Airbnb says it has 1,100 listings in the Charlottesville area.
Over graduation weekend, Fry’s Spring resident Chris Meyer rented his house for a “ridiculous amount of money to someone from California,” he said at City Council May 20.
He appeared before council to complain about the difficulty he encountered in getting the proper city permits and in trying to remit the transient occupancy tax, and asked councilors: Why not do what Alexandria and Blacksburg do and have Airbnb collect the lodging tax? He also suggested raising the rate from 7 percent to 15 or 20 percent, and using that money for affordable housing rental vouchers.
Mayor Nikuyah Walker commended his “very different perspective,” and councilor Kathy Galvin noted that in 2018, the city lost about 250 housing units to short-term rentals.
Commissioner of Revenue Todd Divers is not enthusiastic about the idea of turning lodging tax collection over to a “multinational corporate entity that has repeatedly shown its willingness to flout tax, zoning, and regulatory structures all over the world.”
In a memo to City Council and City Manager Tarron Richardson, Divers says his office is doing a “fantastic” job of collecting transient occupancy tax of licensed homestays—over $1 million since the city created a hotel residential permit a few years ago.
His problem with having Airbnb collect the lodging tax is that the company will not disclose the identity and location of hosts, nor will it allow the city to audit its tax records more than once every four years, which means the city has to take Airbnb’s word it’s collecting all the taxes. Meanwhile, the city still must make sure hosts have business licenses and homestay permits.
Divers also questions how Airbnb can determine the appropriate jurisdiction for an Albemarle rental with a Charlottesville address.
“We’ve done this all over the world,” says Airbnb spokesperson Liz DeBold Fusco. Airbnb has collected more than $1 billion in taxes in 400 municipalities. “I’m not sure why [Divers] thinks our methods don’t work.”
She also “vehemently” disagrees with his characterization the company flouts regulations. “We think that’s baseless.”
Divers points out that 189 jurisdictions in Virginia collect lodging taxes, and he contends that rather than asking why Charlottesville doesn’t follow the Alexandria/Blacksburg model, the question should be, “why did 187 other jurisdictions in Virginia reject it?”
In Meyer’s case, Divers says someone who rents out his home once or twice a year, is “de minimis” by taxation standards, which means the person doesn’t have to get the short-term rental permit. “I’m not going to make you do anything” as far as trying to collect the lodging tax, says Divers, although one is still free to pay the tax if he wants.
However, he’s still checking the Airbnb website, and if someone claims to have an infrequent rental and he finds out otherwise, “I’m going to come to get you,” says Divers.
Meyer met with Divers after the City Council meeting, and learned he didn’t have to do the paperwork, but he still feels the city should be collecting the $125 tax in his case.
And he likes the idea of making a difference between the lodging tax hotels pay and the tax on short-term rentals, upping the transient occupancy tax to 15 or 20 percent on the latter to help mitigate the loss of housing stock.
“That excess revenue should be plowed into rental housing vouchers,” he says, “to help people displaced by Airbnb.”
Developer Oliver Kuttner owns nine apartments on the Downtown Mall that he rents full-time on Airbnb, for which he pays more than $1,000 per month in transient occupancy taxes. He says the city pays “lip service” to affordable housing. In 2015, he wanted to build micro-apartments behind the Glass Building on Second Street SE, but couldn’t get the rezoning needed. An office building is now going up in that spot.
“It cost me $80,000 [in permits] and six months of my life to be denied the permit to build micro-units,” he says. “The city is the single biggest obstacle to lower-cost apartments.”
Now, he wants more decentralized hotels like Airbnb. “We need to support the person who wants to build one hotel,” says Kuttner. “I would like to see more independent hotels than a fifth Marriott downtown.”
Currently Charlottesville has no plans to funnel lodging taxes into affordable housing vouchers, says city spokesperson Brian Wheeler. The taxes go into the general fund, which funds the city’s affordable housing initiatives, he says.
Meyer says he thinks Divers is doing a “very good job” in collecting the lodging tax, but says, “I wonder if we can do better.”
Amanda Knox sees disturbing similarities between her murder conviction and that of Jens Soering, which she explores in an eight-part podcast. Submitted photo
Like Jens Soering, Amanda Knox was a college student when she was convicted of murder. She spent four years in an Italian prison for the 2007 murder of her roommate in Perugia, and her case became a cause célèbre before she was acquitted in 2015.
Since her return to the United States, she’s become an activist for the wrongfully accused, and has a podcast with Sundance called “The Truth about True Crime.”
Knox sees similarities in her case and Soering’s that “cut to the bone,” she says in the first of the eight-part series that streamed May 29.
Soering was convicted of the brutal 1985 murders of Bedford couple Derek and Nancy Haysom, the parents of his girlfriend, Elizabeth Haysom. Soering was 18 when he met the two-and-a-half years older Haysom at UVA, where they both were Echols scholars.
He was also a virgin, who said he was besotted with the alluring older woman. Soering said when Haysom told him she’d killed her parents, he offered to take the fall, believing that because his father was a German diplomat, he’d have immunity that would limit his imprisonment to 10 years.
The case was an international sensation, with Soering described as a “love slave” to Haysom’s “femme fatale,” says Knox. Her series “paints a much more human picture.”
She, too, was caricatured, called “Lady Macbeth” and a “master manipulator.” Says Knox, “When I hear these descriptions, alarm bells go off.”
She lists other “haunting and almost unbelievable echoes” to her own case: the brutality of the slayings, the police screw-ups, the young lovers as suspects, the media spectacle, the disputed alibi, and the questionable forensics.
“It all gave me déjà vu,” says Knox.
Jens Soering has been in prison for 33 years, and Knox is the latest high-profile person to voice support for him, joining writer John Grisham, actor Martin Sheen, Albemarle Sheriff Chip Harding, Innocence Project founder Jason Flom, and most recently, former Nelson Mandela attorney Irwin Cotler.
A German documentary on the case called Killing for Love was released in 2016. That same year, Soering’s attorney, Steve Rosenfield, filed a petition for pardon to the administration of then-governor Terry McAuliffe, but McAuliffe didn’t act on it.
Three years later, the case is “in the hands of the pardon investigators,” says Harding, who believes it could wrap up this summer.
