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.
Community members sat shoulder-to-shoulder in City Council Chambers at the December 4 meeting, where people also spilled into at least two remote viewing locations within City Hall. Protest signs called for Mayor Mike Signer’s resignation, and the abolition of police. Photo by Eze Amos
Emotions ran high at the December 4 City Council meeting that began at 7pm when Councilor Kristin Szakos placed two paper plates piled with homemade cookies at the podium and ended at midnight.
Mayor Mike Signer opened the meeting, during which former federal prosecutor Tim Heaphy presented his $350,000 independent review of the summer’s white supremacist rallies, with a plea for civility.
But anyone who’s been following council meetings since August 12, knows that Signer would have needed a Christmas miracle for that wish to come true. And he didn’t get it.
Tim Heaphy. Photo by Eze Amos
Heaphy and the councilors were continually criticized, heckled and shouted over, but the first roar of laughter from the shoulder-to-shoulder crowd came when Heaphy announced that members of the Charlottesville Police Department told him and his Hunton & Williams legal team that they felt prepared for August 12 because they had worked the annual Wertland Street block party and dignitary visits, like when the Dalai Lama came to town in October 2012.
They hadn’t, however, coordinated with Virginia State Police, and most of them had never used riot gear or had relevant training, Heaphy said.
And though Heaphy detailed several instances of a lack of police intervention on August 12—and an apparent order for police not to act “unless someone’s getting killed”—the crowd erupted in caustic applause when he showed a still taken from a police body camera of an officer coming between a white supremacist and an anti-racist activist.
“Y’all fed us to those wolves,” interjected someone from the crowd when the attorney discussed police behavior.
As Heaphy wrapped up his presentation, which lasted an hour longer than scheduled, members of the crowd—some identifying with activist group SolidarityCville—began raising protest signs. The largest one read, “Blood on your hands,” with “Abolish the police” and “Resign Signer” also making an appearance.
Photo by Eze Amos
Vice-mayor Wes Bellamy, whom some blame for summoning the neo-Nazis with his initial call in March 2016 to remove the General Robert E. Lee monument from then-Lee Park, began his comments with an apology.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “We let you all down. I think it’s important we acknowledge that.”
And trying to speed the meeting along, he said, “For $350,000, I got two questions: One, how do we stop the Nazis from coming back. And secondly, how do we protect our citizens?”
Heaphy replied he didn’t have the answers, and the crowd erupted again, asking the attorney what he was paid almost half a million dollars for. Heaphy reminded attendees several times that his job was to review what went right and wrong during the summer of hate.
About 40 members of the public spoke at the meeting, with Dave Ghamandi firing up the crowd as he roasted the police, Chief Al Thomas, City Manager Maurice Jones, Heaphy and Signer.
Dave Ghamandi. Photo by Eze Amos
“You and Signer are two crony gangsters spit out by UVA law school,” he said to Heaphy, also calling him a “glorified ambulance chaser” who “profited off tragedy and death.” Ghamandi said Jones is afraid to fire Thomas because he’ll drag Jones down, too.
Councilor-elect Nikuyah Walker also took the podium to address centuries of racism, systemic oppression and public chatter that Jones and Thomas could be held accountable for the failure of the rallies and lose their jobs.
Nikuyah Walker. Photo by Eze Amos
“There should not be rumors that the two people who are going to be asked to leave potentially are two black men,” she said. “That should be unacceptable.”
But perhaps tensions were at their highest boiling point at the conclusion of Heaphy’s presentation, when he said, “Things could have been worse.” Without missing a beat, someone in the crowd fired back, “How dare you?”
Independent's day at Jefferson School when victory is called for Nikuyah Walker, center. Photo Eze Amos
Election night 2017 in Charlottesville had quite a different feel from 2016. Democrats swept statewide offices, with Ralph Northam winning the governor’s race by an even wider margin—9 percent—than pundits had predicted. And no one saw it coming that Dems would dislodge the hefty 66-34 Republican majority in the House of Delegates, and, depending on recounts, Charlottesville’s own David Toscano could end up house majority leader.
The unprecedented evening continued in Charlottesville, where Nikuyah Walker bucked the Democratic groundswell and became the first independent to win a seat on City Council since 1948. Also unprecedented: It’s the first time two African Americans will serve on council when she joins Vice-Mayor Wes Bellamy on the dais in January.
Walker’s supporters—a younger, more diverse crowd than the older, whiter Dems awaiting returns at Escafe—gathered at the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center, where she led from the first precinct report.
“She’s the first Charlottesville native in decades to serve on council,” former mayor Dave Norris, a Walker supporter, points out. “She’s someone who’s actually experienced some of the issues facing council. She lived in Garrett Square,” which is now known as Friendship Court.
Former mayor Dave Norris and Vice-Mayor Wes Bellamy were on hand for Nikuyah Walker’s historic win. Photo Eze Amos
Her victory “is a rebuke to the dirty tactics of the anonymous source,” adds Norris, referring to the November 4 Daily Progress story prompted by an unnamed city official who suggested Walker’s “aggressive” communication style would make it difficult for her to work with other councilors and city staff.
