Tag: wes bellamy

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Political coverage of Charlottesville seven years after A12

Counter-protesters, including former Vice-Mayor Wes Bellamy, demonstrating on A12. Photo by Eze Amos.

Since August 11 and 12, 2017, Charlottesville has become a national political talking point. With the seven-year anniversary of A12 just around the corner, discussion of Charlottesville continues to be deployed by both national media and political campaigns, especially in the 2024 presidential election.

“We are living through a battle for the soul of this nation,” wrote President Joe Biden in an op ed for The Atlantic on August 27, 2017. This statement would go on to define Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign, which centered on defending democracy by defeating then-President Donald Trump’s bid for reelection.

“Aside from January 6, Charlottesville 2017 may be the most concrete image the Democrats have in illustrating the idea of ‘threats to democracy,’” said Sabato’s Crystal Ball Associate Editor Miles Coleman in a comment via email.

During the June 27, 2024, presidential debate, Biden once again mentioned Charlottesville as his impetus for running and condemned comments made by Trump after A12. 

While Trump disputed media interpretations of the comment, he did say there were “very fine people on both sides” but went on to clarify he condemned neo-Nazis and white nationalists “totally” during the infamous August 15, 2017, press conference. He drew comparisons between right-wing extremists and counterprotesters and has more recently called the events of A12 a “peanut” in comparison to “anti-Israel protests” in April.

Biden has since dropped his bid for reelection, but upholding democracy continues to be a central theme for Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris.

The vice president has not directly discussed the events of A12 during her current campaign, but she has emphasized the importance of opposing anti-democratic policies like those proposed in Project 2025—a more than 900-page-long conservative agenda that includes policy proposals that massively increase the powers of the presidency and reduce checks and balances. (Trump has said he does not support Project 2025, but a significant number of officials from his former administration was involved in the creation of the policy plan.)

“At this moment, we face a choice between two visions for our nation: one focused on the future and the other on the past,” shared Harris on X/Twitter on August 2. “With your support, I am fighting for our nation’s future.”

Beyond Harris, the National Democratic Party has made the protection of democracy a major part of its platform and will likely continue to use “Charlottesville” as a shorthand for A12 in the coming months.

“As long as the Republican Party is dominated by Trumpism—which seems likely to be the case until the man literally drops dead, and probably afterwards too—pro-Democratic groups will probably suggest that Trump’s sympathy, or at least his indifference, towards the white supremacists is evidence of a growing illiberal trend within the GOP,” said Coleman.

On the Republican side, discussion of Charlottesville has focused on assertions that Trump’s “both sides” comment was not accurately reported and that left-leaning media have intentionally misrepresented the former president and his allies. A recent op ed shared in The Washington Times highlights how right-leaning media use Charlottesville as an example of media manipulation.a

“Newly minted vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance just had his Charlottesville moment and again the public is getting played,” said Newsmax host Tom Basile in the August 3 article. “We must appreciate [that] those telling us marriage and family don’t really matter are the same ones who told us Donald Trump is Hitler, President Biden was fit to serve, Ms. Harris had nothing to do with the open border, having boys in girls’ locker rooms is just fine, and J.D. Vance is weird.”

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Coronavirus News

In brief: Church amidst coronavirus, feeding the frontlines, and more

A congregant reacts during an Easter Sunday mass at Covenant Church on Sunday, April 12, 2020. Churches have adapted to allow patrons to listen to the services from their car radios and over loud speakers in order to continue congregating. PC: Zack Wajsgras

Creative worship in the age of corona

Pastor Harold Bare was met with an unusual scene when he stood in front of his congregation on Easter Sunday—a barrage of car horns during a Facebook-streamed drive-in service, which welcomed congregants to decorate their vehicles and watch Bare’s sermon from a parking lot. 

Like every other institution in town, religious organizations have had to get creative as the novel coronavirus has radically reshaped our world. On Good Friday, Bare’s Covenant Church convened its choir over Zoom, with singers crooning into laptop microphones in rough, tinny unison.   

“Fear not, God is in control,” read a sticker on the side of one car at Covenant’s Easter service. Additional stickers thanked more earthly leaders, like nurses and doctors.

Other religious groups have had to adjust in similar ways. Zoe Ziff, a UVA student, organized a Zoom Passover Seder for her friends who have been scattered across the world by the university’s closure.

“We spoke over each other and lagged, but it was beautiful to see my friends, hear their voices, and share the story of Passover together,” Ziff says. “It’s a reminder that everywhere in the world, Jewish people are retelling this story—though this year, over a webcam.”

