Author: chiara-canzi

A U.S. District Judge will soon decide whether a lawsuit brought by five homeless men against the City of Charlottesville over its soliciting ordinance can move forward. But for Jeffrey Fogel, the attorney representing the men, moving the case to the next stage could turn out to be an uphill battle. After hearing arguments from both sides, Judge Norman K. Moon seemed skeptical that the ordinance violates or restricts the rights of the plaintiffs. 

In the lawsuit against the city, five homeless men, including Michael Sloan (pictured), claim the city’s soliciting ordinance violates their consitutional rights. District Judge Norman Moon heard pretrial arguments and will decide whether to move the suit forward.

“Is it a real hardship on these people?” he asked Fogel, after the attorney made his case. 

“It’s a real hardship on the First Amendment, Your Honor,” said Fogel. 

The lawsuit, filed in June, claims that the soliciting ordinance approved by City Council in August 2010 violates both the First and Fourteenth Amendments. 

The city’s ordinance restricts soliciting, formerly known as panhandling, within 15′ of a bank or ATM machine during business hours; on private property, within 50’ in any direction of the two vehicular crossings on the Mall, at Second and Fourth streets; and “from or to” any individual seated at an outdoor café or doing business at a vendor table. 

The ordinance also restricts “aggressive” panhandling, which the lawsuit doesn’t challenge. In fact, Fogel told reporters that the difference between passive and aggressive panhandling is “the crux of this case.” 

“If I go up and I ask a friend of mine for a glass of water, it’s a crime in Charlottesville to do that from somebody seated at an outdoor café,” he said. “The police may not enforce the law that way, but that’s exactly what the law says.” 

Judge Moon reminded Fogel that soliciting was still possible on the Mall and said that the suit tended to “trivialize” the First Amendment. 

“I was a little disturbed by that because there are many things that one could say trivialize the First Amendment,” Fogel told reporters after the hearing. “Things may seem trivial to some people and may be important to others, but most importantly you must have a zone of protection around the First Amendment.” 

Richard Milnor, an attorney representing the city, argued that the restrictions in the ordinance do not regulate free speech, but rather, they are regulations that affect a place. He also said it applies to all types of soliciting—by the plaintiffs, Salvation Army kettle ringers or others. 

While the legal fight is in the hands of Judge Moon, Downtown Mall business owners continue to assess the effectiveness of the panhandling ordinance. Tony LaBua, owner of Chaps Ice Cream, said the restrictions have not worked and things have gotten worse. 

“Since the onset of the lawsuit, there appears to be more panhandling [on the Downtown Mall],” he said. “I don’t know why the city allows it.”  

During a recent family vacation, LaBua said he saw solicitors carrying a permit. “What a great idea,” he said. Because Charlottesville has become “homeless friendly,” he said—and homeless people “come from all over the country”—the city’s image can be damaged. 

But enforcing the ordinance has not been a challenge for city police, and Lt. Ronnie Roberts said he couldn’t “say to a degree there has been an increase” in panhandlers on the Downtown Mall. Even complaints didn’t rise.

“The biggest thing that you hear from some of the people is that they don’t want to be bothered by them,” said Roberts.  

Should Judge Moon find that the plaintiffs, who were not present in court, do not have standing, Fogel said he will “make a motion to amend the complaint to be more specific.” If the case moves forward as is, Fogel said he expects his clients to be present and to testify.

Former Mayor and local political heavyweight Blake Caravati appeared in the Charlottesville Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court last Friday morning for charges stemming from his September 9 arrest at his home on Little High Street in the city. 

Former Charlottesville Mayor Blake Caravati was arrested and charged with assault of a family member on September 9 at his home on Little High Street. He will next appear in court on October 21 at 9:30am.   James Halfaday, former Democratic City Council candidate, is being investigated for making false statements, a Class 5 Felony in the Commonwealth that carries a hefty penalty.

According to the arrest warrant, Caravati, 60, was charged with Class 1 misdemeanor assault on a family member, his wife Paula Caravati. 

