Categories
News

In brief: FA5 tightens up, free the nipple, another renaming and more

Fridays new format

Treasured Charlottesville tradition Fridays After Five kicks off April 13, with a not-so-special nod to the realities of crowds gathering in the 21st century. After-Fivers will find enhanced security at the Sprint Pavilion with bag checks and fewer entrances to the area.

“Anyone in the event industry holding mass gatherings understands the shift,” says general manager Kirby Hutto. “We want to provide a safe environment.”

That means professional security will be examining bags and entrance will be limited to the Downtown Mall, Seventh Street at Market and the Belmont Bridge ramp.

And for ticketed events, attendees will walk through metal detectors.

The season will kick off with more rather than less security, says Hutto. “We don’t want to create long lines. We know people come from work with their laptop bags or with strollers.”

Says Hutto, “It’s just a recognition of the changing world we live in.”


In brief

Mayor’s speeding ticket

Staff photo

Nikuyah Walker was in Charlottesville Circuit Court April 9 to appeal a November 14 conviction for driving 43mph in a 25mph zone, but her attorney, Jeff Fogel, didn’t show. The case was continued to June 1.

 

 

More Soering defenders

Another cop has cast doubt on the 1990 conviction of Jens Soering for the double slaying of then-girlfriend Elizabeth Haysom’s parents. Former FBI special agent Stan Lapekas says he’s found documents proving the FBI did a profile in 1985 that said the killer was likely a female with close ties to the Haysoms. Bedford investigator Ricky Gardner has steadfastly denied such a profile existed.

Slowpoke schadenfreude

Thousands of the annoying drivers who hog the left lane while going below the normal speed of traffic have been fined $100 since Virginia enacted fines July 1, 2017, WTOP reports.

Topless buskers

Morgan Hopkins. Staff photo

Jeff Fogel filed a lawsuit against Charlottesville police for the August 12 arrest of Morgan Hopkins, who, amid the violence and mayhem of that day, took off her shirt. Fogel, who represented activist Veronica Fitzhugh when she disrobed at Occupy in 2011, says under state law, “the mere fact of nudity does not constitute indecent exposure,” and that shirtless men with Hopkins were not arrested.

 

 

 


“During Aug 12 Nazi rally in #Charlottesville, police ignored assaults by Nazis, didn’t arrest them. Instead, they arrested harmless hippies on the downtown mall. Thanks, CPD, for protecting the public from women’s exposed nipples! Smh”@Jalane_Schmidt in an April 6 tweet


Hand ‘em over

Judge Rick Moore has ruled that Virginia State Police must turn over a redacted copy of its August 12 operational plan to local freelance journalists Natalie Jacobsen and Jackson Landers, who were represented by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. They’ve also obtained Charlottesville police plans as a result of the same Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.

Unsuccessful lobby

The city hired Troutman Sanders Strategies to lobby the General Assembly against Delegate Steve Landers’ revenue-sharing bill, which requires Charlottesville to account for the millions Albemarle pays it each year and for the two localities to meet annually to discuss economic development. The bill passed unanimously in both houses and Governor Ralph Northam signed it into law.

Teen runaway

Margie Araceli Garcia Urbina, 17, was reported missing March 3. Albemarle police say her cellphone is off,  she has not responded to attempts to contact her on social media, and she appears to have used an ATM March 3 in Opelika, Alabama.

 

 

 

 

Elder embezzlement

Renee Magruder Madel was convicted of felony embezzlement for using a power of attorney to bilk an elderly victim of thousands. She was sentenced April 3 to 10 years suspended, 30 days in jail and restitution of over $50,000.

Closure wanted

Robert Hourihan. Submitted photo

Robert Hourihan disappeared seven years ago on April 8. Last seen in Palmyra, his car was later found in a parking lot in Maryland. Police suspect foul play and are still seeking information to provide closure to his family.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Popular parks monikers

The city conducted a survey March 6-28 to rename the parks formerly known as Lee and Jackson and currently dubbed Emancipation and Justice. Led by longtime resident Mary Carey’s dislike of the name Emancipation, the survey received 7,535 submissions. Lee and Jackson were disqualified, but that did not keep Lee from receiving the most write-in votes, according to “The Schilling Show.”

