Tag: norman dill

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In brief: Irruptive species, councilor liability, hazing incredulity and more

Clockwise from left: Siskin (Darren Swim). grosbeak (Dave Menke), red-breasted nuthatch (Wolfgang Wander) purple finch (dfaulder) from Wikimedia

New birds on the block

A red-breasted nuthatch in central Virginia? You gotta be kidding!

Turns out that an unusually large number of irruptive bird species—or species that normally breed in northern boreal forests and sometimes migrate south when their food supply runs out—are wintering in our neck of the woods this year, according to the Center for Urban Habitats. And you’d be doing yourself a favor by checking them out.

Ezra Staengl, a 15-year-old natural history writer and photographer at the organization who’s been watching closely, says there’s a pretty good chance you’ll see some of the boreal finches, such as purple finches and pine siskins, as well as red-breasted nuthatches.

And if you’d like to encourage a sighting, all three species will come to feeders with black-oil sunflower seeds—although the siskins have more of a taste for nyjer seeds, says Staengl. And the nuthatches can be found in almost any stand of pines.

Staengl has his sights set on spotting an evening grosbeak, which is possible, but would be even rarer because they’re much less common.

The same goes for other irruptive finches such as hoary redpolls, red- and white-winged crossbills, and pine grosbeaks—many of which moved south this winter, but not as far and in fewer numbers than the other species, he says.

The non-native finches will be visible until April, and maybe into May.

“Searching for irruptive finches is a great way to get outdoors and more in touch with the nature around you, as well as a way to learn more about how food fluctuations affect bird distribution,” adds Staengl, who is homeschooled in Nelson County, and has been birding for about six years. “Besides, no one can deny the adorableness of a red-breasted nuthatch or the beauty of an evening grosbeak.”

Quote of the week

“In 2017, 1,028 Virginians died of gun-related causes. That’s more deaths due to gun violence than the 956 Virginians who died due to vehicle accidents.”—Governor Ralph Northam in his State of the Commonwealth address January 9

In brief

Councilors liable

Judge Rick Moore ruled that the city councilors who voted to remove Confederate statues in 2017—Wes Bellamy, Bob Fenwick, Kathy Galvin, Mike Signer, and Kristin Szakos—are not protected by sovereign immunity and are individually liable for damages should the plaintiffs prevail in the lawsuit against the city, which contends that City Council violated state code when it voted to get rid of General Robert E. Lee.

Too studious

A judge rejected UVA’s motion to dismiss a suit filed by Sigma Lambda Upsilon January 8. The Latina sorority alleged its constitutional rights were violated when UVA suspended it for hazing in March 2018 because the student group requires pledges to study 25 hours a week. The suit names the Board of Visitors, including Rector Rusty Conner, and top administrative officials, including VP and Chief Student Affairs Officer Pat Lampkin.

Flamethrower fail

Corey Long, the man who was found guilty of disorderly conduct for pointing a makeshift flamethrower at a white supremacist on August 12, 2017, and who planned to challenge the conviction, has withdrawn his appeal. He’ll spend 10 weekend days in jail.

Corey Long (in red) outside court following his June 8 conviction. Eze Amos

Biggest bullies

A study by UVA’s Dewey Cornell and the University of Missouri finds higher rates of middle school bullying in areas that favored Donald Trump in the 2016 election. In spring 2017, students in pro-Trump regions reported 18 percent more bullying than those in areas Hillary Clinton carried, and 9 percent more teasing because of racial or ethnic background.

Once is enough

Norman Dill staff photo

Albemarle Supervisor Norman Dill, who was elected in 2015, will not seek another term on the board. At the supes’ first meeting of the year, they elected Ned Gallaway chair and Rick Randolph vice-chair.

Shutdown promo

Montpelier is offering free tours from January 14 to February 28 to federal employees and their families out of work because of the government shutdown. Bring your federal employee ID.