Because of a conflict of interest with Charlottesville’s Commonwealth’s Attorney, Ronald Morris, Commonwealth’s Attorney for Greene County, will prosecute the case. 

Although Caravati did not comment, his attorney Sheila Haughey told reporters that “one of the hallmarks of this community, that I have long appreciated … is the way that we tend to treat our better-known residents … we tend to treat them the way most of us would want to be treated.” She added: “This family has obviously hit a rough patch, let’s leave them alone.” 

Caravati’s next court appearance has been set for October 21 at 9:30am. 

Caravati served as mayor of the City of Charlottesville from 2000 to 2002 and was first elected to City Council in 1998. 

The saying “politics is a dirty game” may ring true for former Democratic City Council candidate James Halfaday, who is being investigated for election fraud. 

Halfaday, who finished seventh out of seven candidates in the Democratic firehouse primary, claimed on his official campaign filings that he was co-owner of Snap Fitness, a gym in the Seminole Square Shopping Center. According to published reports, Halfaday was never an owner, but merely a member. Charlottesville Registrar Sheri Iachetta said the Charlottesville Electoral Board met last Wednesday to discuss “credible information that they have been given about some of the forms that Mr. Halfaday turned in as a Council candidate,” and ultimately directed her to “turn over the statement of economic interest, which is one of the forms that all the City Council candidates are required to fill out, to the Commonwealth’s Attorney for investigation,” she said. 

Making false statements is a Class 5 Felony in the Commonwealth and carries “a term of imprisonment of not less than one year nor more than 10 years,” and a $2,500 fine. In her 12 years as the Registrar, Iachetta said she “has never seen” a situation quite like this one. 

But there is more. Halfaday wrote on one of his websites that he was elected, as an 18-year-old, “to a City Council term in my hometown where I grew up in the State of Illinois.” According to documents obtained by C-VILLE, Halfaday was elected Village Trustee, of Dunfermline, Illinois, in 1999. At the time, Dunfermline was town of less than 300 people and its governing board was comprised of a Village President, six trustess and a Village Clerk, not exactly a City Council. 

Residents of Crescent Hall and Fifeville want more police officers patrolling their neighborhood during the day and night, especially in Tonsler Park. For several years, concerns over community policing, in which officers are assigned to specific neighborhoods, have been persistent at both sites. But last Wednesday night, during an open meeting with City Council members at the Crescent Hall public housing project, residents put their calls for improved law enforcement ahead of numerous maintenance issues, from broken elevators to overflowing toilets.

Residents of Crescent Hall (pictured), the second largest public housing site in the city, told Council members last week that they wanted improved community policing around their home as well as Tonsler Park, which saw more than 100 drug violations within a half-mile radius in the last year.

While Tonsler Park is finally undergoing improvements, some residents said they don’t feel comfortable sending their children to play in an area they claim is known for drug problems. (An eighth grade student from Buford Middle School confirmed the sentiment.) The park, part of the Fifeville neighborhood, is only a half-mile walk from Crescent Hall, but that half-mile is enough for some parents to keep their children indoors. The city’s CrimeView website lists 106 drug violations within a half-mile radius of the park in the last year. Narrowed to within 1,000′ of the park, the search produced 26 drug violations.

Officer Harvey Finkel told residents that the best way to protect a community investment is to alert police to suspicious activity. Residents replied that police officers are in the vicinity at odd times, and it would perhaps be beneficial to have a few stationed on-site permanently.  

“Unfortunately, I don’t think the city has the resources from any department to put someone down there all day, every day to watch the park,” said Finkel.

According to Finkel, the Charlottesville Police Department has six community police officers dispatched in three different city neighborhoods: two on Prospect Avenue (south of Tonsler), two for Hardy Drive in the Westhaven public housing project, and two for Fifeville. 

Lieutenant Ronnie Roberts tells C-VILLE that the two officers who are assigned to Fifeville have been there for the past two years. They work in the park during the day and regular police officers take over at night, until 1am or 2am. Putting a full-time officer at the park day and night would not be “cost-effective,” and the struggling economy has strained the department’s resources.

