Tag: Tony Bennett

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Hoops springs eternal

Head Coach Tony Bennett enters his 13th year with the men’s basketball program. Since 2013, his teams have won five ACC regular season titles, two ACC tournament titles, and a national championship. Photo: Matt Riley / UVA Athletics

Buddy Boeheim goes to the line. Virginia leads Syracuse by two, 29 seconds on the clock. Boeheim makes the first free throw. He makes the second. 69-69. A few seconds later, down at the other end of the court, UVA’s trusted floor marshal Kihei Clark pokes his way into the paint, and whips a pass out to freshman Reece Beekman. Beekman hasn’t made a shot all day. He’s zero for five. But now, with time running out, he’s only got one option: He drains the three as the buzzer sounds. 

Beekman sprints down the court, his teammates chasing him and jumping for joy. The UVA men are headed to the quarterfinals of the 2021 ACC men’s basketball tournament.

Or so they thought. As soon as the celebration ended, news broke that someone on UVA’s team tested positive for COVID. The Cavaliers were disqualified from the conference tournament and, a week before the NCAA tournament, were sent back to Charlottesville, where they weren’t allowed to leave their apartments or dorms, and were unable to practice. 

The disruption doubtless contributed to the upset that followed: The Hoos secured a 4 seed in the tournament, but fell 62-58 to 13-seed Ohio in the first round. It was an unceremonious end to the Cavaliers’ impressive season, going 18-7 overall and 13-4 in the ACC, winning another ACC regular season championship. 

In the offseason, the bad news piled up. The program lost three players to the transfer portal, freshman Jabri Abdur-Rahim and sophomores Casey Morsell and Justin McKoy. Trey Murphy III, Sam Hauser, and Jay Huff headed to the NBA, leaving Tony Bennett with a bare roster.

But, not for long. In addition to four-star recruit Taine Murray of New Zealand, the Hoos landed two big transfers: Jayden Gardner and Armaan Franklin. 

Gardner, the 6-foot-6, 246-pound senior forward from East Carolina University, averaged 18.3 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 35.2 minutes per game in 2020-2021. He also shot 47.9 percent from the field, 50 percent from beyond the arc, and 73.7 percent from the line. He was named to the American Athletic Conference first team and the National Association of Basketball Coaches District 24 first team. On a team that doesn’t return a single double-digit scorer from last year, Gardner will be expected to carry a lot of the offensive load.

Franklin, the 6-foot-4, 204-pound junior guard from Indiana University, averaged 11.4 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 2.1 assists per game in the 2020-2021 season. Further, he shot 42.9 percent from the field, 42.4 percent from beyond the arc, and 74.1 percent from the line. If Franklin doesn’t start to begin the season, expect him to come off the bench pretty quickly.

The team still has three veterans from the 2018-2019 championship team, all returning for their fourth year and likely to make an impact. The diminutive Kihei Clark is the team’s elder statesman, entering his senior year as a regular starter. Last year Clark averaged 9.5 points, 2.0 rebounds, and 4.5 assists per game. He made the All-ACC third team in 2019 and was an honorable mention in 2020.

The team’s other veterans haven’t played as much thus far in their careers. Kody Stattmann, the 6-foot-8, 200-pound guard started 10 out of 24 games his sophomore season but only played four games in the 2020-2021 season due to a non-COVID-19 related cardiac issue. In those four games, Stattmann shot 58.3 percent from the field and averaged 3.5 points and 1.8 rebounds per game. 

Francisco Caffaro, the 7-foot-1, 242- pound redshirt junior (and an Olympian with Argentina this summer) is ready to take the reins at center. He’ll have big shoes to fill—literally—with the departure of Huff. Caffaro played less than seven minutes per game across just 17 appearances last year.  

Another notable returning player is Kadin Shedrick. Shedrick didn’t see much of the floor in 2020, but the 6-foot-11, 231-pound forward had an impressive showing in the Pepsi Blue-White Scrimmage in October. He also scored a career-high 12 points and pulled down a career-best eight rebounds versus St. Francis last December. Expect Shedrick to start.

UVA’s disqualification from the ACC tournament and disappointing finish in the NCAA tournament left a bad taste in the mouths of Wahoo faithful, but this year, the Cavaliers are ready to compete and win. They open the season ranked 25th in the AP poll. We all know what happens when UVA plays with something to prove.

A UVA women’s basketball team full of fresh faces will look to veterans like graduate student guard Amandine Toi for leadership. Photo: Matt Riley / UVA Athletics

The 2020-21 season didn’t go great for the UVA women’s basketball team. In fact, it barely went at all. The team was hit hard by injuries and COVID complications. After just a few games, Head Coach Tina Thompson was down to six eligible players, and the program decided to call off the season entirely after an 0-5 start. Heading in to 2021, there’s nowhere to go but up. 

Thompson, a WNBA hall of famer from her playing days, enters her fourth year in charge of the Cavaliers, without a winning season under her belt, and she’ll have a roster full of fresh faces to work with. Virginia landed five transfers this offseason: Eleah Parker, McKenna Dale, Camryn Taylor, Taylor Valladay, and London Clarkson. 

Parker is a graduate transfer from the University of Pennsylvania and two-time Ivy League defensive player of the year. The 6-foot-4 forward averaged a .485 field goal percentage, 8.4 rebounds per game, and had a total of 233 blocks over three seasons at Penn. 

Dale is another graduate transfer from the Ivy League. In her 2019-2020 season at Brown (the Ivy League conference opted out of competing during 2020-2021 due to COVID), the 6-foot guard ranked third in conference for points per game (17.0), second in three-point percentage (.385), and first in free throw percentage (.851).

