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Future focus: What’s in store for Charlottesville?

Post author By C-VILLE Writers
Post date March 9, 2016
4 Comments on Future focus: What’s in store for Charlottesville?

The Landmark Hotel is the only thing left standing after the apocalypse. Illustration: Max March; Photo: Ashley Twiggs

What does the future hold? We examine what has happened in Charlottesville’s past and present to make some zany predictions about what could occur years down the road. But you know what they say: Fact is stranger than fiction.

Developing our future

Growth is always an issue in both Charlottesville and Albemarle County, and there’s no reason to think that will change in the future. Those already here want things to stay the way they are—while newcomers continue to flock to our beautiful burg.

Albemarle County has incorporated the preservation of the county’s rural character into its comprehensive plan by funneling development into designated growth areas such as Crozet, Pantops and U.S. 29 North.

Charlottesville flirted with high-density development in 2003 during the tenure of then-UVA architecture professor/mayor Maurice Cox. However, once the first nine-story buildings actually were built (ahem, The Flats), citizens decided they didn’t want density quite that…dense, at least on West Main.

So what does Charlottesville of the future look like?

West Main

West Main is one of the oldest thoroughfares in the commonwealth, dating back to the 18th century when it was known as Three Notch’d Road. By the early 19th century, it was the muddy lane connecting Mr. Jefferson’s new U to the town of Charlottesville. The 20th century saw it dotted with gas stations, car dealerships and auto repair shops in the style now known as mid-century. In the early 21st century, the battle raged about what West Main would look like going forward. Would it keep its mid-century charm with the remnants of 19th-century Vinegar Hill, or would it become canyon-like with nine-story hotels and condos? Would it become even more bike- and pedestrian-friendly, with the 66-foot-wide street redeveloped into a boulevard?

C-VILLE predicts: The Downtown Mall is so successful that it seems only logical to turn West Main into a pedestrian and bike mall, a notion retailers and auto service centers fight. The compromise: no on-street parking and a city requirement that the hotels lining West Main build giant parking structures to handle at least twice their occupancy rates. And a fleet of golf carts will shuttle less-ambulatory citizens to West Main’s restaurants and shopping.

Cherry Avenue

Cherry Avenue now is best known for its Salvation Army Thrift Store and being a backed-up commute option to Jefferson Park Avenue.

C-VILLE predicts: With its proximity to downtown, those deserted storefronts are ripe for redevelopment, especially with a hotel going up on the corner of Ridge Street. And when Trader Joe’s takes over the old IGA space, Cherry Avenue becomes the new West Main.

Strategic Investment Area

Charlottesville’s boldest plan for the future is to take 330 privately owned acres south of the Downtown Mall between Ridge and Avon streets—where some of the city’s poorest residents live—and redevelop it while avoiding the pitfalls of the Vinegar Hill urban renewal of the ’60s. The plan calls for retaining low-income housing while encouraging market and work-force residences, investment in innovative business and upgrading existing infrastructure for safe and walkable/bikable streets.

C-VILLE predicts: The 17-acre Ix complex becomes the centerpiece of the SIA because of its size and its private ownership by the innovative Kuttners, which make it much more nimble than the other large tracts owned by Piedmont Housing and the Charlottesville Housing Development Authority. The area gets its first park and first grocery, and people flock to the mixed-use housing on the property with its close proximity to the Downtown Mall. Following city investment in sidewalks and bike lanes, Ix Center becomes the Belmont of the 2030s.

Oh, the Places we’ll grow

Pantops

The area east of Charlottesville has been Albemarle’s least successful growth area, where instead of the new urbanism, it looks more like the old suburbanism, with all the disadvantages of growth—traffic—and none of the benefits of density. In 2015, residents pleaded for a pedestrian bridge just to be able to safely cross multi-lane U.S. 250 to the Pantops Shopping Center. The perpetually strapped county added the bridge to its good-ideas-we-can’t-afford list.

C-VILLE predicts: Even if Amazon takes over the retail world, we’re always going to need car lots, and that will continue to be Pantops’ ace in the hole. Future Pantops residents won’t be getting rid of their cars anytime soon.

We predict Seminole Trail will receive an underpass at Rio and an overpass at Hydraulic, helping through-traffic flow much better. Photo: Jack Looney

Crozet

Crozet convened its first master plan advisory council in 2002, and for years to those involved it looked like a lot of talk and no money for implementation. But slowly, in the intervening years, Old Trail turned from a big field into a small-lot community with a walkable commercial area—although residents still have to get in their cars to go to the grocery store. The Crozet streetscape, after being torn up seemingly for forever, finally was complete, as was the long-delayed library. Jarman’s Gap was widened and is safe for walking and biking. And the subdivisions that sprouted around the small village prevented the sprawl that otherwise would stretch along U.S. 250 as a blight upon the road’s rural vistas.

C-VILLE predicts: The redevelopment of the Barnes Lumber site is the game-changer for Crozet and the best neighborhood model in Albemarle, thanks largely to Frank Stoner, who redeveloped the Jefferson School. Residents actually live above office and retail, and walk to the Mudhouse for coffee and to Great Valu for shopping, thanks to a pedestrian bridge over the railroad tracks. With the Blue Ridge Mountains as a backdrop, some are calling the county’s scenic yet funky village “the new Downtown Mall.”

Seminole Trail

Seminole Trail became Charlottesville’s Main Street of the latter 20th century, geared toward the automobile. The area has been in a chronic struggle to move through-traffic without the bypass desired by Lynchburg and Danville. And while the county’s zoning has kept it from becoming a commercial eyesore like our neighbors on U.S. 29 to the south, it’s also contributed to commercially awkward spaces, like The Shops at Stonefield.

C-VILLE predicts: With the completion of Hillsdale and Berkmar connector roads, the underpass at Rio and an overpass at Hydraulic, through-traffic flows much better. However, that doesn’t appease Lynchburg, which is still clamoring for a bypass 20 years after the Western Bypass was officially killed, and local residents still continue to avoid it if at all possible.

Pay Scale

Charlottesville’s median household income of $44,601 between 2009 and 2013 was well below the state median household income of $63,907, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The higher-than-the-state median housing cost of $293,000 and 27.5 percent of city residents living below the poverty rate prove that Charlottesville is an expensive place to live and wages don’t come close to making it affordable. Albemarle’s numbers tell the same story: Even more expensive housing at $319,200 with a median household income of $67,725.

C-VILLE predicts: In 2036, Charlottesville remains a desirable place to live—for the rich. Its unaffordability creates a boom in Buckingham County, where the median home price was an almost-affordable $128,800 earlier in the 21st century.

Joining Forces

In 1982, Albemarle signed a deal with the devil, in this case, Charlottesville, promising to pay it 10 cents of its property tax rate—currently at 81.9 cents per $100 of assessed value—if Charlottesville stopped annexing county land, which the General Assembly declared a moratorium on in 1987. Between 1983 and 2010, Albemarle has paid nearly $161 million to Charlottesville, and ponied up nearly $16 million in 2016 alone, according to Charlottesville Tomorrow.

