Tag: mayor mike signer

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Not partners: Heaphy promises ‘arm’s length’ investigation

Tim Heaphy vowed an objective assessment of the city’s handling of white supremacists over the summer, and acknowledged there are doubters of his ability to be unbiased. Eze Amos

When City Manager Maurice Jones introduced the man hired to investigate the events of Charlottesville’s summer of hate, he listed former U.S. attorney Tim Heaphy’s “critical eye,” his experience with law enforcement and investigations, and then he described the city as “partnering” with Heaphy.

Heaphy immediately took some trouble to distance himself from the perception that he’s a partner working in the city’s pocket to sweep under the rug missteps that led to a fatality and multiple injuries at the August 12 Unite the Right rally.

“I don’t think that’s a fair characterization,” he said. “I think we were hired to look critically at the city.” The investigation, which will include the city’s handling of the July 8 KKK rally and the first assembly of tiki-torch-carrying white nationalists May 12, will not be a “whitewash to affirm decisions that were made or meant to point a finger at any individual,” he said.

Instead, he promised an “arm’s length investigation” that would “objectively assess” what happened. “I don’t really see the city as a partner,” he said.

The decision to hire Heaphy and his $545-an-hour firm, Hunton & Williams, has brought some criticism, including from several speakers during public comment.

“It’s been 51 days since a murder here,” said Don Gathers, who chaired the Blue Ribbon Commission on Race, Memorials and Public Spaces. “It’s been 51 days since the hounds from hell marched on our city.” If necessary, he said, the people would call on its own review board.

Gathers also urged the city to do away with the Pledge of Allegiance that begins every City Council meeting. “Please no longer ask us to start these proceedings with a Pledge of Allegiance to a flag or a country that shows no allegiance to us.” He ended his comments with a drop to both knees with both fists raised.

Heaphy stressed that he was not the sole investigator, and said he was leading a team of four lawyers, other professionals and a separate group of law enforcement consultants. “It’s not me doing this, it’s me supervising a team,” he said.

The investigation is not just looking at law enforcement and police response, and it will also examine the permitting process, interagency coordination, internal and external communications and the relationship between council and staff, he said.

That became an issue when Mayor Mike Signer was not allowed into the command center August 12, and on Facebook and in a leaked memo, he pointed the finger at Jones and police Chief Al Thomas. Jones responded that Signer threatened to fire both him and Thomas during the height of the crisis. Signer was subsequently reprimanded by his colleagues on City Council, who reminded him in the city’s form of government, the mayor is one among five equals and the city manager is the CEO.

The investigation is “not strictly did police do a good job,” said Heaphy. “It’s much broader than that.”

Investigators are poring over thousands of documents, photos and videos, have established a tip line (charlottesvilleindependentreview.com, 877-448-6866) and have conducted 60 interviews so far, said Heaphy. “We’re trying our best to get a comprehensive report.”

He also acknowledged the lack of “universal acceptance” because of his own background and the “skepticism” of city government. “We’ve worked hard to disabuse people of that perception,” he said.

Vice-Mayor Wes Bellamy asked the big questions that remain unanswered at this point: Why was Fourth Street, where Heather Heyer was killed and dozens of other injured when a car plowed into a crowd of counterprotesters, open? Was there a stand-down order for police, and why were protesters allowed to carry shields and weapons?

Those are “not simple answers,” said Heaphy, and he said he preferred to give a full narrative based on verifiable facts, which he anticipates could come by Thanksgiving or December.

He said there would be no legal prohibition preventing the release of the information.

Councilor Kathy Galvin urged a speedy release of the report. “I think the public is so hungry for news, it would be incumbent upon us to share it as quickly as possible,” she said, and not hold it for even “a single day.”

Honor code

photo eze amos

Susan Bro, the mother of Heather Heyer, came to City Council to thank it for the “honor” of naming a portion of Fourth Street between Market and Water streets for her daughter, who died there August 12.

“I also wanted to point out it was my idea not to put a park associated with her name for a number of reasons,” said Bro, “and absolutely no statues.” Bro said she thought that “was a little bit much and Heather, frankly, hated statues for a number of reasons.”

Bro, who is not a Charlottesville resident, urged the city to consider naming more streets for African-American leaders who have made an impact, including Laura Robinson, who taught before and during segregation and who died earlier this year at 103.

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In brief: Feeding hungry bellies, prison censorship and more…

The fight against hunger

September is Hunger Action Month, when people across the nation raise awareness for empty bellies by supporting the country’s network of food banks. Locally, we have two main groups fighting the good fight—the Emergency Food Network and the Thomas Jefferson Area branch of the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank. Here’s a look at those organizations and how much food they’re able to put on the table.

Emergency Food Network

  • Serves 1,625 individuals in 470 households each month
  • On average, that’s 131 seniors, 781 adults and 712 children
  • Each three-day supply of food includes: cereal, canned vegetables, fruits, beans, tuna and chicken, soup, macaroni and cheese, rice, bread, milk, margarine and cheese. Clients can add peanut butter and fresh fruits and vegetables.
  • EFN gave the Boys & Girls Club $8,462 in grocery store gift cards in 2016
  • EFN donated $32,134 to community groups
  • All city and county residents are eligible to receive help once a month

Blue Ridge Area Food Bank

  • Serves 22,826 people in the Thomas Jefferson Area branch each month
  • Distributes 3.4 million pounds of food in that district annually
  • Food donated through community drives makes up about 3 percent of the food it acquires
  • The local district covers Albemarle, Buckingham, Fluvanna, Orange, Greene and Madison counties and Culpeper

Tim Heaphy’s legal bill

Tim Heaphy. Photo courtesy U.S. Attorney’s Office

Charlottesville hired former U.S. attorney Heaphy to investigate the city’s handling of three white supremacist gatherings this summer. The Republican Party of Virginia immediately questioned that choice because Heaphy has made donations to Democrats, including $200 to Mayor Mike Signer. The city will pay Heaphy’s Hunton & Williams law firm $545 an hour with a $100,000 cap for the initial assignment.