“We’re being as careful as we know how to be,” Bare said at the beginning of his holiday sermon. Religious traditions might stretch back thousands of years, but these days, they’re Zooming along just like the rest of us. 

A congregant’s car is seen decorated during an Easter Sunday mass at Covenant Church on Sunday, April 12, 2020. PC: Zack Wajsgras

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Signing day

The Virginia legislature turned in a historic session earlier this year, and as the deadline approached this week, Governor Northam put his signature on dozens of new bills. The new laws will tighten gun safety regulations, decriminalize marijuana, allow easier access to abortion, make election day a national holiday, repeal voter ID laws, allow racist monuments to be removed, and more. Northam didn’t sign everything, though—he used his power to delay the legislature’s proposed minimum wage increase by one year, citing the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

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Local COVID-19 case update

53 confirmed cases in Albemarle

34 confirmed cases in Charlottesville

4 deaths

Data as of 4/13/20, courtesy of Thomas Jefferson Health District

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Quote of the Week

“In Virginia, the capital of the Confederacy… in Charlottesville, the home of Thomas Jefferson… We led the charge to change the state. It’s all been worth it.” ­

—Former vice mayor Wes Bellamy, on the new law allowing localities to remove Confederate monuments

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In Brief

Statue status

Governor Ralph Northam has finally made it official: Charlottesville will soon be able to legally take down its Confederate monuments. The bill, which Northam signed on April 11, will go into effect July 1. The end is in sight, but the city will have to wait 60 days and hold one public hearing before the statues can be removed. 

Foy joy?

Last week, state Delegate Jennifer Carroll Foy (D-Prince William) filed paperwork to run for Virginia governor in 2021. Foy is a 38-year-old former public defender who sponsored the legislation that led to Virginia’s ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment. If elected, she would become the first black female governor in United States history. Her likely Democratic primary opponents include Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax, an accused sex offender, and Attorney General Mark Herring, who has admitted to appearing in blackface.    

(No) walk in the park

To the disappointment of Old Rag enthusiasts, the National Park Service completely shut down Shenandoah National Park April 8, per recommendation from the Virginia Department of Health. All trails—including our stretch of the famed Appalachian Trail—are now closed. Still want to explore the park? Visit its website for photo galleries, videos, webcams, and interactive features, or follow it on social media. 

Win-win

Under the name Frontline Foods Charlottesville, local organizations are working with chef José Andrés’ World Central Kitchen to deliver food to health care workers, with meals supplied by area restaurants like Pearl Island Catering, Champion Hospitality Group, and Mochiko Cville. In the coming weeks, FFC plans to add more restaurants, which will be reimbursed for 100 percent of the cost of food and labor, and expand to serve other area community members.

Demanding justice

As reports of intimate partner violence increase due to coronavirus lockdowns, UVA Survivors, a student advocacy and support group, has created a petition calling for the “immediate, structural, and transformative change” of the university’s sexual violence prevention and support services. The petition demands UVA fund an external review of the Title IX office; provide survivor-created and informed education on sexual violence and consent; create a stand-alone medical unit for sexual, domestic, and interpersonal violence survivors; and move the Title IX office from O’Neill Hall (located in the middle of UVA’s ‘Frat Row’), among other demands. It has been signed by more than 100 students and student organizations.

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News

‘Put up or shut up’: New organization will lobby Democratic legislators for statue removal

Wes Bellamy speaks at the Monumental Justice Virginia Campaign press conference. Photo: John Robinson

The campaign to take down Charlottesville’s statues of Confederate generals Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee has taken on a new tenor with the election of a Democrat-majority government in Virginia.

The Monumental Justice Virginia Campaign, a new organization dedicated to removal of the statues, launched with a press conference at the Free Speech Wall on December 26. A larger rally will be held in Richmond on January 8. 

At the press conference, activists once again stated the case against the statues. A collection of supporters stood behind the speakers, holding crisp blue posters with the slogan “Monumentally Wrong” and large red Xs over images of the Lee and Jackson statues. 

“This is an opportunity for Virginia to get on the right side of history,” said Lisa Woolfork, an associate professor at UVA. “These statues are not neutral objects, they are racist relics forced upon communities who do not worship the white supremacy they maintain.” 

“It is past time to correct these monumental lies with some monumental justice,” Woolfork said.

Advocates for removal of the statues see a legal path forward that seemed unlikely before: The passage of a bill that would give control over statues back to localities. 