C-VILLE predicts: Although Charlottesville reaps a windfall every year from Albemarle, both budget-strapped entities realize their dollars could go a lot further if they consolidated schools, police, fire departments and redundant local governments. The result? A new municipality called Charlbemarle.

Traffic Calming

To discourage driving into town—although for many commuters from surrounding communities, there is no other option to get to work—by 2016 Charlottesville has calibrated all its stoplights so that motorists have to stop at every signal, or at least it seems that way.

C-VILLE predicts: An environmentally committed City Council finally realizes that cars spewing carbon monoxide idling at lights with no other traffic in sight is not the most sound policy, and that the ensuing road rage of citizens constitutes a very real safety concern. Council orders city traffic engineers to calibrate those darn lights to make traffic flow.

Future of downtown

Is there living room?

A well-established community already thrives in downtown Charlottesville. You can buy the essentials at Reid’s Super-Save or Market Street Market. Several salons and barbershops exist to style you, some of the best eateries in town are there, and a buffet of live theaters, movie theaters and music venues aim to feed your soul.

But will downtown Charlottesville soon face the issue of too many people and too few homes?

Realtor Jim Duncan, who has sold downtown homes for more than a decade, says the market has remained surprisingly consistent.

“A lot of people are just happy where they are,” he says, adding that while there are currently enough homes downtown, there is a historically low inventory of homes for sale in the area.

He says as the city’s population grows, and more people are looking to buy homes in neighborhoods such as Woolen Mills, Belmont and Ridge Street, it won’t be long before there are no homes left to buy.

The solution? Building up.

Duncan says the future of Charlottesville could follow the “aspirational trend” of cities such as New York and San Francisco with taller buildings and fewer cars. One of those taller buildings will be Market Plaza on Water Street, with a nine-story retail/office/residential building alongside the open-air City Market. Occupancy is expected in April 2018.

C-VILLE predicts: Oliver Kuttner’s micro apartments around the Glass Building inspire a tiny-housing boom in Charlottesville. Not only do apartments downtown start getting smaller and smaller to accommodate an influx of residents (one resident boasts living in a 150-square-foot IKEA-inspired room), but a local developer buys 50 acres of land in the county and builds a tiny-house community of 1,000 freestanding homes.

With parking spaces expected to disappear as new construction comes in, by the year 2050 we predict we will see 10-story parking structures dotting the downtown skyline. Illustration: Jason Crosby

Where will we park?

In 2012, the city’s office of economic development recorded that more than 1 million visitors parked in a downtown parking garage. As the area continues to grow in popularity and development, and more folks find themselves venturing to the mall, the manager of the Charlottesville Parking Center, Bob Stroh, says parking will become an issue. And sooner than you think.

In just two years, Stroh says the number of lost parking spaces is in the hundreds due to development in the area, including the reconstruction of Belmont Bridge, the building of Market Plaza and potentially futher development of the Landmark Hotel.

“That’s near-term,” Stroh says. “Long-term is worse.”

The city’s 2008 parking study cited 6,000 available parking spaces downtown and called for an additional 1,700 spaces needed due to increased demand. By the 2015 study, only 4,280 spaces were recorded downtown and instead of pushing for more spaces, the study called for learning how to share public and private spots.

“I don’t see any indication that that’s going to happen,” Stroh says, adding that calling for even an extra 1,700 spaces is “very conservative.”

“Now we’re at the point where if somebody wanted to build something downtown,” he says, “they really couldn’t unless they could build parking within the development.” As for the future of parking? It might have to be underground, says Stroh.

C-VILLE predicts: In the future, those living more than a stone’s throw away from the Downtown Mall will fire up their smart cars to drive toward the center of the action. But where will they park? Parking garages will have been demolished to house 20-story apartments and, as for off-street parking—not a chance. You’ll have to motor up to a 10-story parking structure you’re used to seeing in big cities and have your car placed in its designated space by a giant motorized lift.

Youthful nature

Chris Engel, the city’s director of economic development, says Charlottesville was ahead of the curve when the Downtown Mall was built 40 years ago. Not only are pedestrian malls becoming more popular across the nation, he says there’s also a notable trend regarding the people targeted to work and live on them.

Charlottesville companies such as WorldStrides, WillowTree and RKG, which employ significant numbers of young professionals, are situated downtown for a reason, he says. It’s hip. It’s cool. National trends show that youngsters want to live where they work and work where they live.

The future of the Downtown Mall, Engel says, could show an increase in professional offices. But don’t worry, if his calculations are correct: Dining, entertainment and specialty retail aren’t going anywhere.

C-VILLE predicts: Lest we forget the empty-nesters who have moved downtown in an effort to eliminate the burden of driving, just 20 years from now, the young and the old will coexist just steps away from a mall lined with offices and specialty shops. It’s safe to say The Needle Lady isn’t going anywhere. And what do we predict will be the wave of future? You can’t have enough ice cream/gelato shops. We all scream for ice cream.

Shop till you drop

By 2030, Charlottesville Fashion Square mall gives the boot to chain stores and becomes a commercial center for local boutiques, with a brewery and doggie daycare located on the bottom level and a rooftop restaurant featuring Virginia wines. Photo: Jack Looney

The opening of 5th Street Station, projected for late 2016, will tip the balance of shopping in what some say is an already oversaturated retail market. For decades, residents living south and east of town have had to travel up north on U.S. 29 to buy new shoes or school supplies. Okay, they’ll still have to go north to buy shoes, but 5th Street Station’s 465,000 square feet make it almost as large as Barracks Road Shopping Center, and having a Wegmans is a game-changer for local groceries.

C-VILLE predicts: Seminole Square and Albemarle Square, which were nearly ghost shopping centers before 5th Street Station opened, in desperation embrace mixed-use development and became new urbanism hits and actual neighborhood models. Seminole Square, with Kroger as its anchor and close to Whole Foods, is actually walkable for the affordable condos and apartments built on the site. Its bus connections and a neighborhood brewery make it popular for car-less millennials—or whatever the generation is that follows them. Albemarle Square is a tougher sell, but the growing senior population, car-less for different reasons, also embraces being able to go by wheelchair to the grocery, as well as its proximity to the Senior Center.

Despite Amazon obliterating many brick-and-mortar retailers with drone delivery, specialty shops remain because a lot of the time people don’t know what they want until they see it and can touch it. And the need for dry cleaners and convenient groceries, drugstores and hardware stores remains.

Local governments learn something from The Shops at Stonefield and Seminole Square, and decide to stop telling developers how to build shopping centers that look like awkward upscale urbanism.

Grocery stores

Again, 2016 was a watershed year for going to the store, with the opening of Wegmans, a grocery chain even more beloved than Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s, if such a thing is possible. Wegmans joins Charlottesville’s Giant, three Krogers, two Harris Teeters, five Food Lions and The Fresh Market national chains.

C-VILLE predicts: Wegmans becomes the local mecca for all things food related, and decides to open five more locations in town, becoming the top chain in the area.

But not everyone can afford to shop in the deluxe markets, and two distinct trends emerge. With worsening traffic, shoppers become more fond of being able to pop into neighborhood stores such as Reid’s and Foods of All Nations, and it turns out they also like not having to navigate a massive parking lot or store.

Who will live here?