Homicide victim

Gerald Francis Jackson, 60, has been charged with second-degree murder in the January 10 slaying of 55-year-old Richard Wayne Edwards, who was found dead in his Cherry Street home.

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Pantops gets new rescue station—finally

Growth area Pantops, with its increased density and worsening traffic, has long needed a fire and rescue station, and one has been on the books maybe dating back to Thomas Jefferson, joked Albemarle Fire Rescue Chief Dan Eggleston at the official opening May 7 of Pantops Public Safety Station No. 16.

Certainly the station has been in the county’s comprehensive plan for more than two decades, but was stymied by the recession that slashed Albemarle’s capital spending for years. “This is a big day,” says Eggleston.

Albemarle Rescue Fire Chief Dan Eggleston welcomes a new facility in congested Pantops. Staff photo

As Pantops continued to grow, its demographics changed and 23 percent of its population is over 65, says Eggleston, while emergency response times for the area could be 10 minutes, “well above what we consider acceptable.” Indeed, nearby Westminster Canterbury provided refreshments for the station’s debut.

The $2.9 million facility was aided by Anne Worrell’s donation of land from Worrell Land and Development, saving the county “several million dollars in land acquisition costs,” says Supervisor Norman Dill, who represents the Rivanna District that includes Pantops.

Supervisor Norman Dill was on hand to cut Station No. 16’s ribbon. Staff photo

Another reason for the station is Pantops increased traffic woes. Dill notes 50,000 cars coming down U.S. 250 every day “and sometimes they crash into each other.”

Currently the facility offers only rescue services during the day, but Eggleston is eager to expand service to 24/7 fire and rescue.

 

 

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In brief: Bad prank, bad parking, bad practices and more

Staff photo

Meter’s not running

Crews are set to start ripping meters out of the ground this week after City Council voted at its January 2 meeting to indefinitely suspend the parking meter pilot that began on streets surrounding the Downtown Mall in September.

“It seemed pointless to try to convince the manufacturer to continue to loan us this equipment,” says parking manager Rick Siebert, who was initially hired to implement the program. “We obviously didn’t want to pay rent with no revenue coming in.”

With no reimplementation date in sight, Siebert says he’s disappointed that the city seems to have permanently pumped the brakes on the pilot, and he’ll continue to work toward a solution to Charlottesville’s well-documented parking problem.

“We had some issues with parking before that led to hiring Nelson\Nygaard to do the study, which led to the initiation of the meter pilot,” he says. “Those issues haven’t just evaporated.”

By the numbers

  • 28 meters
  • 13 pay stations
  • 71 days in service
  • $51,490 generated in revenue
  • $42,995 paid in rent
  • $20,000 for a 2016 parking meter pilot implementation plan by Nelson\Nygaard
  • $500,000 for startup funds allocated by City Council in 2016 for personnel and initial equipment costs, including a $73,000 salary for hiring a parking manager

“Voting is the civic sacrament of democracy.”—James Alcorn, chair of Virginia Board of Elections, before a random drawing to determine the winner of House District 94 and control of the House of Delegates

Not funny

A teen hoaxer who on social media advised Monticello High students to not go to school January 8 underneath a photo of guns was charged with a Class 5 felony for making threats to harm people on school property. The post alarmed other schools around the country with MHS initials, and at least one in Pennsylvania canceled classes.

Malpractice

Mark Hormuz Dean. Photo Albemarle County Police

Police arrested Mark Hormuz Dean, 50, a physician at the Albemarle Pain Management Associates Clinic, on January 5 for two counts of rape, two counts of object sexual penetration and one count of forcible sodomy, which he has allegedly committed on the job since 2011. Dean has worked in pain management in Charlottesville since 2003, and performed more than 10,000 interventional pain procedures, according to the clinic’s website.

 

 

It’s about time

At the January 4 Board of Supervisors meeting, Governor Terry McAuliffe signed a 99-year lease that gives Albemarle County control of the 1,200-acre Biscuit Run Park, which the state has owned since 2010 and agreed to help open to the public.

