According to Sheri Iachetta, Charlottesville Registrar, the top three candidates for City Council are all Democrats.
With 9 precincts reporting, Dede Smith leads the pack with 4,213 votes followed by Kathy Galvin with 4,188 and Incumbent Satyendra Huja comes in third with 4,175 votes.
Check back for more updates and don’t forget to follow us on twitter at @cvillenews_desk.
The Democrats made it. The three nominees, Incumbent Satyendra Huja, fellow Democratic nominees Dede Smith and Kathy Galvin, have won the three open City Council seats.
According to the Virginia State Board of Elections, Huja got the most votes, 4,608 (23.5 percent), followed by Galvin with 4,601 (23.47 percent) and Smith with 4,547 (23.1 percent).
Smith thanked her opponents, Independents Bob Fenwick, Brandon Collins, Andrew Williams and Scott Bandy, for making of this election "a real model of Democracy. We had too many good people for the number of seats available," she said.
Asked about what priorities they would bring to Council, Smith pointed to the balance between growth and natural resources. "I really think what we need to do is balance the quality of life, which makes Charlottesville so special, with the inevitable growth and development and really be an attractive growth and development and really balance that with all the things that are really special to this community."
Galvin said she would like to look into the Orange Dot report and "the water resources protection plan that is been put on hold since 2009."
On the matter of the Meadow Creek Parkway and the community supply plan, Smith said she is looking forward to "a very lively and fact-based discussion about those issues and i think that again, is what Democracy is about, and that’s what our ticket always represented, a real diversity of opinion and a real coming together of community engagement in this process."
The Charlottesville School Board race yielded a few surprises. Amy Laufer, local attorney Jennifer McKeever, Willa Neale and Incumbent Colette Blount won the four seats on the school board. Incumbent Guian McKee came in fifth with 13.5 percent of the votes. Laufer got the most votes, 3,993 (20.34 percent) followed by Neale with 3,803 (19.37 percent), Blount with 3,050 (15.53 percent), and finally McKeever with 2,861 (14.57 percent).
Check back for more updates and follow us on twitter at @cvillenews_desk.
The crowd at the Democrats victory party at Vivace on Ivy Road.
Brooks Brodrick found out she was anorexic almost by chance.
“I was reading a textbook about another condition and breezed into the anorexia section and realized I did meet all the criteria for it,” said Brodrick, now a third year medical student at UVA.
Growing up as a dancer, Brodrick, now 32, was exposed to the disease, but she didn’t really analyze its consequences until it became her own struggle.
“Once I accepted the fact that I was anorexic, the implications of what that diagnosis meant really started to weigh on me,” said Brodrick.
Brodrick’s 10-year battle with anorexia forced her to take a leave of absence from medical school to focus on recovery, but she got treatment, received a Ph.D. in Pharmacology last March and is now ready to move on.
“It finally clicked that I was endangering my life,” she said. “Now, four years from in-patient and a year since I started to wake up, I guess you could say that I am really enjoying life again.”
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When Brooks Brodrick realized the disease could take away her studies and her well-being, she fought back. “Now, four years from in-patient and a year since I started to wake up, I guess you could say I am really enjoying life,” she said. |
Nationally, about 11 million Americans suffer from an eating disorder, and anorexia ranks among the top most common chronic illnesses among adolescents. Locally, of the 2,000 UVA students who reached out to UVA’s Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) in the past year, 91, or 4 percent, met the criteria for an eating disorder, according to Dr. Russ Federman, director of CAPS. Of those 91, 20 percent were bulimic and 12 percent anorexic.
Although these numbers are small in comparison with the total number of students on campus, Federman said that there may still be students who suffer from an eating disorder and don’t seek treatment and others who may have body image issues, but do not meet the medical criteria for the disease.
Brodrick now dedicates her scarce free time to raising awareness for the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA), the largest organization of its kind in the world. For the past three years, she has organized the 5K NEDA Walk around the UVA campus to help survivors and sufferers find support in battling the disease. The walk also serves to link people struggling with eating disorders with the resources needed to survive.
Eating disorders have major effects on a person’s body, some even irreversible medical complications. According to studies, eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental disorder.