With an increase in the older population, by 2040 expect restaurants to cater to customers by offering early-bird specials from 4-6pm instead of daily happy hours. Illustration: Jason Crosby

Based on statistics from the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville’s population was expected to increase 10.9 percent from the 2010 census to July 2015—up to 48,210 residents. Albemarle County was expected to see a 6.1 percent boost, to 105,051 residents. The makeup of Charlottesville in 2014 was projected to be: 69.9 percent white, 19.24 percent African-American, 7.15 percent Asian, 4.86 Hispanic and 3.2 percent two or more races. The U.S. Census Bureau 2014 projection states both Charlottesville and Albemarle are 48 percent male, 52 percent female. And the largest age group in Charlottesville is 20 to 24 years old, while Albemarle is 15 to 19 years old.

What about further down the road—2020, 2030, 2040. What will our resident makeup look like?

Investing in the future

A group of prominent Charlottesville CEOs, led by Coran Capshaw, fund a local biotech company that invents a device that allows them to oversee their businesses long into the future.

Eat really local

If Charlottesville had an overarching theme to its restaurants, it would be eat local. Farm-to-table is a common practice, with many chefs and owners searching out the best of area ingredients to offer diners.

C-VILLE predicts: One restaurant takes the concept of eat local to a new extreme, opening a restaurant that features one of Thomas Jefferson’s favorite vegetables—the pea. Pea shoots top pasta, pea greens are sprinkled on steaks, and sweet pea pies become all the rage.

Wedding experts

Charlottesville has become a destination wedding spot for couples from all over the country thanks to our perfect pairing of wedding planners and picturesque wineries.

C-VILLE predicts: Piedmont Virginia Community College will offer a two-year Wedding & Wine Expert degree in which you master flower arranging, catering, how to open a winery and event planning. You also become an ordained minister.

University of Virginia

House hunting

The real estate market surrounding the University of Virginia is known among UVA students for being particularly cutthroat. Students often sign leases for the next year as early as September, and cheap housing is difficult to find. With increases in admissions, new dorms are being built to accommodate incoming freshmen, the most recent of which opened last fall.

According to UVA’s Housing and Residence Life website, prices for on-Grounds housing are projected to increase by about $200 for the 2016-2017 school year. However, the university is also considering plans to expand upperclassmen housing in the future to popular living areas such as Jefferson Park and Brandon avenues.

C-VILLE predicts: By 2025, housing for students will have become so preemptive that first-years will be required to find housing for all four years during summer orientation.

There are currently 6,540 beds on Grounds for UVA students, and dorms see a 97 percent occupancy rate. First-years are often required to sign leases as early as September to secure housing for the next year. Photo: Robert Llewellyn

Big spenders

According to College Board, in-state tuition at public four-year institutions has increased by an average of 3.4 percent per year for the past 10 years. That means that by 2025, UVA’s in-state tuition could increase to roughly $20,505. For 2015-16, in-state tuition was $14,678, while out-of-state tuition was $43,974.

C-VILLE predicts: To help students earn extra money for tuition, UVA creates a work/study program for Cav Man and invents as many iterations of the mascot as possible. There’s
Big ’Hoo, Kind-of-Big ’Hoo and Medium-sized ’Hoo. And the Cavalier on horseback becomes a cavalry on horseback with up to 10 mascots (in both Cav Man and horse costumes) taking the field at one game. Team spirit has never been so strong.

Athletics

Football

Things haven’t looked great for the Cavaliers recently—as evidenced by cumulative statistics this year. In 2015, the Cavs were outscored by opponents 386-304, out-rushed by opponents 1,879-1,737 and received roughly 10 more penalties per yard than other opponents. Last winning season: 2011. Number of consecutive losses to Virginia Tech: 11.

C-VILLE predicts: The future looks bright. Head Coach Bronco Mendenhall didn’t have a single losing season with Brigham Young University, and we predict he won’t have one with Virginia, either. Five years of winning seasons are on the horizon.

Basketball

Head Coach Tony Bennett, in his seventh season, has led the Cavaliers to two ACC regular season titles, and his team clinched a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament in 2014 for the first time since 1983. Bennett’s paycheck this year was $2.1 million.

C-VILLE predicts: Money is key. The next seven seasons under Bennett will be full of hotly contended ACC titles and NCAA tournament runs, but that kind of success comes with a price tag.

Baseball

The men’s baseball team is hoping for a repeat of 2015, when it won the NCAA national title series for the first time in the program’s history.

C-VILLE predicts: In 2016, the Cavaliers again clinch the national title and see six players selected in the first 25 picks of the Major League Baseball draft. The consecutive winning streak continues to 2020, and UVA holds the record for most number of consecutive national titles.

This article was updated at 2pm March 15 to reflect the correct name of The Salvation Army Thrift Store on Cherry Avenue.

Tags Charlottesville, People & Style, Planning & Development, UVA

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How to spend $162 million: The city’s budget increases 3.5 percent

Post author By samanthabaars
Post date March 8, 2016
1 Comment on How to spend $162 million: The city’s budget increases 3.5 percent

Over the next three fiscal years, City Manager Maurice Jones is proposing $10 million for improvements to West Main Street. Photo by Jack Looney

Charlottesville City Manager Maurice Jones presented his proposed budget for fiscal year 2017 to City Council on March 7.

The $161,871,784 budget is a 3.5 percent increase over 2016’s fiscal year budget, which was approved at $156,391,435. The latest budget is Jones’ sixth version.

“The biggest chunk is going to the schools,” he says, and overall, he is proposing an additional $1.9 million for city schools, along with a 1 percent increase in the lodging tax rate to help offset the cost of school funding. The increase will add $566,000 in revenue.

The tax rate will stay the same at 95 cents per $100 of assessed value; because property values increased by 2.56 percent in 2015, the city made an extra $3.1 million in property tax revenue.

In just two words, Jones says he can summarize next year’s budget as allocating money for “quality services” in the city. And, in his opinion, one of the most significant capital improvement projects in the works is the development of a $1.7 million skate park at McIntire Park.

Renovations to Charlottesville’s circuit and general district courts are also a priority, with $4.5 million projected for circuit court renovations over a five-year span and $500,000 in the current budget for design. An additional $500,000 is proposed for general district court renovations, which will require more than $7 million over the five years.

Over the next three fiscal years, Jones is proposing $10 million for improvements to West Main Street. In five years, $1 million will be used to install new sidewalks and almost $500,000 will go toward maintaining underground utilities.

By 2025, City Council’s vision for Charlottesville is for it to be “America’s healthiest city,” and Jones says the budget supports that by allocating money for keeping up with parks and recreation “to help ensure that people have opportunities to exercise.” Over the next two fiscal years, $1.5 million will go toward implementing the McIntire Park master plan.

Minor changes to some services will save almost $400,000, Jones says. Those include reducing pool hours at the Washington Park Pool and a change to the Charlottesville Area Transit route 7, which will reduce the number of operating buses to six per hour, instead of seven. Wait times between buses on that route will increase to 20 minutes, up from 15 minutes.

Council will meet March 10 for a budget work session.

