minutes of each other. In both cases, the robbers reportedly flashed a silver handgun and demanded money. At 2:30am on Friday, April 16, another male student reported getting robbed near the tracks on Chancellor Street.

   “I can tell you it’s not the pit of Charlottesville,” says Charlottesville Police Department Detective Tom McKean. “But it is an area for crime convenience.”

   He says UVA students walking home from the bars along the tracks make easy targets, and drunken students are unlikely to clearly remember the incident the following day. The setting doesn’t help, as the tracks are dark and vegetation creates shady hiding spots for prospective perps.

   Statistics are unavailable, because officers record incidents on the tracks as happening on one of the nearby streets. Plus most tracks crimes go unreported, McKean says. “They figure they’re not going to get their money back anyway, so why bother,” he explains of the victims.

   Students get mixed signals about hiking the tracks. As they are property of CSX, walking on the tracks is technically trespassing. Since it’s not an official campus walkway, there are no lights or emergency phones. Yet the lack of fences and the absence of visible “No Trespassing” signs indicate a tolerance of pedestrians. Walking the tracks saves about three minutes on the journey from the Corner to student neighborhoods.

   Flotsam of college life litters the tracks—discarded containers from all manner of snacks and beverages, beer cans of every variety, broken bottles, cigarette butts, the nearly decomposed carcass of an old sofa. Beyond Rugby’s famed Beta Bridge, there are rusted paint cans, a smoke detector, tent stakes and the guts of broken televisions.

   Like many students, Silvers frequently uses the tracks as a shortcut. She warns new house members that the tracks can be dangerous.

   “I walk there all the time myself, so I can’t really tell people not to do it,” says Silvers. “I think there’s better ways to keep people safe than just telling them not to do something.”

   Most students, especially women, say the best way to travel safely on foot—along the tracks, or anywhere else—is to walk in groups.

   Senior Stephanie Sanders says news of the robberies and the serial rapist saga has made her more skeptical about safety at UVA, but she still walks the tracks—alone during the day, in groups at night.

   “It’s crazy that these tracks are so open,” says Sanders. “Trains come through here all the time.” Three a day, according to CSX officials.

   Junior Tri-Delt Alexis Geocaris says she’d like to see school and police officials acknowledge that students use the tracks and take steps to make the area safer. A pedestrian bridge, she suggests, or more police patrols.

   “It seems like the police just pick a target, like the serial rapist, to make it seem like they’re doing something,” Geocaris says.—John Borgmeyer

Election? What election?
Media snoozes through campaign season

In two weeks, Charlottesville’s voters will choose among six candidates—three Democrats, two Republicans and an independent—for three open spots on the five-member City Council.

   If this information is a news flash, don’t feel bad. The candidates haven’t seen much attention in recent weeks.

   “It has certainly been very quiet,” says Jon Bright, owner of the three local Spectacle Shops and a Republican Council candidate in 2000, of this year’s election. “I would be interested to know why the local press doesn’t get more into the Council campaign.”

   A notable media washout was the candidate forum hosted by the Fry’s Spring Neighborhood Association on Tuesday, April 6. Joe Mooney of the group says the event “turned out pretty well,” with about 33 residents and all six candidates attending. But no reporters showed up. Other forums have received little or no mention by local media.

   Besides a few issue-specific interview pieces by Elizabeth Nelson in The Daily Progress, the “Hot Seat” interviews in The Hook, a weekly news piece in this newspaper and a smattering of coverage on radio station WINA-AM and in other media outlets, this campaign has been hard to find in the news.

   George Loper, a Democrat activist, says the candidates are not to blame for any lack of interest in the campaign.

   “The candidates are really out there at the forums and they’re accessible,” Loper says.

   Loper thinks the complexity of common campaign topics, such as affordable housing and the education “achievement gap,” as well as the lack of “any defining issues,” could be keeping candidates out of the news.

   Though he admits the candidate forums have shortcomings, such as the lack of follow-up questions, John Conover, who runs the Democrats’ campaign, says the media, particularly The Daily Progress, has a responsibility to cover the Council race.

   “How can people participate if the fourth leg of government isn’t there?” Conover asks.

   Both campaigns are likely to spend cash on advertising in coming days. WINA reported that Republicans were planning to begin broadcast advertisements last week, and Conover says the Dems will buy television ads.

   “It’s expensive stuff,” Conover says of ads on Channel 29, which he says can cost as much as $1,200 a day. Conover says the campaign is still deciding whether to run radio ads.

   Charlottesville Registrar Sheri Iachetta says the election has been slow for her office as well, with only 40 absentee votes trickling in thus far. Iachetta suspects many people are waiting to make up their minds on who to vote for until after the candidate forums. With three forums scheduled between April 20 and April 26, Iachetta says, “I’m expecting a busy week.”

Jon Bright hopes Iachetta is right. He says he’s surprised by the apathy about the Council election, which he likens to a vote for the board of directors of a $100 million corporation.

“It seems like we just don’t care,” Bright says. “It’s sad.”—Paul Fain

Home business
Residents and nonprofits clash over zoning

On the 500 block of Grove Ave., one home has a kid’s playhouse in the yard. There’s a home with plywood boards astride sawhorses, one with a “Say No to War” sign and one with overgrown bushes.

   Viewed from the street, the Victorian house at 506 Grove Ave. is no different than any other home in the neighborhood, except for the wheelchair ramp climbing to the front porch past yellow flowers and an American flag.

   What’s unusual about 506 Grove is its owner, and its occupants. In October, a non-profit brain-injury center called Virginia NeuroCare bought the house for veterans of the Iraq war who returned home with head injuries. Up to eight veterans, whom the company calls its “clients,” live in the house, and two NeuroCare staff work there 24 hours a day.