However, treatment is still expensive—to the tune of $30,000 a month for in-patient treatment—and in some cases, it is not covered by health insurance providers. Brodrick considers herself “lucky” to have had her family and clinical support system close for the duration of her recovery—that included in-patient and out-patient treatment, constant monitoring by a group of local physicians.
“My out-patient treatment in Charlottesville was $10,000 a year,” she said. “Without those resources, there aren’t a lot of free resources.”
Although UVA students have different options and resources, Kathleen MacDonald, a survivor, and the Education and Prevention Coordinator with the Gail R. Schoenbach F.R.E.E.D. Foundation, who attended NEDA’s walk and shared her own 16-year battle with an eating disorder, believes that more should be done on a national scale.
“Currently, we have a good many resources for people to get treatment, but there are not nearly enough and they are often disparate in their appropriateness for treating patients with eating disorders,” said MacDonald in an email. She added that many states do not have treatment centers and many patients are forced to go out of state, often paying out of pocket.
In order to begin changing the status quo, MacDonald said Congress should pass the Federal Response to Eliminate Eating Disorders (FREED) Act, an effort to fund research about eating disorders and their treatment. In addition, “insurance companies and treatment providers need to recognize that eating disorders require very specific treatment,” thus creating new targeted treatment centers.
“Early intervention and treatment saves lives,” she said. “When people don’t get treatment, or don’t get the appropriate treatment or access to the length and levels of treatment they need, they often suffer for years on end and too many die as a result.”
Even when treatment is expensive, MacDonald believes any action is better than nothing.
At the second to last City Council candidates forum, held in the Fry’s Spring neighborhood that Democratic nominee Dede Smith calls home, the contenders faced a wide range of questions but wound up duking it out over the ethics of receiving money from political action committees that represent the business community.
The pointed moments that punctuated an otherwise friendly forum emerged from a question, directed at incumbent Satyendra Huja and fellow Democratic nominee Kathy Galvin, about accepting financial campaign contributions from the Monticello Business Alliance, a political action committee with business interests that has previously supported Republican candidates at the county level.
According to the Virginia Public Access Project, both Huja and Galvin accepted and received money, $1,000 and $1,000 respectively, from the Monticello Business Alliance.
Smith, who has gone to great lenghts to show a unified front with Galvin and Huja since her nomination, broke rank with them on that question.
“I have not [accepted money] and they haven’t offered it to me either,” said Smith. “But if they did I wouldn’t take it.”
“I was offered some PAC money from local realtors, which I chose not to take, I don’t think they are a terribly evil organization, but I just made the commitment of not taking that money,” said Smith.
Independent candidate Scott Bandy, who called his potential victory on Tuesday a “long shot,” was among a number of other candidates who trumpeted the fact that they had not accepted any PAC money, “in fact, up to a certain point in this election, I haven’t taken any money.” Bandy ranks last in campaign contributions among the seven candidates.
More after the photo.
City Council candidate getting ready to answer questions from Fry’s Spring residents.
For fellow Independent candidate Brandon Collins, who also did not receive any PAC money, called the acceptance of the contributions on Huja and Galvin’s part “telling.”
“You are going to hear from Ms. Galvin and Mr. Huja that there is nothing illegal or unethical about accepting that money, and they are right, there isn’t," Collins said. "But it does show whose interests the Monticello Business Alliance and people like the Free Enterprise Forum, who they really think is going to support their agenda."
Huja defended his decision, saying he had no problem taking support from the business community.
“I am not opposed to business,” he said and added that it is the business community that can create jobs around Charlottesville.
Galvin, who said she accepted the money only after her platform was made public, wanted to remind residents that “this is Main Street, not Wall Street.”
“Main Street is what provides us all with the wonderful destinations we like to go to,” she said pointing to the Downtown Mall and Preston Plaza as prime examples of how the business community contributes to local improvements.
Referring to the old, renovated Michie Building, Galvin said that it was a developer who “transformed those old buildings, adaptive re-used them into wonderful spaces.”
Independent candidates Bob Fenwick and Andrew Williams both said they would not accept any PAC money.
As usual, the local water supply plan was another issue that separated the candidates.
Asked whether they would support a referendum that would protect local assets in the water supply–the reservoir and surrounding land–Galvin and Huja said they both support the current water supply plan and don’t see the need for a referendum.