BUDGET BREAKDOWN

$161,871,784: Total budget is a 3.5 increase over 2016 fiscal year budget

No change: Tax rate stays the same, 95 cents per $100 of assessed value

$63,569,933: City schools get the biggest piece of the general fund budget pie, with an increase of $1.9 million

$3.1 million: The additional revenue from property values, which increased 2.56 percent in 2015

$10 million: Amount slated for West Main improvements

$1.5 million: for the McIntire Park
master plan

Tags budget, Charlottesville, charlottesville city schools, Education, Government & Courts, maurice jones, mcintire skate park, Planning & Development, west main street

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Controversy resurfaces: Should the statue stand?

Post author By samanthabaars
Post date March 3, 2016
25 Comments on Controversy resurfaces: Should the statue stand?

Local resident David Stackpole is calling to remove or replace the Lewis and Clark statue because it represents Sacagawea unfairly. Rammelkamp foto

The Lewis and Clark statue at the intersection of West Main Street has been the center of controversy for some time—last month, police removed a mysterious, red-stained, human-shaped figure made of masking tape from the base of the statue that was aiming a makeshift bow and arrow up at the explorers. One local says it’s finally time to remove or replace the landmark that so many have complained about.

Controversy surrounding the statue often stems from the third figure present in the memorial: Sacagawea. Documented in history as the explorers’ guide in their 1803 to 1806 expedition up the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean, many believe the monument embodies an ethnic and gender bias that doesn’t depict the Native American woman fairly.

The statue was made by Charles Keck and dedicated in 1921, but not until 2009 was a plaque commemorating Sacagawea’s contributions to the expedition placed on the monument.

David Stackpole, a Charlottesville resident of 18 years, calls the “simple plaque” the “perfect remedy if you’re standing no more than two feet away from it in the middle of traffic and on the right side [of the sculpture] to see it.”

He takes note of Sacagawea’s crouched stance in comparison with the towering explorers above her. She has a “concave, self-protected frame,” with her hands pulled close to her body, which contrasts, Stackpole says, with the “flared chests” and open postures of Meriwether Lewis—an Albemarle native—and William Clark. As the Native American gazes downward, the men stare off into the horizon, and while Sacagawea’s bent knees suggest exhaustion and the need for rest, Stackpole says the explorers stand with a “readied, strongly erect stance.”

Many have spoken out against the statue, including performance artist Jennifer Hoyt Tidwell, who organized the 2007 Columbus Day protest in which she and several other women gathered near the statue in support of Sacagawea and dressed in evening gowns, donning sashes with names such as “Miss Representation” and “Miss Informed.” She collected 500 signatures to correct the portrayal of the Native American, and as a result, the 2009 plaque was mounted.

Recalling the unveiling of the plaque, Hoyt Tidwell says City Council invited Sacagawea’s Shoshone descendants. She was disappointed when Council didn’t mention the protest or introduce her to the Native Americans and, instead, accepted intricately beaded purses and garments from the descendants on their own behalf.

“It reminded me of how Sacagawea in that statute was not given credit for her role and neither was I,” she says.

Stackpole says the plaque isn’t enough. And he thinks Lewis and Clark might agree.

“If you were to read how these two great men adored and respected her, you would be convinced they, too, would take issue with this,” Stackpole says, adding that he wants the statue removed, replaced or counterbalanced by a sibling statue that depicts the woman’s contributions. He is currently gathering signatures on a petition that he will submit to Council.

Andre Cavalcante, an assistant professor at UVA, says he and his students support Stackpole’s efforts. Raising the question to his Gender Nonconformity in Media class, Cavalcante says students agreed almost universally that the statue is historically inaccurate and offensive.

“The class agreed that this kind of representation belongs in a museum,” he says, “a place where it can exist as a part of history and be critiqued for its misrepresentation.” Noting that the statue would not be erased from history, he says, “preserving the story of both monuments and highlighting that social change and progress are indeed possible.”

But those at the Lewis & Clark Exploratory Center in Darden Towe Park think the statue should stay as it is.

“I understand the gender and racial issues of these historical statues,” says Executive Director Alexandria Searls. “But I also think that history on some level has to be understood from a more evolved viewpoint.”

Searls wrote a letter to City Council February 9 saying if the statue had to be moved, she would accept it at the exploratory center where it could be contextualized. Many historical figures are imperfect, she says, speaking generally of the past, “to remove whatever has any guilt associated with it is to remove everything.”

Charlottesville police removed this figure, which appears to be shooting a bow and arrow up at the explorers, away from the Lewis and Clark statue in February. Photo courtesy of the Charlottesville Police Department

Tags alexandria searls, andre cavalcante, Charlottesville, darden towe park, david stackpole, lewis & clark exploratory center, lewis and clark, sacagawea, university of virginia, west main street

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Jonas in Charlottesville

From left, Dan Spearing, John Anderson, Justin Watson and Matt Thompson continue their descent of Jarman Gap in Crozet, Virginia after the storm Sunday morning, January 24, 2016. Anderson, who owns the Crozet Running shop in the center of Crozet, runs this route that ascends all the way up to the ridge line and meets the Appalachian Trail and the Blue Ridge Parkway. These die hard runners follow this route regularly and took advantage of the empty roads after the storm left more than 18 inches of snow. Photo by Ryan Jones

Winter storm Jonas descended upon the area last week, blanketing Charlottesville in 15.5 inches of snow, according to weather.com. Here are some other numbers to know:

About 63 power outages in Albemarle County

5 calls to Charlottesville Police Department for car accidents

3 calls to CPD for disabled vehicles

41 calls to CPD for hazards, namely calls about disabled vehicles in the roadway

3 cars towed for road hazards in Charlottesville

31 cars towed from emergency snow routes in Charlottesville

0 fatalities in Charlottesville and Albemarle

Tags Albemarle County, Charlottesville, jonas, winter storm jonas

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Trail runner offers safety tips after Running Man’s death

Post author By samanthabaars
Post date January 6, 2016
No Comments on Trail runner offers safety tips after Running Man’s death

Philip Weber III, a.k.a "Running Man." Photo courtesy of NBC 29

Following the December 29 death of 55- year-old Philip Weber III, known as Charlottesville’s “Running Man,” an ultra marathoner and running club board member makes suggestions for safe running.

Weber was struck and killed by a 2001 Isuzu Trooper on Ivy Road around 7am. At the time of the incident, police closed the westbound lane of Ivy Road for several hours. While the investigation is ongoing, the name of the driver has not been released and no charges have been filed.

Ivy Road isn’t an optimal road for joggers, says Charlottesville Area Trail Runners board member Andy Jones-Wilkins. Club members tend to avoid it, he says, adding that trail runners in the club often choose to run Dick Woods Road, which has less traffic.

“Most of our running is on trails but it’s an inevitable fact of modern life that you find yourself on the road from time to time,” he says. He is familiar with Weber, a prominent member of Charlottesville’s running community.

Jones-Wilkins says many runners do, and should, take a lesson from cyclists who wear high-visibility clothes—such as construction worker-esque reflective vests and specially made shoes—even though they’re “kind of silly-looking.” Sportswear companies even make headlamps with an extremely bright bulb in the front and a blinking red light on the back.

