Friends can sometimes turn against each other at the slightest provocation. A 15-year-old Albemarle County student learned this cruel truth the hard way while walking near Friendship Court late Friday, April 21.
The teen had run into a 16-year-old acquaintance from school and the two boys were walking towards the Downtown low-income housing project off Garrett Street when, according to police, a group of 12 to 15 teenage boys approached them. The 16-year-old knew the kids in the group, all of whom were wearing some form of red clothing: bandanas, t-shirts, hats. The kids, including the 16-year-old, then asked the 15-year-old whether he wanted to join their gang, the “Bloods.” When the 15-year-old refused, the group beat him so badly that the teen required a metal plate in his cheek.
In the wake of the incident, the 16-year-old has been arrested and faces charges of aggravated malicious wounding and being a member of a criminal street gang. A second victim, who suffered severe bruising and injuries to his mouth from a related assault that night, came forward on April 25, and more charges against the 16-year-old will result from the second victim’s assault. The Daily Progress reported on April 29 that police also arrested 19-year-old Otis Scott-Wilkins on similar charges relating to the assault.
Charlottesville Police Captain Chip Harding would not confirm whether the gang the teens were allegedly referring to was the Bloods, a gang founded in Compton, California, in 1972 to protect members from a rival gang, the Crips. Bloods members identify themselves by wearing red bandanas or beads. The gang has gone national and now has members in most major American cities, but Harding would not confirm that the Bloods have officially made it to Charlottesville.
“These could be wannabes or pretend-to-bes,” says Harding, “but anyway you cut it they are not doing good things at night.”—Nell Boeschenstein
Author: nell-boeschenstein
Categories
Crawford Case Delayed
The trial of Dale Anthony Crawford, a former Manassas car salesman, was scheduled to start May 1. However, a last-minute crisis will leave Crawford awaiting trial a little longer. Crawford’s defense attorney Liz Murtagh was diagnosed with a serious illness April 26; the trial will be rescheduled next week once Murtagh knows the course of her treatment.
Crawford stands accused of murdering his estranged wife, Sarah Louise Crawford, and dumping her body in Room 118 of the Quality Inn off Emmet Street on November 18, 2004. He then allegedly fled to Florida where, a week later, he was discovered in Jacksonville. Charlottesville police ordered him extradited back to Virginia to face the charges against him: use of a firearm, abduction and first-degree murder.—Nell Boeschenstein
Categories
Police rescue elderly couple
Getting lost sucks. Imagine how much worse it is when you’re in your 80s, it’s pouring rain and you’re in the middle of the woods 220 miles away from home.
That’s what happened to an elderly Pennsylvania couple on April 21 and 22. A County officer responding to a call about an abandoned vehicle north of White Hall at Brown’s Cove, sensed something wasn’t right since the car had not been reported as either stolen or missing. A 200-man search and rescue effort began at 7am Saturday and lasted for 12 hours, until the woman was discovered around 6:30 at night; her husband had been found that morning within a half-mile of the car, according to Lt. John Teixeira of the Albemarle County police department.
Both husband and wife suffered “serious medical issues,” says Teixeira, were “disoriented and confused,” and were treated at the UVA Hospital, but he would not comment further.
Albemarle County police get only a limited amount of training when it comes to the intersection of social service and policing. According to Teixeira, once basic police work is done, cases like this are handed over to social service. With the Pennsylvania couple, Teixeira says that the police will turn their report over to local social services which will, in turn, contact agencies in Pennsylvania.—Nell Boeschenstein
Categories
And now, a classic Internet tendency
As I was looking back and reminiscing on the websites I’ve pushed on people in the year since I began professionally pushing websites, I was shocked and appalled to realize that while I’ve waxed poetic about some of the most random websites that the wacky World Wide Web has to offer, I’ve neglected to praise some of the most obvious.
Glaring case in point: Mc-Sweeney’s Internet Tendency —the Web baby of the Dave Eggers’ baby, McSweeney’s, that oh-so-trendy literary quarterly. Honestly, there’s
a lot here to salivate over in 200 words. Perhaps that’s why I haven’t tried before and why I’m having trouble trying now.