Most votes

For Emancipation Park: Market Street Park

For Justice Park: Court Square Park

Weighted votes

Emancipation Park

  • Vinegar Hill Park
  • Market Street Park
  • Central Park

Justice Park

  • Court Square Park
  • Justice Park
  • Courthouse Park

Top write-in (aside from Lee and Jackson)

Swanson Legacy Park, in honor of Gregory Swanson, the first African American to attend UVA law school—after he sued the university, a case that was heard in federal court, which was located in what is now the Central Library bordering Emancipation Park.

 

Updated April 12 with the Swanson Legacy Park write-ins.

Categories
News

In brief: A city of lawyers, the point of no return and a quote that still stings

Case study

Cities are always involved in one sort of minor litigation or another, typically for unpaid taxes, but over the past two years, Charlottesville has been embroiled in a lot of high-profile cases, mostly as a defendant. Having a hard time keeping up? We are, too. Let’s review.

Militias

  • The city, downtown businesses and neighborhood associations sue armed militias and Unite the Right participants for militaristic violence August 12.

Charlottesville Parking Center

  • Mark Brown’s suit over Water Street Parking Garage rates filed in 2016.
  • Charlottesville filed a counterclaim.
  • Current status: In mediation

Fred Payne, Monument Fund et. al.

  • Suit to prevent removal of Confederate statues, motion to remove tarps.
  • Current status: Next hearing is December 6

Albemarle County

  • Objects to city overriding county law at Ragged Mountain Natural Area to allow biking.
  • Charlottesville has filed a counterclaim.
  • Current status: Motions hearing is December 6

Joy Johnson et. al. [filed by Jeff Fogel]

  • Demands that the city fire Hunton & Williams, claims City Manager Maurice Jones had no authority to hire Tim Heaphy’s law firm to do a review of city actions August 12.

Natalie Jacobsen and Jackson Landers

  • FOIA suit to force city to produce August 12 safety plans.
  • Current status: The reporter plaintiffs had to amend the complaint naming the city rather than the police department, and no new hearing date has been set.

Granted bond

Chris Cantwell. Staff photo

“Crying Nazi” Chris Cantwell—whose name comes from a tearful video he posted to the web before turning himself in to police for allegedly using pepper spray at the August 11 tiki-torch march at UVA—literally cried when he was granted a $25,000 bond December 4. He won’t be released from jail until he can find a place to stay, according to the judge.

More sick animals

On the heels of Peaceable Farm owner Anne Shumate Williams being convicted of 25 counts of animal cruelty in Orange County, the Louisa County Sheriff’s Office is hoping to save about 500 animals in what appears to be a similar case. This time, goats, emus, sheep and a peacock are among the neglected critters. Charges are pending for the 77-year-old and her two adult sons who run the farm.

Quote of the Week

Nikuyah Walker. Photo by Eze Amos

“Systemic racism does not fall on the backs of two black men.” —Councilor-elect Nikuyah Walker at the December 4 City Council meeting

Point of no return

John Casey. Courtesy Cramer Photo

Former University of Virginia professor and award-winning author John Casey will not return to teaching creative writing at the school this spring. UVA is currently investigating at least three Title IX complaints from former students who claim he sexually harassed them.

Better than a 9-5

Airbnb announced last week that homestay hosts in Charlottesville and Blacksburg have earned $2.3 million during the University of Virginia and Virginia Tech football seasons since 2016.

Rights waived

Daniel Borden, charged with malicious wounding for his part in the August 12 Market Street Parking Garage beatdown of Deandre Harris, waived his right to a preliminary hearing in Charlottesville General District Court December 4. He’ll go before the grand jury in December.