Before the election, conventional wisdom predicted Laufer, who’s served on the school board, would get one of the open council seats now held by Bob Fenwick and Kristin Szakos, and the second would be a toss-up between Hill and Walker. Instead, Hill edged Laufer by 55 votes in what were extremely close margins between the three frontrunners.
“Heather worked her tail off,” says Norris. “Whenever someone criticized Heather, she would sit down and talk to them. She personally hit up every street in Charlottesville.”
Democrat Heather Hill had expected to sit on council with Amy Laufer, but the election, with everything else this year, was “unprecedented,” she says. Photo Eze Amos
The election “played out in a different way than I expected,” says Hill. “This year has been unprecedented, and there was no doubt in my mind this election was going to be unprecedented. I’m really excited to be part of this change.”
One big change for Walker: As a city employee with parks and rec, she will be her own boss as a councilor—sort of. State code on conflicts of interest says an elected official may keep her job with a government agency provided employment began before election to the governing body.
Surrounded by her son, two daughters and mother on stage at Jefferson School, Walker admitted, “I drove my family crazy.”
She said, “It’s hard growing up black in Charlottesville. I only ran because of [the late vice-mayor] Holly Edwards. She told me if I️ ran, I’d win.”
Walker said, “People told lies about me. They should have told the truth.”
And she acknowledged the broad grassroots support she had, with contributions ranging from $5 to $10,000. She urged her supporters to hold onto the “we” and stay engaged. “It’s not a temporary thing.”
Walker’s win “breaks up the total Democratic control on council,” says UVA Center for Politics’ Geoffrey Skelley. “It’s meaningful in the aftermath of all the terrible things that happened in Charlottesville” with the monument debate and neo-Nazi invasion, which some put at the feet of City Council.
“Walker was offering something different,” he says. “It’s a reaction locally when Democrats were crushing it everywhere else. It’s a reaction to local issues that have become national issues.”
In Albemarle County, the Samuel Miller District was the only contested Board of Supervisors race, and incumbent Liz Palmer handily beat Republican challenger John Lowry with 68 percent of the vote.
In county school board races, Katrina Callsen, who had opponent Mary McIntyre’s supporters grousing about outside money from a Teach for America affiliate, won 63 percent of the Rio District vote. In the Samuel Miller District, incumbent Graham Paige held on to his seat with 65 percent of the vote, fending off 18-year-old challenger Julian Waters.
Statewide, Skelley had anticipated a narrower race between Northam and Ed Gillespie. Northam’s win was the largest margin for a Democratic candidate since 1985, when Gerald Baliles won, says Skelley.
Voter turnout was up 15 percent over the last governor’s race in 2013, and in some places like Charlottesville, it was up 31 percent. In Fairfax, 23 percent more voters went to the polls than in 2013, and that increase “has got to be looked at as a response to President Trump,” says Skelley.
Democrat Justin Fairfax won the lieutenant governor’s race and became the second African American to hold that position, which Doug Wilder won in 1985. Incumbent Attorney General Mark Herring held on to his seat and gave Democrats a sweep in statewide offices.
Before the election, Skelley predicted Democrats might pick up seats in the high single digits in the House of Delegates. “I was very cautious,” he says. Several close races will face recounts, and if the Dems win, it’s possible they could have their first majority in the house since 2000.
Almost all the Democratic gains came from the 15 districts that Hillary Clinton carried in 2016, says Skelley. “It’s not like they’re winning a bunch of red seats.”
A couple of Latina delegates, an African-American veteran, Dawn Adams, the first openly lesbian delegate, and Danica Roem, the first transgender legislator in the country, will change the makeup of the mostly white male House, says Skelley.
Roem’s win over 13-term social conservative Bob Marshall, who carried the state constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage and who last year carried an unsuccessful bathroom bill, is particularly significant and an outcome Skelley wasn’t willing to bet on. “Prince William County has changed,” he says. “[Marshall] didn’t change with it.”
No one was predicting an unseating of Albemarle’s three GOP incumbents—Steve Landes, Matt Fariss and Rob Bell—who held on to their seats, although Bell and Fariss did face challengers, unlike in 2015 when they were unopposed. While Dem Angela Lynn lost for a second time to Landes, this year she narrowed the margin from 32 points to 16.
For House Minority Leader Toscano, who was unopposed, the evening was particularly enjoyable. “I must admit I never really thought we could do it all this cycle,” he says. “I thought we’d pick up some seats.”
Currently the Dems have 49 seats, he says, and both sides are calling for recounts in a handful of races. He’s not speculating on what will happen if his party takes the majority—and he could potentially be elected speaker. “First we have to count all the votes,” he says.
However, even if the Democrats don’t hold a majority, with a 49-51 split, “immediately we’ll get a lot more representation on committees. Immediately we’ll make strategic alliances with Republicans to pass legislation,” says Toscano.
“The election makes clear Virginia is a bellwether election following Trump,” he says. It shows that voters like candidates engaged with their communities, they like what Democrats like Governor Terry McAuliffe have been doing with economic development, and says Toscano, “They don’t like the divisiveness and hate of Trump.”