March on, march off

Virginia State Police suspended the permit of those participating in the March to End White Supremacy from Charlottesville to D.C. September 1, citing rain and traffic, but event organizers say they’re marching on (alongside actor Mark Ruffalo, who joined them August 31). Their journey was temporarily halted on day three, August 30, when organizers received threats of an armed person waiting at the end of the route in Madison.

Quote of the Week:
“I feel guilty. I am ashamed. …As a white man, I think it’s my job to stand up and say no, you’re not going to do that anymore.—Thomas Freeman after he pleaded guilty to blocking the KKK from entering Justice Park

Another lawsuit

Robert Sanchez Turner, 33, filed August 28 for an undisclosed amount against the city, Police Chief Al Thomas and Virginia State Police superintendent Steven Flaherty for an alleged “stand down” order during the August 12 rally, in which he says he was struck in the head and pepper sprayed with no police intervention. He is represented by Verona-based Nexus Caridades Attorneys.

Humanists allege prison censorship

The American Humanist Association filed suit against the Virginia Department of Corrections for banning its July/August issue of the Humanist for nudity because it has a small photo of Rubens’ 17th-century painting “The Garden of Eden.” This is the seventh suit civil rights attorney Jeff Fogel has filed against the DOC for censorship, and the plaintiffs have prevailed in the earlier actions.

Pay to park in effect

The city’s six-month pilot meter program kicked off September 5 for 105
spaces on streets immediately around the Downtown Mall. Potential parkers will find either individual meters or kiosks. All accept cash or credit.

  • Costs $1.80 an hour from 8am-8pm, Monday through Saturday
  •  Two-hour limit
  • First hour free in Market Street Garage, then $1.50 an hour
  •  Merchant validation ditched in Market Street, still available in Water Street Garage
  • City offering a one-week grace period before ticketing begins
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Woodshed moment: Councilors rebuke and restrict mayor

Mayor Mike Signer, center, falls on the sword surrounded by fellow councilors Bob Fenwick, Kristin Szakos, Kathy Galvin and Wes Bellamy, who could have voted to remove him from office. Staff photo

Charlottesville City Council now has a mayor on restriction. Council is made up of five elected equals, with the mayor playing a largely symbolic role, and that was a lesson Mayor Mike Signer appears to have forgotten. On August 30, his fellow councilors held a three-hour closed door meeting to discuss the “performance and discipline of an elected official.”

Afterward, Councilor Kathy Galvin said the elected officials had accepted Signer’s apology and were not requesting his resignation, a signal of the gravity of the confrontation.

It was a humbled Signer who read an apology to reporters and citizens gathered in council chambers. “In the deeply troubling and traumatizing recent weeks, I have taken several actions as mayor, and made several communications, that have been inconsistent with the collaboration required by our system of governance and that overstepped the bounds of my role as mayor, for which I apologize to my colleagues and the people of Charlottesville.”

The only “ill-advised” action Signer specifically apologized for was an August 24 Facebook post in which he publicly pointed the finger at City Manager Maurice Jones and police Chief Al Thomas for the devastating events of August 12.

Jones was called into a closed session with councilors on August 24, and the next day, a copy of a nine-page Signer-written memo demanding explanations from Jones was leaked—a breach that some suspect Signer of, but which he has adamantly denied.

Even the night before facing the jury of his peers, Signer emailed a reporter to denounce Jones for releasing “confidential closed session material in a blame game.”

Jones publicly responded August 26 to the allegations in the leaked memo, and he noted that in the middle of the violent white nationalist crisis, Signer was clamoring to get into the command center and twice threatened to fire Jones and Thomas when his entrance was denied.

The remainder of Signer’s tenure as mayor comes with conditions, which he listed in his apology, flanked by somber fellow councilors. Those include meeting with senior staff only with another councilor present, except for regular check-ins with Jones; being more mindful of the time of the council clerk; allowing fellow councilors to make announcements and comments at council meetings, and not making pronouncements as mayor without working with his colleagues—and having one present if he did so.

“My comment to two former mayors was, ‘Wow,’” says former mayor Blake Caravati. “Unfortunately it’s necessary. It’s also mortifying to me. Not so much the apology, but the four to five will-dos. That’s mortifying.”

Adds Caravati, who supported Signer in his 2015 run for council, “It seems unfortunate to me they had to put a code of conduct in writing.”

Caravati says all of the 13 mayors he knows have said the wrong thing at times. “We all do,” he says. “Unfortunately Mike did that numerous times over the past few weeks.”

Former mayor Virginia Daugherty says there was a feeling Signer had stepped out in front of council when he’s supposed to represent fellow councilors. “I think they were right to do it,” she says of the figurative spanking.