Delegate-elect Sally Hudson has promised to introduce such a bill when the General Assembly session begins on January 8. Former delegate David Toscano proposed similar bills in the last two General Assembly sessions, but neither made it out of committee. 

Though the movement’s hopes rest on Hudson and her legislation, the new delegate made sure to emphasize the broad coalition that has formed in opposition to the monuments.

“Movements like Monumental Justice change the world. Politicians just cut the ribbon,” Hudson said. “We wouldn’t be here today without the activists and artists and educators and all of the elected leaders who have elevated this issue.” 

“Thank you to every member of our community who has done the very ordinary yet essential work of correcting our public memory,” Hudson said, “Of sharing a fuller understanding of our history neighbor to neighbor and friend to friend.”

Woolfork read a statement from Zyahna Bryant, the student activist whose 2016 petition helped start the statue fervor. “Our public spaces should reflect the principles we strive for, one of them being freedom,” Bryant wrote. 

In her statement, Bryant made sure to underscore that removing the statues will not fix the larger systemic inequalities in the area. “We must also focus on the structural and situational change that must come along with removals as a package deal,” she wrote. 

Hudson acknowledged Bryant’s point. “In the days ahead, my colleagues and I will be introducing substantive legislation to confront white supremacy in all of its modern incarnations,” Hudson said. “Whether that is mass incarceration or segregation or the persistent inequity in our every institution.”

Former councilor Wes Bellamy spoke with his young daughter in his arms.

“If our General Assembly cannot act now to remove these beacons of hate, I don’t know when we will have the courage to do so,” he said.

For Bellamy, structural change and statue removal aren’t mutually exclusive. 

“People ask me, ‘Why can’t we focus on affordable housing? Why can’t we focus on schools?’” Bellamy said. “We can walk and chew gum simultaneously. In fact, we have an obligation to walk and chew gum simultaneously.”

“The time for those statues to move was yesteryear,” Bellamy said. “It’s time to put up or shut up.”

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Fond (and not so) farewells, statue drama, and more

“The Dell” public basketball courts will be demolished and replaced with the Contemplative Commons by fall 2023. Photo: Skyclad Aerial

Priorities

Weeks after self-appointed Confederate monument defenders began monitoring downtown parks, city police arrested two Charlottesville residents for allegedly vandalizing the Stonewall Jackson statue in Court Square in the wee hours of the morning of December 19. Nic McCarthy-Rivera and former C-VILLE writer Jesse Tobias Beard have been charged with misdemeanor trespassing and felony vandalism.

Murky waters

Don’t let go of that balloon! After four years of research and analysis, the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center has found that balloons—along with plastic bottle caps—are the most frequently found litter items on four of Virginia’s remote beaches. Cigarettes, food wrappers, bottles, bags, and plastic rope also made the list. All pose an extreme danger to marine life.

Out with the old

The current City Council held its final meeting December 16, with Wes Bellamy, Kathy Galvin, and Mike Signer bowing out. “I just want to tell you, in front of everybody else, that you’re amazing. I am stronger in these rooms because of you. And I’m going to miss you,” Mayor Nikuyah Walker told Bellamy. Not everyone earned such a warm send-off: “Mr. Signer, I’m sorry, you failed us horribly as mayor,” said one local citizen during public comment.

Key market economy

Fans of tacos, donuts, and handmade jewelry rejoice—Charlottesville’s popular City Market will be open for a winter session this year. Organizers say that around 40 vendors will be setting up in the Key Recreation Center downtown each Saturday morning from January 11 to March 21.

“We may not be able to recognize it because we’re living in it, but five, ten, fifteen, twenty years from now, the nation—and the world for that matter—will remember this council, these people, and all of us for the change that we brought forth.”

Wes Bellamy, speaking before his final meeting as a member of City Council

 

Farewell, Dell

“The Dell” public basketball courts will be demolished and replaced with the Contemplative Commons by fall 2023. Photo: Skyclad Aerial

The popular public basketball courts on Emmet Street—known as “the Dell,” for their proximity to the pond—are set for demolition.

Earlier this month, UVA announced plans to build a sleek new academic building called the Contemplative Commons, a multi-use space that will house the Contemplative Sciences Center. The new building will occupy the space where the university-owned courts currently sit.

Jack Morris, a computer science master’s student who attended UVA as an undergraduate, says he’s played at all the basketball courts available to students and that the most skilled people play at the Dell.