Correction 10:22am November 9: The story originally said Walker would have to resign her job as a city employee, but apparently that’s not true if she held the job before being elected.
Nikuyah Walker admits she doesn’t follow the rules very well.
Staff photo
But her emails
Independent City Council candidate Nikuyah Walker was the target of a November 4 story in the Daily Progress that she and her supporters called a “hit piece”—three days before the election—in which an anonymous source in City Hall questions her ability to “work collaboratively with city officials.” The story described her emails to officials as “aggressive” and “often confrontational.”
“Advocates for social justice don’t always behave politely.”—Joy Johnson to City Council on the topic of protesters arrested at their August 21 meeting
Blank slate
Dillwyn’s entire town council is up for re-election, but when the longtime clerk retired, no one reminded the councilors to register as candidates to be on the ballot. The ballot will be blank, and Dillwyn’s 244 registered voters must write in the names of the seven councilors they want to elect, according to the Progress.
Fogel files again
Civil rights attorney Jeff Fogel is suing Charlottesville, City Manager Maurice Jones and law firm Hunton & Williams on behalf of five plaintiffs, contending that Jones had no authority to hire the firm’s partner Tim Heaphy to do an independent review of the city’s response to the events of August 12.
Jeff Fogel, with plaintiffs Joy Johnson, Tanesha Hudson and Walt Heinecke, wants the city to fire Tim Heaphy. Staff photo
An end to Democracy
Nelson County’s Democracy Vineyards, which opened in 2007, announced it will close after Thanksgiving this year.
Another attempt
Around 1am November 5, city police arrested Brian Lambert in Emancipation Park and charged him with vandalism, trespassing and being drunk in public for allegedly cutting the orange fencing surrounding the Robert E. Lee statue. Lambert, arrested for being drunk at UVA on September 12, when students shrouded their Thomas Jefferson statue, is also one of three people who attempted to uncover General Lee on September 16.
Best BACON
Charlottesville High’s code-writing wunderkinds in Best All-Around Club of Nerds win first place in the first round of NASA and MIT’s Zero Robotics competition.
Keep ’em at home
Signs at Water Street Garage, Rapture and UVA lawn. Photos staff and Emily Bagdasarian
While another tragic mass shooting made headlines over the weekend, some Charlottesville institutions are putting forth their best effort to make this city bulletproof.
Twelve days before a man who was booted out of the Air Force for domestic violence dressed in all-black tactical gear and shot up a First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, killing 26 and injuring 20 others, about a dozen signs prohibiting all weapons appeared at every entry point on the University of Virginia Lawn.
UVA spokesperson Anthony de Bruyn did not respond to multiple interview requests about the warnings, but other local entities that ban firearms were willing to discuss their decisions.
Charlottesville Parking Center officials posted “No Guns” signs in the Water Street Parking Garage in the immediate aftermath of the August 12 Unite the Right rally, according to general manager and former mayor Dave Norris.
“We were concerned when we saw dozens of heavily-armed neo-Nazis using the garage as a staging area on the morning of August 12 and had no grounds to ask them to leave, and received no response from law enforcement when we reported this activity to them,” says Norris. “Now that the signs are in place, we are better equipped to manage situations like this in the future.”
As for the sticker on Rapture’s door that bans firearms, owner Mike Rodi says it was largely in response to the summer’s “hate rallies,” when KKK and Unite the Right protesters “made it clear that they would take advantage of Virginia’s open carry laws and come armed.”
The owner of the Downtown Mall restaurant says businesses near the epicenter of the deadly rally “used every tool at their disposal to keep racist troublemakers out,” and signage was part of that. On August 12, many businesses also posted dress code signs banning hate symbols.
Rapture has long had a no-gun policy, says Rodi. “Guns and booze don’t mix.”
Other businesses posted no-gun signs before this summer. In late 2015, shoppers in Whole Foods became upset when they spotted a man packing heat in the produce section. Though Virginia is an open-carry state, Whole Foods’ corporate policy bans all weapons, and a sign declaring so was posted on its door by January 2016.
Eugene Williams Day
Vice-Mayor Wes Bellamy presents Eugene Williams with a proclamation on his 90th birthday. Staff photo
Charlottesville’s legendary civil rights leader Eugene Williams turned 90 November 6, and Vice-Mayor Wes Bellamy presented him with a proclamation declaring the day Eugene Williams Day at a birthday celebration November 4 at the Boar’s Head Inn.
As president of the local NAACP chapter in the 1950s, after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education that separate but equal schools didn’t cut it, Williams recruited plaintiffs to sue the Charlottesville School Board.
In 1980, Williams convinced his wife, Lorraine, brother Albert and sister-in-law Emma to sink their life savings into Dogwood Housing to provide
affordable housing to families throughout the city, bucking the trend of housing the poor in projects.
And the proclamation declares, “Eugene Williams has served as a symbolic conscience of Charlottesville for what is right and fair for all people and for bridging the diverse parts of the Charlottesville community.”