UVA also added two transfers from Marquette, a team that went 19-7 last year before losing to No. 1-ranked UConn in the Big East tournament final. Taylor, a 6-foot-2 junior forward, averaged 12 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 1.7 assists per game during her 2020-2021 season at Marquette. She was named to the 2019-2020 Big East all-freshman team and was a 2020-2021 All-Big East honorable mention. Valladay is a junior guard who averaged 5.2 points and 1.8 assists per game for the Golden Eagles last year.

Virginia’s last transfer is Clarkson, a 6-foot-2 junior forward from Florida State. During her 2019-2020 season at FSU, Clarkson averaged 1.2 points and 1.4 rebounds, and shot 43.8 percent from the floor in an average of 7.5 minutes per game. Clarkson transferred to UVA last winter and received eligibility waivers from the ACC and NCAA, but the season was canceled before she had a chance to play. 

Key returning players include Amandine Toi, a graduate guard who played in all 30 games of the 2019-2020 season. She shot 32.1 percent from beyond the arc that year, and averaged 4.3 points and 1 rebound per game. And she started hot in the abandoned 2020 season, hitting five threes in a career-best 23-point performance against Clemson. She toppled previous personal records in the five games of the 2020-2021 season, setting a career record of 23 points against Clemson, including five three-pointers. 

“We have a full roster, so that is like ‘woo-hoo!’” Thompson said in a press conference at the ACC media day earlier this month. “That’s a blessing in itself.” Thompson said she’s looking forward to this season’s depth and versatility, something she says is a luxury she hasn’t experienced at UVA yet.

Thompson’s offseason recruiting didn’t end with the transfer portal. She also recruited two-time NBA champion and former NBA assistant coach James Posey to her staff. 

“Coach Posey is what we call a purist,” Thompson said in a press release. “He loves all aspects of the game and has played it at the highest level. He brings a championship mentality, a wealth of knowledge, and a teaching spirit, with development being his specialty and passion.”

Posey worked as an assistant coach for the Cleveland Cavaliers from 2014-2019 and has held various coaching positions around the league since. He won NBA championships with the Miami Heat in 2006 and the Boston Celtics in 2008. 

With a reshaped roster and revamped staff, the Cavaliers are sure to improve on last year’s showing. After all, they really couldn’t be worse. 

First week action

Men

vs. Navy,
Tuesday, November 9, 9pm

vs. Radford,
Friday, November 12, 7pm

Women 

@ James Madison,
Tuesday, November 9, 7pm

vs. USC,
Sunday, November 14, 1pm 

Faces in the crowd

After playing last season in front of a tightly monitored friends-and-family-only crowd, this year’s UVA teams will have the support of a full John Paul Jones Arena behind them. All fans must show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test to enter the building, and masks are required. 

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In brief: One year ago today…

Top doc Anthony Fauci speaks at the White House in April.

It’s been a year since the COVID-19 pandemic upended our lives. And how far we’ve come—this time last year, we thought “flattening the curve” would take two weeks, and the medical advice of the moment was “don’t touch your face.”  

A year later, toilet paper is no longer the hottest commodity on the market, but students continue to learn online, working from home is the new normal for many, and attending a large, in-person event is still incomprehensible. Since Governor Ralph Northam’s state of emergency declaration last year, half a million Virginians have contracted the disease and more than 9,500 have died.

In the timeline on the right, we look back at the earliest days of the coronavirus pandemic, and how it unfolded in Charlottesville and around the country.—Emily Hamilton

March 10, 2020 

  • The U.S. records 270 new COVID cases. President Trump says “Stay calm and it will go away.”
  • The Virginia Festival of the Book is canceled.

March 11, 2020 

  • The World Health Organization officially declares COVID-19 a pandemic—a catalyst that set off many subsequent closures.
  • UVA moves classes online for the
    “foreseeable future.”
  • Tom Hanks announces that he has COVID-19, making him one of the first public figures to contract the virus.  
  • The NBA suspends the rest of its season after Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert tests positive.
  • Albemarle County Public Schools suspend school-related travel outside the county for students and staff, along with travel inside the county to events with more than 100 people.
Tom Hanks was one of the first high-profile people to contract the disease. Photo: Tom Bauld

March 12, 2020 

  • Governor Northam declares a state of emergency in Virginia.
  • The City of Charlottesville and Albemarle County issue declarations of local emergency soon after Northam’s declaration, allowing the localities to access emergency reserve resources to mitigate the spread of the virus.
  • The Charlottesville Ten Miler is canceled, for the first time since it began in the 1970s.
  • The NCAA men’s basketball tournament is canceled.

March 13, 2020 

  • Northam orders Virginia’s K-12 schools to close for at least two weeks.

March 14, 2020 

  • The first COVID-19-related death in Virginia is recorded. The state registers a total of 45 virus cases.

March 15, 2020 

  • Northam bans gatherings of more than 100 people in Virginia.

March 16, 2020 

  • The first UVA employee tests positive for COVID-19, also marking the first case of the virus in the wider Charlottesville area.

March 17, 2020 

  • Northam gives local law enforcement the power to enforce a new limit of 10 people in restaurants, fitness centers, and theaters.
  • UVA cancels Final Exercises for the Class of 2020.

March 23, 2020 

  • Northam orders Virginia schools to close for the rest of the year, along with certain non-essential businesses.
  • Trump downplays the severity of the virus as states begin to dole out their own stay-at-home orders, stating that “Our country wasn’t built to be shut down.”

In brief

Hopeless Hamilton

Charlottesville and Albemarle’s 57th House of Delegates district is, at a low estimate, 85 percent Democrats. But don’t tell that to Philip Andrew Hamilton, Fairfax native and AT&T employee who has announced that he’s running for the district as a Republican. Hamilton is anti-mask and pro-Confederate statue; he invited Richmond pro-Trump agitator Mike Dickinson to speak at his campaign kickoff on Sunday. After Hamilton’s announcement, sitting Delegate Sally Hudson tweeted “The contrast between us could not be more stark.” 