Following the August 12 Unite the Right rally, Signer called for a special session of the General Assembly to allow localities to repeal monuments, which did not come up on the council agenda. Nor did his capital-of-the-resistance rally, for which he had council clerk Paige Rice send out a notice.

On August 17, less than a week after the hate rally that resulted in the deaths of three people and dozens of others injured, Signer posted a photo of himself leaping in front of the Love statue erected in Central Place on the Downtown Mall, with the message, “After a hard week, Cville is back on our feet, and we’ll be stronger than ever. Love conquers hate! @virginiaisforlovers!”

“I was a bit disappointed in that public relations thing,” says Caravati. “It’s not all good. We’re struggling and we’ll get out of it, but it’s not all good.”

For some, like longtime resident Mary Carey, council calling Signer to the principal’s office did not go far enough. “It was a slap on the wrist,” she says. And she’s concerned about Signer’s political aspirations, and says he’s publicly said he was going to become governor and president.

“Mike Signer’s political career is over,” opined activist Jalane Schmidt while waiting for the results of the closed session.

However, Signer is not the only councilor who has eyed higher office, says Caravati, who admits he would have too, had the timing been right.

“In the short term, he’s debilitated,” Caravati says. “He can rehabilitate himself. Right now, it might be difficult, but he’s a stalwart guy.”

The councilors did not announce who called for the closed session, but it was Galvin who read the group’s response that the officials accepted Signer’s apology, and she reiterated council’s “shared responsibility for good governance.”

“That’s a hard thing to do,” observes Caravati, “to call your peers out.”

Signer’s term as mayor ends in January, and the likelihood of him being elected to another term, says Caravati, “at this time doesn’t seem probable.”

Statement of Mayor Mike Signer 083017

City Council Response to Mayor

Statement of Charlottesville City Council 083017

 

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Spin cycle: Leaked memo throws Jones under the bus, council to discipline one of its own

Fall guys? Mayor Mike Signer’s August 23 memo blames Police Chief Al Thomas, left, and City Manager Maurice Jones, who both attended the August 27 Community Recovery Town Hall, for the violence that occurred August 12. Eze Amos

Usually it’s hard to squeeze personnel matters discussed in closed session out of city councilors. That’s why the August 25 leaking of a confidential Mayor Mike Signer-written memo to City Manager Maurice Jones demanding explanations of the events leading up to the August 12 hate rally was such a shocker—as was Jones firing back a response that included the mayor’s threats to fire him.

And in the latest sign of a City Council in turmoil since outraged citizens commandeered its August 21 meeting to voice anger over the violent Unite the Right rally, a closed special meeting has been called for August 30 to “discuss the performance and discipline of an elected official,” according to the notice.

Mayor Mike Signer tries to bring the council meeting to order August 21. Photo Eze Amos

“It’s rather extraordinary,” says former mayor Dave Norris. “I can’t recall another time when the mayor and city manager were going after each other publicly with press releases or memos and trying to throw each other under the bus.”

The nine-page leaked memo calls out Jones for taking vacation before the rally, for not deciding to move the hate fest to McIntire Park until a week before the event, for not having police posted at Congregation Beth Israel synagogue and for “the apparent unwillingness of officers to directly intervene during overt assaults captured in many videos in the time before the unlawful assembly was declared and after it was declared.”

The memo also takes aim at city spokesperson Miriam Dickler, and cites an email from Signer to Jones in which he says her refusal to work with crisis communications firm Powell/Tate “bordered on insubordination” and was “exhausting for me to deal with.”

And the confidential file devotes nearly a page to Signer not being allowed in the command center in the Wells Fargo building, where he came despite Jones and Police Chief Al Thomas asking him not to. And it was there, according to Jones’ rebuttal memo, that Signer threatened to fire him.

“On two separate occasions during the height of the crisis, the Mayor threatened my job and that of the police chief because of our concerns about allowing him to be part of the command center,” he wrote. “He said, ‘You work for me’ and I replied that ‘I worked for the City Council.’”    

“Typically during emergencies, it’s the city manager and police chief who have the lead roles,” says Norris. In the past, “the mayor and councilors didn’t try to micromanage.” 

Because Charlottesville uses a council-manager type of government, the mayor does not have the CEO job like the mayor of Houston does, says Norris. “In a crisis, the mayor and City Council need to be in the loop, but we have professionals and they don’t need a part-time politician to be in the room.”

The councilors who responded to C-VILLE Weekly were not pleased with the leakage. “I didn’t like it,” says Fenwick. “I didn’t do it. And it’s not moving us forward.” Fenwick declined to say who he thought leaked the memo, but he says the memo itself appears to blame Jones and Thomas for the violent encounters August 12 that left Heather Heyer dead and dozens injured.

And he notes that Signer was on vacation the same time he was accusing Jones of being on holiday.

Vice-Mayor Wes Bellamy declined to comment on the leakage, and Councilor Kathy Galvin did not respond to an email. Councilor Kristin Szakos calls the breach “appalling,” and says it “erodes trust and makes it difficult to work together.”

Szakos says the memo was a compilation of councilors’ concerns, but did not reflect the concerns of City Council as a whole. “It was not something we had gotten together on,” she says. In the memo with its 17 issues that ask Jones to “please provide an explanation,” two are from other councilors: Szakos with an email asking where the police were during accounts of violence, and one from Galvin conveying concerns about the vulnerability of Friendship Court residents.