“I believe that there was diligent study, to the tune of $5 million worth of studies on this particular plan and it does serve what is the intent, which is to provide water to the growth are of the urban ring as well as the City of Charlottesville,” said Galvin.
Smith, a vocal opponent of the current plan, said she would support a binding referendum, partly because the loss of these resources would be “devastating” for the city.
“If we lose the resources that we already own, and we have enough to carry us through, and I am including city and UVA in this, … for at least 50 years, if what the city owns today we stand to lose that, we will have to buy into the new plan,” she said.
The last candidate forum will be held Sunday, November 6 at Random Row Books at 315 West Main Street.
A day and a half after three arrests disrupted the harmony of the Lee Park occupation, all seems calm and collected. Although the park has been the staging area for the Occupy Charlottesville movement since the beginning of October, none of the men arrested Tuesday were movement members, and Occupy leaders say they have been in close contact with the Charlottesville Police Department to prevent unwanted conflict.
Joe Thompson, 33, William Toney, 39, and Dan Miller, 49, were arrested and charged with being drunk in public, trespassing, possession of marijuana and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. All three have no fixed address.
“Those guys don’t stay in the park, they are not part of the movement, they don’t sleep in the park, i don’t know how they ended up in the park,” said Zac Fabian, member of Occupy Charlottesville.
According to Lt. Ronnie Roberts, public information officer with Charlottesville Police, aside from yesterday’s incident, the protest has been a peaceful one.
“We haven’t had any problems,” he told C-VILLE. “On the overall basis, they have been able to push their position and from our stand point, we want to make sure that they have a safe environment to be there in the park.”
More after the photos.
Joe Thompson, 33.
William Toney, 39.
(Photos courtesy of Charlottesville Police)
In fact, Occupy Charlottesville has been in “constant” contact with city police and has even asked for heavier patrolling around the park at night.
“We communicate,” said Roberts. “That’s imperative that we do have a dialogue between the folks there and the police department about particular concerns, about safety issues that come up from time to time or issues that need to be addressed.”
Fabian and fellow occupier Bailey Elizabeth acknowledge the difficulty of trying to keep the park as a alcohol and drug-free zone and lacking the authority to take a stand.
“Because what we are doing here is legal, because what we are doing here is a constitutional right, we are trying to operate within the spirit of the law,” said Elizabeth.
“The issue is at night, you have people that stay here either out of necessity or want that aren’t attending [general assembly] and as far as being peaceful and nonviolent, I don’t know where they stand, as far as whether they are using or doing anything in their tents, I have no authority.”
When asked whether these incidents jeopardize the effectiveness of the movement’s message and action, Elizabeth said “absolutely,” but cautions that the issues are much deeper.
“The problems that we see within this camp are a direct reflection of the problems of the city and of society at large,” she said. “If we have people with addiction issues and mental health issues, we don’t want to ask them to leave, because if we do that, we are marginalizing them. Society already does that and that’s the problem.”
In some instances, said Fabian, the simple act of caring and being present has helped some of the homeless to move away from substance abuse and join the movement.
“We are breaking through to them,” he said. “I have seen remarkable changes in a few of them and they have started to help us.”
Although both occupiers said the camp’s relationship with local police has been “really fair” and “encouraging,” the group has begun crafting a contingency plan for an eventual raid, much like what happened to Occupy Richmond last month.
Early Halloween morning, at about 1am, Richmond Police broke up the camp that occupied Kanawha Plaza in downtown Richmond. According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the police gave protested a chance to leave and detained those who didn’t —nine were taken into custody and charged with either trespassing or obstruction of justice. During the raid, police bulldozed the camp destroying property.
Fabian, Elizabeth and other movement members said they don’t think such a action would happen in Charlottesville. “It’s not good for any party. It causes a lot of property damage and there is cost for having to do that and it doesn’t accomplish their goals,” he said. “It’s not going to stop us from the beliefs that we have. You can’t crush the beliefs with physical force.”
Nonetheless, the group has begun collecting phone numbers of all the occupiers and those who don’t reside in the park, but who will be contacted in the event of a raid.
“it’s a list of everybody that wants to be here either to stand with us to risk arrest or people who want to be observers to make sure that things are safe,” said Elizabeth.