The courts also serve as a rare intersection between Charlottesville and UVA. “That’s really the only time in my whole four or five years of living in Charlottesville that I’ve gotten to meet a whole bunch of people that are outside the sphere of UVA,” Morris says.

Charlottesville native Jack Ronayne has been playing at the dell his whole life. Ronayne, who did not attend UVA, says the public courts serve an important function for a school that hasn’t always had a smooth relationship with the city. “It’s a nice common space that people of all different walks of life can use,” Ronayne says. “Sports are a great unifier.”

“I just remember going out on hot, humid summer nights and playing some good basketball games with friends,” Ronayne says. “It’s just a cool facility.”

According to the UVA Office of the Architect, the university will build a new bank of three public, outdoor courts adjacent to Memorial Gymnasium, just across Emmet from the current site.

The Contemplative Commons is supposed to be completed by the beginning of the 2023 fall semester. Construction on the new courts is set to begin in late summer 2020.

“The Dell” public basketball courts will be demolished and replaced with the Contemplative Commons by fall 2023.

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In brief: City digs in, winemaker dies, rioters plead, and more

CRB member Rosia Parker wondered why police Chief RaShall Brackney couldn’t find time on her reportedly empty calendar to meet.

Truth in scheduling: Progress joins City v. Civilian Review Board fray

A Daily Progress reporter was a topic of discussion during public comment at the May 6 City Council meeting, following Nolan Stout’s story earlier that day that police Chief RaShall Brackney’s calendar seemed to contradict claims that she was unavailable to meet with the Police Civilian Review Board.

CRB member Rosia Parker thanked Stout for his reporting, while Mayor Nikuyah Walker blamed Stout for the escalating tension between the chief and the review board. Councilor Wes Bellamy said he had “personal issues” with the article, and defended Brackney and her calendar. Police gadfly Jeff Fogel yelled at Bellamy to “not punk out,” and Bellamy replied, “You’re the last one to tell me to punk out.”

The latest outburst follows a bizarre April 26 city press release that accused a CRB member of lying about Brackney refusing to meet with the board. That was followed by an even weirder April 30 retraction of the falsehood allegation, which instead pointed the finger at the Progress’ reporting. The paper stands by its story.

And in the latest deepening of trenches in the war of words, city spokesman Brian Wheeler told Stout his Freedom of Information Act request for emails between Brackney or her secretary and City Council or CRB members, and emails between councilors and CRB members, would cost $3,000 and require a $700 deposit. Wheeler refused to break down the costs, which are unprecedented in C-VILLE Weekly’s experience with FOIA.

Megan Rhyne with Virginia Coalition for Open Government says this is only the second time she’s seen a local government refuse to detail its alleged costs, and tells the DP, “I don’t think it’s very transparent.”

Quote of the week

“I believe we have more than enough mandatory minimum sentences—more than 200—in Virginia state code.” Governor Ralph Northam on why he won’t sign any more such bills, which he calls punitive, discriminatory, and expensive

In brief

Carbon friendlier

Charlottesville’s carbon emissions per household—11.2 tons annually—are a ton above the national average. City Council voted unanimously at its May 6 meeting to approve a climate action plan that includes a goal of 45 percent carbon emissions reduction by 2030, and total carbon neutrality by 2050.

Wine pioneer dies

David King. file photo

 

David King, patriarch of King Family Vineyards, died May 2 after what the family calls a “hard-fought” battle with cancer. The 64-year-old was a past chair of the Virginia Wine Board, a polo player, pilot, and reserve deputy with the Albemarle County Sheriff’s Office search and rescue division. The family will host a celebration of life on June 14 at their Crozet family farm from 7:30-9:30pm.

Rioters plead

The last two members of the now-defunct California white supremacist group Rise Above Movement, who traveled to Charlottesville for the August 2017 Unite the Right rally to brawl with counterprotesters, pleaded guilty May 3 in U.S. District Court. RAM founder Benjamin Drake Daley, 26, from Redondo Beach, and Michael Paul Miselis, 30, from Lawndale, each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to riot. Fellow RAMmers Cole White and Thomas Gillen previously pleaded guilty.

The Guys

Unrelated Bridget Guy and Kyle Guy got top UVA athletics honors at the Hoos Choice Awards May 1. Bridget, from Greensburg, Pennsylvania, is an all-American pole vaulter who was undefeated this season. Indianapolis-native Kyle was named Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA Final Four, in part for his sangfroid in firing off three free throws in a row to beat Auburn 63-62.