Jones’ public response to the Signer memo was justified, says Szakos, because the memo was “one-sided” and did not include answers he had given to councilors in the August 24 closed-door meeting. And some of the memo points, she says, “turned out to not be factual.”

“I think it was Mike Signer,” says independent council candidate Nikuyah Walker. “I haven’t talked to anyone who doesn’t think he did this.”

Signer did not respond to a call from C-VILLE about the perception by many that he’s the leaker.

Signer was a fixture in the national spotlight the week after the rally, and was called a “hero” by the Jewish newspaper Forward. But at the August 21 council meeting, Charlottesville again made national news for the chaos and the mayor’s total loss of control over the meeting. Protesters mounted the dais holding a sign that said, “Blood on your hands.”

City councilors faced demands that they resign. Signer declared the meeting canceled, and left for about 10 minutes.

In an August 24 Facebook post, Signer explained his absence: “I needed to talk and meet with and reassure my very worried wife, which I felt I had no option but to do.”

Walker doesn’t buy that explanation. “He had become upset because he couldn’t handle [the meeting],” she says. “He thought the rest would follow him. That’s not what happened. That was just his excuse for not being able to handle the criticism.”

“I don’t think that was a shining moment on the City Council, when the mayor abandoned ship and left four councilors,” says Norris. “I’ve got to commend [Vice-Mayor] Wes Bellamy for stepping up and throwing the rules out the window, and running it as a town hall.”

Norris declined to say who he thinks spilled the memo, but offers this: “Anytime there is a leak of information, there’s a strategic reason for it being leaked. These don’t happen accidentally. Clearly someone had a motivation for releasing that memo that tries to put the city staff and police in a bad light and put council and the mayor in a good one.”

cityCouncilLeaked memo

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Council coup: Angry citizens take over meeting

Anarchy ruled at the first City Council meeting after the August 12 alt-right rally. Eze Amos

Barely 30 minutes into its August 21 meeting, City Council was in chaos. Three demonstrators were reportedly arrested, city officials left the chamber and the meeting’s video and audio feeds were cut off as protesters stood on the dais holding a banner that read, “Blood on your hands.”

The rage, frustration and trauma from the August 11-12 events that brought white supremacists and neo-Nazis to town were palpable among the more than 50 people who spoke when councilors came back into council chamber, and they blamed City Council for allowing it to happen.

Vice-Mayor Wes Bellamy took control of the meeting, jettisoned the agenda and turned it into a public comment with speakers allowed to talk for a minute—or as long as they wished—for nearly four hours.

Mayor Mike Signer took the brunt of citizens’ rage. “Mr. Signer, it seems to me we should change your name to Dr. Frankenstein, because you’ve created a monster and the villagers are storming,” said council regular John Heyden.

Mayor Mike Signer struggled—in vain—to bring the meeting to order. Photo Eze Amos

At about that point, Signer said the meeting was canceled and left the chamber, but he was not followed by his fellow councilors. “Signer has shown his true colors,” said Don Gathers, who was chair of the city’s Blue Ribbon Commission on Race, Memorials and Public Spaces.

Upon his return about 10  minutes later, Signer was derided, particularly by independent council candidate Nikuyah Walker, who demanded that he leave. “You just showed us you’re not a leader.”

“Why did you think you could walk in here with business as usual?”—independent City Council candidate grills officials. Photo Eze Amos

Again and again, speakers said the city had been warned those coming to Unite the Right rally intended violence.

“I told you so,” said one, a woman who described herself as a child of the ’60s. “I’ve seen this movie before,” she said.

“You want to call yourself the capital of the resistance,” said Emily Gorcenski, who videoed white nationalists marching through UVA Grounds August 11. She said the real resistance was from the medics who were there, and added, “Charlottesville is the capital of the antifa.”

Don Gathers said he was “filled with righteous indignation” and “morally outraged.” Phote Eze Amos

And when citizens blamed council for allowing the alt-right rally, Signer pointed out that a federal judge ruled against the city. “We really tried hard to get it out of downtown,” he said.

For hours, there was no placating citizens, who were ready for council to ignore state and federal law and remove the statues that night.

More than 50 citizens lined up to tell City Council how they felt, including former vice-mayor Kevin Lynch (in plaid shorts). Photo Eze Amos

“Will you charge us if we take them down tonight?” asked Jonny Nuckols.

It was around 11:30pm before City Manager Maurice Jones could begin to respond to questions about the event that left Heather Heyer dead and at least 30 injured when a neo-Nazi-driven Dodge Challenger plowed into a crowd on Fourth Street.

The number of those hurt was challenged by a woman whose daughter was injured in the deliberate crash and had two broken legs. The daughter was taken to Sentara Martha Jefferson, which had at least another dozen victims beyond the 19 reported taken to UVA, said the woman.

Jones explained that in Virginia, state law prohibits the removal of war memorials, unlike places such as Maryland and Texas that have removed Confederate monuments in the past week.

He also pointed to a federal judge who did not allow the city to move the rally to McIntire Park and issued his ruling about the same time polo-shirted neo-Nazis were swarming the Lawn. When asked why the city didn’t shut down the event after the tiki-torch march Friday night and the attacks on protesters at the Thomas Jefferson statue, Jones said, “We’d already lost in court.”

Councilors listed actions they wanted to take to prevent such an invasion of hate happening again.