Categories
News

In brief: Emmet Street revival, guerrilla knitters and suing reporters

Emmet Street revival

The vacant lot on the corner of Barracks Road and Emmet Street that once housed an Exxon station is finally seeing signs of life. Coran Capshaw’s Riverbend Development purchased the corner at 1200 Emmet St. for $2.1 million in April, a slightly better price than the $2.25 million Chevy Chase Bank paid for the corner in January 2008, just as the real estate market was beginning to crumble.

The site had a “bunch of challenges,” says Riverbend’s Alan Taylor, including a number of easements and a complicated site plan.

Originally dubbed Barracks Row, a one-story, 11,000-square-foot retail center will go by Emmet Street Station. The owners of Barracks Road Shopping Center, Federal Realty, across the street “were getting all trademarky on me, so we changed the name,” says Taylor.

The under-an-acre lot will house two restaurants and two retail stores, all around 2,500 square feet. One of the restaurants could be announced any day now, says Taylor, but he refuses to give any hints. “Everyone’s really going to like the tenant lineup,” he says.

And with three electric car-charging stations powered by solar panels, the corner could be a magnet for Tesla owners by next summer.

Other drivers should notice better flow through the Barracks-Emmet intersection. The developers gave the city a strip of land that will afford an extra lane, allowing two dedicated left-turn Barracks lanes on each side of intersection, which means left-turners can go at the same time.

Emmet Street Station is part of a redevelopment revival taking place on the entrance corridor. Across the street at the increasingly derelict Meadowbrook Shopping Center, the former Carriage House, Tavern and ALC Copies are slated for demolition to make way for a CVS.

Farther north, at 1248 Emmet St., Zaxby’s restaurant with a drive-through window is going up at the site that was once Lord Hardwicke’s. And a car wash at 1300 Emmet St. on the other side of Cook Out is well underway.

Widow-bilker sentenced

Former Farmington Country Club president Victor Dandridge was sentenced to seven years in prison November 9 for defrauding his best friend’s widow over 10 years—and lying to her about it—as well as his fraternity, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, and Blue Ridge Bank. Dandridge’s lawyer asked that he be allowed to self report, but the federal judge said he didn’t trust Dandridge and immediately remanded him to custody, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Knitters with a kudzu attitude

The Kudzu Project. Photo by Tom Cogill

As part of what they call the Kudzu Project, anonymous guerrilla knitters covered the lesser-known Confederate soldier statue in front of Albemarle County general district and circuit courts with a knitted swath of kudzu on the morning of “Crying Nazi” Chris Cantwell’s November 9 appearance, noting in a press release that the plant “grows on things that are abandoned and no longer relevant.”

FOIA suit

C-VILLE Weekly contributors Jackson Landers and Natalie Jacobsen, who made the documentary, Charlottesville: Our Streets, sued Charlottesville Police, Virginia State Police and the state Office of Public Safety after those orgs refused to turn over August 12 safety plans. More than a dozen attorneys representing the government showed up in court November 7, and the judge ruled the reporters must refile and sue the city, not the police department.

Requested rename

The General Robert E. Lee monument in Emancipation Park. Staff photo
The General Robert E. Lee monument in Emancipation Park. Staff photo

Activist group the Unity Coalition is circulating a petition to have Emancipation Park renamed—again. “How can we reunite this community when the name of a park is related to slavery,” says petition author Mary Carey. She calls the former Lee Park’s new name “insulting, disrespectful, hurtful, heartless, thoughtless, inhumane” and “mean-spirited,” adding that it “shows a lack of care for the people of color.”

Big spill

The Rivanna Water & Sewer Authority released an extra 109 million gallons from the South Fork Rivanna in August before issuing a drought watch October 3, followed by mandatory water restrictions about a week later, according to Allison Wrabel in the Daily Progress. The reservoir is full but the restrictions are still in place.

Spike Lee. Image: © Buckner/Rex Shutterstock via ZUMA Press

Quote of the Week: The truth is the United States was built upon the genocide of Native Americans and slavery. This university was built upon slavery. —Director Spike Lee at the Virginia Film Festival on how Americans must accept the country’s ugly history to move forward