Her supporters have gone ballistic on social media over the story.
The article describes dozens of emails Walker has sent city officials as indicative of her style of communication: “particularly outspoken,” “often confrontational” and in the online headline, “unabashedly aggressive.”
Reporter Chris Suarez says in the story a source in City Hall who wishes to remain anonymous “called attention to her emails, voicing concerns about her ability to work collaboratively with city officials.”
Journalist Jordy Yager, who has written for C-VILLE Weekly, on Twitter called the article a “hit piece” and asks why an anonymous source was used. He notes that the Society of Professional Journalists advises, “Always question sources’ motives before promising anonymity.”
Speculation on the anonymous source is centering on Mayor Mike Signer. After the August 12 debacle, a memo written by Signer was leaked to the press from an anonymous email account.
On Facebook, Walker says, “This article is a hit piece initiated by Mike Signer. Chris informed me that the same person who ‘leaked his own memo’ tipped him to my emails.” Walker goes on to say that no one needed to tip Suarez to the “unabashedly aggressive” emails because he had been copied on them in the past.
Suarez says that’s not exactly what he said in an “offhand comment” to Walker. He says he told Walker, “I think it could be the same person who leaked his memo.” He adds that he does not know for sure that Signer was the source of the leaked memo that threw City Manager Maurice Jones and police Chief Al Thomas under the bus for the events of August 12.
“That’s all I can say,” says Suarez.
In an email, Signer provided a statement he plans to make at tonight’s City Council meeting. He says he was approached by an employee of the Albemarle Housing Improvement Program who had concerns about a “vendetta” against AHIP by a council candidate. A number of Walker’s emails expressed frustration with the quality of work done on her home through the program.
Signer says, “I have openly shared with folks my concerns about emails Council received from the Council candidate about AHIP containing profane attacks against our staff and against AHIP.” He denies directing anyone to seek a Freedom of Information Act request for the emails, which are public records, or issuing one.
He points out the use of “coded” words like “aggressive,” which Fortune magazine reports are frequently used to describe women, but almost never men. “I also want to make clear how disappointed and frustrated I was by the paper’s decision to use such language, and by the questionable timing of the article—the day before the paper’s endorsements of two other candidates,” says Signer.
“My reaction is they’re trying to tamper with the election the way the Russians did,” says activist and Walker supporter Walt Heinecke. “I find it unethical both on the part of the Daily Progress and the anonymous source.”
Heinecke notes that the day before the November 4 Progress story, Democratic candidates Amy Laufer and Heather Hill held a press conference in which they said the most important thing they’re expressing is their willingness to collaborate with City Council, city staff and the community.
“It’s beyond the pale to think it’s coincidence,” says Heinecke. Laufer and Hill had not responded to requests for comment at press time.
“I’ve been hearing disgust and disappointment,” says Heinecke. He also says he’s hearing more people say they’re going to single-shot Walker, a voting strategy of using just one of two votes for council to avoid giving more to the Democrats, who hold a sizeable majority in town.
Former mayor Dave Norris, also a Walker supporter, wrote on Facebook that he’d submitted a letter to the editor to the Progress a few days earlier to endorse Walker and it was rejected. He says the response from the newspaper was, “We stop running political letters…three or four days prior to the election so that no one can slip in a last-minute bombshell without time for an opposing view to be submitted.”
“But apparently this rule does not apply to their own news page, or at least not when they’re doing the bidding of their ‘anonymous source’ on City Council,” writes Norris.
Daily Progress editor Wesley Hester did not immediately respond to a call from C-VILLE.
Walker has taken heat for her use of the f-word, particularly at the out-of-control August 21 City Council meeting. She acknowledges she uses curse words, but points out that people died August 12 and questions people being more upset by a curse word.
Vice-Mayor Wes Bellamy says on Facebook he’s been trying to stay out of the election, but he blasts the Progress story and says the “powers that be” are terrified of Walker because of her strength and the fact that she speaks her mind on issues of equity, systemic oppression and racism.
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 10minutes 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
It’s the time of year C-VILLE editorial staffers dread most: landing on the final names for our Power Issue, followed by the inevitable complaints that the list contains a bunch of white men. Sure, there are powerful women and people of color in
Charlottesville. But when it comes down to it, it’s still mostly white men who hold the reins—and a lot of them are developers. The good news: that’s changing. (And we welcome feedback about who we missed, sent to editor@c-ville.com.)
If you’re looking for a different take on power, skip over to our Arts section, where local creative-industry leaders share their most powerful moments (grab some Kleenex!) on page 46.
1. Robert E. Lee statue
More than 150 years after General Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox, he continues to be a divisive figure—or at least his statue is. The sculpture has roiled Charlottesville since a March 2016 call (see No. 2 Wes Bellamy and Kristin Szakos) to remove the monument from the eponymously named park.
As a result, in the past year we’ve seen out-of-control City Council meetings, a Blue Ribbon Commission on Race, Memorials and Public Spaces, a City Council vote to remove the statue, a lawsuit and injunction to prevent the removal and the renaming of
the park to Emancipation.