   Is 506 Grove a business or a residence? The City isn’t exactly sure, and the uncertainty has prompted conflicts over nonprofit group homes moving into neighborhoods zoned for single-family residences.

   Richard Myers, who lives next door at 504 Grove, calls NeuroCare’s group home “a business,” and he says the company shouldn’t be allowed in the neighborhood. Grove is zoned R-2, for single- and two-family residences.

   Technically, Myers is right. Armed with a petition signed by 20 of his neighbors, he asked the City to review the group home. The City’s law is designed to encourage permanent, instead of transient, residents in R-2 neighborhoods. But the law is awkward, and the City seems unwilling to enforce it.

   Section 34-1200 of the City’s zoning law distinguishes between “residential treatment facilities,” which are licensed by the Department of Mental Health, and “adult assisted living facilities,” which are licensed by the State Department of Social Services. Because NeuroCare is licensed by the latter, City Zoning Administrator Barbara Venerus told the company it was prohibited on Grove, and Deputy City Attorney Lisa Kelly backed her up in a letter to NeuroCare on December 9.

   The next day, Kenneth Bucci, NeuroCare’s lawyer, sent a letter to the Virginia Office for Protection and Advocacy, asserting that the City’s zoning ordinance violates the Federal Fair Housing Act and the Virginia Fair Housing Law. In what seems like a legal warning shot to the City, Bucci copied his letter to Kelly.

   Kelly sent the VOPA a letter explaining that NeuroCare had not provided enough information about what exactly would happen at 506 Grove. But after meeting with NeuroCare representatives, Kelly decided the City could not legally prohibit the group home.

   “They got intimidated,” says Myers.

   Kelly says she changed her mind when she learned customers would not be coming to 506 Grove for services.

   “From a PR perspective, [NeuroCare] could have handled things differently,” says Kelly. “But my opinion would have been the same whether or not they threatened to sue.”

   NeuroCare was founded five years ago by George Zitnay. It was known as the John Jane Center until 2002. That year, according to the company’s most recent IRS 990 forms, it was $135,000 in the red, and Zitnay paid himself a salary of $174,694.

    “I did not threaten the City,” says Zitnay. “We didn’t contact the advocacy group until we were threatened.

   “To discriminate against people on active duty from the United States military is absolutely shameful,” says Zitnay. “It’s like what happened after Vietnam.”

   Myers says he’s not discriminating against the injured soldiers. “That keeps getting thrown in my face. It’s bullshit,” he says. “It’s not about the cause. NeuroCare is a business.”—John BorgmeyerEye on Charlottesville

City considers security cameras on the MallIt’s becoming a rite of spring around here—the weather warms up, people of all ages flood Downtown and City officials start fretting about safety on the Mall.

   According to the City police website at www.charlottesville.org, the Mall is statistically no more or less dangerous than any other City neighborhood. (It’s a different story for your car, however. The Mall leads all neighborhoods with 49 towed vehicles in 2003). Yet, every spring, it seems business owners and patrons ask the City to beef up Mall security.

   “You have packs of kids whose language is different than adults. Some people feel intimidated by that,” says City Manager Gary O’Connell, summing up an oft-heard bellyache.

   The City is considering a variety of different security measures, including a neighborhood watch program, citizen patrols, more police officers and—at the more Ashcroftian end of the spectrum—security cameras.

   The City’s 2004 budget, which Council approved by a vote of 4-1 on Tuesday, April 13, shifts control of the Mall to the City’s new Department of Parks and Recreation, and out of the public works department. The change will consolidate maintenance into one department. Along with this shift, the City will consider a host of other changes for the Mall—replacing bricks and trees; revising the trash and maintenance routines; and adding new lights, signs and security measures.

   “We love seeing all the activity, but at the same time it means you have to be able to provide enough oversight to make sure everything is good,” says Bob Stroh, co-president of the Downtown Business Association.

Schilling’s budget redux

Last year, sparks flew after Council approved its FY 2003 budget. In a post-vote press conference, Councilor Rob Schilling announced that Council hadn’t worked hard enough to reduce the budget, while Kevin Lynch countered that it was Schilling who was the slacker.

   Although this year’s budget approval process on Tuesday was more civil, Schilling was again the lone nay vote, and an argument over his effort surfaced in interviews afterwards.

   “Basically, [Schilling] doesn’t show up anywhere unless there’s going to be media there,” says Lynch.

   Councilor Blake Caravati says Schilling did even less work on this year’s budget than he did last year, his first budget session. “It’s gotten a lot worse,” says Caravati. “He’s not at the wheel. He’s not even in the bus.”

   This year, Schilling presented City staff with a list of more than 150 questions. Although staff answered them all, it is unclear how Schilling used that information to reduce the City’s budget, which he claims is one of his priorities.

   In an e-mailed statement, Schilling says his work has focused on suggesting ways to change the budgeting process. Council, he says, should tell staff how much money to spend instead of scrutinizing the budget themselves.

   Most of Council’s labor on the budget happened in three work sessions during March. According to the minutes of those sessions—which are still in draft form and have not been approved by Council—Schilling didn’t offer many suggestions for cutting.

   On March 17, Schilling, who sits on the School Capital Projects Committee, asked whether proposed renovations to Charlottesville High School could be postponed. He also suggested cutting funds for improvements to McIntire Park.

   According to the minutes, both Caravati and Lynch proposed various cuts. Schilling said Council “should not micromanage” the budget, and that “it comes down to what we want to do versus what we need to do.”

   On March 10, City Manager O’Connell seemed to agree with Schilling, saying that if Council wanted to significantly reduce the budget, they should have set priorities in the fall.—John Borgmeyer