In 1994, Joel and Ben Jones created a mockumentary honoring “Zeke Hoffmeyer” for Live Arts’ “Off the Mall” show that summer. At the time, the story of the slacker Gen X musician and downtown denizen was hilarious, timely, and intertwined perfectly with the real downtown Charlottesville. Joel made Zeke Hoffmeyer available online this weekend, and I just watched it for the first time in fifteen years. It’s aged beautifully. If you spent any significant time living, working, or relaxing downtown during the mid-90s, you’re bound to enjoy this look back into that time. And even if you didn’t, heck, it’s just plain funny; carve out twenty three minutes and give it a watch.
News and meta-news about Charlottesville, VA, since 2001.
Author Archive for Waldo Jaquith
Page 103 of 549
City Council is again talking about moving the Farmer’s Market to a permanent location, Rachana Dixit writes in today’s Progress. It’s been setting up in the metered lot on Water St. for a little more than fifteen years now; before that it was in the Jefferson School parking lot, as I recall. On Monday night Council talked about making another push at finding some better digs for the weekly market, although that’s something that comes up every few years and never goes anywhere. Court Square is the perennial suggestion, both for historical accuracy and because it lends itself to a decent shopping experience today, but it’s not clear how vendors would be able to set up there with the ease that they do at the current location. At this point, it’s all just talk—here’s no movement that indicates that anything’s more likely to happen now than before.
Chiara Canzi provides the alarming news in the current C-Ville Weekly that the university intends to eliminate half of its psychiatric beds from its total of forty, getting rid of eight next months and another twelve early next year. The PR director for the UVA Medical Center says that it won’t be a problem because “not all beds…are used,” but the folks I talked to who work for the facility tell me that’s absolutely not true. They’re basically the psychiatric equivalent of an emergency room, and one of very few available right now—folks are routinely brought down from upstate, where (a member of the General Assembly recently told me) there are generally no beds available. The state has a significant shortage of beds, and it’s becoming a problem. Obviously, we’re not talking about literal beds here, but rather the capacity to deal with an individual represented by it.
The result of this will not be good. This will leave people without care, instead winding up in jail (without the care that they need), on the streets, or with family who don’t know how to help them. Note that this coincides with the General Assembly passing a slew of new mental health laws in response to the Virginia Tech shooting, many of which will require more beds to deal with the more stringent standards. They’re stiffening the laws, but not providing the funding to actually follow through. That’s basically par for the course: legislators want to brag about how they’re tough on crime and cut taxes, but as we see here, the two are often in opposition.
Ken Boyd plans to run against Rep. Tom Perriello for Congress, Brian McNeill writes in today’s Daily Progress. Well, that’s not strictly true. McNeill writes that Boyd attended an informational session for the apparent hordes of Republicans who intend to seek the nomination to run against the freshman Democrat, and Albemarle County Republican Chair Christian Schoenewald tells McNeill that “he told us he was running”; Boyd tells McNeill that he’s “still considering it very seriously.” Boyd serves on the Board of Supervisors, representing the Rivanna precinct. He’s a sophomore, first elected in 2003, defeating Democrat Peter Hallock with 52.6% of the vote. The 5th congressional district is huge—the size of New Jersey—and Charlottesville is in the northern tip of the triangular district, which extends clear to the North Carolina border. I’d say that somebody from this far north is unlikely to win the district—since we have very little in common with the rest of it—but given that Rep. Perriello was born and raised in Ivy, that’s clearly no true anymore.
- Crozet Hardware. By Charlottesville Tomorrow. / CC BY 2.0
Crozetians believe overwhelmingly that their #1 priority is limiting growth, WCAV reports. The county surveyed Crozet’s citizens about the Master Plan—which currently calls for the population to more than double—and it was in that context that they volunteered their concerns about population growth. Specifically, they’re also looking to stop the 250 corridor from sprawling out, and instead build up downtown. A 2006 county report forecast a maximum Crozet population of 24,000 in 15 years, a number that left many Crozet residents horrified, no doubt spurring contributing to the strong support for a sustainable population that this survey has shown.
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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