The issue has turned Charlottesville into a national flashpoint and drawn Virginia
Flaggers, guv hopeful and former Trump campaign state chair Corey Stewart, and Richard Spencer’s tiki-torch-carrying white nationalists. Coming up next: the Loyal White Knights of the KKK July 8 rally and Jason Kessler’s “Unite the Right” March August 12.
You, General Lee, are Charlottesville’s most powerful symbol for evoking America’s unresolved conflict over its national shame of slavery and the racial inequity still present in the 21st century.
Spawn of the Lee statue
Jason Kessler
Before the statue debate—and election of Donald Trump—Charlottesville was blissfully unaware of its own, homegrown whites-righter Jason Kessler, who unearthed Vice-Mayor Wes Bellamy’s offensive tweets from before he took office and launched an unsuccessful petition drive to remove Bellamy from office, calling him a “black supremacist.” Since then, Kessler has slugged a man, filed a false complaint against his victim and aligned himself with almost every white nationalist group in the country, while denying he’s a white nationalist. The blogger formed Unity and Security in America and plans a “march on Charlottesville.” Most recently, we were treated to video of him getting punched while naming cereals in an initiation into the matching-polo-shirt-wearing Proud Boys.
SURJ
The impetus for the local Showing Up for Racial Justice was the seemingly unrelenting shootings of black men by police—and white people wanting to do something about it. But the Lee statue issue has brought SURJ into its own militant niche. Pam and Joe Starsia, who say they can’t speak for the collective, are its most well-known faces. The group showed up at Lee Park with a bullhorn to shout down GOP gubernatorial candidate Corey Stewart, interrupted U.S. Representative Tom Garrett’s town hall and surrounded Kessler at outdoor café appearances on the Downtown Mall, shouting, “Nazi go home!” and “Fuck white supremacy!”—perhaps unintentionally making some people actually feel sorry for Kessler.
2.City Council
Not all councilors are equally powerful, but together—or in alliances—they’ve kept the city fixated on issues other than the ones citizens normally care about: keeping traffic moving and good schools.
Mayor Mike Signer. Photo by Eze Amos
Mike Signer
Mayor Signer took office in January 2016 in what is widely seen as a step to higher office. He immediately riled citizens by changing the public comment procedure at City Council meetings. A judge determined part of the new rules were unconstitutional, but some council regulars say the meetings do move along much better—at least when they’re not out of control with irate citizens expressing their feelings on the Lee statue. Signer called a public rally, sans permit, to proclaim Charlottesville the capital of the resistance. And despite his vote against removing the statue, he’s not shied away from denouncing the white nationalists drawn to Charlottesville like bears to honey.
Vice-Mayor Wes Bellamy. Photo by Eze Amos
Wes Bellamy
Most politicians would be undone by the trove of racist, misogynistic and homophobic tweets Bellamy made before he was elected to City Council. As it was, they cost him his job as an Albemarle County teacher (a post from which he resigned after being placed on administrative leave) and a position on the Virginia Board of Education. But he fell on the sword, apologized and acknowledged the “disrespectful and, quite frankly, ignorant” comments he posted on Twitter. Perhaps it helped that Bellamy, at age 30, is a black male leader, has real accomplishments and has dedicated himself to helping young African-Americans. Despite his missteps, he is the voice for a sizable portion of Charlottesville’s population.
City Councilor Kristen Szakos. Photo by Elli Williams
Kristin Szakos
Szakos raised the topic of removing the city’s Confederate monuments several years before she teamed up with Bellamy, and she was soundly harassed for her trouble. When she ran for office, she called for town halls in the community and bringing council to the people, and she’s always demonstrated a concern for those who can’t afford to live in the world-class city they call home. She announced in January she won’t be seeking a third term in the fall.
City Councilor Kathy Galvin. Photo by Christian Hommel
Kathy Galvin
Galvin, an architect, envisions a strategic investment area south of the Downtown Mall, and her job will be to convince residents it’s a good deal for them. Council’s moderate voice, she, along with Signer, were the two votes against removing the Lee statue.
City Councilor Bob Fenwick. Photo by Chiara Canzi
Bob Fenwick
Even before losing the Democratic nomination June 13 with a dismal 20 percent of the vote, Fenwick was always the odd man out on council. His moment in the sun came earlier this year when he abstained from a split vote on removing the Lee statue, lobbied for pet causes among his fellow councilors and then cast his vote in the “aye” side, joining Bellamy and Szakos. That vote did not yield the groundswell of support he might have imagined from the black community. And although he leaves council at the end of the year as a one-termer, there are those who have appreciated Fenwick’s refusal to join in lockstep with the rest of council, and his willingness to call out its penchant for hiring consultants without taking action.