Town crier

Photo Eze Amos

Christopher Cantwell has filed a lawsuit against anti-racist activists Emily Gorcenski and Kristopher Goad, who accused the “Crying Nazi” of spraying them with a caustic substance at UVA on August 11. Cantwell’s complaint claims the activists “framed” him in the alleged attack by spraying themselves with mace.

 

 

 

 

New county leadership

File photo

While perhaps not as monumental as Charlottesville’s election of its first African-American female mayor, Albemarle County’s Board of Supervisors has also picked new leaders. Ann Mallek has been named chair for the fifth nonconsecutive year and Norman Dill will serve as vice chair.

 

 

 

Trial date set

A three-week jury trial is scheduled to begin November 26 for James Alex Fields, the man who plowed his car into a crowd of counterprotesters on August 12. Fields is charged with first-degree murder, five counts of malicious wounding, three counts of aggravated malicious wounding and failing to stop at the scene of a crash.

 

 

 

Another missing person found dead

Three days after missing woman Molly Meghan Miller was found dead in her home on January 1, police found Arthur Mills, the Fluvanna County man who was reported missing January 3, dead on the side of Oliver Creek Road. His cause of death is unknown.

 

Downtown loses some sparkle

Submitted photo

Frances Gibson Loose, longtime owner of Tuel Jewelers, died January 5 at age 86. For 65 years, she showed up for work, always professionally dressed, until about a week before she passed away.

When Loose bought the store in 1975, she was the only female business owner downtown, and according to her daughter, Mary Loose DeViney, she told another woman in a male-dominated field, “I’m going to do it my way and you will, too.”

She was a member of the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce, which named her Small Business Person of the Year in 2009.

Loose was well-known and well-liked and was often called “Mom” by her many friends, says DeViney. “She extended credit to people that others wouldn’t have—and they paid her. She just believed in people.”

People from all walks of life came to the store just to talk to Loose. “I’ve got to talk to Momma,” DeViney heard regularly. “I shared my mom with all kinds of people.”

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Ready to regulate: Albemarle eyes homestays

Carolyn McGee, president of StayVA and owner of The Inn at 400 West High in the city, says all homestays should be held to the same standards. Photo by Eze Amos

In Albemarle County, about a third of the homestays are flying under the radar. At a May 3 Board of Supervisors work session on the topic, county staff said something must be done to regulate them.

The county has received 60 applications since 2004, and of those, 27 have been approved, according to Rebecca Ragsdale, the senior permit planner in the county’s Community Development department. Take a look at Airbnb, and more than 100 options in the county are listed.

“A fair number of applications came in just recently and are still under review or were denied because smoke detectors were not up to date,” she says, and adds that applications are not approved until building code, fire marshal and health department requirements are satisfied.

Currently, homestay operators in the rural and development area may rent up to five rooms inside a single-family detached home with an owner or manager also occupying the home. In the rural area, residents can rent up to five rooms in an additional structure.

Ragsdale says the county is concerned for a number of reasons and as some supervisors pointed out at the work session, it’s an issue that should be addressed now before the gap between those in compliance and those operating illegally widens.

“Fairness [and] equity issues have been raised in terms of taxation,” she says. “If these homestays are not licensed, there has been no verification that basic safety requirements are met.” This includes up-to-code smoke detectors, fire extinguishers, carbon monoxide detectors and compliance with health department requirements.

Carolyn McGee, president of StayVA and owner of The Inn at 400 West High in the city, says unregulated homestay owners should be required to follow even the smallest regulations.

“If you’re going to serve alcohol, you can’t just leave a bottle of wine with a bow on it. You have to have an ABC license,” she says. “As a B&B owner, that’s what we have to do.”

In the last General Assembly session, a bill was passed to give localities the autonomy to regulate their own homestays, though many already do.