Some other measures that the group is considering involve “peaceful, non-violenttraining,” such as locking arms and refusing to move.
“We need to look at first aid that will need to be involved if they come with pepper spray,” said Elizabeth. “I really don’t think that would happen here, but it is a possibility. Just for safety measures, we need to be up on what we need to do to help each other if that happens.”
Charlottesville School Board candidates agree that computers can replace textbooks in the classroom, but some are still critical of the city’s new tablet computer initiative, calling it expensive and questioning whether parents and teachers had enough input in the decision to move it forward.
Guian McKee, interim school board member and current candidate who supports the plan, said in a press conference Tuesday that the first priority of Charlottesville City Schools’ new strategic plan is for every child in city schools to “be prepared to participate actively in the world of the 21st century, ready to make a contribution to society."
McKee, a public policy professor at the UVA Batten School, lauded the Blended Learning to Advance Student Thinking initiative (BLAST), known more generally as the tablet initiative, as a program that will help students be ready for the workplace.
“Our students need to be and will be skilled in digital research, fluent in digital information management and responsible for managing that technology,” he said.
Under BLAST, city schools will give every student, grades 6-12, a tablet computer. Only Charlottesville High School students will be able to take the tablet home, while students at Walker Upper Elementary and Buford Middle School will leave theirs at school. McKee addressed the controversy BLAST created among parents regarding the cost of the program and the use of technology in the classroom during his press conference.
More after the photo.
“BLAST has gotten a lot of attention in recent months, some it, frankly, critical,” he said. For him, “the big picture has been lost a little bit in this discussion of which technology of how much it costs.”
The board approved a $2.4 million investment for more than 2,000 tablets—each tablet costs $1,167 with hardware, software, services and implementation already included—and yearly maintenance costs, which run about $450,000 a year. The tablets have already been purchased.
Fellow school board candidate Amy Laufer, who came out to support McKee at the press conference, said the investment was “appropriate.” “I think what people don’t realize is that we buy three textbooks per student per subject,” she told C-VILLE. Laufer adds that with tablets, the schools will have more flexibility in creating the curriculum. “We can make the curriculum that we want, not what the textbook companies are offering us. We can have a more local curriculum,” she said.
Some critics, however, say the tablets are way too expensive. Fellow candidate Steven Latimer, opposes the initiative, but encourages people to have patience with a program that is so new. 

“These [tablets] cost $1,100 per tablet and we could have purchased cheaper laptops for only $200 or $300,” Latimer told C-VILLE. “I am not against having a classroom of tablets that you can share. You can do more with a laptop than with a tablet.”
For Jennifer McKeever, local attorney and fellow candidate vying for one of four open seats on the board, the vision behind the initiative is positive, but she doesn’t know if she would have made the same decision.
“I think a lot of stakeholders, like parents and community members who have insight that could have been offered with respect to the programs, were not included in those decisions,” she told C-VILLE.
Although she said she would not revisit the decision, McKeever sees the lack of wireless access in the city’s public housing sites as a bigger priority, calling it a “huge problem.” 

“When we have 20 percent of our students going hungry every weekend and every day, it’s not reasonable to expect them to pay $10 a month for internet access,” she said.
McKeever, who is the chair of the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board, has already asked the City Parks and Recreation Department about putting wireless service in the sites and the city’s community centers and said the funds could come from the Capital Improvement Program pool for next year.
“I believe that city officials and schools officials recognize the importance of such a thing,” she said. “We have [free wireless] Downtown, if we are going to make a huge investment like we have with the tablets, we need to continue that investment with wireless access.”
Another point of contention with critics of the initiative is the tablets’ effectiveness in improving test scores.
“There is a lot of debate about that,” said McKee. One program in North Carolina, he said, has seen “fairly dramatic test score increases.”

“I’d love to see that, but I do think that it’s one piece in the whole gamut of what we are doing,” he said. “It’s a piece of the wider puzzle, but I think it’s an important piece.”
Latimer, however, is skeptical.
“The jury is still out on that one,” he said. “I think that better student engagement and better teaching is what leads to higher test scores and better performance.”
One important element of the program––how to evaluate its success–– is still being worked out among board members. McKee said he has been working to build ties with UVA education scholars and is hopeful that a program will be put in place shortly.