Harding thinks Knox’s involvement will help Soering’s case. “Public awareness will help in any case where there could be a wrongful conviction,” he says.
Soering was convicted by a jury in 1990 and sentenced to two life sentences, in part because of the testimony of Haysom, who is serving a 45-year sentence as an accessory before the fact.
Information the jury was given then can be challenged by subsequent technology, says Harding. For example, DNA analysis was not available at that time, and the jury would not have known that recent findings identified the blood of two different people at the Haysom home—but not Soering’s.
And some of the evidence the jury was given, such as a bloody sock print the prosecution claimed belonged to Soering, falls under the category today of “junk science.” Says Harding, “That jury was given information known to be wrong at the time.”
Frustrating for many reexamining the case, including Harding and a handful of other police investigators, is “the lack of cooperation from Bedford County,” where Soering was convicted, Harding says.
Says Knox, “What I learned shocked me, angered me, and moved me in ways I wasn’t ready for.”
Retiring Judge Bob Downer advises people appearing in court to have all their documentation—and don’t talk too much, because it’s easy to “dig the hole” that will convict them.
Tristan williams
Judge Bob Downer knows something about what it’s like to appear before a judge as a defendant. He’s been there. And it’s a story he’s told in court.
As a UVA graduate in 1970, Downer and some frat brothers, clearly under the influence of that era’s Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters, decided to swipe a “University of Virginia, second right,” sign off U.S. 29 and replace it with a cardboard one that said “Land of Oz,” adorned with a peace symbol.
He and his buddies didn’t get caught as they lay on the bank beside the highway to enjoy the reaction of passing drivers. It was putting the huge sign on the lintel over the door in the room of a fraternity brother that busted them, and he credits former Albemarle prosecutor Downing Smith’s handling of the case “with creative discretion” as a “life lesson” in his own career as a jurist.
“Downing Smith really didn’t want to see us convicted of something [like larceny] that would really affect us the rest of our lives, because he realized it was a prank, not a theft,” says Downer. The prosecutor found a code section for removing a legally posted highway sign, and charged the perpetrators $50.
Nearly 50 years later, on May 13, Downer, 70, received the Charlottesville-Albemarle Public Defender Office’s Gideon Award for his role in “ensuring equal justice.” Testimony from fellow judges and lawyers who’ve worked with him confirmed how respected Downer is in the legal community.
Charlottesville Circuit Court Judge Rick Moore considers him “an old friend and mentor.” Former public defender and current Albemarle commonwealth’s attorney candidate Jim Hingeley noted Downer’s “quality of humility” about the stories he tells about himself in court, as well as his “instinct for fairness.”
And attorney Matt Quatrara, who will succeed Downer on the general district court bench, recounted trying his first criminal case in front of Downer, who said one word: “Welcome.”
With an eye on retirement May 31, Downer—Bobby to his old friends—sits down with a reporter in his office, which has a needlepoint pillow that says, “Give a man an inch and he thinks he’s a ruler,” and talks about his 18 years as Charlottesville General District Court judge.
Since he took the bench in 2001, “It’s absolutely not the same,” he says. Downer remembers national tragedy 9/11 as the “busiest day I ever had,” with 350 cases on the docket in the morning, and 400 that afternoon. When his wife called to tell him a plane had struck the Pentagon, near where their son worked, Downer could only say, “I hope he’s safe,” and get back to work.
“Dockets have dramatically decreased,” he says, attributing that in part to the local evidence-based decision-making team, which includes representatives from police, probation, prosecution, and “everyone involved in the criminal justice system.”
The group has mapped what happens to a person from when a police officer is called to an incident, to the charging and booking, to serving a sentence. “We looked at all of those pieces and how we might improve them using evidence-based practices.”
He learned: Don’t mix high-risk people with low-risk people. Don’t overprogram people. And don’t interfere with family life and work. The program has been effective in reducing recidivism, he says. “We’ve reduced the jail population by one-third.”
Downer also stresses his pride in the therapeutic court docket, which works with cases involving the mentally ill. Those who complete the requirements of the program could have their sentences dismissed or suspended, and he’s got four people graduating May 28.
“I don’t judge people,” says Downer. “I just help people work through their problems.”
He’s heard many of the area’s high-profile cases, like UVA student George Huguely’s for the death of Yeardley Love, or the ones stemming from August 12. All of those he describes as “sad.” Says Downer, “The big thing for me is having compassion.”
However, some of the cases have been fun. He recalls the 17 UVA students who occupied then-president John Casteen’s office in 2006 in support of a living wage. When they appeared before him charged with trespassing, UVA Police Chief Mike Gibson testified he warned the students they had five minutes to leave or they’d be arrested. Downer took a recess to watch video of the arrests and timed the warning period at four minutes and 30 seconds.
“When you say they have five minutes to leave, you’ve got to give them five minutes to leave,” he said, and dismissed the charges.
“We’ve had a lot of protests,” says Downer, and if warranted, he will find protesters guilty. “Your civil disobedience would be meaningless if there weren’t consequences,” he observes.
Statistics say a general district court judge hears between 20,000 to 25,000 cases a year, although Downer points out that many of those are pleas. He’s had “a lot of close friends” who’ve appeared before him, and, ahem, this reporter—twice—and he says they don’t hold it against him.
“If you treat people with respect and they feel you’ve heard them and responded,” he says, “people are very forgiving.”
Downer admits his ambivalence about retiring. “I’ve loved doing this.” We suspect he’ll be back.
Primary day is June 11, and there’s more on the ballot than the 57th District race between Kathy Galvin and Sally Hudson. If you live in the city, the three people who win the Democratic nomination will likely be the ones to fill the three empty seats on City Council in November because of the city’s overwhelming Dem majority—although Nikuyah Walker upended that tradition with a win as an independent in 2017.
Albemarle has two Dems facing off in the Rio District, where Norman Dill did not want a second term on the Board of Supervisors, as well as in the sheriff’s race. And there’s a lot going on in the 17th Senate District, most of which is in Spotsylvania with a sliver of eastern Albemarle. Two Dems are looking to challenge incumbent state Senator Bryce Reeves, as is a member of his own party.
