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VOP interns canvass local neighborhoods

“Hello, I’m from the Virginia Organizing Project, which is a non-partisan group, and I was wondering if I could ask you about what issues are important to you,” says Caty Kirk Robins.

Robins is one of seven college-age VOP interns, part of a VOP canvassing summer internship, who recite these words about 50-60 times a day as they go door-to-door across the city and county talking to residents.

“The idea of this organization is to include people who would otherwise not be,” says VOP spokesperson Julie Blust. VOP is a grassroots community organization meant to gather information directly from residents. The organization targets individuals who are not living in densely populated, politically active areas and may not know how to get involved.

“The eventual goal of all of this is to find people who want to help VOP and get them connected to campaigns,” says intern Patrick Costello. Those people then meet with Charlottesville Organizer Harold Folley in a one-on-one setting. “We talk to them about what they can give to VOP and what VOP can give to them,” he says.

Using this canvassing tactic, the VOP has had success with voter registration last year, helping to register 78,000 Commonwealth voters, says Blust. Tom Perriello’s spokesperson Jessica Barba says, on an average day, the office fields 25-50 calls from voters about legislation, noting that health care and climate change are the “current hot topics.”

Though not all these calls can be attributed to the VOP, last year VOP representatives knocked on 140,000 doors and helped to make healthcare the number one issue in the Commonwealth.

Another VOP goal is legislation. The organization was able to achieve that goal with its living wage project two years ago, raising the living wage from $10.95 per hour to $11.44, says Folley.

These seven interns began their work as a group May 18 and will continue their work for the rest of the summer every Monday through Friday, rain or shine, until close to 9pm.

Gathering this information, however, depends on whether residents are willing to answer their doors.

“You don’t see many people canvassing who aren’t selling something these days,” says Robins. “The most frustrating thing about it is when you see someone you can help, like someone with a health condition, and they refuse.”

After many “not-homes,” refusals, and even many large guard dogs that the interns come into contact with, however, one answered door and a chance to make an impact can make up for the setbacks, says intern Kristin Smith. “Moments like that can be really powerful,” she says, noting that those interactions remind you what the VOP door-to-door campaigns are all about.

“It reminds us we work for the people, not politicians,” says Costello.

C-VILLE welcomes news tips from readers. Send them to news@c-ville.com.

UVA Baseball loses to Arkansas in 12 innings, out of World Series

UVA baseball’s historic season came to an end last night when the Cavaliers fell to the Arkansas Razorbacks 3-4 in the 12th inning of the fourth-longest game of the College World Series.

Virginia managed to outhit Arkansas 16-12, but the Cavaliers gave up their 2-run lead at the top of the ninth when Razorback Brett Eibner homered to left with Zack Cox already on base.

The battle continued for three more innings and the scoreboard remained empty until the top of the 12th when Andrew Darr doubled to the left off of Cavalier Andrew Carraway’s pitch and Jarrod McKinney scored.

The Cavaliers were unable to rally in the bottom of 12th and after Steven Proscia doubled to the left in a promising start to the inning. Jarrett Parker, John Hicks and Franco Valdes struck out to end the game.

The Razorbacks will play LSU in the next game of the series, schedule for Friday.
 

Meadowcreek Parkway construction equipment intentionally set on fire

Construction equipment being used for the Meadowcreek Parkway was set on fire on Melbourne Road near the Charlottesville High School football field Tuesday night, according to an Albemarle County press release.

City fire personnel responded to the call at 9:56 pm and completed a preliminary investigation. After establishing that the fire was intentional and occurred in the county, City officials turned the investigation over to the County Fire Marshall.

County spokesperson Lee Catlin said it was still too early to know whether this act of vandalism was meant to protest the construction of the parkway, and the County Fire Marshall is now looking for more evidence with the help of the County Police and the FBI.

The damages total about $110,000 and include a destroyed backhoe as well as additional vandalism that Catlin refused to comment on further.
 

UVA football ranked No. 81 by New York Times

In preparation for the upcoming season, The New York Times’ college sports blog, The Quad, ranked all college football teams, dropping UVA in the ranks to No. 81 from last year’s No. 51.

The drop is in large part due to Virginia’s less than spectacular season: five wins and seven losses last year, including a 31-3 loss to Duke, which gave the Blue Devils their first ACC win in a decade.

According to The Quad and ESPN, the biggest concerns for the upcoming season are whether the Cavaliers’ new offensive coach Gregg Brandon, Bowling Green’s former head coach, can improve UVA offense and how quickly he can do it.

If Brandon is able to make a big difference, The Quad predicts the Cavaliers will finish the season with at least a 7-5 record and third place in the ACC, but if he cannot help the offense and the defense is short of stellar, Virginia may stumble to a 4-8 ending.