Earlier that day, Councilor Kathy Galvin said at a press conference that she would introduce a resolution to remove the statue of Stonewall Jackson at Justice Park, as well as the statue of Robert E. Lee that she and Signer voted against removing in February. Galvin said the events of August 12 had shown her that keeping the statues in place was “untenable in the long run,” but it would be around 12:30am before she could introduce her resolution.

On August 18, Signer said he was changing his vote and he called upon the General Assembly to hold a special session and allow localities to determine the fates of their Confederate monuments.

At the council meeting, Signer said it was time for the Constitution to change to address “intentional mayhem” that is not covered in the First Amendment, much as courts have ruled it’s not okay to shout “fire” in crowded venues.

Among other questions from citizens, Jones denied that police had been told to not intervene. “There was no stand-down order from anyone in city government. None,” he said.

It was after 11:30pm before City Manager Maurice Jones could start responding to questions raised about the alt-right weekend. Photo Eze Amos

To concerns about the weapons-carrying militias, Jones reminded everyone that Virginia is an open-carry state, but admitted, “It caused great confusion having those gunmen in our parks.” Councilors want legislators to give them leeway to regulate that, as well.

The protection of Congregation Beth Israel on Jefferson Street was another concern, and Jones explained that there were almost 50 officers in the block and a half around the synagogue, including snipers on the roof of the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society. “I completely understand people feeling unsafe,” he said. “We had people keeping an eye on it.”

Perhaps one of the biggest questions is why Fourth Street was open in the first place. One woman said it was barricaded when she went by it around 6am August 12, and Jones said that is being investigated.

The other was why UVA police were not visible as torch-carriers terrorized Grounds. A question for the university, responded Jones.

Close to 1am, Councilor Kristin Szakos made a resolution that passed 5-0: to drape the statues of Lee and Jackson in black cloth for a city in mourning.

The meeting is officially out of control—and it had barely gotten started. Photo Eze Amos

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City Council asked to investigate police force, revoke Unite the Right permit

A number of people at a July City Council meeting called for the revocation of the permit for the August 12 Unite the Right rally. Photo Eze Amos

City Council’s first meeting after the July 8 KKK rally had 57 people wanting to voice their concerns about police use of force and tear-gassing protesters. Legal organizations asked for investigations and multiple citizens wanted the permit for Jason Kessler’s August 12 Unite the Right revoked.

At times the July 17 meeting was like a civics lesson on basic constitutional rights. City Manager Maurice Jones disputed protesters’ contentions that city police protected the Klan and its hate speech. “We’re not defending this speech,” he said. “We’re defending their right to speak.”

Mayor Mike Signer also explained that City Council has no control over the prosecution of criminal charges, which falls under the purview of the commonwealth’s attorney.

And Jones and other councilors pointed out they could not revoke the Unite the Right permit, because that’s protected speech as well, although Signer said he did have “grave” concerns about the logistics of holding an event that will draw hundreds to Emancipation Park.

Legal Aid Justice Center’s Mary Bauer has concerns about police use of force at the KKK rally, and several councilors agreed to an investigation. Photo Eze Amos

Mary Bauer with Legal Aid Justice Center spoke on behalf of three other legal groups—the ACLU, National Lawyers Guild and Rutherford Institute—that jointly had written City Council and Governor Terry McAuliffe that day about police handling of the constitutionally protected right to assemble July 8 after the Klan left. “We have profound concerns about the militarized police presence,” she said.

Bauer asked for an investigation into who invited the riot-clad Virginia State Police, who determined the event was an unlawful assembly and who ordered the use of tear gas, as well as calling for a permanent citizen review board.

A number of people talked about heavy-handed police tactics toward demonstrators. UVA prof and activist Jalane Schmidt tossed an empty tear gas cannister to councilors and asked them to imagine that hitting their flesh. “This has to stop, this militarization of police,” she said. “To a hammer, everything is a nail.”

City councilors got to examine one of the tear-gas cannisters fired at citizens July 8. Photo Eze Amos

And for activist Don Gathers, July 8 will be one of those dates that people always remember where they were, as “the day the KKK came to town and the day Charlottesville citizens were tear-gassed.”

As has become typical for City Council, Signer had to suspend the meeting when attendees became unruly and booed Jones’ timeline of police actions after the Klan left, particularly his assertion that “after numerous requests for the crowd to disperse,” Chief Al Thomas made the decision to “deploy a dispersion irritant.”

 

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‘Trash bin of history’: City prepares for KKK

galvin, bellamy, signer
City councilors Kathy Galvin, Bob Fenwick, Vice-Mayor Wes Bellamy and Mayor Mike Signer are among the city officials who gathered to reassure the public safety is paramount. Staff photo

The Loyal White Knights of the KKK is a tiny, disintegrating faction led by a felon facing a charge for abetting in attempted murder, who may not be able to legally leave North Carolina for the July 8 rally his group plans to hold in Justice Park. Yet such is the legacy of terror and hate associated with the Klan that Charlottesville has mobilized to deflect a visit from an organization that Mayor Mike Signer says is “already in the trash bin of history.”

Some argue that the impending August 12 “Unite the Right” March on Charlottesville with its modern-day white nationalism cloaked as the alt-right is the bigger threat.

But this year, rather than gearing up for July 4, Charlottesville is gearing up for July 8, in the hope that it will be “remembered as a day of unity, not a day of hate and fear,” said city police Chief Al Thomas at a June 20 press conference, one of several events that have been held to announce other activities and to encourage citizens to ignore the Loyal White Knights.