Drivers, he says, should always be alert and aware that while most cyclists ride on the same side as vehicular traffic, joggers often run against traffic.

“We, as runners, trail runners, road runners, whatever—we ultimately are responsible for our own safety and that’s how we live our lives,” he says.

Tags andy jones-wilkins, Charlottesville, ivy road, philip weber, running man

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UPDATED: Suspect taken into custody after 6th Street standoff

Post author By samanthabaars
Post date January 5, 2016
No Comments on UPDATED: Suspect taken into custody after 6th Street standoff

Charlottesville police parked a BearCat in front of the yellow house on Sixth Street SE where suspect Cole Frank Nordick was barricaded. Staff photo

“Everything in that house will be ruined,” homeowner Marcus Shifflett said when police began shooting what appeared to be tear gas into a 6th Street Southeast home he rents to a tenant. “Furniture, clothes, everything.”

The Downtown Mall’s Union Bank and Trust was robbed January 4, and city spokesperson Miriam Dickler says police obtained a search warrant January 5 for a house located at 504 Sixth St. SE, a few blocks away from the bank, where the robber was allegedly staying. While police were on their way to the house, a 911 call came through for a report of domestic violence at the same address, she says.

When police arrived at the scene four out of five people were able to exit the house, but one refused and remained inside—the suspected bank robber later identified as Cole Franklin Nordick.

A number of city, county and university police blocked off the street and surrounded the entire area around 1:30pm. Police and city and county SWAT teams made telephone contact with Nordick and he threatened harm to anyone who tried to enter the home, police say. About two hours into the standoff, police began shooting tear gas into the 6th Street home. One bystander reported counting at least 12 shots, and more were fired afterward.

A police K9 on the scene rapidly wagged its tail and whimpered after some of the shots.

Bystanders gathered on a nearby sidewalk and cars slowed when they passed the commotion. At least five people had cell phones out, filming the action.

Around 4:25pm, Nordick emerged from the front door of the home, hands in the air and wearing a white T-shirt. He was arrested for armed bank robbery and taken to the Charlottesville Albemarle Regional Jail where he is being held without bond.

Nordick has arrest records dating back to 1996, with at least two charges for petit larceny, multiple probation violations and drug charges.

On his Facebook page, Nordick says he studied locksmithing at a trade school.

The city delayed school buses for nearby Clark Elementary School, as well as some buses from Walker, Buford Middle School and Charlottesville High.

During the standoff, Shifflett said he suspected Nordick was blockaded in the windowless bathroom where the gas wouldn’t reach him.

“I don’t know what [the tenants] are going to do tonight,” Shifflett says. “They’re going to have to find a home. They don’t have no place to go.”

UPDATED 1/6 at 9:30 with information identifying the suspect.

Tags Charlottesville, Charlottesville Police Department, Government & Courts, standoff

News

Red Onion sued: Coal tower shooter’s guardian seeks $23 million

Post author By samanthabaars
Post date December 30, 2015
5 Comments on Red Onion sued: Coal tower shooter’s guardian seeks $23 million

The man charged with killing two people at Charlottesville’s coal tower in August 2001 was found unresponsive and unconscious in a blood-smeared, solitary confinement cell at Wise County’s Red Onion State Prison in April 2014, bound by a makeshift rope tied around his neck and ankles and with a three-quarters-inch slit on his left wrist. The legal guardian of Craig Nordenson (who changed his name to Craig Verdier-Logarides after being adopted) is now suing the state, the Virginia Department of Corrections, the prison, the warden and correctional officers on five counts for a total of $22.85 million.

The DOC called the death of Verdier-Logarides, 32, a suicide. But Daniele Verdier-Logarides, who adopted him since he’s been in jail, and her attorney, Richard Kennedy, fear they may never know what actually happened to the inmate.

A lawsuit filed in federal court on December 21 states that on the last day of his life, Verdier-Logarides covered his cell window with cardboard, which prevented officers from monitoring him—even though they are required to check on inmates in segregated housing every 30 minutes.

“This is especially troubling as the Department of Corrections and Red Onion State Prison already designated Craig as a possible danger to himself and potentially suicidal with a history of being institutionalized at Southwest Virginia Mental Health Correctional Facility in 2008-2009 for what was described as an attempted suicide,” the suit says. “This certainly indicates a tolerated routine and pattern of officers intentionally permitting inmates to cover the cell without windows to prevent visual inspections in direct violation of prison policy, even where the inmate is housed in segregation and heightened observation and scrutiny are mandated by prison policy.”

According to the suit, correctional officer Warren Smith said he checked on the inmate at 9:23am and Verdier-Logarides peeled back a corner of the cardboard, allegedly saying he was washing up and didn’t want the officers to see him naked. This conversation has been reported only by Smith, and no other witnesses have confirmed it.

At 9:52am, officer Aaron Duke Deel stopped by Verdier-Logarides’ cell for approximately five seconds, and signed the daily log sheet without making any effort to monitor, inspect or communicate with Verdier-Logarides, according to the suit. Without checking on him, the suit alleges Deel signed the log outside Verdier-Logarides’ cell again at 10:25am, and no other inspections or checks on his cell were made until an hour later.

At 11:15am, an unnamed officer opened the food tray slot on the cell door, peered inside and spotted Verdier-Logarides unconscious on the floor.

“The cell was awash in what appeared to be blood and blood smears,” the suit says. “The bed, mattress and pillow were soaked with an inordinate volume of what appeared to be blood. Craig had a pulse and blood pressure, but was unconscious, bleeding and unresponsive.”

Verdier-Logarides was then taken by ambulance to Dickenson Community Hospital, and though he maintained some vital signs throughout the ambulance ride, he never regained consciousness and remained unresponsive.

Dr. Amy Tharp from the office of the chief medical examiner ruled the suicide as a ligature asphyxiation, or strangulation. In the official investigation, the rope that Verdier-Logarides allegedly strangled himself with was determined to be a 6-foot nylon three-strand cord, with no known origin and not used anywhere at Red Onion. The suit also says no razor or cutting tool was found in his cell.

Kennedy, the Wise County attorney representing the inmate’s estate, calls those occurrences “the two mysteries of the case.” Though he says he can’t discuss much about the case, he says the segregated cells are known for being difficult to access and it would take hard evidence to prove that someone else ever entered his cell. The two correctional officers named in the suit have never given sworn statements.

“The family of Craig obviously has doubts and questions as to what really happened,” says the suit, “be it suicide, assisted suicide, coerced suicide or other foul play.”

It also states that the failure to monitor Verdier-Logarides every 30 minutes and the two-hour lapse of no inspection during which the injuries were inflicted were the reason his death occurred without detection. For this reason, according to Kennedy, the state should be held responsible.

“This creates a strong inference that such monitoring violations were the reason all the facts will never be known,” the suit says.

Daniele Verdier-Logarides, administrator of his estate, and her husband, Jacques, want nearly $23 million for the mental anguish, distress and pain at the loss of their son’s companionship, communications, visitation, comfort, guidance and advice that they will continue to suffer.

Kennedy says no court date has been scheduled, but he expects the state to respond to the suit by February.