Regardless of the predictions, it will be interesting to observe how UVA will respond to this ranking. It was last season when UVA football’s ticketing system was changed, to the chagrin of some longtime fans.

 

Charlottesville is first city in Commonwealth on Smart Grid Network

Gov. Tim Kaine, UVA President John Casteen, Charlottesville Mayor Dave Norris, Albemarle Board of Supervisors Chairman David Slutzky and Dominion President, Chairman and CEO Thomas Farrell gathered this morning on the Downtown Mall to announce that Charlottesville is now Virginia’s first city in Dominion Power’s ‘Smart Grid’ Network, which is meant to conserve power and lower electric bills.

The meters are built to operate as two-way communication devices that not only send and receive information with Dominion, but also allow company’s officials to communicate directly with meters in customers’ homes, Dominion Director of Business Planning and Strategic Solutions Richard Walden told C-VILLE.

This communication allows Dominion officials to turn power back on in homes and businesses during a power outage or even automatically cycle air conditioning temperatures, so that homes conserve power while residents are at work, he explained.

More after the photos.

 

Gov. Tim Kaine announces Charlottesville is the first city in Virginia to be on the Smart Grid Network. UVA President John Casteen, County Board of Supervisors Chairman David Slutzky and Charlottesville Mayor Dave Norris were also in attendance.

 

The new meters are designed to be two-way communication devices.

(Photo Courtesy of Dominion) 

According to Farrell, half of the 46,500 smart meters have already been installed and the rest, which only take a few minutes to install, will be in place by the end of the year.

Farrell explained this smart grid technology will help people to be more aware of their energy use and, in turn, more aware of how they can conserve power.

“We now have the technology to equip the 20th century power grid with 21st century technology,” he said, noting that Charlottesville is the perfect city in the Commonwealth to test this infrastructure.

“If this can work in Charlottesville, it can work anywhere,” Dominion Corporate Communications Managing Director Chet Wade told C-VILLE.

The hills in Charlottesville present a good topography to test the strength of the radio signals that the meters use to communicate. Also, the large influx of students every fall dramatically increases the pressure on the system.

Norris and Slutzky explained that the Smart Grid was in line with their work to make the city and county more environmentally friendly.

“We are dedicated to environmental sustainability and this is the perfect way to do that,” Norris he said in an interview. “This system is step one in a much longer process.”

For both the city and county, the next step in environmental sustainability will be to create financial incentives for homeowners, business owners and building companies through the development of clean energy financing programs.

These financial incentives might be similar to the ones already established on a state level, such as the rate of return available to power companies for environmental conservation investments, Kaine told C-VILLE, noting that he hopes to expand that program and move forward with other incentives like electrifying rest stops to charge plug-in hybrids.

“These are just a few examples of the ways Virginia can succeed in a green economy and do something good for the environment,” Kaine said.
 

Independent Andrew Williams begins write-in campaign for Charlottesville City Council

“I’m still a candidate, just a write-in candidate,” said 22-year-old Independent City Council candidate Andrew Williams yesterday in front of City Hall, after his petition to be on the November 3 ballot  fell short of the minimum number of signatures required from registered voters.

Williams explained that he heard about several unregistered signatures less than 24 hours before the deadline and was unable to find the 25 signatures he needed.

“Now I will just have to reorganize my marketing strategy and my whole campaign,” he said, noting that he still believes he can contribute to the city.

Williams said he wanted to focus on improving safety and education in Charlottesville as well as to revisit council’s allocation of government funds. He says he does not have exact plans for these issues yet, but that he will “rely on the perspectives of all the Charlottesville residents [he] can talk to.”

As Williams develops his own ideas on the issues, he said he recognizes people may be skeptical of him because of his youth. Williams, though, emphasized that his age could bring a new perspective to City Council.

“It’s time for the young people to bring up the mantle and let older people retire,” he told C-VILLE.

“I do recognize it is an uphill battle…but I’m still happy and still optimistic,” he said.
Williams will be running against Democratic candidates Kristin Szakos and current Mayor Dave Norris as well as Independents Paul Long and Bob Fenwick.
 

Bike Mentors program reaches out to Charlottesville city employees

Many City of Charlottesville employees brown-bagged their lunches Tuesday afternoon and gathered at the Pavilion to hear about the C-ville Bike Mentors program from bike mentors Shawn Strubbe and Marty Quinn, and avid biker City Councilor David Brown.

The program allows individuals to contact mentors to individually help a prospective cyclist find the right bike, helmet, lock and routes to work while teaching proper bike safety on the road.

Strubbe says the most valuable aspect of the program is the “individualized attention” people new to biking receive, because it allows them to feel more comfortable on the road.

“There’s someone there to hold your hand instead of saying, ‘You should automatically fit into this group [of experienced bikers],’” she says.