Students return to city schools

After an entire year away from the classroom, around 2,100 preschoolers through sixth graders in the city school system started in-person classes on Monday. Students must have their temperatures checked, wear masks, and practice social distancing, among other safety measures. Due to a bus driver shortage and rider limits, many students have no choice but to walk or bike to school, reports The Daily Progress. Parents and local nonprofits have stepped up to help supervise students or provide transportation, but remain concerned about safety. In the coming weeks, the division is expected to hire more drivers and add more routes.

Attack of the NIMBYs 

A proposed development that would have brought 370 new apartments to Albemarle County—with 75 percent designated as affordable housing—was deferred by the county planning commission last week. A well-organized group of residents from the nearby affluent Forest Lakes community spoke against the project. They’re in favor of affordable housing, they say—just don’t build it anywhere near them.

Quote of the week: 

“We’ll put a mask on the ACC trophy for sure.” –UVA men’s hoops coach Tony Bennett, after winning the conference in a COVID-altered season

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Street smarts: City committee revamps honorary street name policy

In June, two blocks of 16th Street in Washington, D.C., were renamed Black Lives Matter Plaza. PC: Wikipedia User BDWARD3

Want to take a walk down Black History Pathway? Or maybe Waneeshee Way? Or even Tony Bennett Drive? Soon, you might be able to. These are among the honorary street names that area residents have submitted to the city in recent months.

After debating the issue late into the night during several meetings, Charlottesville City Council decided in September to send nearly a dozen honorary street name proposals to the Historic Resources Committee, seeking guidance on the evaluation process.

During its November 13 virtual meeting, the committee decided to completely revamp the honorary street naming policy before tackling the applications.

Until recently, the city rarely received new street name proposals. But around the country, people and governments have sought to commemorate the year’s events by redesignating their physical environment. In Washington, D.C., for example, two blocks of 16th Street were transformed into Black Lives Matter Plaza, with huge yellow letters painted on the pavement.

Charlottesville currently has a dozen honorary street names. Recent designations include Heather Heyer Way, honoring the victim of the 2017 white supremacist attack, and Winneba Way, named for our sister city in Ghana.

“Up until now this process has been very ad hoc,” said committee member Phil Varner. “We’re really trying to nail down [how] exactly should we do this…what exactly are the policy criteria, and what does the application actually look like for it [and] mean?”

Under the current policy, proposals are limited to individuals, organizations, entities, events, or something of local significance. While the committee agreed to keep these broad categories, it suggested that some honorary streets could be temporary, while others could be permanent, depending on the will of the nominator.

“Especially in a small city like this, [rotating] can be beneficial if there are this many people that should be honored,” said member Sally Duncan.

Committee member Jalane Schmidt expressed concern over the sunset period, and how it may lead to individuals “who’ve been excluded from conventional historical narratives” to only be recognized for a few years, while many city streets have had the names of racists for over a century.

After member Dede Smith pointed out that the city’s current honorary markers offer no information about who or what they’re named after, committee chair Rachel Lloyd suggested the creation of a website with a detailed history about each street name, as well as including them on the updated historic walking tour.

Smith also stressed the importance of street names being near the geographic location of the person or thing they are honoring. For instance, a portion of Avon Street is currently named after the late Franklin Delano Gibson, a celebrated philanthropist who owned a grocery store on the street for more than 40 years.

That won’t always be possible, though. “Because one of the reasons we’re doing this is out of equity concerns, there may be people who aren’t permanently associated with a distinct geography,” said co-chair Genevieve Keller. “We would need to memorialize and honor them anyway [and] find the most appropriate place.”

While some preferred that the street proposals be submitted by city residents, people who live on the street, or family members of the individual being honored, the committee decided to leave the applications open to anyone in the larger Charlottesville area.

However, a public notice will be sent to residents living on the streets with name proposals, so they can provide input on the decision.

The committee also decided to scrap the 500-word essay on the current application, and replace it with a series of short, direct questions about the street proposal.

After deciding on the policy changes, the committee briefly discussed the applications submitted to the city over the summer. Several seek to honor notable Black figures, like activist Wyatt Johnson and enslaved laborer Henry Martin, and historical events, like the razing of Vinegar Hill, while other proposals cover a variety of categories, including two in honor of UVA men’s basketball coach Tony Bennett.

In September, before turning to the HRC, City Council approved two of the original 13 applications. One renames a section of Grady Avenue after the late Reverend C.H. Brown, who built 12th Street’s Holy Temple Church of God In Christ in 1947. Behind the church, Brown also constructed several homes, helping the area to become a thriving Black neighborhood.

The other approved request honors the ongoing movement against police violence and systemic racism, recognizing Market Street between First Street Northeast and Ninth Street Northeast as Black Lives Matter Boulevard. It was proposed by community activist Don Gathers.

At its next meeting, the committee will officially vote on the naming policy changes, and decide which of the remaining 11 applications it should recommend for council’s approval, using the newly established guidelines.

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In brief: Bob’s not so good, COVID’s on the rise, and more

PC: Bob Good for Congress

Tossing it around

Bob Good, the 5th Congressional District’s Republican candidate, released a bizarre campaign advertisement this week. In the spot, Good draws on his experience as a wrestling coach—everyone’s favorite kind of authority figure—and shows how he’ll “put liberal ideas in a headlock.” As Good grapples on the mat with his son, the candidate periodically looks up from the tangle of arms and legs to deliver a zinger such as “Government-run health care? I’ll pin that idea.”

Meanwhile, election forecasters at the Cook Political Report are now rating the race a toss-up, something formerly unthinkable in a district Donald Trump won by 11 points in 2016. On Twitter, Cook’s Dave Wasserman called Cameron Webb “perhaps the Dems’ best House candidate anywhere in the country…Webb is a young, telegenic Black doctor w/deep ties in both Charlottesville & Southside.” 