City Council
Sena Magill
Age: 46
Hometown: Charlottesville
Education: Tandem; PVCC;
then UVA, B.A. in psychology
Day job: Mom and owner of Hatpindolly Vintage; previously at PACEM and Region Ten
Political experience: Volunteer for Leslie Cockburn; member Charlottesville Democratic
Party Committee of 100; current Carver precinct co-chair
Biggest issue: Climate change and affordable housing. We
have a lot of work to do to reduce our carbon footprint.
We have to work on our public transit, city walk- and bikeability, density, and the efficiency of units, tying affordable housing and climate change together.
Special power: Problem solving, empathy, and understanding. And I can make a beautiful and tasty cake.
Lloyd Snook
Age: 66
Hometown: Born in Cranford, New Jersey. I moved here when I was 8.
Education: Venable; Walker; Lane High School; Stanford University, A.B. in economics; University of Michigan Law School, J.D.
Day job: Attorney, Snook
& Haughey, P.C.
Political experience: Chair of the Charlottesville Democratic Party, 2001-2004; on the
State Central Committee and the 5th District Democratic Committee, 2005-2013
Biggest issue: Getting city government working effectively again so that we can begin to address substantive issues like affordable housing.
Special power: Speed reading, and I stay up later at night than most normal people.
Michael Payne
Age: 26
Hometown: Charlottesville
Education: Hollymead and Baker Butler; Albemarle High School; William & Mary, B.A.
in government
Day job: Affordable housing advocate
Political experience: Common Good fellow; Tom Perriello’s 2010 congressional campaign; researcher, Tim Kaine’s 2012 Senate campaign; co-founded Indivisible Charlottesville; volunteer for multiple House
of Delegates campaigns in 2017; organizer with the Charlottesville Low-Income Housing Coalition
Biggest issue: Creating truly affordable housing, and preventing Charlottesville from becoming a small-town version of San Francisco.
Special power: Bringing people together through community organizing.
Bob Fenwick
Age: 73
Hometown: St. Louis, Missouri
Education: Georgetown University, B.S. in physics
Day job: Small business owner, general construction contractor
Political experience: One term on City Council 2013-2017; numerous city and community environmental, historical, planning, and budget committees
Biggest issue: Addressing the need for City Council to set representative, common-sense city policies that have achievable goals for all citizens.
Special power: Photographic memory…except for names.
Brian Pinkston
Age: 47
Hometown: Albany, Georgia
Education: Georgia Tech, B.S. in mechanical engineering; UVA, Ph.D. in philosophy
Day job: Project manager, facilities management, UVA
Political experience: Region Ten board member; active with Charlottesville Democratic Party; volunteered on Kellen Squire’s campaign in the 58th
Biggest focus: To build strong personal relationships among council members so that it can function well.
Special power: I guess this is a power I want to have? To be able to see in the dark.
Albemarle
Albemarle County
Board of Supervisors: Rivanna District
Bea LaPisto Kirtley
Age: 69
Hometown: Keswick
Education: B.A. in American studies; M.S. in school management and administration
Day job: Retired and a volunteer for local nonprofits—Piedmont CASA, Hospice of the Piedmont, and 100+ Women Who Care
Political experience: Mayor, council member, and planning commissioner in Bradbury, California; board of directors, South Coast Air Quality Management District; Metropolitan Transit Authority; California Contract Cities Association; San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments
Biggest issues: Transportation, education, affordable housing, and climate resilience.
Special power: Energy and focus.
Jerrod Smith
Age: 29
Hometown: Barboursville
Education: Albemarle High School; Bucknell University; UVA Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy, MPA
Day job: Grants analyst, PRA Health Sciences
Political experience: Rivanna District Democratic co-chair; member of the Places 29 North Community Advisory Committee
Biggest issue: Those that stem from income inequality throughout the region.
Special power: Facilitating collaboration.
Sheriff
Chan Bryant
Age: 49
Hometown: Charlottesville, member of the Scottsville community for the past 11 years
Education: Piedmont Virginia Community College, associate’s in police science; James Madison University, bachelor’s in business administration
Day job: Chief deputy for the Albemarle County Sheriff’s Office for the last four years
Political experience: None, but after knocking on hundreds of doors this spring, I’m learning a lot about it.
Biggest issue: Manpower shortage. We will be adding an extra circuit court judge and a Juvenile & Domestic Relations Court judge beginning July 1. Additional staffing was requested in the FY19/20 budget, but not all requested positions were approved. If elected, I will make needed staffing a top priority.
Special power: Time traveler— I would want to travel back in time to be able to tell my dad how much I love him since I did not get the chance to tell him before his sudden passing two years ago.
Patrick Estes
Age: 38
Hometown: Richmond
Education: University of Virginia
Day job: Regional director,
RMC Events
Political experience: First-time candidate
Biggest issue: To push the envelope of what it means to be elected in Albemarle beyond just core responsibilities, aiming to lead this office through community engagement, green-energy initiatives, growing partnerships with state and local officials, and more.
Special power: Incredible agility. From my time on the football field, to running security at the Super Bowl and events throughout Virginia, and raising three kids, I know what it means to be flexible and adaptable in every situation.
17th Senate District
Democratic primary
Amy Laufer
Age: 47
Hometown: Mt. Calvary, Wisconsin
Education: University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, B.S. in geology; Columbia Teachers College, M.Ed. in secondary science education
Day job: Math and science teacher until my second child was born with medical issues
Political experience: Commission for Children and Families as an advocate for children with special needs; Charlottesville School Board for seven years, serving as both vice chair and chair; founder of Virginia’s List, a PAC with the goal of electing women to Virginia state office
Biggest issue: As a former teacher and school board member, I am extremely passionate about education, including universal preschool, increased vocational and technical training, and [including] broadband [as]part of access to education.
Special power: Getting three kids out the door and to school on time!
Ben Hixon
Age: 36
Hometown: Monroe, Louisiana
Education: NYU; Hunter College; University of Washington
Day job: Computer scientist/engineer and community activist
Political experience: 2017 Democratic nominee for the 30th district of the House of Delegates; chair of the Culpeper County Democratic Party
Biggest issue: Strengthening education, including increasing teacher pay and affordability
of higher education and investing in trade schools and vocational training.
Special power: As an engineer, I seek to understand problems, develop solutions, and implement fixes that are practical and efficient. I don’t shy away from complexity, I focus on it.