Flaggers appeal

Confederate battle flag-loving Virginia Flaggers were in circuit court May 2 to appeal a Louisa Board of Zoning Appeals decision that the 120-foot pole they raised on I-64 in March 2018 to fly the “Charlottesville I-64 Spirit of Defiance Battle Flag” exceeded the county’s maximum of 60 feet. The judge has not yet issued a ruling.

Cruel and unusual

The U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Virginia’s death row inmates, who spend years alone in a small cell for 23 to 24 hours a day. The justices said the inmates face a “substantial risk” of serious psychological and emotional harm in violation of the Eighth Amendment in the case filed by local attorney Steve Rosenfield.

UVA student sentenced

When former UVA student Cayden Jacob Dalton drunkenly abducted and strangled his ex-girlfriend in August 2018, she told the judge “there was no doubt in my mind that I was going to die.” Now, he’ll serve one and a half years for the crime, with the rest of his 15-year sentence suspended.

Show us the money

With the first campaign finance reports filed March 31, we learned who’s pulling in the bucks ahead of the June 11 City Council Democratic primary,  as well as the funds raised by independents Paul Long and Bellamy Brown.

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Judge explains: Motions still to be ruled upon in Confederate statue lawsuit

Plaintiffs Frank Earnest, Jock Yellott, and Dickie Tayloe leave Charlottesville Circuit Court after the latest hearing in their lawsuit to keep Confederate statues in city parks. staff photos

Judge Rick Moore got one big issue out of the way in the two-years-long lawsuit against the city and City Council for its 2017 vote to remove statues of Confederate generals: The monuments of generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson are indeed war memorials under state code, which prohibits their removal.

In court May 1, he started off the status hearing by explaining his April 25 ruling, because of misunderstandings that he said had occurred.

“It was a critical decision, but it is not the end of the court case,” said Moore, who took the opportunity to note the two boxes of case files and how busy he is to explain why it has taken so long to get rulings on the motions that have been filed. “This is just one case. I’m just one judge. This is an important case, but not the only one I have.”

The lawsuit was filed by 13 plaintiffs, including the Monument Fund and the Sons of Confederate Veterans, who allege councilors Wes Bellamy, Bob Fenwick and Kristin Szakos unlawfully voted to remove a statue of Lee donated to the city by Paul Goodloe McIntire. The vote to remove Jackson was added to the suit after August 12, 2017, when councilors Mike Signer and Kathy Galvin joined the unanimous vote to oust the Confederates.

All of the councilors were in court except for Fenwick, as were a number of the plaintiffs, including Frank Earnest with the Sons of Confederate Veterans, who has traveled from Virginia Beach for hearings over the past two years, Monument Fund organizer Jock Yellott, and Dickie Tayloe, whose First Family of Virginia was once one of the largest slave owners in the state.

Moore did issue a ruling, and denied a plaintiffs’ motion to keep the defense from using equal protection under the 14th Amendment as part of its case. That argument says because the Civil War was fought primarily over slavery, the statues are part of an effort to intimidate African Americans.

“Equal protection being constitutional, it would be hard for me to say you’re not going to argue that,” he said. “I’m not in a position to say the defendants cannot prevail on that.”

Yet to be ruled upon is a motion to determine whether councilors had statutory immunity when they voted to remove the statues, and Moore said that’s next on his list.

Plaintiffs attorney Braxton Puryear complained that councilors had not provided depositions or discovery that would help him determine whether they acted with gross negligence when they voted to remove the statues, a key in determining immunity.

Legal powerhouse Jones Day is representing pro bono all of the councilors except Fenwick, and attorney Esha Mankoti said that’s why the issue needs to be decided immediately, because if councilors have immunity, their emails would be protected as well.

“That argument has the flavor of a circular argument.” said Moore, who said he sympathized with the plaintiffs, who have been asking for discovery for two years. “You don’t postpone the depositions,” he said.

He said the emails they sent each other the night before the vote could be the “smoking gun” if councilors said, “We can do what we want.”

Still, the judge wasn’t ready to say council’s actions amounted to gross negligence.

Moore also needs to decide on the city’s argument that a 1997 law that prohibited the removal of war memorials is not retroactive, as well as what issues can go before the jury in the September trial.

Outside the courthouse, plaintiff Buddy Weber felt “very good” about the recent ruling that the statues are war memorials.

However, activist Ben Doherty described Moore’s ruling as buying into the Lost Cause narrative because it neutralizes what is “overt white supremacy.”

Attorney Janice Redinger, who is not involved in the case, says, “I think there’s a chilling effect that these legislators may be personally liable for passing an ordinance. Look at all the unconstitutional laws passed by the General Assembly.”