Coran Capshaw. Photo by Ashley Twiggs
3. Coran Capshaw
Every year we try to figure out how to do the power list without including Capshaw. But with his fingers in pies like Red Light Management (Dave Matthews, Sam Hunt); venues (the Pavilion, Jefferson, Southern and, most recently, the Brooklyn Bowl); Starr Hill Presents concert promotion and festivals such as Bonnaroo; merchandise—earlier this year, he reacquired Musictoday, which he founded in 2000; restaurants (Mas, Five Guys, Mono Loco, Ten) and of course development, with Riverbend Management, we have to acknowledge this guy’s a mogul. There’s just no escaping it.
In local real estate alone, Capshaw is a major force. Here are just a few Riverbend projects: City Walk, 5th Street Station, C&O Row, the rehabbed Coca-Cola building on Preston and Brookhill.
True, he fell from No. 7 to 11 on this year’s Billboard Power 100, but in Charlottesville, his influence is undiminished. And now he’s getting awards for his philanthropy, including Billboard’s Humanitarian of the Year in 2011, and this year, Nashville’s City of Hope medical center’s Spirit of Life Award.
UVA’s Rotunda. Photo by Karen Blaha
4. UVA
In January, UVA President Teresa Sullivan announced her summer 2018 retirement, and directed the Board of Visitors to begin the search for a new leader to rule Thomas Jefferson’s roost, the top employer in Virginia with its state-of-the-art medical center, a near-Ivy League education system and a couple of research parks teeming with innovative spirit.
Charlottesville native venture capitalist James B. Murray Jr., a former Columbia Capital partner of Senator Mark Warner, was elected vice rector of the Board of Visitors, and will take the rector-in-waiting position July 1, when Frank M. “Rusty” Connor III begins a two-year term as rector.
And lest we forget, the UVA Foundation recently purchased the university a $9 million 2015 Cessna Citation XLS—an eight-seat, multi-engine jet—to haul around its highest rollers.
Jaffray Woodriff. Photo by Eze Amos
5. Jaffray Woodriff
As the founder of Quantitative Investment Management, a futures contract and stock trading firm with experience in plataforma trading, Woodriff has landed at No. 28 on Forbes’ list of the 40 highest-earning hedge fund managers in the nation, with total earnings of $90 million. His troupe of about 35 employees manage approximately $3.5 billion in assets through a data science approach to investing.
Woodriff, an angel investor who has funded more than 30 local startups, made headlines this year when he bought the Downtown Mall’s beloved ice skating rink and announced plans to turn Main Street Arena into the Charlottesville Technology Center, which, according to a press release, “will foster talented developers and energized entrepreneurs by creating office space conducive of collaboration, mentorship and the scalability of startups.”
Demolition of the ice rink is scheduled for 2018, so there’s time yet to lace up your skates before you trade them in for a thinking cap.
Keith Woodard. Photo by Amy Jackson
6. Keith Woodard
Some might argue that Woodard’s power stems from the unrelenting complaints of people who are towed from his two downtown parking lots. But it’s the real estate those lots sit on—and more. The owner of Woodard Properties has rentals for all needs, whether residential or commercial. The latter includes part of a Downtown Mall block and McIntire Plaza. He was already rich enough to invest in a Tesla, but Woodard is about to embark on the biggest project of his life—the $50 million West2nd, the former and future site of City Market. Ground will break any time now, and by 2019, the L-shaped, 10-story building with 65 condos, office and retail space (including a restaurant and bakery/café) and a plaza will dominate Water Street.
Will Richey. Photo by Amy Jackson
7. Will Richey
When you talk about Charlottesville’s ever-growing restaurant scene, one name that seems to be on everyone’s tongue is Will Richey. The restaurateur-turned-farmer (his Red Row Farm supplies much of the produce in the summer for the two Revolutionary Soup locations) owns a fair chunk of where you eat and drink in this town: Rev Soup, The Bebedero, The Whiskey Jar, The Alley Light, The Pie Chest and the newest addition, Brasserie Saison, which he opened in March with Hunter Smith (owner of Champion Brewery, which is also on the expansion train, see. No. 9). Richey’s restaurant empire seems to know no bounds, and we’re excited to see what else he’ll add to his plate—and ours—in the coming years.
Rosa Atkins. Photo by Eze Amos
8. Rosa Atkins/Pam Moran
The superintendents for city and county schools have a long list of achievements to their names, with each division winning a number of awards under their tenures.
This month, Atkins—the city school system’s leader since 2006—was named to the State Council of Higher Education, but she’s perhaps most notably the School Superintendents Association’s 2017 runner-up for national female superintendent of the year.
Pam Moran. Photo by Amy Jackson
Moran, who has ruled county schools since 2005, held a similar title in late 2015, when the Virginia Association of School Superintendents named her State Superintendent of the Year, which placed her in the running for the American Association of School Administrators’ National Superintendent of the Year award, for which she was one of four finalists. This year, she requested the School Board continue to fund enrollment increases for at-risk students, making closing learning opportunity gaps a high priority.
Hunter Smith. Photo by Amy Jackson
9. Local beer
Throw a rock in this area and you’ll hit a brewery. For one thing, the Brew Ridge Trail is continually dotted with more stops. And new breweries in the city just keep popping up: Reason Brewery, founded by Charlottesville natives and set to open next month on Route 29 near Costco, is the latest. Other local additions include Random Row Brewery, which opened last fall on Preston Avenue, and Hardywood, based out of Richmond, which opened a pilot brewery and taproom on West Main Street in April.