Proof positive

Sticky notes in the window of Echols dorm show how students are feeling about quarantine. PC: Julia Hyde

Despite evidence from colleges around the country that inviting students back to campus would lead to coronavirus outbreaks in on-campus housing, UVA’s administration made the decision to bring first-year students back to Grounds. Now, less than three weeks later, there are outbreaks in several dorms.

Last Wednesday, the school announced at least five cases of COVID-19 were found in the wastewater of the Balz-Dobie freshman residence hall. The dorm immediately went into lockdown and all residents were tested Wednesday evening. The tests turned up 15 cases of COVID-19 in a dorm of 188 students, says the university. Students who tested positive have been placed in isolation housing and their close contacts (such as roommates) have been placed in quarantine housing.

Thursday evening, residents of the Lefevre dorm were instructed to undergo mandatory asymptomatic testing after wastewater tests indicated possible infections there, too. That dorm turned up three more positive cases. Then on Friday, the Echols and Kellogg dorms underwent the same routine, and 17 additional cases were confirmed.

“All students with positive tests are doing well,” says UVA in an official statement.

As of Friday, 19 percent of the university’s quarantine rooms were occupied by students and 1 percent of isolation rooms were occupied. Quarantine rooms are for those who have been exposed to COVID-19 and isolation rooms are for students who have tested positive for COVID-19. The school’s coronavirus tracker shows 241 active cases as of Tuesday morning, including students, staff, faculty, and contracted workers.—Amelia Delphos

_________________

Quote of the week

“The issue is that y’all don’t have your facts together. You’re trying to cite me for a [Black Youth Action Committee] event, claiming that it took place in Washington Park and it didn’t.”

—community organizer Zyahna Bryant on the $500 fine the BYAC received for hosting Black Joy Fest, criticizing City Council for not being consistent with enforcing the ban on large gatherings

__________________

In brief

The lost art

Seven paintings by Charlottesville artist Megan Read, worth a total of $12,000, have gone missing. They weren’t stolen in a dramatic art heist, though: FedEx lost track of the packages, which were en route to a gallery in Denver. Read has tried to track the paintings down, and says she thinks they’re stuck in a shipping center in Kernersville, North Carolina, but she hasn’t been able to find anyone who can help her. 

Sign of the times

A blunt sign on the door of one of UVA’s historic Lawn rooms has caught the attention of some of the university’s more traditionally minded alumni. “FUCK UVA,” it says, before reminding passersby of the school’s history of slavery and other crimes. The sign prompted Bert Ellis, class of ’75 and CEO of Atlanta’s Ellis Capital, to drive to town and indignantly knock on the Lawn room door, where, according to his own Facebook post, he was given an eye-opening history lesson from the student who lives there.

Name game

After debating the issue late into the night during multiple recent meetings—and getting nowhere—City Council decided on Monday to send proposals for honorary street names to the city’s Historic Resources Committee. Several proposals would honor local Black figures, including activist Wyatt Johnson and enslaved laborer William Henry Martin, while two others suggest honoring UVA men’s basketball coach Tony Bennett.

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In brief: City v. civilians, Bennett declines, memorial stomper, and more

Police Chief RaShall Brackney held a press conference in March to discuss producing arrest records in an attempt to prove transparency at the department. Eze Amos

City blasts Police Civilian Review Board

A couple days after C-VILLE opinion columnist Molly Conger wrote about the importance of the still-developing but much-scrutinized Police Civilian Review Board, the board found itself the subject of another controversy.

The CRB has been working for nine months to create bylaws to establish a permanent board that will process complaints against the cops. In an April 23 story on its most recent meeting, the Daily Progress detailed a “breaking point” between the board and Police Chief RaShall Brackney, alleging that Brackney would not schedule a public meeting with CRB members.

Then the city sent out an unusual, unsigned press release refuting those claims, and accusing a CRB member of “inaccurately characteriz[ing]” emails between Brackney and the board, specifically that the chief “refused to meet or was not available for the entire month of June.”

“I am that board member, and I said no such thing,” says Josh Bowers, who adds that he couldn’t have mischaracterized the messages at the meeting, because he was reading them verbatim.

Bowers also denies saying Brackney refused to meet, though he did say it has been difficult to schedule meetings with her.

“No city official was at our last board meeting, so I’m not sure where the city got its information,” he says. “It is quite clear to me that those responsible for this press release failed to do their homework.”

Conger tweeted that it was a “deeply concerning development,” and it seemed “wildly inappropriate” for the city to issue such a “scathing” press release without any representatives at the CRB meeting.

The city also said in its release that the terms of the current board members would not be extended this summer, when a new board is supposed to be selected.

“This could be a death knell for the nascent civilian review board,” Conger wrote. “The only conclusion I can draw from this is that the city wants to smother the infant board in its crib.”

Linh Vinh, a member of the People’s Coalition that teamed up with the CRB to draft bylaws, says Brackney has been “superficially flexible” with her meeting schedule.

When the CRB expressed interest in creating a memorandum of understanding with the chief, which would focus on access to department data and files, she appeared interested in the collaborative process and asked Bowers to send her the draft.

“He sends it to her, and all of a sudden her availability is all booked up,” says Vinh. When Bowers asked if there were any dates outside of the suggested period that she could meet, says Vinh, “No response.”

Quote of the week

“I’m hoping a few more Democrats jump into the race for the White House. If the total hits 31, the party can open a Baskin-Robbins and name a flavor for each candidate.” —UVA Center for Politics director Larry Sabato in an April 24 tweet.

In brief

Confederates score

Two years into the Monument Fund lawsuit against the city, Judge Rick Moore ruled that the statues of Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson, which City Council unanimously voted to remove after August 12, are war memorials and protected by state code. Still to be decided: whether councilors have immunity and what issues the defendants can have decided in a jury trial.