Republican primary
Bryce Reeves
Age: 52
Hometown: Spotsylvania
Education: Texas A&M University; George Mason University
Day job: Owner and operator of Bryce Reeves State Farm Agency; former Army Ranger and police detective
Political experience: Senator, Virginia’s 17th Senate District; Spotsylvania County Republican Committee chair
Biggest issues: Protecting those with pre-existing conditions, and providing a variety of affordable health care options; protecting our most vulnerable: foster children and the unborn; supporting and ensuring the well-being of our veterans and law enforcement officers.
Special power: Would be to heal the sick.
Rich Breeden
Age: 50
Hometown: Waynesboro
Education: American Military University, BA and MA; Henley-Putnam University,
Ph.D. candidate,
Day job: Small business owner
Political experience: Not a politician, and have never run for public office until now
Biggest issue: Changing the way Richmond does business and bringing people from all walks of life together to solve the challenges facing the district. Defend the Constitution; protect the unborn; fight for redistricting reform, term limits, and campaign finance reforms; work with others to improve our education system; and address the challenges associated with emerging technologies and automation that will affect our job market.
Special power: My unique background working with emerging technologies gives
me an understanding of how automation is impacting today’s manufacturing, services, and transportation jobs, and how
these same technologies will threaten individual liberties.
For a detailed look at the 57th District Democratic primary, see our feature story.
Reporter Natalie Jacobsen sued Virginia State Police about August 12, 2017, public safety plans, and a judge ruled police must release them within 30 days.
staff photo
More than a year and a half after a freelance reporter requested the Virginia State Police and the Office of Public Safety turn over its Unite the Right public safety plans, a judge ruled today that it’s time for the state to cough them up—although with some confusion about redaction and release.
Natalie Jacobsen worked with Jackson Landers, both of whom have written for C-VILLE, on the documentary Charlottesville: Our Streets about the August 12, 2017, Unite the Right rally during which dozens were injured and Heather Heyer was killed. Police were widely criticized for standing by while white supremacists and counterprotesters clashed in the streets.
Jacobsen filed a request for the safety plans under the Freedom of Information Act in 2017, and when the state refused to produce any documents, she sued, aided by the nonprofit Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, which represents journalists around the world.
In Charlottesville Circuit Court last April, Judge Richard Moore ordered that the state turn over a redacted version of the safety plans. That same day, he issued a stay to the order so the commonwealth could appeal it.
In November, the Supreme Court of Virginia ruled against the state because its appeal was filed several days before Moore had issued a final order.
During the May 22 hearing, Deputy Attorney General Victoria Pearson maintained the state should not have to release the safety plans because FOIA exempts tactical plans and because some information was already released in the reports from the governor’s task force and Charlottesville’s Heaphy report.
Virginia State Police did not turn over its plans to either investigative group, said Pearson, although Heaphy did receive some information about state plans that she suggested wasn’t accurate.
“I don’t know what harm comes from not releasing the report,” said Pearson. “It would be our position the entire report is exempt. You can’t put the genie back in the bottle once it’s out.”
Moore said the crux of the case was to balance public safety—and public access. He agreed to lift the stay and ordered the release of redacted reports.
Then he brought up an issue of how the plan would be redacted, either by blacking out the material the state police consider exempt, or by deleting the information and providing Jacobsen only what was not redacted.
Typically when reporters receive material that’s been partially redacted, information is blacked out. That was the case when Attorney General William Barr released the Mueller report.
Moore said he agreed Jacobsen should have a redacted copy, but asked that she not release it.
“I strongly object.” said her attorney, Caitlin Vogus.
“Okay then, I won’t give it to her,” said Moore. “I don’t want it released prematurely. I don’t want her saying they blacked out 20 pages.”
“Ms. Jacobsen is not interested in anything she cannot release publicly,” replied Vogus.
Moore ordered the plans released—without restriction—within 30 days.
Jacobsen said she wants to see a document with blacked-out information so she can tell how much has been removed.
“It’s a right for the public to see this information, because this was a public event,” she said after the hearing. “The Unite the Right rally actually resulted in the death of a civilian and two officers and that is pertinent and the public has a right to view it.“
She called it a “dangerous precedent” for police to think they don’t have to release information because it’s already been released by a leak or another firm, especially when the state says there may be discrepancies in the Heaphy report.
“We need to see what those discrepancies are,” said Jacobsen.
The decision, she said, “is a big win for freedom of information. It’s a right for the public to see it and I hope they will comply with the 30-day ruling and that we see it.”
Sally Hudson, left, and Kathy Galvin, right, will face off in the primary June 11. Photo: Amy and Jackson Smith
The reliably Democratic 57th District rarely makes for an exciting horse race. Once a delegate, always a delegate, as David Toscano and Mitch Van Yahres before him proved, each easily holding on to the seat representing Charlottesville and the Albemarle urban ring as long as he chose.
Not this year.
Newcomer Sally Hudson upended the tradition of politely waiting until the incumbent decides not to seek reelection, and jumped into the race before House Minority Leader Toscano announced in February he was retiring after this term.
And she brought a $100,000 donation from philanthropist Sonjia Smith into the race with her.
City Councilor Kathy Galvin, after serving two terms on council, decided she’d make a run for Richmond as well.
For the first time in the district, two women want to take the reins on a state level.
Center for Politics pundit Larry Sabato lives in the 57th District, but says he hasn’t followed the race because “Donald Trump and his tweets and bizarre presidency absorb my days.” He does offer this:
“In an era when someone like Donald Trump, with zero governmental and military experience, could get elected president, the old traditions don’t even exist anymore.”
In 2017, Virginia held the first state election after Trump was elected, and saw a surge of women running for office. Democrats took 15 seats in the House of Delegates and Republicans watched their 66-34 majority in the House whittled down to an almost even split. (The GOP narrowly held on to its majority after a Republican’s name was drawn out of a bowl in the tied 94th District race, to make it 51-49.)
This election pits Hudson, 30, an economist who moved here from Boston three years ago, against Galvin, 63, an architect who has lived in Charlottesville 35 years.
Hudson teaches at UVA’s Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy and advises public and nonprofit agencies statewide. Galvin is an adjunct professor at UVA and served on the school board before her election to City Council.