On the agenda are a dialogue at the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center in the morning, a picnic at IX Art Park and a musical event at the Pavilion. Details for those events are still being worked out.

At the press conference, a dozen city officials and leaders stressed public safety and unity. Thomas says Albemarle and UVA police and the city sheriff’s office will join the Charlottesville Police Department in its public safety ops.

He also noted that police will make sure the exercise of free speech is enabled, “no matter how much we may disagree with the message.”

Advises Thomas, “If you have concerns about the KKK rally in the park, my advice is simple: Stay home.”

Signer said, “On July 8, I will not be going within a football field of Justice Park.” Nor will City Councilor Kristin Szakos.

Vice-Mayor Wes Bellamy, who has been targeted with threats toward him and his family, said, “We’re not going to let these idiots come here and define us.” He urged those who must confront the Klan to not engage with them. “Don’t get into a shouting match with people whose minds are not going to change.”

A week earlier on June 13, more than 150 people attended a “So Now What” community forum at Mt. Zion First African Baptist Church to discuss the impending appearance of the North Carolina-based Loyal White Knights.

Organizer Bellamy, along with City Manager Maurice Jones, Signer and Thomas, as well as members of the African-American community, spoke out on how to respond to the robe-wearing group that has terrorized blacks for more than 150 years.

Most urged ignoring the Loyal White Knights, and many black community members said they would not be attending. All urged restraint by locals who do show up to offer an unwelcome mat to Charlottesville.

“I don’t feel the need to go scream at these people,” said Yolanda Jones. She advised self-mastery and wisdom to those who did attend, and said white people “can be an interface in ways people of color can’t.”

Thomas acknowledged the emotion and pain of having the Klan come to town, and said city police can manage them. “Quite candidly, our main concern is not the KKK,” he said. “It’s being in a situation where local citizens make poor choices and we have to step in.”

The KKK “does not define this community,” he said. “Don’t take the bait.”

Thomas, who came here from Lexington, which has had its own share of confrontations over Confederate symbols, including the removal of the rebel flag from public property, said he’s dealt with the Klan before. And when it wanted to march through the black community, people came out and turned their backs to the white supremacist marchers, “the most powerful symbolism you can imagine,” he said.

Bellamy presented peaceful options for July 8. And for those who do want to show up at Justice Park, he suggested protesters wear black, lock arms and turn their backs on the Loyal White Knights—without engaging with them.

He made another plea for people who want to get involved: Volunteer for city and county boards. He distributed a sheet to the audience with options for July 8. And on the other side of the paper, he had a list of openings that allow other ways for voices to be heard in the community.

“It’s easy to go out with 300 people and yell at the Klan,” he said. “It’s harder to get involved on boards.”

Added Bellamy, “If you truly want to do something, here’s your chance.”

Charlottesville has been the scene of protests about the removal of Confederate monuments over the past year, most notably a tiki-torch rally led by white nationalist/UVA alum Richard Spencer May 13.

Part of this article was originally published June 16.

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Insurance denied: City footing Lee statue, parking garage legal bills

Water Street Parking Garage

Since 2016, Charlottesville has faced a larger-than-usual number of high-profile lawsuits, and in at least two cases, its insurance carrier won’t be picking up the tab. And while the carrier hasn’t seen the most recent suit, filed by Albemarle County over the Ragged Mountain Natural Area April 20, that litigation could join the Lee statue coverage denial as a “willful violation” of state law.

The city’s insurer, the Virginia Municipal League, covered Joe Draego’s federal lawsuit after he was dragged out of City Council for calling Muslims “monstrous maniacs,” and a judge ruled the city’s public comment policy banning group defamation was unconstitutional.

But VML is not covering the lawsuit filed against the city for its 3-2 vote to remove the statue of General Robert E. Lee, nor is it covering Mark Brown’s Charlottesville Parking Center litigation against the city, which heads to mediation May 31.

In that case, the city is paying Richmond LeClairRyan attorney Tom Wolf $425 an hour. At press time, City Attorney Craig Brown was unable to come up with costs of that suit, but a year ago, as of April 30, 2016, before the city had gone to court on Brown’s emergency receivership petition, it had spent $11,593.

Craig Brown says the suits on the statue, parking garage and the dispute with Albemarle have “all generated a large amount of public interest, whereas someone tripping on a sidewalk doesn’t.”

“It’s unusual to be involved in as much high-profile litigation as it is now,” agrees former mayor and CPC general manager Dave Norris.

“There’s only a certain amount of appetite taxpayers have to paying high-priced lawyers,” he says.

The litigation with Albemarle stems from the city’s December 19 vote to allow biking at Ragged Mountain, which is located in the county, despite county regulations that prohibit biking at the reservoir. Before the vote, Liz Palmer, then chair of the Albemarle Board of Supervisors, sent a December 15 letter to City Council asking it to defer action and citing state code that prohibits a landowner locality from adopting regulations in conflict with the jurisdiction where the property is located.

And while the city held a year’s worth of public meetings about uses at Ragged Mountain, conspicuously absent from that process was the county. “We were not involved in that,” says Board of Supervisors chair Diantha McKeel. “It’s unfortunate it got as far as it did without recognizing that.”

