Photoblogger and generally awesome guy Bill Emory has been appointed to the Planning Commission. #
News and meta-news about Charlottesville, VA, since 2001.
Sideblog
Police announced this afternoon that their investigation into what was initially believed to be a fatal fire on Rugby Avenue is now a homicide investigation. #
The Virginia Supreme Court has denied George Huguely’s appeal. His second-degree murder conviction will stand, WRIC reports. #
In a carefully worded story, and not citing specific sources, WTVR reports that forensic evidence belonging to Jesse Matthew Jr., the main suspect in the disappearance of Hannah Graham, matches forensic evidence collected during the investigation of Morgan Harrington’s 2009 murder. #
In the wake of Hannah Graham’s disappearance, and the evidence that came from private security footage, city officials are revisiting the question of installing security cameras on the downtown mall. #
Both Charlottesville Registrar Sheri Iachetta and former Electoral Board member Stephanie Commander have turned themselves in to the police on
foursix and four felony counts of embezzlement, respectively. #Ten years ago, the National Institutes of Health budget doubled and schools like the University of Virginia built massive new research facilities. A decade later, those buildings remain largely underutilized. NPR visits UVA in this story on the effect of federal binge and spurge spending in the sciences. #
In 2012, Council approved a new student housing complex on West Main—now some council members are questioning whether what they were shown matches what was built. #
The Architectural Review Board has approved a bike-themed mural on West Market, below the McGuffey Art Center, although at least one member expressed concerns that it might look like the bicyclists were riding away from Charlottesville’s downtown. #
City Police Chief Tim Longo is meeting with city leaders to work on protocols regarding the use of military surplus police weapons in Charlottesville. #
A 100-year-old Colonnades resident received military honors for her service in the WWII Women’s Army Corps #
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Once Ambassador Norris told Cville Eye that he should become a part of the solution by applying to serve on boards and committees. Souns reasonable upon first inspection. Cville Eye didn’t bother to say that the process is rigged. In this appointment process, people applied by the deadline, the deadline was extended considerably without public explanation, eventually interviews were held, and a person who was not interviewed (according to Emory’s own words in the link)was appointed. What I point out a lot is bad government processes and will continue to do so. Ambassador Norris should become a part of the solution and stop executing them as Mayor. What’s the use of establishing a public process if it’s going to fluctuate upon apparent whim?
Yeah right, the process was rigged so that Bill Emory of all people was chosen. It had to be that. No other possible explanation for why they might have selected him over a self appointed expert on nearly every %*#$#@ing subject under the sun like you. Get a freaking grip!
Thank bejesus someone finally called out Cville Eye for being an all-around uninformed and conspiracy-hungry ass.
Entirely too much vulgarity and profanity exhibited by certain bloggers …..be a quipster….try not to use vulgarity and profanity against those who disagree with you or your views, i.e…fishie, ed in belmont, waldo etc. etc. Personally I view the planning commission and BAR as nothing more than obstructionist with over inflated ego’s.
Agree with Ed. Every time i read Cville Eye’s posts, they sound like uninformed, conspiracy crazy, BS….I don’t buy any of it, any more.
Though I could do with an improvement in tone from these folks, Cville Eye, I’ve got to agree that the appointment of Bill Emory is a sign that precisely the opposite of what you claim is true. Bill is far from an insider. He’s not a developer, real estate agent, or moneyed interest. He’s a photographer, an amateur historian, and a kind and thoughtful guy. We need more Bill Emorys on our boards and commissions.
Hear, hear for the Bill Emory appointment! He’s the closest thing we’ve got to Walt Whitman in our midst.
I have absolutely no problem, so far, with Mr. Emory’s serving on the Planning Commission. I enjoyed reading about his attitude towards the job in the article on Charlottesville Tomorrow. I particularly appreciate his words on public access to the mic. However, I would be interested in knowing what others think of the process, or is this a case that any thing goes as long as we get a person in office that we like?
Again, I ask (in vain always) what did I say in the following statement that was not true: “In this appointment process, people applied by the deadline, the deadline was extended considerably without public explanation, eventually interviews were held, and a person who was not interviewed (according to Emory’s own words in the link)was appointed.” and is anybody else not bothered by the process?
Congrats to Bill- I just want to know why planning and the BAR have so many people on them. Those meetings can take forever!
Bill Emory did interview for a seat on the Planning Commission, not once but twice. On his third try for appointment, he was going to be out of town on the day we conducted the interviews and there was mutual agreement that he didn’t need to interview a third time since he’d already answered essentially the same questions twice. While it does help to get one’s blood flowing to one’s vital parts to think of City Council as a group that operates under a constant cloud of conspiracy and collusion, sadly the reality is almost always much more mundane.
Thanks for reminding me it’s Mr. Huja’s first term on council, not Mr. Taliaferro’s. Judging from the amount of comments that each has made since January, I would have thought the reverse was true. And, again, why was the deadline extended? It certainly is taking a lot for transparency in government to function.
While waiting for Ambassador Norris’ answer as to why the process was extended, I checked out (I hope this link works) Charlottesville Tomorrow announcements earlier this year.. As best as I can reconstruct, CT announced January 9, 2008 that the city would be looking for replacements for William Lucy and Hosea Williams and on March 3, 2008 City Council appointed Dan Rosenweig (from a field of seven applicants) to replace Lucy who was stepping down in March (makes sense). However, no one was chosen from the remaining six applicants to replace Williams (doesn’t make sense).