A single word to describe this repository of lists, jokes, fiction, poetry, food reviews, essays and random thoughts? “Irritating,” I think just about covers it. Irritating in that there’s so much to read. Irritating in that so much of it is so good. Irritating in that none of it is by me.
I’m a jealous creature at heart, and McSweeney’s brings out the worst
in me. I comb for typos, scoff at anything I find re-motely unfunny, studious-ly suppress laughter when
I feel it bubbling up, and only grudgingly admit a McSweeney victory (O.K., I’ll give you, McSweeney’s, that “Have You Ever Eaten a Baby?” is a very, very fine title for an essay.) And yet? I can’t tear myself away.—Nell Boeschenstein
Categories
Spare some change?
There’s a classic New Yorker cartoon that depicts a group of explorers—backpacks and machetes in hand—coming across a small spring in the middle of nowhere. It’s flowing with money, a geyser of bills spouting up from the center. “By God, gentlemen,” says the lead explorer to his hapless followers, “I believe we’ve found it—the Fountain of Funding!”
As if.
In reality, that Fountain of Funding looks a lot more like your next-door neighbor than a cash-spewing Jacuzzi. Accord-ing to fundraising industry standards, individuals (rather than, say, businesses) give four out of every five nonprofit donations, annually. The Urban Institute estimates that in 2003 Americans gave $188 billion to charity. Not that giving is the sole provenance of the wealthy. But logic holds that the more disposable income there is floating around, the more charitable donations there are from which a community can benefit. And Charlottesville (the lucky ’burg) has plenty of rich people—which means plenty of giving, and plenty of organizations willing to take that disposable dollar.
Truism: The wealthy are attracted to this area like the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico. Back in 1996, only four homes in the area were sold for over $1 million. By 2005, that number had soared to 93. But the real estate market isn’t the only area to register such exponential growth. Since it began in 1967, the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation, an organization that helps rich people (and the more average among us, too) decide how and where to donate their money, has given away $15 million in grants. That’s nearly $200 for every mom, dad, sister, brother, cousin, second cousin, and Aunt Thelma in Charlottesville and Albemarle over the past 39 years. Remarkably, of that $200,
$40 per person was doled out in just the past year alone. In other words, the rate
of grant-giving has increased exponentially in recent years, almost doubling in
2001, and rising at least 20 percent in every year thereafter.
A decade ago the CACF had exactly three donor-advised funds (a form of high-dollar piggy bank, offering maximum tax benefits, that donors pledge to the CACF, sometimes with stipulations as to how that money should be distributed). Today it has 86.
“This is a very, very wealthy community,” says Paul Brockman, who consulted with CACF while spearheading a capital campaign for Shelter for Help in Emergency. “And the people who live here, I’ve found, are very, very generous people.”
Signs of that generosity and the people attached to it are everywhere. Take a walk through The Paramount Theater on the Downtown Mall and the names of the rainmakers greet you at every turn: Purchase your tickets at the David and Janna O. Gies Ticket Window, enter the theater through the Ann and Jerry Harris Doors, and pass through the gold-leafed Mamie Atkins Jessup and Claude A. Jessup Memorial Lobby, with its imported silk-lined walls.
Compare the names on the walls of the Paramount to the names on most every other donor-sponsored wall in town: It’s the same crowd again and again. Birdsall, Weschler, Crutchfield, Worrell, Grisham, McNeely, Jessup, Kuttner, Skinner, Fife, Sieg. It’s as if someone made a template for donor walls (pro bono, of course), then passed it out for the nonprofits to build around. Chad Hershner, president and CEO of the Paramount, puts the number of big donor families in the area at about 50.
That said, Kevin O’Halloran, director of donor relations for the CACF, stresses that charity comes from all sorts of people, and that the giving itself comes in different sizes. Of the 3.5 million tax returns filed in Virginia in 2003, one third reported charitable deductions, according to the Urban Institute. Check out the thank-you page on, say, a Live Arts program or a mailer from Meals on Wheels; the number of donors shelling out a precious $100 or less far exceed the number in the topmost categories.
