Public Policy Polling asked Virginians how they feel about a dozen major cities, and there’s none that they like more than Charlottesville. We’re seen favorably by 63% of those polled, with only 6% having an unfavorable opinion of us. Second place is Roanoke, with a 50/5 split. That’s based on an automated phone survey of 647 Virginian voters, conducted last week.
News and meta-news about Charlottesville, VA, since 2001.
Author Archive for Waldo Jaquith
Page 25 of 549
Alex writes:
The Washington Post’s Daniel de Vise has a most interesting story on his blog regarding some events that possibly influenced the forced resignation of UVA’s president Sullivan. It’s entitled “Are Virginia College Trustees Groomed for Activism?” It may shed some light on some murky forces that may have encouraged Ms. Dragas and Mr. Kington’s ousting of Dr. Sullivan. Up until now there has been comparatively little scrutiny on the prelude to the
resignation.My favorite remark by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni’s Ms. [Anne] Neal was, “I believe that the objection you encounter to ACTA’s role stems from those who like the status quo to be free of accountability or scrutiny.” She certainly has chutzpah. Ms. Dragas and Mr. Kington—seemingly indirectly egged on by Neal—mounted their coup in the dead of night and bristled at the attention they received. Not much accountability or scrutiny there.
I’ve had a strong hunch that Neal and ACTA were behind this failed coup, but I’ve got nothing more than circumstantial evidence to support that. de Vise appears to be on the trail.
The city is having a tough time figuring out what to do about a small number of problematic homeless people downtown, Graham Moomaw wrote in the Daily Progress on Saturday. There are a few homeless people, most apparently not locals (unlike most of the area’s homeless population), who engage in drunken fights and nasty panhandling downtown, and downtown business owners are sick of it. It’s particularly problematic around Central Place. In response, the city has removed the benches from that block and stationed a police officer there on weekdays. As the owner of Zocalo told City Council, the problem isn’t homelessness, it’s people actually violating the law.
This reminds me of the periodic demands to beef up the city’s noise ordinance. It’s always in response to a single restaurant or venue that’s behaving badly, but because a law can’t target just one venue, we’ve got to talk about laws that affect everybody.
Some clever new traffic signals have been installed along 250 on Pantops Mountain, Courtney Beale writes for Charlottesville Tomorrow. They’re Rhythm Engineering’s InSync traffic signal controllers, which use video cameras and a small computer to tally the rate of traffic on both streets at an intersection and, in collaboration with nearby traffic signals that are similarly equipped, adapts the light timing to get the most cars through the intersection as efficiently as possible. Technologically, it’s no fancier than the standard hardware in an Xbox 360, but the application of this concept to a $30,000 traffic light controller stands to save a lot of people a lot of time. Beale doesn’t say exactly which intersections are now equipped with an InSync controller, but since VDOT’s impetus for the change was the move of Martha Jefferson, presumably it includes the major three intersections between the intersection with 20 and the turn for Martha Jefferson.
Governor Bob McDonnell has named six new members of the UVA Board of Visitors, and the big news is that reviled Rector Helen Dragas has been reappointed, as a source in the governor’s office said would happen, last Saturday. The announcement came in an e-mail, in which he also named Johns Hopkins Medical CEO Edward Miller, who you’ll recall was Dragas’ pick for interim president, but wound up not the BOV’s pick, presumably as a result of the firestorm of protest to Sullivan’s removal. The remaining four new members are outgoing JMU president Linwood Rose, Northern Virginia Tech Council CEO and Republican political operative Bobbie Kilberg, Gannett CFO and UVA Alumni Association chair Victoria Harker, and McGuire Woods Consulting chairman Frank Atkinson.
McDonnell defended his reappointment of Dragas in his statement, writing:
Just as I was disappointed to see the lack of transparency and communication surrounding the request for the resignation of the first female president of UVa, I am also concerned that the first female rector seemed to become the sole target of recent criticism. While there is no doubt that the board made several mistakes in its actions, which it has publicly admitted, this is not a time for recrimination. It’s a time for reconciliation. I have been heartened by recent statements made by president Sullivan, the Board of Visitors and by the faculty senate chair about their ability to work with the rector. As Faculty Senate Chairman George Cohen said to The Richmond Times-Dispatch, “She (Dr. Sullivan) said she can work with the rector. I think we can work with the rector as well.” That kind of commitment to unity, healing and advancement is crucial to the university’s success in maintaining itself as a pillar of higher education to pursue the growth of knowledge and advance the human condition. Today’s reappointment is made in that spirit and with that purpose. I look forward to the board and administration moving forward together. The university’s tradition is the embrace of inquiry, critical thinking and change, which the rector and many others bring to the table. Ms. Dragas’s serious critique of the challenges facing the university is a voice that must be heard, and can help, in ensuring UVa remains one of the world’s foremost institutions of higher learning.
McDonnell conveniently ignores that Dragas was the sole target of criticism because she was the sole person to screw up terribly. Vice Rector Mark Kington was a close second, but he resigned from the board, insulating him from much further criticism just as the story went national. Complaining that Dragas was singled out for criticism would be like complaining that Katrina was singled out for destruction in New Orleans in September of 2005. Yes, of course she was.
The press release follows.
Continue reading ‘Governor Names BOV Appointees; Dragas Among Them’
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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