Updated January 5 with comments from Attorney Richard Kennedy.

Tags Charlottesville, coal tower shooter, craig nordenson, craig verdier-logarides, daniele verdier-logarides, red onion state prison, richard kennedy

News

Gene Washington appears for last motions hearing of the year

Post author By samanthabaars
Post date December 7, 2015
No Comments on Gene Washington appears for last motions hearing of the year

Gene Everett Washington. Photo: Charlottesville Police Department

The man charged with brutally beating a mother and daughter to death before setting their Rugby Avenue home on fire one year ago appeared in Charlottesville Circuit Court December 7 for a motions hearing.

Gene Washington faces capital murder charges for the death of special education teacher Robin Aldridge and her daughter, Mani.

Judge Rick Moore denied a request by Washington’s defense attorneys—Katherine Jensen and Lloyd Snook—that called for the commonwealth’s attorney to not be present while the defense views evidence, instead asking for supervision by an evidence technician or police officer.

“We shouldn’t have someone looking over our shoulder,” Jensen said. “We’re just asking for the playing field to be even.”

According to Jensen, prosecutors gauge the defense’s reactions to each piece of evidence and take note of how long they spend looking at specific pieces. The defense is not allowed in the room while the prosecuting attorney views evidence.

“I don’t think I can take that right away from [the prosecutors],” Judge Moore said, denying the motion. Two other motions, which were granted, were procedural.

Some of the evidence in Washington’s trial includes a bent knife, rubber gloves, blood-stained sneakers potentially belonging to him and bloody towels or sheets he allegedly used to wrap the Aldridges’ bodies after he beat them and before he set their home on fire.

Washington’s trial is in May. His next motions hearing is set for February.

Tags capital murder, Charlottesville, Gene Washington, Government & Courts, Mani Aldridge, Robin Aldridge

Arts News

Volunteer core: ‘Tis the season to give back

Post author By C-VILLE Writers
Post date November 25, 2015
No Comments on Volunteer core: ‘Tis the season to give back

Volunteer firefighter and emergency medical technician Laura Hedger hopes more people realize they can train to become a volunteer firefighter. Photo: Amy Jackson

The holiday season is a time when giving and sharing is on everyone’s mind. And that is especially true of volunteers who give their time and share their skills with numerous organizations in the community year-round. So many organizations rely on volunteers for not only day-to-day upkeep tasks such as touching up paint or mending fences but running the programs that make a difference in people’s lives.

So how do you find the right place for you? Resources such as the Center for Nonprofit Excellence, a 300-member organization that assists nonprofits with tools, training and connections or volunteermatch.org provide lists of organizations in the community that are always looking for helping hands. Another great resource is United Way-Thomas Jefferson Area, which runs our community’s Volunteer Center. The center manages www.cvillevolunteer.org, where individuals seeking volunteer opportunities are matched with local needs.

The best place to start is to think of what you love doing: reading, gardening, acting, raising a dog, cooking, working with children—and then find an organization that matches that. Any hobby or professional skill can translate into the volunteer arena. Here are few groups that rely on their army of volunteers as well as the people who donate their time and talents to give back to the community.

Seminole Trail Volunteer Fire Department

In one word, volunteer firefighter and emergency medical technician Laura Hedger describes the environment at the Seminole Trail Volunteer Fire Department: “robust.”

After an intense workout in the station’s gym and an impressively quick shower, she sits down at a long, marble table to talk emergency response while the rest of her crew prepares a company dinner in the kitchen behind her. The energy is boundless, and Hedger makes it clear that all the funny business that happens behind those walls has its time and place.

“We joke and play a lot,” she says. “We’ll laugh and there’s pranks that are pulled, but at the same time, when it comes to any sort of call, [you’ll see] an entirely different side of the crews.”

Hedger says dealing with people’s lives on a multiple-times-per-day basis seems to have that effect on people. Describing a recent traffic fatality incident—her first call responding as an EMT rather than a firefighter—she says, “You just immediately go into everything you’ve trained for” when that station siren starts to wail. In this case, that meant treating a patient found lying on the road while her fellow responders ripped the doors off a wrecked car in which two other people were trapped. One of those people died that night, and Hedger says you never get used to that kind of call.

“There’s a difference between someone who’s sick and you know they’re going to pass away and someone who’s immediately been taken from you,” she says.

With five crews of about 15 people each rotating every 12 hours during the week and working 48-hour shifts every fifth weekend, Senior Volunteer Firefighter Sean O’Connor says Seminole Trail is the busiest station in the county—and possibly the city, too—though their station covers the smallest response area. The volunteers have the same certifications as Albemarle’s paid firefighters, and out of about 80 members, around 50 percent are UVA students. This station has also recruited a higher percentage of females and minorities, he says, thanks to “forward-thinking chiefs.”

Hedger says she wishes more people realized that anyone can become a volunteer firefighter and that the intensive training is worth it. Though doctors and physicists have come through their station, you certainly don’t have to be one to join the team. After all, O’Connor says, you just have to “put the wet stuff on the red stuff and stay safe.” —Samantha Baars

BY THE NUMBERS

Volunteers: 80

Calls per year: 2,000

Calls per day: 6

Hours of training for
basic-level volunteer
firefighters: 210

Years the station has been
in existence: 38

Number of fire engines: 3

Meals on Wheels of Charlottesville/Albemarle

Meals on Wheels volunteers pack, seal and organize the meals for the volunteer drivers who serve 32 routes Monday through Friday. Photo: Rammelkamp Foto

Meals on Wheels of Charlottesville/Albemarle serves 265 meals five days a week to homebound and in-need clients in Charlottesville and Albemarle County with the help of approximately 40 volunteers each day. Totally funded through donations, grants and fundraising, the nonprofit currently helps people from the age of 23 to 96—there’s no age or income limit on who can receive the meals, although 80 percent of clients are at or below the poverty level. Food accounts for half of Meals on Wheels’ budget; clients are charged for meals on a sliding scale based on income. About 70 percent of the meals are completely subsidized by the program.

The meals are prepared at UVA Hospital through a contract with the University of Virginia Health System, and a dietitian oversees the menus. Clients can choose diabetic, vegetarian, low-salt and other specialty meals as needed. After the food is prepared, it is brought each morning to the Meals on Wheels facility on Rose Hill Drive, where the food stays warm in a steam oven while volunteers pack the meals, seal them and organize them in cooler bags for the drivers to pick up.

But the organization does more than deliver food. It delivers cards and presents to clients on their birthdays, and it also gives Christmas presents and “blizzard bags” that contain non-perishable food in case of inclement weather. After receiving her birthday card, one client called to say how grateful she was—it was the only birthday wish she received that year.

“At the end of the day you feel like you’ve done something worthwhile,” Executive Director Leigh Trippe says.

Volunteer Kevin Kollar, a retired emergency room doctor, delivers meals four days a week (he averages about five routes a week). On this morning, it’s his first day back after returning a few days earlier from Haiti, where he volunteers at an outpatient clinic with the Haiti Mission Foundation.