“You dig into your wallet, what that number is [that you pull out] doesn’t really matter,” says Thane Kerner, chair of the current capital campaign for the City Center for the Contemporary Arts (sometimes known, incorrectly, as the Live Arts building). “If it’s a number where you notice that the money has gone, you notice.”
Yet while local giving stats grow, so too does the number of local nonprofits looking for support. In the past two years, nonprofits in Char-lottesville and the surrounding five-county area have nearly doubled, up to 750 in 2005, as catalogued by the Virginia Network of Nonprofit Organizations and the CACF. The good news is that more good people are doing more good things for more needy people (or artists). The bad news is that these funds are not unlimited. The fountain of funding is only so deep and there are many cups poised to dip in.
William Johnson, a professor of economics at UVA, compares the competing campaigns to fast food.
“If there’s a McDonald’s and a Burger King down the street from each other, and a third fast food restaurant moves onto the block,” he says, “it might be the case that the total amount [spent on fast food] goes up…but at the same time [the third restaurant] takes some business away from the other two.”
Fundraisers, however, have a strategy. Phase One? Be friends with everyone. While some fundraisers admit there is competition for the gold, and that the competition has stiffened lately, this is a polite crowd. Meaning, none would go so far as to complain. Instead, the spin on that subject (recited with a glass of locally made Meritage in hand at a meet-and-greet reception, perhaps) runs along the lines of, “The more the merrier. Although, yes, of course it’s important to distinguish yourself from the competition.”
C3A’s Kerner likens the local fundraising climate to the classic theory of shopping centers: More people will spend more if there’s more to spend it on. Instead of dividing donors, the mushrooming number of nonprofits is building them. (Incidentally, fundraising has its own lexicon: It’s not “donate,” it’s “invest.” And “big donor” is a misnomer, because “every donor is a big donor.”)
Whether funding competition is on the rise, identifying donors and nurturing donor relationships is priority number one. People give to people. Hershner says he approaches fundraising with the mantra: “You should never ask somebody for a gift unless you know the color of their eyes.” Making that connection takes time and patience, but one-on-one donor meetings are the fundraiser’s method of choice. It’s not just talk: According to the Chronicle of Philanthropy, for every dollar spent on a private donor interview, the return is $24 dollars. For every dollar spent on a special event, the return is only $3.
Finding and snagging those donors is about nurturing social connections (hence the importance of nonprofit boards) and appealing to individual interests.
“[Giving] depends on who the donor is and what the donor’s interest is…People don’t give [big money] other than to areas of particular interest,” says Gordon Rainey Jr., the Richmond lawyer and UVA alumnus who’s in charge of UVA’s $3 billion capital campaign. In other words, UVA pitches its campaign based on different building projects or disciplines within
the school.
For example, it’s unlikely the University would ask its famously perky alumna (and incoming CBS nightly news anchor) Katie Couric for a donation to the engineering school. UVA would be smarter to hit her up for a gift to a media studies library, or—because Couric became active in cancer research after losing both her husband and sister to the disease—a gift to the hospital.
What’s the grand total sum of money currently being chased by the 750 local nonprofits? It’s nearly impossible to say. However, to get a general idea of local need, C-VILLE consulted the CACF. Based on their numbers, it seems safe to say that, at the very least, nonprofits in the area are chasing a treasure trove nearing $3.1 billion. From the giant UVA campaign to “the greenest school in America” to funds for a new YMCA facility, we’ve identified 10 of the top capital campaigns currently angling for a hefty slice of Charlottesville’s ever-expanding donor pie.
Do you have your checkbook open?
University of Virginia
Feeling the pinch of statewide budget cuts, the No. 2 public university in the nation has seen its funding slashed in recent years. In order to com-pensate for belt-tightening, Mr. Jefferson’s Uni-versity, with enrollment of 19,000 and staff num-bering 11,200, is looking increasingly to private funding to keep it atop the higher education game.
Goal: $3 billion (According to the chief fundraiser, this number could grow after the University finishes a financial plan due by year’s end.)
Currently raised: $900 million since the campaign began in January 2004.
For: Endowment, scholarships, fellowships, endowed faculty positions, new buildings (the South Lawn project, John Paul Jones Arena, etc.)