On June 24 (Rosenweig attended his first meeting March 18) CT announces that the city was looking for a replacement for Williams and applicants had a deadline of July 3 (I don’t know how many of the remaining previous applicants were still in the pool) and also stating that “As soon as Council is satisfied there is a sufficient pool of applicants, City Council Clerk Jeanne Cox will schedule a special meeting to interview each one.” I have no idea as to how many additional applications came in, however, it was announced that the applicants for the PC would be interviewed and the public could attend for observation only (I have no problem with asking people to be quiet when there’s no public hearing). Mr. Emory was appointed by council on August 19. According to Mr. Norris, he was in the pool of the seven that had applied before March. Again, I ask, why wasn’t he picked from the original field of seven and why was the process stretched from January to August? Ambassador Norris is there really a mundane reason?
If you’re going to grill the mayor about something, is this really the thing to pick, Cville Eye? This is a routine board appointment, done about like all of the other ones, with the notable aspect that the appointee is extraordinarily free of any entanglements that might cause one to doubt that he has the interests of Charlottesville at heart. You know what the answer to your questions is going to be: they held the position open, as they often do, because they thought they could get a bigger pool of applicants. Why not keep your powder dry for a scandal or something?
You win me over with funny words. Okay.
Waldo, I admire what you’ve done with this ole bloggy thing here and all, but I gotta say sometimes you are just too #%*^/_=$)!&*#=;/@$)!&#$%)^_ !#&($@!$^%ing sensible.
Um. Thank you? :)
Having worked side-by-side with Bill for a long time on Woolen Mills issues and preservation, I can tell you that he’s absolutely a man of the people– the REAL people. He’s not remotely impressed or swayed by money or power, and he’s 100% fair. He’s dedicated, a straight shooter, and stands up for what he believes in. Frankly, he and I were both pretty shocked that he was selected, precisely because he’s the furthest thing from a political animal. But to badly paraphrase something wonderful Waldo once said about Dave Norris: The things that would make you surprised he’s chosen to become a politician in the first place, are the same things that make him good at it. (Ack, Waldo, correct as necessary! Sorry, I totally butchered your words of wisdom.)
Cville Eye, I don’t know how to convince you that there were no shenanigans regarding how Council chose to go about selecting the candidates. But believe me, if there was any governmental conspiracy afoot, they sure as hell wouldn’t have picked Bill as their pigeon!
I attended the first interview he did, and everything was entirely on the up & up. Council asks great questions, and it was very informative listening to the different answers the candidates gave. Sit in on the next set of interviews yourself, and if you think that Council’s going all shifty, well then report back to us.
I am not ignoring any of your comments. I hope you will forgive me for not respondin, but I’m afraid that many of you believe I am trying to use Mr. Emory’s appointment on a personal level to get at individuals specifically. In this instance, I actually applaud Ambassador Norris for responding as much as he has. I especially admire Mr. Emory’s taking his legal issues with the city to the court where it belonged. I don’t understand what happened, but I’m sorry that the case was never really resolved. I shall refrain from commenting so that the issue is not Mr. Emory.
Thanks for your comments Cville Eye. May I ask something of you, though? I understand that you disagree with Dave Norris on some key issues, but could you drop the “Ambassador” jibe you always use when referring to him?
I haven’t always agreed with every vote Dave’s made, but I know him to be an extraordinarily kind and ethical person. It’s one thing to discuss or criticize individual decisions you disagree with him on, but quite another to continually refer to him using a title that you intend to be insulting or demeaning. Quite frankly, he’s a stand-up guy, works his tail off, and doesn’t deserve that. If you have a personal beef with him, talk about it man to man. But if it’s a question of disagreeing about policies, then please drop the personal insults.
Victoria, I am sorry that I can not grant you your request. As long as our elected Mayor, be it Mr. Norris or Mr. Republican or Mr. Independent, insists upon representing himself as Mayor of the City of Charlottesville in international affairs, I will continue to refer to him as Mr. Ambassador, which is an unelected office that he was not appointed to nor sanctioned by the public which elected to office. The title is not meant to be “insulting or demeaning,” it is solely intended to criticize him for misusing his elected poisition to draw attention to his private politics. Again, I’m truly sorry that I can not in good conscience grant your request because I feel strongly that his actions, though maybe well-intended, is totally misguided.
Maybe we should all send our Obama campaign contributions through Dave Norris in the hopes that he might be selected to run the American embassy in a foreign post as his next public service gig. (I’d be happy to visit you in London, Dave!) And if it’s Rome, lay in a supply of air mattresses, as I can think of a few current and former officials who’ll surely come knocking. Even Cville Eye, I’d bet….
I was kinda hoping for something a little more exotic, like Tahiti or Nepal…but I’ll settle for Rome. And yes Karl, you and Cville Eye can come visit anytime.
I’m leaning heavily towards Bangkok, but Vietnam, Brazil, New Zealand or Argentina would be also interesting.
Firenze, per favore!
Okay Cville, I hear ya. But since you acknowledge that the mayor’s motives are well-intended, how about giving him the good neighbor discount and just refer to him as Ambassador only 50% of the time? :-) You’ll get a break, we’ll get a break, it’s all good.
(Cuz, you know we’ve had some not so well-intended politicians ’round these parts before, and intentions are very important things…)
Not to mention that our collective desire to travel, as evidenced above, indicates that we probably SHOULD have a sound, well-articulate foreign policy. That’s more than we should expect the Mayor to handle. Dave: my dad was a diplomat–Bangkok, Oslo, Taipei. I once carried a diplomatic passport, ie I know the drill.
Thus, I humbly offer myself for consideration as Charlottesville’s first Secretary of State.
(Also hoping that I won’t need to interview for the job…)
Since it is not rare for the city to change its applicationprocess in mid stream, I’d like to be Minister of Foreign Trade.