Laufer agrees.
“I think pedagogically, we have to make sure that we are evaluating our program to see if it has an effective use in the classroom, but I do believe it’s a great idea,” she said.
Just like the people who make up the Occupy Wall Street movement, the members of Occupy Charlottesville are indignant about the state of corporate corruption in the U.S. government and “sick” of a small portion of the population “controlling the majority of the wealth, resources and labor equity.”
But in Charlottesville, the so-called 99 percent has encountered an unexpected ally: the local homeless population. Since the camp at Lee Park has been given a 30-day renewable permit from the City, some of the area’s homeless have become an important part of the cause, securing the camp at night and serving as practical examples for the movement’s newly discovered local bone of contention: taking care of each other and of those people most affected by the financial downturn.
Kali Cichon
Age: 25
Occupation: on disability
“One of the interesting things about this movement is that we have all decided that while we identify as a group, we are autonomous. There are people here who are trying to change some of the zoning and coding laws to make it easier to provide outreach services, that’s more political than I usually get into. There are people here who are just offering to show support and be here, which is also very important.
“It’s funny because a lot of us don’t really agree politically. A problem and great thing about a movement that encompasses 99 percent of the population is that we don’t have one special interest. We are not here to save the polar bears or reduce carbon emissions. The financial crisis is a big part of it, because it has affected everybody, but we are also here knowing that even if we all have individual interests, we are here to make society better for everybody. We are here to make government and the system suit our needs and that means something different for everybody.”
Shawna Murphy
Age: 27
Occupation: “wage slave” and pizza delivery
“I was inspired when I saw people doing it in New York and when you are alone in your mind, you do a lot of thinking, ‘What can we do?’ We don’t have any option in terms of change or die. If we don’t succeed, we are not going to have a country to pass down to our children. The ball has been dropped, and the ball needs to be picked up.
“We have a town that has a ridiculous amount of money, a ridiculous amount of people working service jobs. Charlottesville itself is authentic. The problem is that it’s not really acknowledging into itself that it cares about the suffering of others. Charlottesville has a conscience, which is more than you can say about a lot of other places in this world. Charlottesville wants to be in synch with its conscience. That’s why we have a lot of support. It’s like popcorn. It’s popping up in the general consciousness.”
John Wendel
Age: 21
Occupation: computer repair person
“When I first got here, I was motivated by political and economical reasons, but after being here at night and seeing the way the bottom echelon of the 99 percent is being treated, it is all about unitarian rights and making sure that people who have been ignored by everyone else have someone to talk to and someone to help them.
“We need to have programs for people who are trying to make ends meet but can’t because of the cost of living in Charlottesville. The bus drivers, the teachers, a lot of them come out here and talk to me, and everyone is having a hard time. There’s no reason to be paving the downtown mall with new bricks when you’ve got people out here with mental health issues who are being completely ignored and the only help they get is a meal.”
Ian Downie
Age: 26
Occupation: UVA student; Marine veteran; and movement sympathizer
“The people who come here are really interested in getting change and fixing society’s problems. A lot of times, I don’t even agree with them, but the fact that they’re willing to come out here and do this for change shows a real quality of character.
“A few points of their philosophy I really agree with. Their whole ‘consensus-based decision making,’ I find that to be awesome. I really admire that. A lot of their economic stuff, unfortunately, I think is naïve. I think they have the right goals in mind, but maybe don’t have the right means of getting there.
“I’m a Libertarian. The whole Libertarian focus is just to end the force of the law in all human interactions. All the problems with the financial crisis, I think all of it stems from the government coming in and saying ‘You have to do things this way’ and it just mangles the market. Some of the people here wouldn’t agree with that.”
Brent Palmer
Age: 31
Occupation: unemployed farmer
“The biggest thing is to break the grip of big corporations, corporate powers have on politics. Right now they fund most of the political campaigns, which means that Congress owes most of their careers to the 1 percent and not to the people who actually vote for them. We just need to get corporate money completely out of politics. Locally, for me, the big reason I am here is to raise awareness of the national issues, but at the same time, we are able to do a lot for the homeless. We are able to call attention to some issues with the parks, really get people thinking about their community.