Campaign Coordinator/Chairman: Gordon Rainey, Jr.
Timeline: Quiet phase ongoing since January 2004; the public phase will kick off in September; total to be raised by 2012.
Approach: Development officers meet with alumni associations, alumni events are held around the country, potential donors are personally phoned.
Big donors: Ivy Foundation of Charlottesville ($45 million), Claude Moore Charitable Foundation ($5 million to Nursing School), Paul Tudor Jones ($20 million to the John Paul Jones Arena project, for which he got naming rights. The building is named for his father, not the Led Zeppelin bassist).
“Big donor” means: “You’re not going to pin me down on that,” says Rainey. “If I name some figure it’s going to make the people who gave a smaller gift feel unappreciated.”
Make it happen: www.virginia.edu
The Paramount Theater
The renovation process of this 1930s-era 1,040-seat theater on the Downtown Mall took more than a decade after it sat unused for 30 years. The revamped doors finally reopened in December 2004 and since then the stage has welcomed the likes of Tony Bennett, Yo-Yo Ma and the Miami City Ballet.
Goal: $16.7 million
Currently raised: $13.9 million since the campaign began in 2000.
For: Restoration of The Paramount Theater on the Downtown Mall to its original look from the 1930s, as well as to create a fund for long-term building maintenance and educational funding.
Campaign Coordinator/Chairman: Chad Hershner
Timeline: Began fundraising in 2000; broke ground in 2002; hope to have funds entirely raised by April 2007.
Approach: One-on-one interviews, special events and parties, hard hat tours of site (when renovation was still underway).
Big donors: J. Aron Charitable Foundation, Bama Works, City of Charlottesville, Ted Weschler, Scott Thorp
“Big donor” means: $5,000 and up
Make it happen: www.theparamount.netMonticello/Thomas Jefferson
Foundation
Monticello is the hallowed home of Thomas Jefferson and the Foundation serves as the purveyor of his legacy. When news hit that Montalto, the mountain property directly in Monticello’s viewshed, was coming up for sale and vulnerable to developers, Monticello’s top dogs acted quickly, negotiating a contract on Montalto first, fundraising for that money second.
Goal: $15 million
Currently raised: $11.1 million since the campaign began January 2004.
For: Purchasing 330-acre Montalto, the mountain opposite from Monticello, formerly known as Brown’s Mountain.
Campaign Coordinator/Chairman: Melissa Young (since April 2006)
Timeline: Started fundraising in January 2004; hope to finish by this December.
Approach: Networking and one-on-one contact where possible.
Big donors: Kemper Foundations and R. Crosby Kemper ($1.2 million)
“Big donor” means: $5,000 and up
Make it happen: www.monticello.orgCharlottesville Waldorf School
One of 1,000 private schools worldwide based on the teaching of German education philosopher Ru-dolf Steiner, who believed children should be able to learn at their own pace. Offering early childhood education and grades one through eight, the school has changed locations five times in its 25-year history, but hopes to put down permanent roots when it builds “the greenest school in Amer-ica” on a 13-acre property it owns on Rio Road.
Goal: $6.1 million
Currently raised: $2 million since the campaign began in November 2004.
For: The Greenest School in America, meaning an environmentally sustainable building that meets “green” architectural and construction standards.
Campaign Coordinator/Chairman: Marianne Lund
Timeline: Started fundraising in November 2004; hope to have building completed by 2008 and fundraising completed by 2009.
Approach: Nurturing social connections, art shows and concert benefits, community symposiums and events related to environmentally conscious design.
Big donors: Two anonymous donors, one who gave $850,000 and another who gave $400,000.
“Big donor” means: $10,000 and up
Make it happen: http://greenestschool.orgAsh Lawn Summer
Music Festival
Currently in its 27th season, each summer the Music Festival brings opera, musical theater, lectures and musical performances to a temporary open air stage on the property of President James Monroe’s home at Ash Lawn-Highland.
Goal: $6 million
Currently raised: $0
For: Permanent theater to seat 500 indoors, with an additional 250 lawn seats. They are currently working with Bushman-Dreyfus Architects on a preliminary design.