“I think it’s going to be very close,” says former mayor Dave Norris. “You’ve got two strong female candidates.” Galvin is running on her government experience, and Hudson on her policy experience and passion for structural change, he says.
“It comes down to whether voters want to stay with one they know or go with a fresh face,” says Norris. “The question is whether people want to move in a new direction.”
Former councilor Dede Smith served with Galvin, but supports Hudson, whom she sees as part of a new wave of female leaders emerging across the country. As a baby boomer, Smith says it’s time for her generation to move aside and let millennials handle what’s going to be their future. “We’re seeing this incredibly capable group of people stepping forward,” she says.
Former mayor Bitsy Waters is a Galvin supporter. “I’m supporting Kathy because of her number of years of local service and her familiarity with local issues,” she says. “A lot of political jobs are not entry level. They come with a lot of responsibility, and experience has great value.”
Hudson’s announcement “was a political surprise,” says Waters, who thought Toscano would be delegate for another term. She sees Hudson’s run as part of a national trend of “young people stepping forward and thinking it’s their time.”
The $100,000 donation Hudson received is large for the 57th District, and “has the potential to change the dynamic,” says Waters. “I’m a campaign reform person. I don’t like the idea people can buy elections.”
Dede Smith puts the Sonjia Smith contribution in another light. “I know it was shocking. But David Toscano has a war chest of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Sonjia Smith is not a corporation. She doesn’t ask for stuff.”
Sonjia Smith has a history of supporting progressive candidates. Her husband, Michael Bills, started Clean Virginia, a PAC that contributes to candidates who eschew Dominion donations, which both Hudson and Galvin have done.
Observes Norris, “That was a pretty powerful signal people involved in clean energy are tired of the status quo.” Dominion has the capacity to invest in campaigns, he says. “I think [Smith and Bills] were pretty displeased with Delegate Toscano and wanted to shake up Dominion’s political influence.
The flip side, he says, “Does it raise questions about a candidate when she has so much cash from one source?”
No Republicans have announced a run for the seat, so whoever wins the June 11 primary is pretty much headed to Richmond.
On May 16, Toscano came out for Galvin, citing her experience and long local ties to the community. But he added, “I will give my wholehearted support to whoever wins the Democratic primary.”
The outcome depends on who shows up at the polls, and primaries traditionally have lower turnout—although that’s changed some since the 2016 election.
“Longer-term residents tend to vote in the election,” says Norris. “That could favor Kathy.”
Adds Norris, “A lot of people are still upset about what happened in 2017. That could hurt her. There hasn’t been acknowledgment of mistakes made by City Council.”
“Millennials are finally waking up to the fact they need to vote,” says Smith, which she thinks will be a factor in turnout for Hudson.
Galvin-supporter Waters would like to believe name recognition and experience will benefit her candidate, but says, “I’ve felt a lot of what I knew about politics thrown up in the air the past couple of years.”
The newcomer
Sally Hudson, an assistant professor of economics at UVA’s Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy, admits, “I was not plugged into politics three years ago. Then 2016 happened.”
She knocked on doors for Tom Perriello, another beneficiary of Sonjia Smith’s largess, during his 2017 primary run for governor, and then continued to help get Ralph Northam elected. “I kind of fell into this sideways,” she says.
If elected, the first issue she’d tackle would be comprehensive election reform, including automatic registration, ranked choice voting, and independent redistricting. In 2015, every incumbent in the General Assembly kept their seats, she says. “That’s a real threat to democracy.”
Her opponent has called for a $10,000 cap on donations, and said she won’t accept money from Dominion. How does limiting donations square with Hudson’s $100,000 cash bonanza from Smith?
“It’s something I struggled with initially,” concedes Hudson. “I didn’t get into the race because of that. No one knows how they’ll act until someone opens that door.”
She describes Smith as a mentor and as someone who invests in leaders. “I know her,” says Hudson. “There’s no way in a million years she’d come knocking on my door and ask for something.”
Hudson has used her war chest to invest in a heavy field operation. “If what we were doing was buying attack ads, that would be different,” she says. “That donation brought a lot of noise. It was like dropping a rock in a pond.”
She also addresses stepping on Toscano’s seniority when she announced her candidacy for his seat. “It wasn’t any disrespect for David’s service,” she says. “It wasn’t about him. It was about now.”
A common thread she’s seen among many of the progressive candidates is what is the right thing for right now, she says. Her race is about the “moment we’re in now.”
The daughter of a minister, Hudson originally came from Iowa, and lived in Arizona, Nebraska, and Connecticut growing up, then in Palo Alto when she studied at Stanford, and in Boston while at MIT. “Charlottesville is a great hybrid of a lot of places I’ve lived before,” she says, with its small community feel and urban walkability.
She considers moving around a lot growing up an asset when trying to solve problems, bringing a new perspective on how other states have done things.
While Galvin and Hudson will both say they’re on the same side on a number of issues, the biggest difference between them, Hudson says, is “where and how we focus.”
“Kathy has a long history of serving local government,” she says. “I am the candidate more focused on state government. I’m an economist and most of the work I do is advising state agencies.”
At forums, Hudson notes that she’s spent more time in Richmond, and she stresses her econ background and her love of getting into the weeds of government and economic inequity.
Hudson has gotten endorsements from four current members of the House of Delegates who’ve worked with her.
And she believes it’s really important to send a strong progressive from a safe Dem district to push issues that others, in more competitive districts,“don’t have as much latitude to stick their necks out” on.
Hudson’s also gotten endorsements from city councilors who have served with Galvin: Smith, Heather Hill, Kristin Szakos, and Mayor Nikuyah Walker.
“I think it’s telling most of [Galvin’s] endorsers have served quite some time ago,” she says. “I’m incredibly grateful for the support, particularly from female mayors like Nancy O’Brien and Kay Slaughter.”
Hudson thinks it’s time for a generational change in elected office, and she points out that millennials aren’t kids anymore and that designation means an adult under 40.
She describes herself as the Columbine generation, one whose first major media moment was that school shooting when she was 10 years old. Twenty years later, she and her peers are still waiting for change—while school shootings have become a regular part of the American landscape.
“I think our generation has watched the current leadership fail to make progress on the really acute crises that we’ve been facing,” she says. “When people say, be patient and wait your turn, we think, we have been waiting.”