“Locally, the big thing is that homeless people aren’t allowed to sleep in the parks. Right now, the ones who are part of the movement have kind of a lucky break, a lot of others can’t because they are not interested in this sort of thing and don’t know about it. They just want to find a place to sleep and that’s a crime. I have heard that there is a lot of talk going around about stopping them from going to the park and panhandling for money, which for many of them is their livelihood. In a time when the economy is this bad, the most important thing that we can do on a local level is take care of the people who are the most affected by it.”
John S. Marr
Age: 71
Occupation: retired, former epidemiologist and published author
“The movement is very young and it is not against government, but really capitalism, which has really destroyed the economy. It will draw the attention of others, because 99 percent of the people in the world are ‘the others,’ to reorganize it, hopefully, if possible, to make capitalism fair. It’s not fair now, it’s egregious.
“What I love about this movement is that it’s 21st century technology essentially combating the 20th century. Here we have a new group of people who is so far ahead of the government and is planning strategies and occupying could lead to other concomitant, satellite organizations, so that it won’t be literally to ‘occupy’ a specific place.
“What I begin to see here is synchronicity, almost like a mean that is immediately known to everyone, everywhere. As if ideas are being planted. Obviously, they are being communicated via the Internet. I really think this is going to be a major movement come this spring. It will be very interesting to see how the politicians and the political parties deal with it. I don’t think it’s going to be co-opted either by the left or the right.”
With city and county elections only a week away, anything is fair game, even endorsing your opponent. Last week, Independent candidate for City Council Bob Fenwick did the unthinkable and publicly supported Democratic candidate Dede Smith.
He did it in an attempt to break up the “old line party” majority currently held by outgoing Councilor David Brown and Councilors Kristin Szakos and incumbent Satyendra Huja.
Fenwick said if he and Smith were elected, and only one of Smith’s Democratic running mates, Norris would have the support he needed to advance issues like dredging and transparency in government, among other things.
“The whole point of the endorsement is the realization that if Dave doesn’t get a working majority, then it’s going to be the same old stuff we have been running into for the last three years,” said Fenwick.
Although Fenwick said he and Smith agree on a variety of issues that go beyond dredging, the community water supply plan played an important role in the election.
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Bob Fenwick said he has “changed the political landscape” by taking strong stances on certain issues, something nobody outside of the Democratic Party has done in a while.
Dede Smith says that her priorities are very similar to her Democratic running mates: transportation, housing and education. |
Both are members of Citizens for a Sustainable Water Plan and have been vocal supporters, like Norris, of dredging the South Fork Rivanna Reservoir to meet future water demands. Brown, Huja and Szakos voted in February to construct a 30′ earthen dam at Ragged Mountain, something Fenwick said is expensive and not a priority.
Fenwick thinks his chances to win one of the three Council seats this year are better than during his 2009 attempt. He believes a new majority on the Council, one that includes him and Smith, is in the city’s best interest.
“Dede is a details person who can get in the weeds and I think I’m more of a generalist,” said Fenwick. “On the dredging-damming issue, to me, it’s a no brainer. You take care of what you have before you go and build something new. Dede is more interested in stream flows, monitors on the rivers. I think we’d make a good team.”
Smith, who made headlines for not reciprocating Fenwick’s endorsement, said that in the event of a new majority, the balance of power would “sway toward a different perspective.” But she has committed herself to running as a ticket with two other Democrats and isn’t sure issues she and Fenwick agree on, such as the water plan and the Meadow Creek Parkway, will still be up for a new vote if they are elected.
“It’s really an unknown,” she said.
When Smith won the Democratic nomination along with Huja and Kathy Galvin, critics of the so-called “establishment” looked to her as an alternative. In fact, in a press conference before the primary, Galvin denounced some candidates, read Smith, as having adopted a “bunker mentality about a particular issue or set of issues,” presumably the water supply plan and the parkway. Now, Smith, Huja and Galvin are running a “unified” campaign.
When asked how the three Democrats, who have such different stances on certain issues, will move forward on Council, Smith pointed to the current elected officials.
“This is what the current Council looks like, so it’s nothing new for the Democratic party,” said Smith. “If anything, given that Council is usually all within the Democratic Party, it’s a good thing, it provides some different perspectives and will provoke some great discussion, should we all get in.”