Heyer memorial stomped

Over the weekend, a white supremacist in a purple T-shirt, cuffed jeans, and black boots posted a video to Instagram where he kicked over flowers at the longstanding memorial to Heather Heyer on Fourth Street. Activists have identified him as Dustin Dudley of Salem, and while police did not confirm his identity, they said the event is under investigation, and anyone with information should contact the police department.

Otherwise engaged

photo Matt Riley

UVA men’s basketball Coach Tony Bennett announced he’s received inquiries about the national champs visiting the White House, and with some of the team pursuing pro opportunities or moving on from the university, it would be “difficult if not impossible” to reunite the team. “We would have to respectfully decline an invitation.”

Rescue squad beef

The Board of Supervisors recently voted to dissolve the 45-year-old Scottsville Volunteer Rescue Squad because of a reported struggle to retain volunteers. But when the squad moved to donate its land to a nonprofit, the county wasn’t having it: On April 18, Albemarle officials filed a petition for a temporary injunction and requested an emergency order to prevent it from transferring its assets.

New job

Denise Johnson will take on the role of supervisor of equity and inclusion in Charlottesville City Schools, a job created this year. Serving as the current executive director of City of Promise and a former school counselor, Johnson is a Charlottesville native and graduate of city schools.

$2 million bill

That’s what Kim Jong Un wants the United States to pay for the hospital care of UVA student Otto Warmbier, whom North Korean officials released from their country in a coma before he died. Korean government officials say President Donald Trump pledged to pay the bill before Warmbier’s release—but Trump says he didn’t and he’s not going to.

All eyes on Biden

Joe Biden is getting some local heat for his Charlottesville-focused presidential campaign announcement.

From the moment rumors began to swirl that former vice president Joe Biden might announce his 2020 presidential run in Charlottesville, one thing became clear: Local activists did not want him here.

Biden ultimately decided to announce via video—UVA professor Siva Vaidhyanathan said “we stared him down” on Twitter—but the first word out of his mouth in that official campaign video was “Charlottesville.”

To no surprise, this prompted several local opinions, with many calling for Biden to donate to the Charlottesville Community Resilience Fund for August 12 victims, while former mayor Mike Signer joined the pro-Biden camp.

Tweeted Reverend Seth Wispelwey, “For how much #Charlottesville (and our traumatic footage) seems to be motivating and framing @JoeBiden’s candidacy, one might think we would’ve received a call or visit in the past 20 months.”

City Council candidate Michael Payne asked, “Will Biden show up for public housing in Charlottesville?…For the Black Student Union? For police accountability?”

Councilor Wes Bellamy said there’s no real way to get around the city being in the spotlight. “[I’d] much rather it be discussed and [have] national figures like the president talk about how they’re going to deal w/it.”

We won’t hold our breath.

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At long last: A Virginia fan looks back on 25 seasons

Kyle Guy celebrates as the buzzer sounded on Virginia's win during the NCAA Championship Game. Photo: Jerry Holt

 

By Charlie Sallwasser

It’s 1am on Tuesday, and Virginia basketball has just won the national championship. I can’t believe it. As a 10-year-old, I used to pretend to be Virginia forward Cornel Parker when I was shooting hoops in my driveway, lining up the game-winner in the national championship game. I made countless elbow threes to secure the title for the Hoos, but driveway fantasy is a long way from hardwood reality. I’m giddy. What a night. What a team.

I cried happy tears tonight. I knew they were coming. I’m a crier anyway (weddings and father-son scenes in movies are my usual pitfalls), and I cried two Saturdays ago when Kihei Clark hit the free throws to cap the miracle comeback against Purdue, clinching the program’s first Final Four appearance since 1984, when I was a year old. On one hand, it’s just sports, but on the other, fanhood of this team is a common thread between my family, many of my friends, and the city I live in. It’s taken me from that 10-year-old shooting hoops in his driveway to a 36-year-old shooting hoops in his driveway with his 6-year-old. Following this team has covered most of my life. 

I never wore the honors of Honor. My attitude toward high school academics was a little too cavalier for me to be a Cavalier, but both of my parents and my older sister were, and my youth was marked by trips to Charlottesville for football games and having basketball games on TV all winter. It didn’t take much exposure to any of it before I was sneaking my throwback Ralph Sampson jersey to school for picture day and spending long hours in my driveway trying to adopt Curtis Staples’ lightning-quick release for my jump shot (update: it didn’t take).

UVA and NBA superstar Ralph Sampson celebrates Virginia’s first national title. Photo: Matt Riley

When I was in high school, my parents and I would talk to my grandparents every Friday. The Hoos would always come up, and my grandfather would ask me what I thought of specific players or games. He’d oblige my youthful optimism and punctuate it with his trademark “very good,” regardless of how seriously he actually took my analysis.

Virginia’s sports teams have been a steady undercurrent in my relationship with my own father. He’s not one for idle conversation, but I started calling him during every Virginia game I watched when I went away to college, no matter where I happened to be at the time (or how sober). Those calls pinballed from the state of Todd Billet’s jumper to little minutiae of our day-to-day lives, and have kept us much closer than we would have been otherwise. I don’t know how much paternal wisdom I would have missed out on if I didn’t need to chat with my dad about an otherwise inconsequential matinée basketball game. As an adult now with two children of my own, I don’t even get to watch every game these days, much less break them down afterward, but those calls still happen often. I’d be sad if they didn’t. 

Now, I share that fanhood with my son. He wears a Kyle Guy jersey every day it’s clean (or he can sneak it out of the house), and when a game runs too late, we watch highlights together the next morning before school. I got to link arms with him on Saturday night when his favorite player lined up the winning free throws, and then hear him breathlessly recap it for my parents on the phone. I didn’t wake him up tonight (though I wish I had), but I can’t wait to sit down after dinner sometime this week, watch it with him, and celebrate all over again.