Campaign Coordinator/Chairman: Judy Walker
Timeline: Have not yet started raising money because they are still finalizing the agreement with the College of William and Mary, which owns Ash Lawn-Highland. As a result no timeline has been set.
Approach: N/A
Big donors: N/A
“Big donor” means: N/A
Make it happen: www.ashlawnopera.orgCity Center for
Contemporary Arts
When it opened in 2003, the City Center for Contemporary Arts, or C3A, consolidated the Live Arts theater company, Second Street Gallery and Light House Studio (a youth media nonprofit) under one stylish roof on Water Street.
Goal: $4.15 million
Currently raised: $3.3 million since the campaign began in 1998.
For: Water Street facility that houses Live Arts, Second Street Gallery and Light House Studio.
Campaign Coordinator/Chairman: Thane Kerner
Timeline: Began fundraising in 1998; hope to be finished by April 2007.
Approach: Small donations from a large number of people, encouraging donors with personal connections to the organizations, networking, direct mail, special events, interviews and one-on-one presentations to donors.
Big donors: Bama Works, Batten-Rolph Foundation, Perry Foundation
“Big donor” means: $100,000
Make it happen: www.c3arts.orgBoys and Girls Club
A national program designed to provide educational and emotional support for youth—particularly disadvantaged kids. Locally, 1,000 kids ages 6 to 18 take advantage of the BGC’s programs at either the 10th Street and Cherry Avenue location or at the Southwood Mobile Home Park.
Goal: $10 million
Currently raised: $100,000 since the campaign began in October 2005.
For: New 25,000- to 30,000-square-foot facility near Buford Middle School. The complex will include a gym, computer room, library, fine arts room, a couple of multipurpose rooms, large games room, administrative offices, canteen and kitchen. They are currently looking for architects to put in proposals for the exterior of the project.
Campaign Coordinator/Chairman: TBD/Currently hiring
Timeline: Started fundraising in October 2005; hope to have enough money to break ground in two to two-and-a-half years; According to Executive Director Timothy Sinatra, a date for completing the fundraising is difficult to pin down because donors often pledge money over a period of time.
Approach: One-on-one interviews.
Big donors: Sinatra would not disclose potential big donors at this point, but did say that “our board is 100 percent behind [this project], and certainly will be some of our largest contributors.”
“Big donor” means: $500,000-$1,000,000
Make it happen: http://avenue.org/bgcvillePiedmont Family YMCA
In 2004, the YMCA provided more than 7,000 kids in Charlottesville and Albemarle County with everything from sports to summer camps to child care to leadership training in its facility off Route 29N.
Goal: $7.5 million, or, with a different building design, $12 million to $15 million.
Currently raised: $4 million since the campaign began in December 2005.
For: 42,000 square foot core facility with pool, locker rooms, wellness center with track, full gym, multipurpose rooms ($7.5 million); 63,000 square-foot facility with core-facility features plus competition pool, additional gym, additional multipurpose rooms, full daycare facility ($12 to $15 million). They are currently working with architects VMDO on a design for the exterior of the building.
Campaign Coordinator/Chairman: Kurt Krueger
Timeline: Began fundraising in December 2005; hope to break ground when they reach $7.5 million in early 2007; haven’t yet set time frame for raising total amount of money.
Approach: Individual meetings with donors,
utilizing personal connections through board members.
Big donors: Albemarle County ($2 million)
“Big donor” means: “Six digits,” says Kreuger.
Make it happen: www.piedmontymca.orgFanfare for the Future/ Charlottesville Symphony Society
Every fall and spring the symphony, with musicians from both the community and UVA, presents a concert series featuring composers from Handel to Bernstein in the Cabell Hall Auditorium.
Goal: $3 million
Currently raised: $1.5 million since the campaign began in January 2005.
For: Endowed chairs, scholarships, educational concerts, guest artists.
Campaign Coordinator/Chairman: Anitra Archer
Timeline: Began fundraising in January 2005; hopes to be finished by April 2007.
Approach: Announcements during concerts, brochures, pre- and post-intermission concert parties and one-on-one meetings with donors.
Big donors: Not disclosed.
“Big donor” means: $10,000 and up.