McKeel stresses that the city and county are not at odds on most issues, but says, “Both of our localities have agreed this is a legal question that has to be settled in the courts.”

After the City Council voted April 3 to adopt a new trails plan that would allow biking, the city offered binding arbitration, “precisely because we wanted to resolve the underlying legal issues without having to go to court,” says Mayor Mike Signer.

That was an offer the county declined. “The question goes back to state code,” says McKeel. “We can’t mediate our way out of that.”

Attorney Buddy Weber, a plaintiff in the Lee statue suit, sees a pattern with the city’s decision to proceed at Ragged Mountain over the county’s objections—and state statutes. “What you really have to ask is where they’re getting their legal advice,” he says. “Are they doing this to invite litigation?”

An injunction hearing is scheduled for May 2 to halt the city from moving the statue—or selling it, as council voted to do April 17. “We thought it was reckless for them to do what they did to remove the statue,” says Weber.  “Selling it falls in line with that. That’s why we need an injunction.”

But when Councilor Bob Fenwick changed his vote to remove the statue February 6, he said it was an issue that would have to be decided by the courts.

For activist Walt Heinecke, that fight embodies the city’s values on the Civil War statue, and he also applauds council’s funding of $10,000 to Legal Aid Justice Center to support immigrants. “I do think it’s important,” he says.

Other legal battles, like the city’s defense of its 2011 panhandling ordinance or the Draego lawsuit, “seem like a complete waste of money,” he says. Heinecke hasn’t followed the Ragged Mountain debate, but says, “It certainly seems there would be better ways to work this through rather than bull-dogging it.”

Vice-Mayor Wes Bellamy, who had his own day in court recently to fend off a petition to remove him from office, says when he was campaigning, he frequently heard comments that prior councils were “paralyzed” and that citizens wanted City Council to make decisions.

“This council is committed to making a difference and to making bold choices,” he says. “We’re not going to be paralyzed.”

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Now what? City Council votes to remove Lee statue

Supporters on both sides of the Lee statue issue packed City Council chambers, but councilors on the remove side prevailed. Eze Amos

Last month’s City Council vote on a motion to remove the statue of General Robert E. Lee deadlocked 2-2 and left the chamber in disarray for 30 minutes. The issue was back on the agenda February 6 after Councilor Bob Fenwick announced he was changing his abstention to a vote to remove the statue, and council voted 3-2 to pack up Lee.

The question remains: Can City Council actually remove the statue in the face of state statutes, a promised lawsuit and the terms of Lee Park donor Paul Goodloe McIntire’s will?

Councilors acknowledged that the vote could be symbolic, and Fenwick said he’d welcome a lawsuit because it was an issue facing localities throughout Virginia. “For the sake of the state, it should be litigated as soon as possible,” he said.

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Swing-voter Bob Fenwick said Lee statue supporters tried to “intimidate and destroy” fellow councilor Wes Bellamy and that racism was a factor in the controversy. Photo Eze Amos

Attorney Lewis Martin says a lawsuit is imminent, and while he won’t be filing it, three other attorneys—Colt Puryear from Madison, Ralph Main and Elliott Harding—will be doing so within days.

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Councilor Kristin Szakos made the motion to remove the Lee statue. Photo Eze Amos

Fenwick joined councilors Wes Bellamy and Kristin Szakos in the vote to remove Lee. Mayor Mike Signer and Kathy Galvin opposed the removal and favored recontextualization.

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Councilor Kathy Galvin moved to implement the other Blue Ribbon Commission recommendations, including renaming Jackson Park. Photo Eze Amos

The councilors were unanimous on a motion to rename Lee Park, and Galvin proposed a resolution to implement the other recommendations of the Blue Ribbon Commission and develop a master plan to do so, with a budget of up to $1 million. She pointed out those measures could occur before the Lee statue removal, which could be tied up in litigation for years. Councilors also approved that measure 5-0.

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Photo Eze Amos

The chamber was packed with attendees holding up signs—“remove the statue” or “save history”—and Signer seemed determined to avoid the chaos of the last council meeting. He requested “civility and decorum” and introduced two Charlottesville police officers, and said the rules would be “strictly enforced.”

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Roman hand signals were encouraged, shouting was not. Photo Eze Amos

Signer also suggested attendees show their support with a raised hand and their disapproval with a thumbs down.

One woman’s extended coughing jag during Signer’s comments on the upcoming vote had him pause. He commended her attempt at “civil disobedience,” but warned she’d be removed if it continued.

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John Heyden is booted from the meeting for an outburst during Wes Bellamy’s remarks. Photo Eze Amos

Two people were taken out during Bellamy’s remarks, including council regular John Heyden. “When Wes Bellamy was reading off his wish list of what I consider racist equity demands because they benefit one race over the other, I said, ‘That’s racist,’” said Heyden the next day.

Councilors expressed their struggles with making a decision on the symbol so closely tied to slavery. Szakos cited her Christianity, which “helps inform the way I approach issues, particularly with ethical and moral components,” and favored removal because of the “harm” the statue inflicts on “our neighbors.”

Galvin, too, was “moved by the Beatitudes” in her “stressful and very difficult” decision that the statue should remain.

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Let’s guess: A Lee statue supporter? Photo Eze Amos

And Bellamy took a love-thy-neighbor stance, and said it was okay to disagree on this issue. To the statue supporters, he said, “You are not my enemy,” but added, “We will not be bullied, we will not be pushed away.”