That’s what it’s about, really. Moments. The linked arms with the boy. Coining a recurring “never a doubt!” with my Dad after having plenty of doubts against Gardner-Webb, Purdue, and Auburn. The joyful, teary (and beery) celebration with my friend Will after Clark’s free throws. FaceTimes, calls, and texts with friends and family near and far tonight. The basketball’s been plenty memorable this March, but the moments have counted for a lot, too.

Hoos fans at Boylan Heights on March 30, when Virginia defeated Purdue 80-75 in overtime. Photo: Martin Kyle

For most of my life, merely seeing Virginia selected to the NCAA Tournament was a thrill. The program made just five appearances in the Big Dance from 1993-94 (the first season I can remember start to finish) to Tony Bennett’s 2009 hiring, and in four of those five appearances, they failed to emerge from the event’s first weekend. Success in that span was judged by the team winning more ACC games than they lost, rather than by any postseason benchmark, but even that modest feat only occurred four times during those 16 seasons.

There were plenty of highs, but they manifested as short bursts of excitement, like upsets of North Carolina or Duke in front of rowdy crowds at University Hall or John Paul Jones Arena, or as superlative individual performances from the likes of Staples, Travis Watson, or Sean Singletary. You could never count on any prolonged success.

More frequent were the lows, groaners like Dave Leitao locking the team out of their brand-new arena for what he felt was subpar effort, scoring three baskets in a half during a loss to Florida State, or losing by 45 to North Carolina in Chapel Hill. In the 10 seasons before Bennett was hired, the team won just 68 of 160 ACC games and played in the NIT five times. It was hard to imagine the Cavs making the jump; the Final Four runs of 1981 and 1984 felt about as relevant to me, a fan born in 1983, as Bob Cousy highlights do to someone who grew up on Allen Iverson. Final Fours felt like they were of a different sport, reserved for basketball’s blue bloods (the Kentuckys and North Carolinas) or random outliers like Loyola Chicago, who would become trivia answers for future generations, barring forever middle-of-the-road teams like Virginia, who couldn’t stay out of its own way.

Tony Bennett changed things. He developed an identity for the team. It wasn’t my favorite at first, and it took a while to get used to—artful scoring is more fun to watch than dogged defense—but it quickly made the team competitive night in and night out. Then, clued in by the slow surge in results and a connection with the humble, honest Bennett, talent started coming in. And with the talent came wins—178 of them over the last six seasons, with four ACC regular season titles and two ACC Tournament titles to boot. And with those wins come expectations of glory on the sport’s biggest stage, and that’s where, on some level, we still felt like there was something to prove.

Forward Mamadi Diakite, who sank a crucial 12-foot buzzer-beater during the Elite Eight, pours on the pressure. Photo: Matt Riley

In 2014, Virginia lost in the Sweet Sixteen. In 2015, the second round. The next year, with a Final Four spot in their sights, a 16-point lead evaporated in a flurry of Syracuse pressure and turned to a seven-point loss. And as everyone knows by now, 2018 marked the first time a top-seeded team had ever—ever!—lost to a 16. Each early exit fanned the flames of doubt around Virginia’s ability to win in March, while simultaneously finding new neuroses to add to the pile.

No matter how unfair it is that so much of the perception of a college basketball program’s health is derived from success in a single-elimination, end-of-season tournament that is mostly popular for how much wild, unpredictable stuff happens and how many people guess wrong and lose money, it’s true, and that perception has been the cloud hanging over this unparalleled run for Virginia hoops. As well as we fans think things are going, we want everyone else to think so too. Even if Bennett is actually the paragon of perspective that he appears to be in public, I’m comfortable saying that his was a fan base in need of some vindication.

This year’s run provided that vindication in cathartic fashion. One needs to look no further than the photo of Bennett hollering to the roof of the Yum! Center after Virginia’s Final Four-clinching win for proof of that. It’s been redemptive for 2018’s historic flop and the disappointments that preceded it, and redemptive for every one of the countless times a national analyst like USA Today’s Nate Scott said something like “UVA basketball is paint-drying, grass-growing, sixth-period-algebra boring.” There is now an evergreen reply to the many critics of Virginia basketball, and it will be raised to the rafters of John Paul Jones Arena.

For me, this Virginia drive to the national championship game has been more than just another six basketball games in March. It touches on three generations of family, 25 years of patience and pain, frustration and elation, late-night phone calls and barrages of texts, and perhaps more emotional and intellectual energy than a man in his mid-30s should be devoting to a team representing a school he didn’t even go to—but my wife and friends can write that piece. Virginia’s thrilling run through March 2019 has been accompanied by joys at every step. I’ll cherish it forever. And I can’t wait to share it with my kid.

Charlie Sallwasser wrote the UVA sports blog University Ball from 2009-2017.

Students flock to the Corner on Monday to revel in the team’s win. Photo: Eze Amos

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In brief: School walkouts, vegan dating, butt whupping and more

Students at Charlottesville High school were among thousands of teenagers who participated in the March 14 National School Walkout to demand gun control legislation. Eze Amos

Walking the walk

Exactly one month from the day that a gunman shot 17 people to death at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, local students and their peers across the nation said they wouldn’t stand for that—so they walked.

March 14 marked the first National School Walkout, where thousands of students left their classrooms at 10am to demand gun control legislation.

As a seemingly endless current of teenagers streamed out of Charlottesville High School, 17 students lay motionless with their eyes shut tight, while holding signs made of red paper and black letters that spelled out the names of each victim of the Parkland shootings.

“We’ve become numb to the fear,” said senior Fré Halvorson-Taylor into a bullhorn to about 700 of her peers. She was reading from a statement that she wrote with Albemarle High School student Camille Pastore, and that representatives from Monticello and Western Albemarle high schools approved.

“The idea was that it would be read at all the surrounding schools or otherwise disseminated to the Charlottesville community,” Halvorson-Taylor says.