And local breweries are not just opening but they’re expanding: Three Notch’d and Champion both opened Richmond satellite locations within the last year (that marks Three Notch’d’s third location, with another in Harrisonburg). And what pairs better with good drinks than good eats? Champion is adding food to its Charlottesville menu, and its brewers are enjoying a Belgian-focused playground at the joint restaurant venture Brasserie Saison.
Another sure sign that craft beer is thriving is the Virginia Craft Brewers Guild’s annual beer competition, the Virginia Craft Beer Cup Awards, which is the largest state competition of its kind; this year, 356 beers in 24 categories were entered. And Charlottesville is the new home of the organization’s annual beer showcase, the Virginia Craft Brewers Fest, which is moving from Devils Backbone Brewing Company to the IX Art Park in August. Host of the event, featuring more than 100 Virginia breweries, will be Three Notch’d Brewing Company, which is expanding its brewing operations from Grady Avenue into a space at IX, set to open in 2018.
Amy Laufer. Publicity photo
10. Amy Laufer
With 46 percent of the vote in this month’s City Council Democratic primary and nearly $20,000 in donations, Laufer also had a lengthy list of endorsements, including governor hopeful Tom Perriello and former 5th District congressman L.F. Payne.
Laufer, a current school board member and former chair and vice chair of the board, is also the founder of Virginia’s List, a PAC that supports Democratic women running for state office. If she takes a seat on City Council, keep an eye out for the progress she makes on her top issues: workforce development, affordable housing and the environment.
Khizr Khan. Photo by Eze Amos
11. Khizr Khan
Khan launched the city into the international spotlight when he, accompanied by his wife, Ghazala, took the stage on the final day of the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia and harshly criticized several of then-Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s policies, including his proposed ban on Muslim immigration.
“Donald Trump, you’re asking Americans to trust you with their future,” Khan said. “Let me ask you, have you even read the United States Constitution? I will gladly lend you my copy. In this document, look for the words ‘liberty’ and ‘equal protection of the law.’”
Khan could be seen shaking a pocket-sized copy of the Constitution at the camera—his face splayed across every major news network for days thereafter. At the convention, he discussed the death of his son, Humayun, a UVA graduate and former U.S. Army captain during the Iraq War, who died in an explosion in Baqubah, Iraq.
Khan also spoke before hundreds at Mayor Mike Signer’s January rally to declare Charlottesville a “capital of the resistance,” and Khan and his wife recently announced a Bicentennial Scholarship in memory of their son, which will award $10,000 annually to a student enrolled in ROTC or majoring in a field that studies the U.S. Constitution.
John Dewberry. Photo by Eze Amos
12. John Dewberry
Even though he doesn’t live around here, he’s from around here, if you stretch here to include Waynesboro. Dewberry continues to hold downtown hostage with the Landmark Hotel, although we have seen some movement since he was on last year’s power list. After buying the property in 2012, he said he’d get to work on the Landmark, the city’s most prominent eyesore since 2009, once he finished his luxury hotel in Charleston, South Carolina. That took a few years longer than anticipated—these things always do—but earlier this year Dewberry wrangled some tax incentives from City Council, which has threatened to condemn the structure, and on June 20, the Board of Architectural Review took a look at his new and improved plans. One of these days, Dewberry promises, Charlottesville will have a five-star hotel on the Downtown Mall.
13. Andrea Douglas
The Ph.D. in art history, who formerly worked at what’s now UVA’s Fralin Museum of Art, always seemed like the only real choice to head the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center, and since it opened in 2012, she’s made it an integral part of the community. The heritage center is far from self-sustaining, but a $950,000 city grant, a fundraising campaign and Douglas’ steely determination keep the historic school—and its place in the city’s history—firmly in the heart of Charlottesville. And Douglas can get a seat at Bizou anytime she wants—she’s married to co-owner Vincent Derquenne.
Paul Beyer. Photo by Ryan Jones
14. Paul Beyer
Innovation wunderkind Beyer ups the stakes on his Tom Tom Founders Festival every year. The event began six years ago as a music-only festival, but has morphed into a twice-a-year celebration of creativity and entrepreneurism. The fall is dedicated to locals who have founded successful businesses/organizations, while the week-long spring event continues to draw some of the world’s biggest names in the fields of technology, art, music and more. This year’s spring fest, which added a featured Hometown Summit that drew hundreds of civic leaders and innovators from around the country to share their successes and brainstorm solutions to struggles, was the biggest yet: 44,925 program attendees, 334 speakers and 110 events.
Lynn Easton and Dean Porter Andrews. Photo by Jen Fariello
15. Easton Porter Group
We know them as local leaders in the weddings and hospitality industry (Pippin Hill Farm & Vineyards is often the site of well-to-do weddings, with some totaling in
the $200,000s, we hear), but now the Easton Porter Group has its sights set on a much bigger portfolio: Its goal is to secure 15 luxury properties in high-end destinations in the next 10 years. In 2016, the group, owned by husband-and-wife team Dean Porter Andrews and Lynn Easton, landed on Inc. magazine’s list of the 5,000 fastest-growing private companies in the nation.