 

 

 

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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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Surprise, surprise: Councilors Bellamy and Signer will not run for re-election

City Councilors Mike Signer and Wes Bellamy will not seek re-election. Photos: Jen Farriello and Mina Pirasteh

For some, it came as a shock when City Councilor Wes Bellamy announced yesterday that he would not run for re-election, especially considering his public remarks the week before that made it sound otherwise.

At his March 20 Virginia Festival of the Book event with former New Orleans mayor Mitch Landrieu, where the two politicians discussed how Confederate statues are symbols of institutional racism, Bellamy indicated he was likely to run for a second term because the best way to change policy “is through elected office.”

But a Rob Schilling report—from just a few hours before the 125 signatures needed to participate in the Democratic primary were due yesterday—cited “recent reports from deep inside the nascent Bellamy campaign” that he was more than 75 signatures short.

Then the former vice-mayor penned an open letter to the community, which said, “I love the people of this city, but I love my wife, my daughters, and our unborn child more. And because of my love for them, I am stepping aside for new energy. …Honestly, I need a break for my mental health, my physical health, and my family’s well being.”

Though city council voted unanimously to remove Charlottesville’s Confederate monuments after the Unite the Right rally, Bellamy, who has been calling for their removal since 2016, bore the brunt of the vitriol from local and faraway statue supporters and racists. Those included Jason Kessler, who dug up some problematic, years-old tweets from the only black councilor at the time, and called for his resignation.

Bellamy has publicly discussed the multitude of threats he and his family members receive daily.

“Some people will say that I’m quitting, or that I’m giving up, and that’s okay,” Bellamy wrote. “Some will say that the haters won. That’s okay, too. What matters most is not what people say, but what we do.”

Local activist and UVA professor Jalane Schmidt says Bellamy’s legacy includes bringing up the city’s difficult white supremacist history and present, a push for equity, a community presence, and an effort to connect people who’ve “been left out by the system” to city resources.

Deacon Don Gathers says he was “troubled and somewhat hurt” to find out Bellamy wasn’t running again, but he understands putting family first.

“I applaud him and I appreciate everything that he’s done and tried to do for the city as a whole and the black community, specifically,” says Gathers. “I really think that he has always had the community’s best interest at heart, and not everybody was going to agree with the direction that he took to try to move us forward.”

Gathers initially planned to run for council this term, but cited health concerns as a reason he did not officially launch a campaign. He and Schmidt have publicly supported Democratic candidate Michael Payne, who will now officially run against Lloyd Snook, Bob Fenwick, Sena Magill, and Brian Pinkston in the primary, where no incumbents will be on the bill.

Former mayor Mike Signer’s name also didn’t make the list of those in the running, and in the public statement he posted to Twitter yesterday, he also mentioned his family.

“My wife and I never intended that I would serve more than one term on city council,” he said. “Another four years would however be hard to balance with the competing demands of raising two young kids, my day job, and my work on initiatives like Communities Overcoming Extremism.”

Schmidt says it was no secret that Signer had higher political ambitions—including an unsuccessful campaign for the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor in 2009—before moving to Charlottesville and being elected to city council in 2015.

“There were many of us who suspected that this was a kind of stepping stone,” she says. “It seems that his aspirations were dashed by his failure to address the [August 11 and 12, 2017,] attacks.”

Signer’s leadership came under fire in former federal prosecutor Tim Heaphy’s independent review of that summer’s white supremacist events. In what was already a maelstrom of poor planning, Heaphy found that city council further complicated matters by making a last-minute decision to move the Unite the Right rally to McIntire Park, despite nearly unanimous advice that such a move would not withstand a legal challenge and spread police resources even further.

In an August 24 Facebook post, Signer publicly pointed the finger at then-city manager Maurice Jones and police chief Al Thomas for the devastating events.

And then on August 30, his fellow councilors held a three-hour closed door meeting to discuss his performance and potential discipline, where they seemingly accepted his apology—which he also read to reporters and community members who gathered in council chambers.

“In the deeply troubling and traumatizing recent weeks, I have taken several actions as mayor, and made several communications, that have been inconsistent with the collaboration required by our system of governance and that overstepped the bounds of my role as mayor, for which I apologize to my colleagues and the people of Charlottesville,” he said.

Schmidt says he’ll also be remembered for his reluctance to move the statues, support of luxury developments such as Keith Woodard’s now-defunct West2nd condos at a time when affordable housing was a pressing need, and his “foray into public consciousness,” when he became president of the Fifeville Neighborhood Association just as it was starting to gentrify, she says.