Sally Hudson has stopped waiting.
Photo: Eze Amos
The veteran
When Kathy Galvin first ran for City Council in 2011, the big issue was the construction of the Ragged Mountain Reservoir megadam and the still-unbuilt nine-mile pipeline from South Fork Rivanna. The issue so roiled the community that Galvin called a press conference to decry “the tone of our local political debate.”
Flash forward to the post-August 2017 era. The water controversy seems benign after what Galvin describes as the “watershed moment” of August 2017, but “interestingly enough, the water supply has been a wonderful investment,” she says.
Galvin has been in the thick of the past several contentious years on City Council, starting with the call to remove Confederate statues in 2016. She declined to vote in favor of getting rid of the statue of General Robert E. Lee until after August 12, when she and fellow councilor Mike Signer joined the others and said aye to removing both Lee and Stonewall Jackson.
In early 2018, Galvin lost a bid for mayor when her councilor colleagues voted 4-1 for Nikuyah Walker, with Galvin the sole no vote.
And in April, C-VILLE opinion columnist Molly Conger targeted Galvin with a piece called “Working the system: Galvin has a history of supporting the status quo.” Conger recalled a memo Galvin wrote in 2005, in which Galvin criticized a 2004 outside audit of the school system as “bent on finding evidence of institutional racism” and wrote, “Black parents…expect the schools to look after their needs and tell them what needs to be done.”
Galvin declines an opportunity to respond to the column. “I don’t want to pretend to know anyone’s motivation,” she says. “It doesn’t warrant my response. My record stands on its own.”
The Unite the Right rally and the growing white nationalist movement that’s “a matter of domestic terrorism,” along with the shooting down of post-rally legislation to allow Charlottesville to control its own monuments are part of her reasons for wanting to go to Richmond, “to give local governments authority to deal with their own issues,” she says.
During her 35 years in Charlottesville, Galvin has learned about the gaps between state and local government in Dillon Rule Virginia, where localities only have the authority that’s been granted them by the General Assembly.
“Instead of being a local elected official where you’re having to ask permission,” says Galvin, “I want to be able to be that ready partner in Richmond to unleash the talent that’s here locally so city and county governments can solve their own problems for the people they serve.”
The Massachusetts native graduated from Boston University with a B.A. in geography and economics, and says she didn’t become an architect until after she’d worked managing public housing and met “citizen architects driven by community issues.”
She acknowledges that in terms of positions—clean energy, affordable housing, education, and gun safety—she and Hudson are not very different. “In terms of our understanding of the area and our experience in the area, we’re very different.” Galvin went to grad school here, raised a family, served on the PTO, and as a working mother, saw her paycheck go to pay for childcare.
“I’ve seen firsthand the stark racial and class divides between our neighborhoods, and that’s why our school compositions are so different,” she says. “That led me to work on the school board.”She thinks it’s that experience in the community and in elected office that sets her apart from Hudson.
When asked about Hudson’s large cash infusion, Galvin says, “Putting a cap on contributions allows more people to have an equal voice.” She adds, “Not addressing the influence of big money on political campaigns is not seeing the elephant in the room.”
Galvin has learned the difference between running for City Council and running for the House of Delegates: “The amount of money I have to raise, given the imbalance we’ve seen, is staggering.”
As of March 31, Galvin had reported raising just under $28,000 compared to Hudson’s $155,000.
At her campaign launch, Councilor Wes Bellamy was on hand, and Galvin said he’d given her a lot of insight on inequity and racism. She also thanked her colleagues on City Council for alerting her to bias in the criminal justice system with the automatic suspension of driver’s licenses for nonpayment of fines, regardless of one’s ability to pay, and mass incarceration.
Galvin has made criminal justice reform one of her campaign issues, and says it’s time to legalize pot. But in 2012, she voted against a resolution that came before council to ask the General Assembly to revisit marijuana laws and consider decriminalization. She defends that vote now, as well as her opposition to the part of the resolution that would have instructed police to make reefer possession arrests a low priority.
“It wasn’t allowed by state law,” she says. “I’m [now] in the position of facing a million-dollar lawsuit because we voted against something that wasn’t allowed by state law,” she says, referring to council’s vote to remove the Confederate statues.
As a legislator, she says she’d be in a better position to legalize, and she also notes that with at least 10 other states working to legalize pot, there are more examples to learn from.Legal marijuana would be a cash crop for Virginia farmers.
Galvin touts her ability to work with Albemarle County over the years on regional issues, and to get people together in a conversation. “The lessons I’ve learned are a reason to run,” she says.
And she’s enjoyed knocking on doors in the county, and getting to meet “people who don’t come to City Council.”
It’s been pretty rough for anyone sitting on council the past couple of years, where councilors are publicly berated on a regular basis by the citizenry.
She says, “Clearly it has not deterred me from running for the House of Delegates.”
More than 100 affordable housing activists marched in support of Belmont Apartment residents. Eze Amos
More than 100 people representing a dozen organizations rallied and marched in support of residents of Belmont Apartments May 5, the same day tenants whose leases have expired were told to vacate their apartments at 1000 Monticello Rd.
The Charlottesville Low-Income Housing Coalition gathered representatives from activist and faith groups to march from Belmont to the Free Speech Wall and call for owner Drew Holzwarth to keep the 23 units in the complex affordable and to allow the residents, may of whom are elderly, disabled, or low-income, to stay in their apartments.
In a May 6 statement, Holzwarth says that ultimately, if he can build another 11 micro-apartments at the site, 23 units will remain affordable at the 46-year-old complex.
The property was sold by its longtime owners in January 2018 for $2 million to Core Real Estate, which then sold it to Holzwarth’s Piedmont Realty Holdings a year later for $2.75 million.
Elaine Poon with Legal Aid Justice Center and other members of the housing coalition met with Holzwarth and “suggested he consider selling to a nonprofit,” she says. “He did not take the bait.”
Antoine Parker has lived in Belmont Apartments for six years, and says when the complex sold for the second time in a year, “my antenna went up.” Parker has not found a new place to live, and he notes that most of the tenants are older and are being uprooted from their homes.
He says he understands that the evictions are a “business decision,” but he asks, “At what point do you have a moral obligation to give [tenants] some help?”