FYI: While technically this $3 million is part of UVA’s $3 billion dollar capital campaign, it’s counted separately because the Symphony is its own nonprofit (501c3), and thus is responsible for raising the $3 million on its own.
Make it happen: www.virginia.edu/music/ensembles/cusoShelter for Help in Emergency
Each year since it opened in 1979, the shelter has provided a safe haven for more than 250 victims of domestic violence and abuse—many of them children. The location is secret in order to protect the people that the shelter assists.
Goal: $3 million
Currently raised: $1 million since the campaign began in January 2005.
For: New shelter and new community outreach center. (Would not disclose any further information. The location’s address is kept private due to the nature of the work.)
Campaign Coordinator/Chairman: Paul Brockman
Timeline: Started fundraising in January 2005; hope to break ground sometime this year; hope to complete fundraising in 2007.
Approach: One-on-one contact.
Big donors: Perry Foundation ($250,000), several anonymous donors who have given $50,000 or more.
“Big donor” means: $10,000 and up.
Make it happen:
www.shelterforhelpinemergency.org
Categories
Pizza: the pie
To hear Fabio Esposito tell it, the pizza business just won’t leave him alone. When he opens Fabio’s N.Y. Pizza in the former High Street Pizza Hut building next month, Esposito will draw on seven years of experience running the original Fabio’s N.Y. Pizza in Gordonsville. “’Your kitchen is our second kitchen,’” he recalls his Gordonsville customers telling him, before he and his wife Elena sold the place two years ago.
The family vibe there was so palpable that, when the Fabio’s staff was hopelessly slammed, diners would pick up bus tubs and lend a hand. Some of those same loyal customers, Esposito says, urged him to stake a claim in Charlottesville. He began work on the new location about two months ago.
And so, come the first week of May, you’ll be able to park in the nice big parking lot, enter a renovated interior, and order pizza-by-the-slice, whole pies, subs, sandwiches or salads. You can get your pizza Chicago deep-dish style, with a thin New York crust, or sliced into Sicilian squares; or, if you’d rather, sink your teeth into a calzone or pepperoni roll. And you won’t mistake Fabio’s for the delivery-and-takeout-only Pizza Hut that it replaces, Esposito says. He’s rejiggered the layout of the space to accommodate tables, and plans to eventually add a patio outside.
Highly scientific studies of the Pantops-area lunch landscape, Esposito says, have revealed that “everybody’s packed.” He hopes families and office escapees will pack in for his pizza, as well.
Hola!
If you’re muy in the know and you have 85 clams laying around, you’ll get yourself a reservation for the Viva Espâna Spanish wine dinner on April 20 at Fossett’s Restaurant at Keswick Hall. (Got all that?) It’s a chance to try Spanish dishes like paprika beef skewers with eggplant ragu, or crawfish beignets with piquillo pepper remoulade—all paired with wines of Spain. David Shiverick of Langdon/ Shiverick Imports, a Cleveland wine importer, will be on hand to pour vintages like the 2004 Falset Etim Blanc Grenache. Sounds bonita.
Adios!
Though we haven’t been able to reach Amigos owner Rudy Padilla (also of El Rey Del Taco fame), we can report that his original Amigos location in Woodbrook Shopping Center has closed. No word on the expectations for Amigos’ Fifth Street and Corner locations—nor on what they’ll do with all those leftover beans. We’ll stay on the story.
Deli deal dead
We recently waxed expectant about a second branch of Littlejohn’s opening in the former A&N space on the Downtown Mall. Now, it seems, we’ll have to fend off our pastrami cravings a little longer. “Negotiations broke down” at A&N, says operator Chris Strong, who still hopes (along with brother Michael Crafaik, owner of Michael’s Bistro) to grow Littlejohn’s in some other spot—although not necessarily Downtown. Stop by the landmark Corner deli and lobby for your most-hoped-for Littlejohn’s locale. (Reubens in Ruckersville, anyone?)
Got some restaurant scoop? Send your tips to restaurantarama@c-ville.com or call 817-2749, Ext. 48.