“We are providing police services to the area, not only from the community policing unit, but we are also utilizing staff from field operations…to also police the area,” says Roberts. “It’s what we call a collaborative effort.”

Roberts says the patrolling has yielded some results. “We have seen a dramatic drop in calls for service there at the park,” he says. “We staffed it with police officers during the evenings and the officers have been doing walking patrols.”  

Crescent Hall resident Mary Carey, who wasn’t satisfied with Finkel’s responses, told Council members that, years ago, community policing felt inclusive and played a very important role in the neighborhood. Today, however, it has taken on new meaning.

“Community policing is like it says: community policing,” said Carey. “It’s not spot-checking police officers in neighborhoods. It’s bringing the neighborhood and the police together to police the neighborhood.” 

Mayor Dave Norris said that in the past the Charlottesville Police Department had more officers who grew up in town and knew the community intimately. “I’d like to see us figure out a better way of trying to recruit and develop more talent from within the community, because that’s going to help with community policing,” he responded.  

For Crescent Hall resident Overy Johnson, creating a safe neighborhood goes beyond strict police work. In fact, Johnson, who grew up in New York City, says the community could police itself if its infrastructure, like parks, were regularly improved.

“It’s not about intimidating these young kids out there,” he tells C-VILLE. “Give the kids something they need.”

 The line that formed outside the Southwood Community Center stretched out of sight. Moms, dads, students, teachers and administrators gathered on August 16 to get a piece of the fun at the second annual Back-to-School Festival, an event designed to help Southwood families celebrate and prepare for the start of the school year. This year, the event’s attendance ballooned to an estimated 350 people. 

Much of Albemarle County’s rapidly growing Latino population is based in Southwood Mobile Home Park, which houses more than 270 Albemarle County Public School students. According to census numbers, Albemarle’s Latino population increased more than 200 percent to 5,417 in 2010, up from just over 2,000 in 2000. Statewide, Latinos now account for 8 percent of the population. 

Bernard Hairston, executive director of Community Engagement and Strategic Planning for county schools, says the event’s purpose is to connect “with families who may not be so inclined to visit our schools.” According to data from Hairston’s office, the number of Latino students in 26 county schools has nearly doubled over the past five years, from 575 in 2005 to 1,070 in the recently ended academic year. 

Gloria Rockhold, Community Engagement Manager with county schools and a native Spanish speaker, works as a liaison between Latino families and the school system. In 2009, however, a tight budget endangered Rockhold’s position as the sole connection to the Latino community. The School Board has since made her job full-time, a decision Hairston says was guided by the enrollment projections of Latino students. “We have seen a tremendous growth year to year,” he says. 

Cale Elementary has the highest number of Latino students in the county, with 148 for the 2010-2011 academic year, or 26.8 percent of its total student population. Rockhold says the school had to increase its classes, “because all of a sudden, its enrollment is much more than it had projected,” she says. The largest jump in Latino student population was recorded at Woodbrook Elementary with 20.8 percent this past year, up from 6.7 percent in 2005. 

County school officials say that, due to new federal race and ethnicity reporting standards, the number of Latino students may be a bit skewed. New regulations allow students to select their ethnicity as Latino and their race as white, potentially increasing the number of reported Latinos. 

Hairston says that the resources the county puts into the engagement of Latino families will pay off in the long run. “The greater the parental involvement, the greater the student achievement,” he says. 

Those resources extend into the community, as well. Rockhold works with local agencies that serve Southwood, such as Habitat for Humanity and Children Youth and Family Services. 

“I manage my programs with community partners,” she says. “If I did not have community partners and volunteers to help me, I think it would be difficult for me to do all the things that I do.” But Rockhold says there is never a time when the community has not come through for her. 

“I feel like the community really backs me up,” she says.—Chiara Canzi 

With more than 270 county students living in Southwood, the Back-to-School Festival there gave neighborhood families the chance to meet schools’ administrators and teachers. Many Southwood students attend Cale Elementary, the school with the highest number of Latinos enrolled. 

Cale Elementary has the highest number of Latino students in the county with 148 for the 2010-2011 academic year, or 26.8 percent of its total student population.