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Elkton resident Teresa Lam has shown a keen interest in keeping the Lee statue, and has appealed to City Council before. Photo Eze Amos

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Council chaos: Audience erupts over Confederate statue vote

City Councilor Bob Fenwick’s abstention during the 2-2 vote on removing Confederate statues deadlocked council and resulted in the statues remaining. At a press conference January 23, Fenwick pressed some criticisms he made of city spending during the statue debate. staff photo

Charlottesville’s confrontation with its slave-owning past has resulted in difficult discussions since Vice-Mayor Wes Bellamy and Councilor Kristin Szakos called for the removal last March of statues of Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson and the renaming of the parks where they reside.

At City Council’s January 17 meeting, the debate spiraled out of control when enraged citizens, many carrying signs calling for the statues’ removal, shouted and refused to come to order for approximately 30 minutes after councilors voted 2-2 on a motion to remove the statues, with Councilor Bob Fenwick abstaining.

“Shame on you, Bob!” yelled an attendee.

All of the councilors made statements before several votes were taken, each abhorring slavery and its legacy.

“At its core, this discussion is about racism,” said Fenwick, who urged investing funds into the citizenry rather than in removing the statues.

Bellamy, the only African-American on council, quoted Martin Luther King Jr. about the danger of “the white moderates” who say they agree on an issue but want to wait until a more convenient time to take action.

He referred to Charlottesville as a “beautiful but ugly city,” a term used during the funeral service two weeks ago of former vice-mayor Holly Edwards. The phrase was repeated during public comment by activist attorney Jeff Fogel, and earlier that day at a press conference for a new political group, Equity and Progress in Charlottesville.

And Bellamy also noted his first-hand experience with the hatred and racial divide exposed since his call in March to remove the statues. “I have received death threats,” said Bellamy. He said he’s had phone calls that mentioned his daughters by name, stuffed monkeys and bananas thrown on his property and a stalker trying to intimidate him.

Szakos called for an immediate vote because of the “concentrated hate campaign” against Bellamy. “I believe we need to make a decision quickly on these two matters because until we do, we will continue to attract unwanted interference from the Confederate heritage groups and white supremacy activists around the country, many of whom have no stake in our local decision.”

Councilor Kathy Galvin spoke of the “moral dilemma” of removing Jim Crow-era statues, and said she believed it was “morally wrong” to scrub historic symbols of slavery, Reconstruction and segregation.

Mayor Mike Signer called slavery “the great shame of this nation,” but said he would not vote to remove the statues because of the recommendation of the Blue Ribbon Commission, whose creation he had instigated, and because of the lack of consensus in the community.

After the first tied vote on Szakos’ motion to remove the statues, the chamber erupted and Signer suspended the meeting for five minutes to try to get it back under control.

John Heyden is a regular City Council public commenter who often has contentious exchanges with Szakos and Bellamy, and he says he’s seen such chaos before. “It strikes me that one faction of people is allowed to break the rules and other factions are shut down immediately.”

Attendee Mason Pickett says he was body slammed during one of the breaks. “The remove-the-statue people showed themselves to be immature bullies when they didn’t get what they wanted at the City Council meeting,” he says.

“I was cruelly disappointed by the fact that we could not move past the status quo,” said Signer after the meeting. That doesn’t mean the city can’t implement some of the other commission recommendations, such as renaming Lee and Jackson parks.

Three votes are necessary to put the issue back on the agenda, he says. “I don’t know whether there’s an appetite for my colleagues to revisit the pain and chaos.”

However, Szakos, Fenwick and Bellamy all say they expect the issue to come before council again. “We’re not done yet,” says Szakos, who made three motions to remove the statues. “We asked this commission of citizens to spend six months of their lives under public scrutiny and abuse, and their strongest recommendation was to remove the statues.”

“We can’t ignore it,” says Fenwick. “We have to deal with it.”

While many denounced his decision to abstain at the meeting, Fenwick says he’s had different reactions following it. “People are coming up to me on the street and agreeing with me,” he says.

He says he was caught in the middle between two sides locked in their decisions, and he’d thought there would be a proposal for compromise.

Fenwick seemed to have his own agenda at the meeting as far as city spending, and at a press conference January 22, he reiterated some of those points, criticizing the $1 million spent on West Main consultants and the hundreds of thousands spent on parking or lighting studies, while councilors slashed funding for the Legal Aid Justice Center. He said he’d like to ax the $1.5 million skate park that went out for bid in December and build a field house at Tonsler Park and keep community centers open all day.

He called the City Council meeting chaotic. “That was the worst I’ve seen,” he says.

Signer, who implemented controversial rules for conducting City Council meetings when he took office a year ago, said the out-of-control scene January 17 “was one of the greatest challenges I’ve had in public life, trying to navigate the emotions on an issue that truly divides us.”

Signer says he made a decision not to eject anyone from the meeting “given the climate” and the “emotions,” but in the future, outbursts from the floor “can’t be allowed to prevent us from doing the people’s work.”

However, Bellamy says he’s seen other council meetings “get hectic,” and that there’s a history of the city saying it wanted to hear from people—and then ignoring them. “People feel passionate about these topics,” he says. “I definitely empathize and I understand it.”

Says Bellamy, “That City Council meeting draws a strong parallel with the Women’s March in Washington, and the voices saying, ‘Hear me, hear me, hear me.’”