Thomas Holden is legally blind from early onset macular degeneration. He says he’s found a new place “across town,” and it costs more than the $600 he’s currently paying for his one-bedroom apartment.
Holzwarth, who built Piedmont Place in Crozet and is president of Stanley Martin Homes Piedmont region, seems astounded that he’s been cast as the bad guy in this scenario. He says he’s a local philanthropist who’s done quite a bit for affordable housing. Of the rally, he says, “I’m a little disillusioned.”
After closing on the apartments, “we learned that the project has been the victim of significant neglect, and the tenants were living in conditions which were and should be unacceptable to them,” he says in a statement.
It was not possible to do the major renovation, including re-plumbing, replacing the HVAC systems, and fumigating the building, while the residents were still there, he says. His company and BMC Property Management will work with tenants to make sure no one became homeless, and he insists that no one’s lease was terminated that was still in effect. “Tenants will not be required to vacate without a safe place to go,” he says.
In meeting with the housing coalition, Holzwarth says he realized he could get a special use permit to add 11 micro-apartments. He’s pledged to keep those units affordable for people earning 70 percent of the area median income, “an ambitious challenge with new construction.”
With 68 percent of the apartments affordable, Holzwarth says that could be a model for other developers. “[W]e are making a significant personal and financial commitment to helping address the affordable housing crisis in the City of Charlottesville.”
Building the additional units “was actually our idea,” Poon says, and she offered to help Holzwarth get affordable housing credits.
And while she appreciates his goal to keep units affordable, “at the moment, disabled individuals are struggling to find a place to live.” She’d like Holzwarth to come back to the table and says, “It’s not a huge ask to let a handful of residents stay at the rent they’re at now.”
Correction May 8: If he’s allowed to build the 11 micro-apartments, Holzwarth plans to make those affordable for people earning 70 percent of the area median income, not 23 units as originally reported. Twelve units in the renovated complex will be affordable under HUD guidelines of 80 percent area median income.
Plaintiffs Frank Earnest, Jock Yellott, and Dickie Tayloe leave Charlottesville Circuit Court after the latest hearing in their lawsuit to keep Confederate statues in city parks.
staff photos
Judge Rick Moore got one big issue out of the way in the two-years-long lawsuit against the city and City Council for its 2017 vote to remove statues of Confederate generals: The monuments of generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson are indeed war memorials under state code, which prohibits their removal.
In court May 1, he started off the status hearing by explaining his April 25 ruling, because of misunderstandings that he said had occurred.
“It was a critical decision, but it is not the end of the court case,” said Moore, who took the opportunity to note the two boxes of case files and how busy he is to explain why it has taken so long to get rulings on the motions that have been filed. “This is just one case. I’m just one judge. This is an important case, but not the only one I have.”
The lawsuit was filed by 13 plaintiffs, including the Monument Fund and the Sons of Confederate Veterans, who allege councilors Wes Bellamy, Bob Fenwick and Kristin Szakos unlawfully voted to remove a statue of Lee donated to the city by Paul Goodloe McIntire. The vote to remove Jackson was added to the suit after August 12, 2017, when councilors Mike Signer and Kathy Galvin joined the unanimous vote to oust the Confederates.
All of the councilors were in court except for Fenwick, as were a number of the plaintiffs, including Frank Earnest with the Sons of Confederate Veterans, who has traveled from Virginia Beach for hearings over the past two years, Monument Fund organizer Jock Yellott, and Dickie Tayloe, whose First Family of Virginia was once one of the largest slave owners in the state.
Moore did issue a ruling, and denied a plaintiffs’ motion to keep the defense from using equal protection under the 14th Amendment as part of its case. That argument says because the Civil War was fought primarily over slavery, the statues are part of an effort to intimidate African Americans.
“Equal protection being constitutional, it would be hard for me to say you’re not going to argue that,” he said. “I’m not in a position to say the defendants cannot prevail on that.”
Yet to be ruled upon is a motion to determine whether councilors had statutory immunity when they voted to remove the statues, and Moore said that’s next on his list.
Plaintiffs attorney Braxton Puryear complained that councilors had not provided depositions or discovery that would help him determine whether they acted with gross negligence when they voted to remove the statues, a key in determining immunity.
Legal powerhouse Jones Day is representing pro bono all of the councilors except Fenwick, and attorney Esha Mankoti said that’s why the issue needs to be decided immediately, because if councilors have immunity, their emails would be protected as well.
“That argument has the flavor of a circular argument.” said Moore, who said he sympathized with the plaintiffs, who have been asking for discovery for two years. “You don’t postpone the depositions,” he said.
He said the emails they sent each other the night before the vote could be the “smoking gun” if councilors said, “We can do what we want.”
Still, the judge wasn’t ready to say council’s actions amounted to gross negligence.
Outside the courthouse, plaintiff Buddy Weber felt “very good” about the recent ruling that the statues are war memorials.
However, activist Ben Doherty described Moore’s ruling as buying into the Lost Cause narrative because it neutralizes what is “overt white supremacy.”
Attorney Janice Redinger, who is not involved in the case, says, “I think there’s a chilling effect that these legislators may be personally liable for passing an ordinance. Look at all the unconstitutional laws passed by the General Assembly.”
The four-way stop was a flop at Rugby Avenue and Rose Hill Drive, and the traffic signals have been unbagged.
Photo by Skyclad Aerial
A plan to make the Rugby Avenue and Rose Hill Drive intersection safer for now has some drivers in fear for their lives.
Four-way stop signs went up at the end of March, and the traffic signal was bagged in plastic. Neighborhood website Nextdoor is full of people talking about nearly getting creamed by motorists oblivious to the stop signs.
“I was turning left onto Rose Hill and a person going straight went through the stop sign,” says Zak Billmeier. “I don’t know if there’s been an accident, but the potential is there,” he says.
There have not, in fact, been any accidents recorded, and other residents have found the stop signs an improvement. On Twitter, Mark Griffin says, “as a frequent pedestrian through that intersection, I’m glad to see everyone forced to slow down.”
Billmeier thinks the four-way stop is “probably” a good idea. But he says the problem now is people on Rugby who don’t see a red light, miss the stop signs, and “blow right through.”