Over at Monticello High, teenagers also flooded out the front doors of their school, but the students who organized their walkout asked for 17 full minutes of silence as the group walked, one minute for each person killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas.

And as those same names were read at Albemarle High School, an all-female acapella group sang Coldplay’s “Fix You.”

Among the many signs held there, several said the same things: “Enough is enough. Arm us with books, not bullets,” and “We care, but do you?”

Students at AHS remind that they’re the school massacre generation. Photo Natalie Jacobsen

Several local students are organizing buses to Washington, D.C., for the March For Our Lives this weekend.

A dozen area activist groups, such as the local chapter of Moms Demand Action and the Charlottesville Coalition for Gun Violence Prevention, have organized a sister event at the Sprint Pavilion from 2-4pm on March 24 to demand that the lives and safety of young people in schools become a priority.

“I don’t know what to say but that. That was a thorough butt-whupping.”—UVA Coach Tony Bennett after the historic loss of his No. 1-seeded Cavaliers to No. 16 seed UMBC in the first round of the NCAA tournament

City settles FOIA lawsuit

Charlottesville will give freelance reporters Jackson Landers and Natalie Jacobsen redacted copies of police operational plans for August 12 as part of a settlement of their Freedom of Information Act request and lawsuit. The reporters also asked for Virginia State Police plans, but the state argued March 13 in court against turning plans over because they may reuse them. Because they worked so well the first time?

Legislative success

While the General Assembly killed all bills that would allow Charlottesville to better control another Unite the Right rally, it did pass a bill carried by Delegate Steve Landes that will allow Albemarle to regulate parking on secondary highways.

Meat market

New research from meal delivery service Food Box HQ says Virginia singles are among the least likely in the nation to date vegans. In a recent survey, 38 percent indicated that they would not consider dating someone with a diet sans animal products.

New historical society head

Coy Barefoot File photo

After Steven Meeks abruptly resigned as executive director of the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society last month, the organization’s board of directors named journalist, author and historian Coy Barefoot as his successor.

Jogger dies

Andrew J. Yost, a 49-year-old who was struck by a sedan while out jogging around 8:30pm February 19 in Barboursville, succumbed to his injuries at the University of Virginia Medical Center on March 10. Driver Guy Wilde, also 49, was charged with one felony count of hit and run.

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In brief: Unregulated militia, the sixth man and more

Militias came to Charlottesville August 12. Photo Eze Amos

August 12 bills killed

After white supremacists invaded Charlottesville with violent clashes that left activist Heather Heyer dead and the community traumatized, legislators carried bills to the General Assembly to give localities more muscle in avoiding such gatherings in the future. Attorney General Mark Herring also wrote a couple of bills to combat white supremacist violence—to no avail.

Senator Creigh Deeds

  • Allow Charlottesville and Albemarle to prohibit the carrying of firearms in public.
  • Prohibit impersonating armed forces personnel.
  • Prohibit wearing clothing or carrying weaponry commonly associated with military combat at permitted events.

Delegate David Toscano

  • Allow Charlottesville and Albemarle to prohibit carrying firearms with high-capacity magazines.
  • Allow any locality to prohibit carrying firearms at permitted events.
  • Localities may remove war memorials.

Attorney General Mark Herring

  • Define domestic terrorism as violence committed with the intent of instilling fear based on one’s race, religion, national origin, gender or sexual orientation. The state police superintendent could designate domestic terrorism organizations.
  • Paramilitary activity is unlawful if done with intent to intimidate with firearms, explosives or incendiary devices.

In brief

Power-less

Dominion Energy says it’s restored power to 42,000 customers in Albemarle following the nor’easter that hit the area starting March 1. At press time 721 were still without electricity.

“We’re like a mosquito on the giant’s ankle.”—Kay Ferguson about anti-Dominion protesters

ACC accolades

Virginia secured the No. 1 seed and won its final home game of the season against Notre Dame March 3. Tony Bennett was named ACC Coach of the Year, Isaiah Wilkins was named Defensive Player of the Year and De’Andre Hunter was named Sixth Man of the Year.

NBC29 anchor dies

Sunrise and noon anchor Ken Jefferson, 65, died unexpectedly March 4 after a brief illness. According to NBC29, he began his broadcast career with a pirate radio station as a boy. He worked at WHIO in Dayton, Ohio, and WWSB in Sarasota, Florida, before coming to Charlottesville in 2011.

Free tampons in jail

The General Assembly passed a bill February 27 that provides free feminine hygiene products to women incarcerated in Virginia’s prisons and jails. Bills to eliminate the sales tax on menstrual supplies for the non-incarcerated died in House committees.

Cop-car escapee pleads guilty

Matthew W. Carver, 26, whose six-week crime spree last summer included breaking into a Crozet woman’s house and stealing her car, multiple B&Es and kicking out the window to escape from a patrol car while handcuffed and shackled, pleaded guilty to 21 felony counts February 28 in Albemarle Circuit Court. He’ll be sentenced June 6.

Not just talking turkey

When a tractor trailer overturned on Rockfish Gap Turnpike February 25, Albemarle police said on their Facebook page that several turkeys got loose and “enjoyed a night under the Crozet stars” until an animal control officer picked them up the next day and “safely wrangle[d] the rafter into a pretty sweet new ride courtesy of the ACPD.” A rafter is a group of turkeys.

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In brief: Craftivism, kids gone wild and more

The Yard food hall concept planned for 5th Street Station is modeled after Krog Street Market in Atlanta. Rendering courtesy of Candice McEyea

Feed lot

Earlier this month, we reported in our Small Bites column about a new food hall concept opening at 5th Street Station. Now we have the rendering to prove it.