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Kali Cichon
Age: 25
Occupation: on disability
Why are you here at Occupy Charlottesville?
I have had problems with anxiety in the past and I felt that my disabilities were preventing me from helping other people, but when I came here and I helped people I was really excited about it. Maybe I am not changing the world, but I am making somebody’s day better and that’s cool. I have been really interested in homeless outreach since I have been here, I met some pretty amazing guys.
We run completely on donations, we have not been asking for any sort of cash donations, a couple of people will pitch in their own money. We have some people who are here who are homeless and we have extra food, so we are willing to share, we have some people here who are just here for the Occupy movement and we are offering them food as well.
One of the interesting things about this movement is that we have all decided that while we identify as a group, we are autonomous. We do have people who are involved in a variety of local issues. It’s funny because a lot of us don’t really agree politically. A problem and great thing about a movement that encompasses 99 percent of the population is that we don’t have one special interest. We are not here to save the polar bears or reduce carbon emissions. The financial crisis is a big part of it, because it has affected everybody, but we are also here knowing that even if we all have individual interests, we are here to make society better for everybody. We are here to make government and the system suit out needs and that means something different from anybody here.
It’s kind of scary to say that I come here to change the world, I don’t even know how to do that. The way that I try to make myself useful is by focusing on the pragmatic, small details: Somebody needs to do dishes, somebody needs to make coffee, somebody needs to clean up the area. It has been amazing how much the community is helping us. I have been disappointed, though. Charlottesville likes to paint itself as an activist town, but I haven’t seen that many people show up and I want people to know that you don’t have to commit your entire life to this movement, if you just stop by for half and hour and show your support. You don’t have to be a martyr for this cause to be part of it.
Brent Palmer
Age: 31
Occupation: unemployed farmer
The biggest thing is to break the grip of big corporations, corporate powers have on politics and right now they fund most of the political campaigns, which means that Congress owes most of their careers to the 1 percent and not to the people who actually vote for them. We just need to get corporate money completely out of politics. Locally, the big reason I am here is to raise awareness of the national issues, but at the same time, we are able to do a lot for the homeless, we are able to call attention to some issues with the parks, really get people thinking about their community.
We actually have a lot of homeless people who have joined our movement and a lot of them are employed and struggling to get ahead and make a better live for themselves with the current state of the economy is impossible.
The big thing is that homeless people aren’t allowed to sleep in the parks. Right now, the ones who are part of the movement have kind of a lucky break, a lot of others can’t because they are not interested in this sort of thing and don’t know about it. They just want to find a place to sleep and that’s a crime. I have heard that there is a lot of talk going around about stopping them from going to the park and panhandle for money, which for many of them is their livelihood. In a time when the economy is this bad, the most important thing that we can do on a local level is take care of the people who are the most affected by it.
Right now you have a lot of people talking about budget cuts, but budget cuts get rid of services that we all need and they destroy jobs. It’s a double hit to the economy. What we need is things that will create jobs and so that way people do have money to buy things like locally farmed goods. As long as people are employed, it’s better for everyone.
For more profiles of Occupy Charlottesville members check out next week’s C-VILLE on newstands Tuesday, November 1. Photos by Chiara Canzi.
At Occupy Charlottesville, the mood is jovial. A few movement members are sitting on a couch in the middle of Lee Park playing music. Others are gathered at the kitchen tent, the only source of fresh food and water for the entire camp.
The movement recently obtained a renewable 30-day permit to stay in the park, and members are now saying they intend to stay put for as long as they physically can, even through Christmas.
According to a press release entitled "Declaration of Occupy Charlottesville," the group is occupying the park because they "are tired of corporate corruption within our government and its effects within our community." They are also, apparently, "sick of the minority of the population controlling the majority of the wealth, resources and labor equality."
The declaration also states Occupy’s core values, which include accepting anyone who is interested in joining the cause: "If you are human and want economic and social justice you can take part. Mutual respect, equality, nonviolence, and helping each other "materially, financially, or spiritually" are other core values.
More and more tents are popping up every day.
Homemade bread pudding.
The camp lists its daily activities on a board that sits at the foot of Robert E. Lee’s statue.
Samples of the calendar of events.
The kitchen tent.
The entrace to the camp from Market Street. Chiara Canzi photos.
