Author: jayson-whitehead

The contentious melee that mired the State legislature in a three-month delay—the longest ever—finally reached some sort of resolution on Wednesday, June 28 when members of the Virginia House of Delegates approved a $72 billion state budget (minus $22 million Republicans stripped out at the last minute). Although Governor Tim Kaine has until July 7 to offer amendments or veto the two-year spending plan, area delegates are ready to hail at least one aspect of the proposed budget, the money doled out to UVA.
    It was a good year. The State budget includes $149 million for UVA’s Academic Division for FY 2006-07—a figure that accounts for 15 percent of UVA’s academic budget. An additional $18.8 million was given for research, along with $47 million for capital projects. The UVA Medical Center took home $25 million in State money for a new cancer center.
    All told, UVA is raking in nearly $240 million in State money for the next two years.
    “In terms of funding from the budget, this has been a relatively strong year for UVA,” says Delegate Rob Bell (R-Albemarle). “In terms of research deals, this has been one of the better years,” he says, referring to the Cancer Center as the “crown jewel.”
    Bell says any money granted to UVA as a boon for Charlottesville. “UVA is the economic engine for the entire region, and the area’s single largest employer by a pretty large margin,” Bell says. Delegate David Toscano (D-Charlottesville) cites repeated studies showing that each dollar spent on the University generates a “multiplier” effect. “It reverberates in the community,” he says, “creating more jobs, economic activity and ultimately millions of dollars of impact.”

Rarely does someone get to vote on their own salary—but on Wednesday, June 7, the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors did exactly that when they agreed to raise their yearly compensation to a robust $13,530 from the paltry sum of $13,016. The 3.95 percent boost matched the yearly increase for all County employees.
Although the supes are all (supposedly) part-time, and don’t rely solely on their public-service pay, the current rate still seems awfully low when compared to Loudon County (with a similar growth rate, albeit a much larger population, members make over $22,000 a year). In Roanoke, government officials just voted themselves a salary increase to $15,409.
When asked by a reporter how many hours Albemarle supervisors work weekly, Chair Dennis Rooker guessed that he works at least 20, sometimes more. In addition, “we spend more time outside the meetings,” he pointed out, “talking to constituents, or going to other meetings.” That would put Rooker’s rate at about $13 an hour. As the newest member on the board, David Slutsky has actually tracked his time and said he’s putting in 40 hours per week, putting him at a wage that would make even UVA blush: $6.77 an hour.—Jayson Whitehead

Do you get mad when you find a $25 parking ticket stuck under your windshield wiper? Then imagine CBS’ reaction on March 15 when the Federal Communications Commission fined it a record $3.6 million for airing “indecent” material in an episode of “Without a Trace.” The network, along with Fox (which was also penalized for a separate incident), fired back by filing suit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
Last week, the nonprofit Center for Creative Voices in Media joined the network suit when it filed a motion to intervene. “We are suing the FCC for inconsistent and arbitrary application of its indecency regulations for television,” says Charlottesville resident Jonathan Rintels, the Center’s executive director. “The way they are applying these rules violates our First Amendment rights,” he says
In determining whether material is indecent, the FCC uses a number of factors (see www.fcc.gov for details) and ultimately judges each incident on a case-by-case basis. The lack of specific guidelines has created an environment where networks have little idea what will land on the Commission’s radar. Calling their decisions “consistently inconsistent,” Rintels says that the FCC’s latest action has only compounded the uncertainty.
“That causes a tremendous amount of self-censorship because people just don’t know where the line is,” he says.
The situation will likely intensify now that a Senate committee has approved legislation that raises the current maximum fine the FCC can levy to $325,000 from $32,500 (the fines can accrue into the millions because the FCC can fine each of a networks’ local affiliates separately). “That’s probably going to create the amount of speech that’s censored tenfold,” says Rintels. “For a local station, that’s serious.”
As the father of two young children, Rintels says he sympathizes with parents concerned about the coarseness of contemporary culture, but believes that parents should take more of a role. “That’s one of the perverse things about this whole government censorship of television,” he says, citing the V-Chip, cable and satellite TV boxes, and the ratings system as just a few of the many aids at their disposal. “Parents don’t think that they need to take responsibility, and the government will take it for them. That’s wrong,” Rintels declares. “We have it absolutely backwards. The government shouldn’t be censoring content. Parents should pick and choose what their families see.”—Jayson Whitehead

The hottest new market for local real estate magnates is… Lynchburg? You heard it right. That stodgy bastion of religious conservatism, home of Jerry Falwell, is poised for an urban renaissance. A pair of local builders have become major players in Lynchburg, saying the real estate market there is poised to make huge gains in the coming years.

“Charlottesville is still a good investment, but I’m not 100 percent sure the returns will be that high,” says Oliver Kuttner, who says he owns 21 buildings in Lynchburg. Kuttner says real estate markets go in cycles, and while Charlottesville sits atop a price peak, Lynchburg is on the upswing. “Lynchburg kind of died and got stuffy and old, and now it’s going to go in the opposite cycle,” he predicts. He claims that young creative types will be drawn to the town’s cheap prices and cool warehouse spaces.

Michael Gaffney, owner of Gaffney Homes and a major investor in Sonabank, is also representing in the big L. “The city government is great to work with,” says Gaffney. “They’ve done a great job of putting money into infrastructure.”

Gaffney and Kuttner are partners on some Lynchburg projects, including the purchase of the entire west side of the 700 block of Fifth Street. “Things are relatively inexpensive compared to almost everywhere else,” said Gaffney, who also purchased two 20-30 acre parcels he plans to turn into mixed-use developments.

Kuttner and Gaffney are gaga over Lynchburg’s spirit of accommodation. After Kuttner expressed interest in a Riverfront building that the city planned to demolish, they instead gave it to him for $1 with the stipulation that he put in a tenant within a specific time period.

“In Lynchburg, I have more of a free hand for what I want to do,” he said. “The town [doesn’t] get bogged down in the details. In Charlottesville…50 people have to agree before anything gets done.” —Jayson Whitehead