During the lunch, Brown and Quinn discussed how to fit and wear your helmet to the rules of safety on the road.

More after the photo.

City Councilor David Brown discussed the rules of biking in the city.

Both speakers stressed the importance of learning often-ignored rules such as “ride on the right side of the road, but not on the sidewalk,” says Quinn and mandatory city regulations such as having a flashing light on both the front and back of a bike.

“The problem is, in elementary school we teach the rules to flag football, but not biking on the road safely,” says Quinn.

Brown and Quinn also talked about some of the more dangerous intersections in Charlottesville for bikers such as Fifth and Ridge streets; the intersections on Main Street towards the Downtown Mall and Preston Avenue and McIntire Road.

Yet, both noted that cyclists should remember they have all the responsibilities of vehicles on the road and must observe all the same traffic laws.

 

UVA baseball heads to College World Series

UVA baseball will be heading to its first College World Series after defeating Ole Miss 5-1 this past Sunday in the NCAA Oxford Super Regional at the Oxford-University Stadium/Swayze Field.

The Rebels started the game off strong, bringing in one run in the first inning, but left the scoreboard empty for the next eight innings as the Cavaliers’ pitching managed to hold Ole Miss to one run and seven hits.

While sophomore pitcher Tyler Wilson mounted a strong defense after relieving senior Robert Poutier, UVA offense joined the Rebels on the scoreboard in the fourth inning. With sophomores Dan Grovatt on second and Phil Gosselin on third, freshman John Hicks hit a sacrifice fly to bring Gosselin home for the run.

The fifth inning saw three more Virginia runs by sophomore John Barr, junior Franco Valdes and freshman Steven Proscia.

To seal the win in the eight inning, UVA junior pitcher Matt Packer kept the Rebels off the scoreboard.

The Cavaliers now head to coach Brian O’Connor’s hometown of Omaha, Nebraska to face off against LSU for the title at Rosenblatt Stadium next weekend.
 

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Operation Rescue founder speaks in Charlottesville, compares dead doctor to Nazis

“There is an evil in today’s world greater than slavery.”

That’s what anti-abortion activist and Operation Rescue founder Randall Terry said Wednesday morning at The Rutherford Institute’s kick-off for the 2009 Summer Speaker Series. Terry arrived at the Institute to give a speech entitled “Obama, Abortion and the Notre Dame Protests,” a reponse to President Barack Obama delivering this year’s commencement address at Notre Dame.

Operation Rescue founder Randall Terry spoke at the Rutherford Institute Wednesday morning. His speech entitled "Obama, Abortion and the Notre Dame Protests" included remarks on the recent death of Dr. George Tiller, who was killed inside his Lutheran Church in Wichita, Kansas

Controversy centered around Obama’s stance on abortion, which conflicts with Notre Dame’s anti-abortion position. Some questioned whether the president should have been invited as this year’s commencement speaker. Since 1973, the Supreme Court has upheld a woman’s right to have an abortion.

Terry objected to the president’s speech, because he believed Obama did not have the right to discuss his policies about abortion while speaking at a religious, private institution.
“You have a room full of Catholics being talked down to by a child-killer…It was like have Heinrich Himmler at a Jewish university in 1942,” said Terry, upping the rhetorical ante right away.

Recent Notre Dame graduate Frances Thunder was at hand at Rutherford today and said that students were very proud to have Obama at their graduation and wanted to hear the president speak rather than the protesters.

“It was frustrating to have the campus infiltrated by people who weren’t alumni when the graduates wanted to stay focused on our achievements and our day,” she told C-VILLE.
According to Rutherford Institute President and Founder John Whitehead, at the time Terry was invited to Charlottesville, the discussion was meant to focus on President Obama’s policies, abortion and the protests at Notre Dame. After recent events, however, Terry also discussed the murder of Dr. George Tiller, who performed late-term abortions. Tiller was shot Sunday in the foyer of his Lutheran church in Wichita, Kansas. Authorities have arrested Scott Roeder as a suspect in the case.

Terry said that he “truly grieves” for Tiller, and does not condone the murder, but went on to say “George Tiller was a mass murderer. He will be remembered in life and eternity with all the contempt that we remember the Nazi war criminals…He has reaped what he sowed,” said Terry.

But Whitehead said he believes Terry’s rhetoric could encourage some to act violently. Reading an e-mail from Terry that claims “Those ‘doctors’ like George Tiller who slay the innocent are hired assassins whose hands are covered with blood,” Whitehead pointed out that, if read a certain way, that rhetoric might encourage people to turn to violence.
Still, Terry was invited to the Institute because it is an establishment that advocates free speech.

“The First Amendment was established to protect the words of the minority from the majority and Randall Terry is a member of that minority,” said Whitehead.

C-VILLE welcomes news tips from readers. Send them to news@c-ville.com.