Numerous industry professionals and StayVA members sat in the gallery while the bill was signed, she says. “We’re happy with it.”

At the work session, Supervisor Norman Dill suggested the county define a minimum for what counts as a business. “You’re allowed to have a yard sale without having a business license,” he says, and plenty of people rent out their houses for UVA’s graduation weekend. Do they technically need a business license, he asked. “Why encourage people to break the law because it’s difficult to comply?”

Dick Cabell owns The Inn at Sugar Hollow Farm, one of approximately 20 full-time bed and breakfasts in the city and county, all of which have business licenses and collect and remit transient occupancy taxes.

“As a B&B owner, I don’t want to be vindictive about this because we chose to go the route we did and we have benefited from it and we think we have provided some benefit as part of the team,” he says. “This Airbnb thing is a whole different concept and now the county is in a quandary.”

But Cabell says the playing field should be leveled so he can continue to compete with the unregulated homestays.

“Our business has gone down in the last three years, but not in a way that we’re going to go out of business,” Cabell says. “I just can’t donate as much to my grandkids’ college funds. I can’t take my trip to Jamaica because my income as gone down. The guy next door to me who’s renting his house out and not telling anyone—he’s going to Jamaica.”

The BOS will have a public hearing June 14 to discuss regulating homestays.

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In brief: ‘Jihadist Threat,’ local government responsiveness and more

Neighborhoods voice their concerns in a Smart Cville survey. Courtesy of Smart Cville

Chief of economic development splits

While Albemarle County is all about economic development these days, Faith McClintic lasted 19 months before departing, and cited frustration working with the Board of Supervisors as one reason for taking a job with the Virginia Economic Development Partnership in Richmond, according to Charlottesville Tomorrow.

Not Republican enough?

Downtown Business Association of Charlottesville co-chair George Benford faces fire again, this time from state Senator Tom Garrett, the GOP candidate for the 5th District, for being featured as a lifelong Republican in an ad for Dem Jane Dittmar. Garrett says Benford has contributed to Democrats the past 15 years. Benford defends his GOPness and says he supports Donald Trump—and Dittmar, the Daily Progress reports.

Understanding the Greene County threat

Sheriff Steve Smith stepped into hot water when he posted that his office would host a November 5 seminar on Islam called Understanding the Threat. Critics were unappeased when he renamed it Understanding the Jihadist Threat, and they claimed it would be biased, especially after learning there are no Muslims on the panel. PVCC, where the event is being held, has joined in the outrage.

The talk of the town

Charlottesville’s open data cheerleader, Smart Cville, founded by resident Lucas Ames, surveyed representatives of 16 local neighborhoods about residents’ biggest concerns and the rate of responsiveness of local government to those issues.

According to Smart Cville’s findings, traffic, development/zoning, crime and pedestrian/biking issues top residents’ list of concerns.

Which public problems seem the most pressing based on association meetings, public comment and your own personal opinion?

Ranked in order, residents are also concerned about:

  • Parks/public spaces
  • Other
  • Parking
  • Gentrification
  • Education, affordable housing and environmental/sustainability
  • Economic equity
  • Economic development, beautification and public transportation

Participating neighborhoods

  • Rose Hill
  • Johnson Village
  • Venable
  • Greenbrier
  • Lewis Mountain
  • Little High
  • Woolen Mills
  • Starr Hill
  • Belmont-Carlton
  • Ridge Street
  • North Downtown
  • Burnet Commons
  • Fry’s Spring
  • Robinson Woods
  • Meadows
  • Martha Jefferson

City staff is responsive to problems

Agree—70%

Disagree—25%

Don’t know—5%

City Council is responsive to problems

Agree—45%

Disagree—40%

Don’t know—15%

Quote of the week:

“People going to court aren’t necessarily in  a shopping or movie-going mode.” —Supervisor Norman Dill on Albemarle’s discussions to move its courts from downtown to spur economic development, Charlottesville Tomorrow reports.