Their latest project is to our north, with the renovation of the Blackthorne Inn outside of Washington, D.C., in Upperville, Virginia. The historic hunt-country estate, which is being transformed into a boutique inn featuring luxury-rustic accommodations, fine dining and wine, is projected to open in spring 2018.
The Easton Porter Group’s other businesses include Red Pump Kitchen on the Downtown Mall, as well as Cannon Green restaurant and the Zero George Hotel Restaurant + Bar in Charleston, South Carolina.
16. EPIC
Equity and Progress in Charlottesville made a poignant debut earlier this year, shortly after the death of former vice-mayor Holly Edwards, who was one of the founders of the group dedicated to involving those who usually aren’t part of the political process. It includes a few Democrats no longer satisfied with the party’s stranglehold on City Council, like former mayor Dave Norris and former councilor Dede Smith. The group has drawn a lot of interest in the post-Trump-election activist era, but its first two endorsements in the June 13 primary, Fenwick and commonwealth’s attorney candidate Jeff Fogel, did not fare well. The group still holds high hopes for Nikuyah Walker as an independent City Council candidate, and despite the primary setback, says Norris, “We may not have won this election, but we certainly influenced the debate.”
Dr. Neal Kassell. Courtesy photo
17. Dr. Neal Kassell
UVA’s Focused Ultrasound Center, the flagship center of its kind in the U.S., has had a banner year. The use of magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound technology to treat tremors has moved from the research stage to becoming more commercialized for patient treatment. And we can thank Kassell, founder and chairman of the Focused Ultrasound Foundation, for placing our city in the neurological pioneering sphere.
Two months ago, the Clinical Research Forum named the center’s use of focused sound waves to treat essential tremor (the most common movement disorder) instead of requiring invasive incisions, as one of the top 10 clinical research achievements of 2016. And it can’t hurt to have someone as well-known as John Grisham in your corner. He wrote The Tumor, and the foundation, which works as a trusted third party between donors, doctors and research, distributed 800,000 copies.
Kassell is the author of more than 500 scientific papers and book chapters, and his research has been supported by more than $30 million in National Institutes of Health grants. In April 2016, he was named to the Blue Ribbon Panel of former vice president Joe Biden’s Cancer Moonshot Initiative.
18. Jody Kielbasa
Since Kielbasa came to town in 2009, he has continued to steer the Virginia Film Festival toward an ever-expanding arts presence in not only our community, but statewide as well. Last year’s festival featured more than 120 films and attracted big-name stars, including director Werner Herzog and Virginia’s own Shirley MacLaine. And Kielbasa expanded his own presence locally, as he was appointed UVA’s second vice provost for the arts in 2013, which places him squarely in the university’s arts fundraising initiatives. Last year there was talk of a group of arts sector powerhouses forming to lobby the city in an official capacity to gain more funding for local arts initiatives—no surprise that Kielbasa was among those mentioned.
Nikuyah Walker admits she doesn’t follow the rules very well.
Staff photo
In her run to sit on the other side of the City Council dais she’s often stood before, Nikuyah Walker won’t be touting Charlottesville as a world-class city. Instead, her theme of “unmasking the reality” acknowledges the duality of a town that draws the wealthy and well-educated, yet is unaffordable for many of its citizens, some of whom are on a “birth-to-prison pipeline.”
At her March 14 announcement at the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center, Walker said she’d been urged to run for City Council by the late and revered former vice-mayor Holly Edwards.
Walker, a social justice activist who works for Charlottesville Parks & Rec, is running as an independent, a tough route in the Dem-heavy city. “For me, being an independent sets a clear tone to the establishment of Charlottesville that we need to change things,” she said.
She called for transparency, accountability in how city funds are spent, affordable housing and changes in the resource-rich community where, for many African-Americans, “You are on the way to the prison system the day you are born,” she said. “That’s not the story we want to hear.”
Walker said she would not shy away from talking about race, and that her family had likely been in Charlottesville during the Civil War, when blacks were the majority. Now African-Americans make up 19 percent of the population. ”Where have they gone?” she asked.
She invoked Edwards again when she vowed to promote the mental and physical health of those who experienced “negative health outcomes due to poverty.”
Former mayor Dave Norris, who is a founder of Equity and Progress in Charlottesville, said Walker is a good candidate because “she’s a seasoned advocate. She knows how local government works.” He also pointed out that Walker, unlike the current councilors, is a native “with roots in the community that run deep.”
Two seats are open on City Council in November, and Councilor Kristin Szakos said she will not run again. Councilor Bob Fenwick has been collecting signatures, but has not announced his plans. If he runs, he’ll face two Democratic candidates—Heather Danforth Hill and Amy Laufer—in the June 13 primary.
Correction 9:09am to add Heather Hill’s full name.
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