The intersection currently has turn lanes at three of the four streets that meet there. “The worst case is seven cars stopped at once,” he says. “Now what? It doesn’t seem super safe.”
The new configuration is in response to citizens’ requests for pedestrian safety going back to around 2011, says Tim Motsch, city transportation project manager, and traffic has gotten worse since the YMCA was built.
Not unusual for Charlottesville, a couple of traffic studies were done.
“Both studies suggest as a first test, cover the signal and install a four-way stop,” says Motsch.
Drivers on Rugby tended to accelerate with the signal. With stop signs, they don’t. “Stop signs inherently make the intersection safer,” says Motsch.
Next up are flexible upright barriers to close the turn lanes. People on Rose Hill heading north look left before turning right onto Rugby, but don’t look right where people might be crossing the street, he says.
But already, traffic coming off the U.S. 250 Bypass is backing up at the intersection. Closing the left turn lanes on Rugby Avenue could make that problem worse. “I don’t doubt it,” says Motsch, who suggests people might want to take an alternate route, like McIntire Road. “Anytime you make it safer for pedestrians, you’re going to slow traffic.”
Depending on how the stop signs work out, the next option, says Motsch, would be to install a new signal with an ADA-compliant, pedestrian-activated signal, estimates for which have run as much as $300,000 to $400,000.
The city has gotten a number of calls and emails since the four-way stop went in, he says, and the response has been pretty evenly split. But Motsch says they’re not looking for a vote. “It’s a safety issue.”
Also in the works is a 1,500-foot, $300,000 sidewalk on the west side of Rose Hill Drive.
“In the future, they’re trying to make it so people can walk to town safely,” says Billmeier.
“I think people are open” to the four-way stop, he says. “As currently implemented, it’s created chaos.”
Belmont resident Rick Barnett says glaring lights are degrading residents’ quality of life, and he calls the new ones at Tubby’s “obscene.” Photo by Martyn Kyle
On a night with a full moon, Rick Barnett can see pretty clearly outside his Belmont house. The problem is, he can also see clearly on moonless nights—thanks to an array of lighting, mostly commercial, blazing up into the sky behind his house.
On a recent drive around the neighborhood, he points out a shielded fixture over the back door of a business on Carlton Avenue. “That’s a good light,” he says. Around the corner on the same building, another shoots a bright light up into the trees. “And that one is bad.”
That’s one major sign of light pollution: when the bulb blasts up into the sky rather than illuminating the ground below. Looking south from Barnett’s elevated Chestnut Street backyard, where he’s lived since 1995, he can see dozens of lights, including those of Sentara Martha Jefferson and State Farm on Pantops.
But the worst offenders are in his backyard, on Carlton Avenue, where the lighting on some businesses looks like a landing strip. It’s gotten worse in the past two or three years, he says.
Charlottesville’s light ordinance is pretty much a copy of Albemarle’s, according to light designer Mark Schulyer, who wrote the ordinance in 1998 with UVA astronomer Phil Ianna. Ianna raised the issue of lights obscuring the night sky and making McCormick Observatory useless for serious astronomy.
“The first ordinance was a significant challenge,” recalls Schuyler. It required approval from the General Assembly before the county could adopt it, and buy-in from the community to protect the science being done that requires dark skies.
The limit at the time, 3,000 lumens, came from an Ianna idea. At a meeting of around 300 people, many in the lighting field, he displayed different wattages and asked people to “raise your hand when this is really unpleasant,” recounts Schuyler. That’s what the cap was based on.
The ordinance requires outdoor luminaires to be shielded to avoid spillover into adjoining residential properties—and into the night sky. “Light that bounces up in the sky is wasted light,” says Schuyler.
All of that happened before the biggest revelation in lighting since the invention of the light bulb: the light-emitting diode. The LED saves so much energy, its three Japanese inventors won the Nobel Prize for physics in 2014. It’s also contributed to “a measurable increase in light pollution worldwide,” says Schuyler.
Before LEDs, which are not mentioned in the ordinance, electricians and electrical supply houses were aware of the ordinance and had displays of shielded lighting, he explains.
Now, people are ordering brighter LEDs without shields off of Amazon, and they have no one saying, “You shouldn’t be doing that,” says Schuyler.
In addition to blocking the stars, glaring lights at night may have a harmful effect on vision and health. The American Medical Association warns that artificial lighting can disrupt circadian rhythms, which can lead to health risks including diabetes, mood disorders, and cancer.
Ordinance enforcement is a “tricky business,” says Schuyler, because of limited staff resources and the fact that someone has to work overtime to check lights at night.
Lighting enforcement is complaint-based, and the city averages fewer than one complaint a year, says Assistant Zoning Administrator Craig Fabio. Zoning staff works with offenders to bring them into compliance, and fines are possible, he says.
City Councilor Heather Hill has been to Barnett’s place. “It was eye-opening to me,” she says. While she believes the bleed over from commercial lights that affects residents is unintentional, “I do think we have a lot of opportunity to enhance our lighting ordinance.”
Both she and Schuyler say the PLACE Design Task Force is looking at the issue.
Barnett has had some luck working with neighbors himself. A year ago he approached Tiger Fuel and “got a very good response,” he says. The company put up new fixtures on the front of its building, and “now it’s nothing like the locomotive lights that were coming toward me.”
He also cites success with City Walk apartments, which shielded its lights after neighbors complained. Barnett says Beer Run now cuts off the lights on its sign after it closes.
He’s less pleased with Tubby’s new lights, which illuminate the back of Richmond Camera. “It’s obscene. Obscene,” says Barnett. Tubby’s owner, John Fargale, did not respond to a call from C-VILLE.
Some people mistakenly believe that the more lights, the safer a property is, says Schuyler. He calls it “security theater.”
Police Chief RaShall Brackney agrees that lighting doesn’t necessarily deter crime. “People become immune,” she says. And the International Dark-Sky Association says that glare can decrease safety by creating deep shadows that make it harder to see a lawbreaker from constricted pupils.
Barnett counts seven sources of light that intrude into his bedroom windows or yard during winter months, and that doesn’t include the streetlights shining on the front of his house.
Before, “It was all delightfully dark,” he says. “I could sit on the roof and see the stars.”
Correction May 2: Barnett lives on Chestnut Street, not avenue.