At each stop Kollar not only delivers meals but chats with everyone, asking them how they are, if they need anything. When one client doesn’t come to the door, he makes a note to tell Meals on Wheels when he returns to the facility so staff can follow up. At another stop, he takes a woman’s garbage out for her. He knows which people on his route request meals be left in coolers by the door and which ones want him to come in for a moment to chat.

One elderly woman breaks into a big smile when she sees Kollar coming through the door after announcing himself. She knew he was going to Haiti and thought he wouldn’t be back for a few weeks.

“I’m so happy to see you!” she exclaims.

At another stop he listens as one of the clients explains that he’s a vegetarian but also is on a low-sugar diet and can’t eat the pasta that’s often included in his meal. Kollar assures him he’ll let Meals on Wheels know so they can accommodate his request.

“I do it because it needs to get done,” Kollar says about volunteering. “People are important.” —Jessica Luck

BY THE NUMBERS

Lunches delivered each day (Monday through Friday): 265

Delivery routes each day: 32

Current volunteer base: 250

Cost per meal: $5.50 (most clients receive meals for free or at a reduced cost)

PB&J Fund

Kids in the advanced cooking class at the PB&J Fund say kabobs, calzones, omelets, soups and bangers and mash are just a few of their favorite dishes they’ve learned how to prepare over the years.

At their home base—a full-sized professional kitchen on East Market Street—and several locations throughout the city, volunteers teach five different types of creative cooking classes for kids in an effort to help them learn their way around the kitchen.

Executive Director Emily Wampler says volunteers are crucial to the nonprofit, which started its cooking program in 2009, and each one brings a unique perspective or ability to connect with the students.

Volunteer Lisa Sheffield, for example, has served the organization for two years. She has a longtime interest in health and nutrition, along with encouraging kids to try new foods and make smart choices when it comes to their diets.

“I was frustrated at my children’s friends’ eating habits,” she says, calling their nourishment “the usual PB&J/mac-n-cheese/pizza diet.” In an effort to expose the children to new diverse choices, she’d prepare dishes made with foods such as leeks and beets. Now that her kids are grown and she has extra time on her hands, Sheffield says she was thrilled to find a way to get back in the kitchen with kids.

Rebecca Vang, a volunteer and global public health major at UVA, says she loves working at the PB&J Fund because her concentration at the university is childhood nutrition, and she’s passionate about cooking, too. Her favorite part about the gig is getting bossed around in the kitchen by the kids—“playing sous chef,” as she calls it.

“Some of my favorite memories are when he tells me what to do,” she says about one of the students in her class. “So he reads the recipe and is like, ‘Chop this,’ ‘Do this,’ and it’s cool to know that he’s growing and gaining confidence.”

At the most basic level, an Explorer starts to learn about culinary arts, nutrition, cooking math and kitchen safety, and by the time he has tested up to a level three, he’s running the show under close supervision by volunteers.

“I think we’re losing a lot of these basic life skills, like how to cook for yourself, how to plan a menu, how to have intuition in the kitchen,” says Vang, “and that a lot of times intimidates people from even going into it in the first place.” —Samantha Baars

BY THE NUMBERS

Students per week: 113

Volunteers per week: 28

Weekly classes: 9 (five different skill levels)

Recipes learned in 15 weeks of Explorers class: 21

The Paramount Theater

If you’ve ever seen a show at the Paramount, odds are you’ve been greeted by a friendly face who takes your ticket and perhaps helps you to the last coveted seat in the balcony section. What you might not have realized was exactly how paramount these individuals are to the theater’s success in thriving as a cultural hub for Central Virginia.

The historic Paramount Theater was originally constructed in 1931 as a grand movie palace and downtown destination. Roughly 40 years down the road, the Charlottesville landmark began to struggle and closed its doors in 1974. Fast forward to 1992—a group of community members purchased the building (under threat of demolition at the time), and the Paramount’s journey to restoration was underway.

Thanks to the efforts of these committed individuals, the theater was reopened in December 2004 as a nonprofit performing arts center. “The Paramount was truly brought back by the community, for the community,” says Director of Marketing Katherine Davis. “The vision [for the Paramount] was to again offer the theater as a home to our community, from high-caliber arts to educational programs for youth.”

This vision continues to be realized, with events that attract regional, national and even global attention while continuing to serve the local community. Of course, none of the theater’s triumphs would be possible without the continual support of community members—particularly the volunteer base.

“We could not put on any of the 250-plus public and private events that are held at the Paramount each year without the help of volunteers,” says Front of House Manager Jenny Hoye. “They are the first people to greet you as you walk through the doors of the theater, and they assist you with every aspect of your experience.”

Luckily, there are citizens such as Gene Haney and his wife, Evelyn, who are eager to be a part of the arts community and add another aspect of delight to every show-goer’s experience.

After retirement, the couple moved in 2009 to Charlottesville from Chicago to be closer to their grandchildren, and started volunteering at the Paramount the same year. The Haneys’ list of volunteer duties includes ushering, taking tickets, greeting patrons, serving concessions, assisting with mailings and often hosting donors and guests in The Founder’s Room. “We also several years ago assumed the responsibility for periodic cleaning of the two popcorn machines,” says Gene Haney. “We are known for that gig.”

The Haneys agree that making friends is a huge perk of the volunteering gig (Gene fondly remembers a chat with his idol, Kris Kristofferson). “Meeting new folks, hearing their stories, seeing the reactions of visitors to the grandeur of the theater, contributing to a very worthwhile endeavor—it’s all pretty terrific.” —Sherry Brown

BY THE NUMBERS

Age of the Paramount Theater: 84

Number of children served by Arts Education Program: 16,000 annually

Number of events since 2004: 1,300-plus

Active event volunteers: 200-plus

Number of events at the Paramount per year: 250-plus

Number of popcorn machines: 2

Live Arts

Ever wonder how much work goes into creating the elaborate worlds produced onstage? With everything from designing sets to making them, from ushering for shows and bringing them to life, there is a lot of work to be done. Enter: the dedicated and creative hands and minds of Live Arts volunteers.

Live Arts, which recently began its 25th anniversary season, is a volunteer-driven community theater that has given a home to various forms of drama, dance, comedy, music and performance art since its founding in 1990. The theater strives to put on high-quality shows in hopes of not only entertaining, but also forging and sharing a bond with the local community.

In its very nature, Live Arts is the community. Tracie Skipper, director of engagement at Live Arts, emphasizes the necessity of local participation in the company. “Live Arts would not exist without volunteers,” she says. “Directors, designers, builders, actors, visual artists, board technicians, ushers and teachers are all volunteers.”

With Live Arts’ commitment to the community, there’s little wonder that the volunteers return the sentiment with equal fervor and enthusiasm. Take Daryl Bray, for instance. She’s been a Charlottesville resident for about 25 years and a volunteer at Live Arts for just more than two. A long-held desire to paint sets and curiosity about the world of theater prompted Bray to take part in the monthly volunteer orientation at Live Arts one weekend. Bray was immediately comforted by the buzz of artistic chaos and an inviting atmosphere that she felt had been lacking in other theaters.

“Other attempts around the world of joining a theater always hit a dead end when it felt [like] a small clique-like crowd ruled the theater and outsiders felt like intruders,” she says. “Not at Live Arts! Tracie Skipper met us in the lobby and made everyone [feel] so welcome.”

