Karenne Wood – C-VILLE Weekly

Summertime and the sidewalks aren’t easy

Walkability is one of Charlottesville’s small-city charms, but sometimes it’s not so easy to get around, particularly if you’re disabled. On July 27 the city listed a dozen sidewalk projects that limit access. And then there are the blockages that aren’t official closings.

Pedestrian activist Kevin Cox spotted a charter bus July 25 blocking the curb ramp on Water Street, which many residents of Midway Manor, a low-income housing development, use regularly. He says CAT drivers have learned to leave the ramp open, but charter bus drivers are not so receptive to the need to keep the ramp and crosswalk clear. Assistant City Manager Mike Murphy, in an email to Cox, says he alerted Police Chief RaShall Brackney to be aware of these blockages.

A downed tree created a pedestrian detour for almost two months on Market Street. Kevin Cox

The tree that’s blocking the sidewalk on Market Street near Holly’s Deli has been down for six weeks. After multiple citizen requests to clear the sidewalk, city spokesman Brian Wheeler says CenturyLink and public works coordinated its removal Tuesday morning, as C-VILLE was going to press.

A pickup encroaches on a Water Street walkway. Erin O’Hare

Wheeler also reminds residents and trash pickup crews that trash cans should not block curb ramps when out on the street.

Quote of the week

“I want to make sure the voices of enslaved Africans are represented at all of the special 400-year commemorations this year. Our collective journeys in Virginia are of larger importance than any one person.” —Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax on his decision to attend Jamestown events other legislators are boycotting because
President Trump will be there

In brief

Censure thwarted

Anti-gay-marriage members of the 5th Congressional District Republican Committee tried to censure their own party member, Congressman Denver Riggleman, for marrying two men in Crozet July 14. The Washington Post first reported the nuptials of the conservative Republicans who were Riggleman volunteers and who asked him to officiate their wedding at King Family Vineyard. The reprimand failed after a closed session at a July 27 committee meeting.

Idea stations out

Commonwealth Public Broadcasting Corporation is rebranding its Community Idea Stations, including WVPT and WHTJ, to VPM, as in Virginia Public Media, effective August 5. According to Commonwealth, national and local programming will be unchanged.

Mission fail

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals threw out an Atlantic Coast Pipeline permit, and said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had apparently “lost sight of its mandate” when it approved the permit and failed to protect the rusty patched bumble bee, the clubshell mussel, the Indiana bat, and the crustacean Madison Cave isopod, the AP reports.

Tax-free holiday

Time to stock up on backpacks and batteries this weekend during Virginia’s sales tax holiday on school supplies and emergency-preparedness items. Or it might be a good time to buy a new Energy Star washer and dryer, which are also exempt. Tax-free shopping begins at 12:01am August 2 through 11:59pm August 4.

False report

UVA police say a July 20 call to 180 Copeley Road from an alleged victim of an attempted abduction and forcible fondling was false. The claim alleged a dark blue Honda Civic with multiple people fled toward Emmet Street. Police are discussing criminal charges with the Albemarle commonwealth’s attorney.

Charge it

City officials spend $480,000 on credit card purchases during the first half of 2019, according to the Progress’ Nolan Stout. Parks & Rec had the highest bill at $154K, including $27 to Regal Cinemas and a premium version of Spotify. City Manager Tarron Richardson charged a new $136 phone case and the communications department picked up a $25.50 meal for Councilor Wes Bellamy before a budget work session in March.

Monacan voice

Karenne Wood, a poet, member of the Monacan Indian Nation, and longtime director of Virginia Indian Programs at Virginia Humanities, died July 21 at age 59. She devoted her life to telling the stories of Native peoples and ensuring those stories are heard.

Wood, who was also a linguistic anthropologist, published two collections of poetry, Markings on Earth and Weaving the Boundary, and edited The Virginia Indian Heritage Trail guidebook.

The mother of two daughters, Wood was an integral voice in the city’s choice to observe Indigenous Peoples Day, and her decades of archival work led to government recognition of a number of Virginia Indian tribes, including her own.