Though Gathers was one of Signer’s more vocal critics, especially in the fallout of August 12, he says he wishes him success in all his future endeavors.

“As he exits, I’m certainly not going to take shots at him,” he says. “I’m sure that he did the best that he thought he could, and what he felt was best at the time.”

Though Fenwick is once again in the running, the departure of Signer and Bellamy—along with Kathy Galvin, who’s running for the House of Delegates, instead—means there could be no remaining councilors on the dais who called the shots during the Summer of Hate. Is Charlottesville turning over a new leaf?

 

Updated March 29 at 2:37pm.

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In brief: FOIA fun, both sides—not, gabapentin implicated, and more

You say sunshine, we say FOIA

Reporters know one of the greatest tools for keeping the public informed is FOIA—the Freedom of Information Act. As Virginia Code notes: “The affairs of government are not intended to be conducted in an atmosphere of secrecy since at all times the public is to be the beneficiary of any action taken at any level of government.” Federal and state FOIA laws ensure that public meetings and information are truly available to the public.

Sunshine Week, an annual event to promote freedom of information and open government, falls around father-of-the-Constitution James Madison’s March 16 birthday. Smart Cville and the Virginia Coalition for Open Government hosted a FOIA panel March 25 for people appointed to boards and commissions, and we figured it’s never too late to share some FOIA highlights.

“We organized this event because we value transparency and knew others, within government and outside, have similar values,” says Smart Cville founder Lucas Ames. “If we’re truly committed to transparency and openness, it’s important that we take steps to promote those ideals, including educating local citizens who sit on boards and commissions that fall under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act.”

Megan Rhyne, executive director of the Virginia Coalition for Open Government, regularly fields FOIA questions, and ran down a few of the most common.

1. How to request: A FOIA request doesn’t have to be written, but it’s a good idea. An email can read: Under the Freedom of Information Act, I’m requesting all records from DATE to DATE that deal with X. Please provide an estimate to fulfill this request.

2. Fees: People aren’t always aware that they can be charged for copies of documents, particularly those that involve a lot of staff time to pull together. Government bodies can give you an estimate—but you have to ask for it, says Rhyne.

3. Response: A government body has five days to reply. Typical exemptions to FOIA: police investigative files, personnel records, working papers.

4. Not exempt: Messages dealing with public business on personal devices and in personal accounts. Government employees’ salaries must be disclosed.

5. Meetings: FOIA also mandates that the public be notified of meetings of elected and appointed officials, and these meetings are supposed to be open to the public. But the law does not require public comment, which surprises a lot of citizens, says Rhyne. Public notice of a meeting is required, except for staff meetings. Three or more members of an elected or appointed body cannot meet for coffee to talk about public business unless the public is notified.

Quote of the week

“In Charlottesville and around the globe, we stand firmly in stating: There are not very fine people on both sides of this issue.”—Charlottesville Police Chief RaShall Brackney on the racist threat that closed city schools

In brief

Albemarle ditched

Last spring, Governor Ralph Northam was here to tout construction software company CoConstruct’s $485,000 investment that would create 69 new jobs in Albemarle County. On March 22, CoConstruct announced it was moving to downtown Charlottesville and will lease 40,000 square feet in the five-story office building under construction on Garrett Street. 3TWENTY3 bought the property from Oliver Kuttner for $5.4 million in October.

Crozet crash

Jack Looney

The National Transportation Safety Board released its 1,600-page report on the January 31, 2018, collision of an Amtrak train and a Time Disposal garbage truck. The NTSB concluded the truck went around downed crossing arms and driver Dana Naylor, who was acquitted of criminal charges last month, was impaired by marijuana and gabapentin, a drug used to control seizures or relieve nerve pain, for which he didn’t have a prescription.

Farm scuttled

Developer Justin Shimp’s plans to build the controversial Hogwaller Farm, an apartment complex and urban farm concept that would straddle Charlottesville and Albemarle, were put on hold when City Council voted 3-2 to deny a rezoning request necessary to build an on-site greenhouse. Shimp says he’s planning to pursue a similar opportunity on the property, according to Charlottesville Tomorrow.

Equity loans

Charlottesville launched its Business Equity Loan program earlier in March for existing businesses whose owners are socially disadvantaged either by race, ethnicity, or gender. The city allocated $100,000 to the Wes Bellamy initiative, and applicants who have been in business for at least six months can apply for loans from up to $25,000, according to Hollie Lee, an economic development specialist.