The Yard, modeled after the Krog Street Market in Atlanta, will be a 10,000-square-foot mixed-use space next to the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema with five or six restaurants, ranging from 2,000 to 6,000 square feet each, according to Candice McElyea, a spokesperson for the shopping center. It’ll have fire pits (oooh) and string lights (aaah) and will include plenty of indoor and outdoor seating for people wanting to meet for a drink or share a meal. Oh, and free Wi-Fi for our friends working on a tight deadline, or those who simply prefer the company of a laptop.

Come late summer, we’ll see you there.

In brief

Men overboard

Coach Tony Bennett takes his Cavs to Elite Eight. Photo: Jack Looney
Photo Jack Looney

Three Cavaliers jumped Tony Bennett’s basketball ship March 22 and 23. Junior Darius Thompson joined transferring teammates Marial Shayok and Jarred Reuter in heading elsewhere. A fourth Hoo, Austin Nichols, was kicked off the team last fall and is declaring for the NBA draft.

Traffic fatality

Bonnie L. Carter, 47, of Esmont, died in a single vehicle crash on Plank Road near Secretary Sand Road around 12:30pm March 28, Albemarle’s second fatal crash this year. She was driving a 2007 Kia Sportage westbound when she ran off the right side of the road and hit a tree. The crash is still under investigation, county police say.

Kids behaving badly

After a local juvenile shooting and police chase March 16, another 16- and 17-year-old boy from Albemarle County and Troy, respectively, were charged in a March 26 home invasion at the University Forum apartments on Ivy Road. The victim sustained minor injuries.

“It was all for love.”

—Jay Obergefell, lead plaintiff in the lawsuit that upheld marriage as a fundamental right, at the Virginia Festival of the Book March 24

Fenwick in

fenwick reelection
Staff photo

Bob Fenwick said he’ll seek a second term on City Council and the Democratic primary nomination. Fenwick, often on the solo end of 4-1 votes, broke a tie and voted to remove the Robert E. Lee statue. He faces challengers Amy Laufer and Heather Hill for the Dem nomination. Mayor Mike Signer attended the announcement, but declined to say whom he’s backing.

Word of the week

resist
Staff photo

Craftivism. First came the pussy hats, now scarves urging “resist” are being spotted around town.

 

 

Alt-right vocabulary lesson

State GOP chair John Whitbeck chastised Trump loyalist/gubernatorial candidate Corey Stewart for calling opponent Ed Gillespie a “cucksurvative.” The term “cuck,” we learn from GQ, comes from porn in which a white husband watches his wife have sex with a black man. It’s a term “used by white nationalists,” Whitbeck told the Washington Post. Stewart says he was just trying to use hip young conservative lingo.

By the numbers

Grounds swell

rotunda
Photo Karen Blaha

Woohoo to the Wahoo class of 2021. Nearly 10,000 prospective first-years were offered a spot at the University of Virginia for the upcoming fall semester from a record number of applicants.

2017 Applicants: 36,807

Offers: 9,957

Likely to be here in the fall: 3,725

Average SAT: 1416

Average in 2016: 1346

Ethnic minority: About 35 percent

First-generation college students: 1,000

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In brief: Basketball hair, parking layoffs and more

Cavaliers Kyle Guy and London Perrantes are Hoos with the 'dos. Photos Matt Riley

What about London Perrantes?

The New York Post said first-year Hoo Kyle Guy has the best hairdo in college basketball for his man bun/top knot hybrid, but Perrantes’ high-top fade is pretty impressive, too.

ACC bummer

The Cavs exited the tournament in the quarterfinals March 9 after losing 58-71 to Notre Dame. But UVA got a nod and a No. 5 seed from the NCAA, and will play No. 12 seed UNC-Wilmington March 16.

“A five-seed is nothing to scoff at.”

—UVA basketball coach Tony Bennett

Kill bills

The General Assembly laid to rest 1,355 of the 2,335 bills introduced in the 2017 session. Of those killed, more than half—777—died with no recorded votes, according to Virginia Public Access Project. That’s better than last year, when 73 percent disappeared without a trace of how legislators voted.

Bell’s run

Photo: Amy Jackson
Rob Bell. Photo Amy Jackson

Republican Delegate Rob Bell said he’ll seek a ninth term in the General Assembly. First-timer Kellen Squire, an ER nurse who lives in Barboursville, quietly announced a run as a Dem and is the first since 2009 to challenge Bell in the 58th District.

Parking war casualties

Charlottesville Parking Center laid off seven employees following the announcement that Atlanta-based Lanier Parking will manage the Market Street Garage. CPC was disqualified from bidding on the contract, says GM Dave Norris. “The city was playing politics with Mark Brown trying to get one up on him.” The laid-off employees could be hired by Lanier, he adds.

Office space

DTMall_StaffPhotoThe Downtown Mall is probably the first place you’d take an out-of-town friend, shop for a quirky gift and snag a bite to eat because it’s a good mix of stores, restaurants and entertainment venues. But, believe it or not, the majority of space on the mall is uncharted territory for the public—offices. C-VILLE’s office is there. Author John Grisham looks out from a second-floor space and, among others, Borrowed & Blue, Silverchair Information Systems, WillowTree and Merkle (formerly RKG) are all on the mall.

Here’s how the business mix breaks down:

31% office

22% retail

18% condo/apartment

7% restaurant

22% other

Happening places

Of the 190 storefronts on the Downtown Mall, only 1.05 percent are vacant, which is lower than the peak vacancy rate of 9 percent in both July 2009 and January 2010 during the recession, and the current national average of 9.6 percent. As you can see from the list on the right, other shopping centers in town are on par.

Preston Plaza: 0% vacant

Seminole Square: 0% vacant

Downtown Mall: 1.05% vacant

The Corner: 1.61% vacant

McIntire Plaza: 2.17% vacant

Barracks Road Shopping Center: 4.71% vacant

All together, Charlottesville’s January vacancy rate was 1.78 percent, the lowest since the city began its biannual vacancy study almost a decade ago.

—All figures provided by the City of Charlottesville’s Office of Economic Development