Categories
Teach your children well
Starting the studio in their home with no budget, the two have since been able to attract a very diverse clientele of 35 students from ages 4 to 54. Last year, Jay and Morwenna moved Fingerdance Studio three blocks off the Downtown Mall, on Seventh Street NE. Morwenna and Jay are young, hip, talented and educated teachers who stress the importance of music theory, encourage students to learn about their instruments, and always make sure that musical instruction is an enjoyment, not a stress. Morwenna and Jay are always open and willing to find new ways of relating music to everyday life, and like to tailor their instruction to each individual student, since everyone learns differently. Morwenna, who has played with Charlie Haden, Dianne Reeves and Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler, is familiar with a wide variety of styles including classical, jazz, bluegrass and more. Her main area of expertise is in gypsy swing and rhythmic funk chopping. Jay, who has shared stages with Dave Matthews Band and Nickel Creek, and has been part of Corey Harris’ band, plays finger-style guitar mainly in the tradition of his mentor, Pierre Bensusan.
On Saturday, April 22, Fingerdance Studio will feature a showcase of its students performing at The Gravity Lounge. I asked two of their players about favorite musical styles. (New students can find more info at www.fingerdancestudio.com.)
Sam Rivkin: I am 15 and started taking guitar lessons with Jay two years ago. I started on acoustic, but play electric more now. I play in a band, Counting on Jane, with Lauren Ginsberg and Mary Jean Wilson. Mostly we play covers like “Mandy Goes to Med School” by The Dresden Dolls. For CDs, I like Modest Mouse’s The Moon and Antartica because it has a different sound, and Neutral Milk Hotel’s In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. For guitar records, I like Carlos Sanatana’s music, and I like Jimi Hendrix’s Are You Experienced because he is able to play so much different stuff. My friend just bought me his Live at Woodstock on DVD.
Alexandra Osvath: I am 16 and a student at Albemarle High. I studied piano for nine years and am in my fourth year studying violin with Morwenna and Philip Clark. For the showcase, I’ll be playing Irish fiddle tunes and Hungarian gypsy tunes. For violinists, I like Vanessa Mae’s playing a lot—especially Bach’s Violin Partita in E. As far as other CDs, I like Sparky’s Flaw’s CD Oasis’ Wonderwall, Casting Crows’ Lifesong, some Rolling Stones and Enya. I like the whole spectrum.
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Vote for Norris and Taliaferro on May 2
How do you see Charlottesville im-proving as a city in the next four years? Is it something that you think much about? I think about it all the time. That’s my job. Charlottesville has a lot going for it, but there are many things that we can improve. One thing that would really help is if everybody would go out and vote for Dave Norris and Julian Taliaferro on May 2.
Dave and Julian are both running for City Council for the first time, but they both have a long history of pubic service. They are men of action, who have helped individuals on a personal level, and have been leaders of institutions that have made a real impact on the quality of life in Charlottesville.
I have always been impressed by the way that Julian Taliaferro led our fire department. Julian recently retired after 43 years of service to the city. We have one of the best-rated fire departments in the country, not only for extremely low loss of life and property, but also for its diversity program, which has been cited as a national model. The men and women of the department are professionals who not only respond quickly to an emergency, but also engage with the community proactively, with public education about fire prevention and programs such as free smoke-alarm installation for city residents.
Over the past decade, the fire department budget has grown at a slower rate than just about any other City department, while providing excellent service. Part of the fire department’s success with delivering taxpayer value is that Julian always encouraged his staff to be entrepreneurial. When it became clear that our old radio system for emergency responders was becoming obsolete, fire department staff took the initiative to secure a $6 million federal grant for a new regional radio system. The department secures smaller grants on a regular basis, and each time it does so city taxpayers save money. When it comes to making the overall city more efficient, Julian has the experience and track record to deliver the goods.
Of course, greater governmental efficiency is not the only challenge facing the City. I believe that one of our biggest long-term financial challenges is to reduce the poverty rate in Charlottesville. That is why the City needs Dave Norris. I would be hard-pressed to think of another person who has done more in the past decade to help people out of poverty than Dave. Most recently, Dave served as director of an interfaith ministry for the homeless (PACEM). In the past two years, PACEM has had a huge impact on reducing the number of unsheltered homeless in the area, and in the last homeless census Charlottesville had zero unsheltered children for the first time.