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Monuments men: It was never about a statue, say Landrieu and Bellamy

Former New Orleans mayor Mitch Landrieu and City Councilor Wes Bellamy discuss how Confederate statues are symbols of institutional racism with which this country still grapples. Staff photo

Former New Orleans mayor Mitch Landrieu and Charlottesville City Councilor Wes Bellamy have a lot in common. They’re both Southerners who, as elected officials, have gotten death threats for daring to say it’s time for Confederate monuments to go.

And they’ve both written books on the topic, which brought them to the same Jefferson School African American Heritage Center stage March 20 for the Virginia Festival of the Book.

Bellamy, who signaled he was going to run for a second term on City Council, talked about the toll his 2016 call to remove the statue of General Robert E. Lee has taken on him and his family. His therapist suggested he write about it, and he wrote what became Monumental: It Was Never about a Statue to tell his side of the story and get it off his chest, with little concern about whether it ever got published.

“Deep down I was hurting,” he says.

A lot of people blamed him for bringing white supremacists to Charlottesville, he says. He had to grow up publicly following what he calls “Tweetgate,” when earlier offensive tweets were unearthed and he lost his job with Albemarle schools. And there was the unrelenting stream of “vile” threats.

“If it was about a statue, people wouldn’t tell me they’re going to hang me from a tree or harm my wife and children,” he says.

Landrieu says he also got hate mail, typically in a white envelope with red ink, that his wife hid from him.

The statue issue is “about race in America,” he says. “It’s about institutional racism.”

Landrieu, who wrote In the Shadow of Statues: A White Southerner Confronts History, never thought too much about the Confederate monuments when he was growing up in the Big Easy. Then a friend, jazz musician Wynton Marsalis, “popped” him on the head and asked, “Have you looked at it from my perspective?”

In May 2017, Landrieu made a landmark speech about his decision to remove four Confederate statues. In Charlottesville, he referred to one of its points, a scenario in which an African American parent has to answer a child’s question about a statue of Lee, in which the girl asks, “Wasn’t that the side that wanted to keep me a slave?”

As Southerner and as a white man, Landrieu holds no truck with the “heritage not hate” argument often posited by Lost Cause adherents. He lists historic facts that some whites have a hard time with.

“The Confederacy was on the wrong side of humanity,” he says. The Civil War “was fought for the cause of slavery.” And that needs to be acknowledged to get to the point where the country can heal, he says.

Even though progress has been made, there are a lot of people in the country who are afraid and there’s a lot of dehumanization. “Donald Trump is not the cause of it but he’s an accelerant,” says Landrieu. “White nationalism and white supremacy are having a field day,”

Bellamy expounded on why he’s called on Governor Ralph Northam, “a personal friend,” to resign. “It’s not his place to believe he can lead a discussion about race and equity after what has transpired.”

The worst for Bellamy was the day after Northam apologized for wearing blackface, when he attempted to moonwalk. Northam didn’t understand how offensive and degrading minstrel shows are, says Bellamy. And when Northam followed the press conference by calling the first African slaves “indentured servants,” says Bellamy, “That shows me you don’t get it.”

He did suggest ways the governor could use his position and privilege to redeem himself: by funding “historically underfunded” black colleges, by reforming marijuana laws and the criminal justice system, and by talking to his conservative friends in the General Assembly “who block the legislation we need to move the statues.”

Those, notes Landrieu, are “institutional racism.”

While Landrieu called for having those painful conversations on race, Bellamy seemed talked out when such engagement results in no action. “You shed a couple of tears and you go home.” he says of those privileged to live in nice homes while most in poverty are black and don’t have the same luxuries. “That is not equity,” he says. “I’m the bad guy for saying that.”

Both men believe it’s necessary to repair the damage that’s been done by racism. “There can be no repair and reconciliation without the redistribution of resources,” says Bellamy. “If you mess something up, you fix it.”

He also touched on civility, which he describes as “almost synonymous with comfortable.” People were yelling at City Council meetings because they’ve been ignored for years and it was an expression of their rage, says Bellamy.

He thinks that’s had an effect. “We got your attention,” he says. More resources have been allocated to affordable housing and the county banned Confederate images in schools. “You think that came from being civil?” he asks. “Pffft.”

With the Democratic primary deadline looming March 28, Bellamy says he’s still debating whether to run again for City Council, but indicated he was likely to because to change policy, “the best way to do that is through elected office.”