Bray says that like most volunteers at Live Arts, she does a slew of tasks in assisting with shows. “I tend to stick close to the workshop and help with set design, construction and lots of painting,” she says. “Presently I am the property designer for the upcoming production of City of Angels, a 1940s detective comedy. [It’s] been fun and challenging collecting period pieces [like] old typewriters and large black telephones.” —Sherry Brown

BY THE NUMBERS

Productions since founding: 224

Current active volunteers: 250

Annual volunteers: 1,000

Age of youngest actor: 4

Charlottesville-Albemarle SPCA: Pet Therapy Program

Duke, an 8-year-old Chihuahua mix, visits local libraries and nursing homes as part of the Pet Therapy Team program. Photo: Courtesy SPCA

There are few things in life that do as good a job in cheering a downtrodden soul as the calm and loving presence of an affectionate furry friend.

The Charlottesville-Albemarle SPCA’s Pawsitive Pet Therapy Team was founded in 2012 with the mission to provide professional and experienced pet-assisted activity to a number of places in the local community including hospitals, rehabilitation centers, assisted-living facilities, youth development centers and many others in the area.

Volunteer members and their certified therapy animals (dogs, cats and even rabbits) visit these facilities as a team after passing a Canine Good Citizen class and being approved by an accredited organization. “The SPCA PTT strives to provide services that will enhance the physical and psychological well-being of clients, as well as improve patients’ communications with family, fellow patients and staff,” says Chelsea Mitchell, marketing and promotions coordinator. “It’s a great way to bring animals and people together.”

Mitchell is part of one of the 15 teams in the growing program. “My therapy dog is a sweet 8-year-old Chihuahua mix named Duke who I adopted from Richmond Animal Care and Control five years ago,” she says. “We have been a certified team since the beginning of this year, and we love visiting local libraries and nursing homes.”

The certified SPCA Pet Therapy Teams brighten days at a number of approved care facilities and also provide fun and reading support at local libraries and schools. In doing so, the teams establish personal connections with clients and leave lasting impressions.

Mitchell recounts one visit to the local library where she and Duke met a little girl named Annie, who was terrified of dogs. “Her mom sat her down next to Duke and started petting him as Annie read with her mom. As the story progressed, Annie became more and more confident. Very cautiously Annie began to pet Duke and quickly realized that it was okay,” she says. “After finishing the story, Duke was sitting in Annie’s lap, and she told her mom that she was no longer afraid of dogs.” —Sherry Brown

BY THE NUMBERS

Therapy teams: 15

Years in operation: 3

Facilities in the current rounds: 12

Madison House

Charlottesville Area Riding Therapy (CART), based in Crozet, provides therapeutic riding to members of the community with mental or physical disabilities. Photo: Rammelkamp Foto

When UVA students hear “volunteer” they think of Madison House, a brick building on Rugby Road complete with white columns. A small sign with a bright yellow sun differentiates it from the fraternities and sororities that line the street, and serves as a calling card for all students looking to volunteer in the community.

Madison House was founded in the wake of Hurricane Camille in 1969 and since then has been the go-to place for student volunteers, who can choose activities at 168 different organizations, including walking dogs for the local SPCA, spending time with a younger “sibling” in the community, helping Latino immigrants learn English or helping out at a nearby hospital.

Rachel Winters, the director of community engagement at Madison House, has plans to add even more community partners in the coming year and says the organization’s most meaningful work is to connect UVA students to the community they live in.

“It gets them out of their academic bubble and gets them working with organizations that are tackling societal issues in a real way that are just down the way from us,” Winters says.

Charlottesville Area Riding Therapy (CART) and Let Me Run are two lesser-known opportunities through Madison House that nevertheless make a big impact on those involved.

CART provides therapeutic riding to members of the community with mental or physical disabilities, teaching them fine motor skills and developing trust with animals and volunteers. Both Kate Ferner and Catherine Green, the UVA student program directors for CART, began volunteering their first year at UVA and share a deep commitment to the program.

“It made me feel good to be doing something that I love and working with horses and knowing I was helping people a lot,” says Green. “It’s also really beautiful out there [in Crozet]. It just felt like an escape from UVA and just a good way to give back to the community.”

An average session lasts about an hour, and activities range from steering around cones, playing games such as Red Light, Green Light, completing memorization and concentration tasks, giving the horses a treat (a class favorite) and even singing songs from the Disney animated film Frozen.

Ferner says her favorite part of the program is seeing the students grow. “It’s very cool to watch how confident they become,” she says. “I think one of the most important things you can give somebody is confidence.”

Let Me Run, which just partnered with Madison House this year, is also closely tied to confidence and hopes to empower young boys through a seven-week training program.

Brian Lee, the student program director, says he chose to volunteer with the new program because he saw how valuable it was to local kids in the area.

“It’s just super beneficial to kids in need,” Lee says. “It not only gets them outside and encourages them to exercise daily, it also provides them with valuable life skills.”

With Let Me Run volunteers, the boys stretch, play active games and go for a run together. At the start of the year, the boys were running only a half-mile a practice, but they finished out the program November 7 at 3.1 miles by running in the 5K Run/Walk for Shelter for Help in Emergency. The seven-week cycle is set to restart in the spring.

“It was a great experience,” Lee says, “just seeing that all of these students really care about giving back. It’s encouraging to me that people are still that kind and generous to participate in volunteer service.”—Cara Salpini

BY THE NUMBERS

Different programs offered by Madison House: 168

Madison House volunteers per year: 3,179

Hours served by Madison House volunteers per year: 111,135

Horses in the CART program: 11

Boys participating in Let Me Run: 11

This article was changed on November 25 to correct Daryl Bray’s name.

Tags Charlottesville, Featured, Performing Arts, UVA

News

Weather-wise, locals are lucking out

Post author By samanthabaars
Post date November 21, 2015
6 Comments on Weather-wise, locals are lucking out

Environment Virginia created an interactive map to track threatening weather in the state from 2007-2012. Screenshot of map

While California is experiencing its worst drought in more than a millennium, South Carolina was subject to extreme flooding in October and western wildfires have burned more than 9 million acres of land this year, one group aims to bring forewarning of extreme weather conditions closer to home.

Environment Virginia, a research and policy center out of Richmond, says weather-related disasters have been declared in all 50 states over the past five years and more than 40 million Americans live in counties that were affected by five or more weather disasters.

In fact, an interactive map the group created shows that 91 percent of Virginia residents live in cities or counties affected recently by weather-related disasters.

“We used to think of climate change as a problem that would happen someday, somewhere,” says Lilias Gordon, the group’s global warming solutions manager in a press release. “But as this map helps demonstrate, global warming is happening now, and it’s already hitting close to home.”

Luckily, Charlottesville and Albemarle County have only been marked with two snowstorms and one severe storm each, from the years 2007 to 2012. Here’s looking at you, Snowpocalypse of December 2009, and your two feet of heavy, white powder.

King and Queen County, just a few counties over on the east coast, is marked with two hurricanes and two severe storms.

Check out the map here.

Tags Albemarle County, Charlottesville, environment virginia, snowpocalypse