Before PACEM, Dave was the founding director of the Connecting People to Jobs Initiative, helping Charlottesville public-housing residents find employment. Dave was also coordinator of the Virginia Economic Development Corporation’s Micro Loan Program for low-income, minority and female entrepreneurs. He has served on the board of MAACA, JABA and many others. Because of his dedication to helping others, Dave was named one of Charlottesville’s “Distinguished Dozen” by The Daily Progress in 2005.
Dave and Julian are two guys who really know how to get things done. They
are what people mean when they talk about self-starters. Council would really benefit from their kind of leadership. Both have an excellent track record with workforce development, and put a high priority on education, the environment, affordable housing and neighborhood protection. I encourage you to find out more about their work and their vision for
the future of Charlottesville by visiting www.yestocharlottesville.org.
On May 2, Charlottesville voters have a choice. You can vote for a show horse. Or you can vote for two workhorses. My vote is for the workhorses, Dave Norris and Julian Taliaferro.
Kevin Lynch is a Democratic Charlottesville City Councilor.
You can vote for a
show horse. Or you
can vote for two
workhorses. My vote
is for the workhorses.
Categories
First quarter housing market down 17 PERCENT
Lord! The analogies people toss around when it comes to the housing market.
Forget the bubble: In the first-quarter report for 2006 Charlottesville Area Association of Realtors CEO Dave Phillips says that the current housing market “appears to have jumped out of the fire and back into the frying pan.” In other words, with 615 sales in the first three months of the year throughout the five-county area, things are slowing down. This is in contrast to this same period last year when Phillips likened the market to being “hotter than the Volcano Chicken at Thai ‘99 Restaurant.”
Phillips says 2005 was an anomaly, however. That first quarter saw the opening of the Hessian Hills condo complex off Barracks Road. Full of reasonably priced condos that sold quickly, that development alone added an extra 150 sales to last year’s first quarter, which totaled 741 sales. There was no such boon in the first quarter of 2006, which posted a 17 percent drop. The past three months have instead been “a return to normalcy.”
As for what the future holds, the market is currently slightly biased in favor of buyers, but Phillips predicts this trend won’t last beyond June. Meanwhile, Phillips says condos are the hot property right now, both for people looking for affordable housing and for Baby Boomers looking to downsize.
Categories
15-year-old sentenced to juvenile prison
The 15-year-old Albemarle High School student convicted of plotting, with three other teens, to blow up two Albemarle high schools, was sentenced to juvenile detention March 5. The case has been closed to the public and little specific information has been released about the prosecution’s case against the teens. At the 15-year-old’s sentencing hearing, however, some of the evidence finally came to light.
Particularly revealing was the cross-examination of Dr. Eileen Ryan, a psychiatrist who testified on the teen’s behalf. Her testimony showed that the crux of the prosecution’s case were statements the boy made to police. Moreover, according to the boy’s father, the kid made these statements without a lawyer or his parents present. The father also said that none of the guns that were confiscated from the family’s house when the teen was originally taken into custody in February were presented as evidence in the trial.
Prosecutor Darby Lowe, reading from the interrogation transcript, quoted the teen as saying, “We were just going to go to school and kill everyone we knew except for our friends.”
Ryan, who had earlier described the teen as “altruistic, kind and generous,” yet also conflict-avoidant and passive, testified that this inflammatory statement was a response to a hypothetical question. She also said the teen never actually planned to take part in the plot, nor did he ever think the 16-year-old who apparently masterminded it would follow through. The older kid previously pleaded guilty to related charges.
According to Ryan, the 15-year old was caught up in a destructive relationship with his 16-year-old friend, who was bullied and did not fit in at school.
While the father admits that his son made mistakes that led to this ordeal, he says: “When you have a 15-year-old who has not been read his rights, and does not have a lawyer or his parents present, a professional interrogator can have a field day with the kid.”
The boy’s sentence will be determined on May 23, after Judge Susan Whitlock reviews a report from the Department of Social Services. He faces the prospect of being behind bars until age 21.—Nell Boeschenstein