A memorial service will be held at 1pm July 31 at UVA Chapel.

Know your polling place

It’s been an eventful couple years, and if you want to speak up when it matters (by voting in the midterms on November 6) your deadline to register is October 15. With that in mind, we also want to remind 15,000 voters in Albemarle County that their polling places have changed.

The county has added three new precincts and folded the Belfield precinct into Jack Jouett, says Albemarle registrar Jake Washburne.

Split are Cale, which begat the new Biscuit Run precinct; Crozet and Brownsville, which gave birth to Mechums River; and Free Bridge, which adds Pantops precinct.

And voters in the University precinct who had cast ballots at the soon-to-be demolished U Hall will now do so at Slaughter Rec Center.

The splits will make Election Day lines more manageable, says Washburne, and there’s another deadline he’s considering: “After February 1, 2019, we can’t change any precincts until after the 2020 presidential election.”

Some are predicting massive turnout in November. Compared to last September, Albemarle has added 2,000 voters. And Washburne mailed over 700 ballots on the first day of absentee voting, compared to 94 on the first day of the last midterm election in 2014.

In the city, registrar Rosanna Bencoach says there’s always a surge of registrations in September and October from the student population. But according to the state elections website, Charlottesville has 922 more active voters as of October 1 than it did a year ago.

Bencoach issues a caveat to would-be voters: Don’t wait until the last minute to register or to request an absentee ballot, which must be applied for by 5pm the Tuesday before the election.

“With the current postal delivery practices, that’s way too late,” she says.

Quote of the week

“The Court is not typically in the muck and the mire of partisan politics. But this throws it right into the swamp.”—Barbara Perry, Miller Center director of presidential studies, on the Kavanaugh hearing

Lucrative gig

City Council appointed Brian Wheeler interim clerk of council at its October 1 meeting. The current city spokesperson and former editor of Charlottesville Tomorrow temporarily replaces Paige Rice, who resigned last month. Since starting with the city in February at $98,000, raises have upped Wheeler’s pay to $116,438, an 8 percent increase in less than a year.

A12 anniversary costs add up

Charlottesville spent $921,334 over the August 12 anniversary weekend putting downtown on lockdown, and the University of Virginia reports its costs were $422,981. Adding the Virginia State Police’s expenses of $3.1 million, that puts the police-heavy weekend at around $4.4 million—and that’s not including Albemarle County’s costs.

Mayor tops duchess

Mayor Nikuyah Walker is No. 51 on the Root’s list of 100 most influential African Americans ages 25 to 45, coming in ahead of No. 52, Meghan Markle.

Chris Greene closed again

After a dog swam in the lake over the weekend and then died suddenly, Albemarle County officials have closed it for water recreation until results from new water quality tests are available.

Pot arrests surge

Despite decriminalization and legalization around the country, Virginia’s marijuana arrests hit their highest levels in a decade last year. Arrests statewide spiked 20 percent and convictions still carry the possibility of a six-month driver’s license suspension and up to $800 in fines, according to the Virginia Mercury.

Indigenous Peoples Day

“We have been categorized as people of the past,” Karenne Wood, an enrolled member of the Monacan Indian Nation, told C-VILLE in March. She pointed out that in school textbooks, American Indians are often written about in the past tense: They lived in this type of house; they ate squash and corn; they wore feathers.

But she also hopes those textbooks will tell the story of Virginia Indians present and future. For Wood, director of Virginia Indian Programs at Virginia Humanities, that means working with textbook writers to tell a fuller—not just colonist—history of Native Americans. “We have adapted to live in this century along with everybody else,” she says.

To acknowledge their history on Indigenous Peoples Day, and to give a native perspective on how the story of Virginia’s first people can be expanded, Wood will give a talk called “Stone, Bone, and Clay: Virginia Indians’ History of 18,000 Years” on Monday, October 8, from 6:30-8pm at Lane Auditorium in the Albemarle County Office Building.

Monacan tribal dancers will perform immediately following her presentation.