Council Battle Continues

Published by Waldo Jaquith on November 24, 2005 in Education and Politics. 2 Comments

The simmering dispute between Republican Rob Schilling and Democrats on City Council is continuing in the wake of Monday’s meltdown, John Yellig writes in today’s Progress. Check out this MP3 for the abridged, one and a half minute version of the dispute, which features Schilling speaking out of turn, Kendra Hamilton disagreeing with him, and Mayor David Brown trying to get control of the meeting.

The disagreement is partially over whether the school board should be elected by ward, partially partisan, and partially race-based — essentially a continuation of everything that made the Scottie Griffin saga so sordid, apparently unresolved by the removal of Griffin.

L’affair Ward started with Schilling’s e-mail to supporters accusing Democrats of holding a forum on whether to move to a ward-based election while having already sent a letter to the Department of Justice seeking permission to move to an at-large election system. Hamilton is upset that Schilling didn’t point out that the letter mentioned that the city would provide a post-hearing addendum, though she seems even more upset at Schilling’s portrayal of himself as a champion of the black community. Hamilton, as the only black member of council (and whose academic studies and career have been devoted to African-American history and culture), sees herself as the representative of what she terms “my people.”

The ward discussion may well continue at the next Council meeting. This is going to end in tears.

UVa Fires Critic of Charter Plan

Published by Waldo Jaquith on November 24, 2005 in Politics and UVa. 2 Comments

Outspoken UVa charter critic Dena Bowers has been abruptly fired from her position as a recruiter in their HR department. She says she was fired on Tuesday after sending a private e-mail containing an NAACP analysis of the charter’s effect on medical center employees. The e-mail was forwarded around by others, leading to it being mistakenly sent to the all classified staff at within the College of Arts & Sciences. UVa does not, as a matter of policy, publicly address personnel matters. As a seventeen-year employee of UVa, Bowers is surprised and angered by her firing, and believes that it is retaliation for her opposition to the charter. Liesel Nowak has the story in today’s Daily Progress.

C’ville Music Scene in Post

Published by Waldo Jaquith on November 23, 2005 in Music. 2 Comments

This Sunday’s Washington Post will feature an article about the Charlottesville music scene. Author Ben Brazil visited and reviewed the music communities of Athens, Chapel Hill, and Our Fair City. He spent time at Twisted Branch, Bang!, Starr Hill Gravity Lounge, writing specifically about Bella Morte, Lauren Hoffman, This Means You, and John D’earth. The author also turns to Mike Friend and Jeff Reynolds, of WNRN, for advice on good local music.

All in all, it amounts to some great exposure for some of the town’s best musicians and venues.

Biscuit Run Sells for $46M

Published by Waldo Jaquith on November 22, 2005 in Development. 11 Comments

Two square miles of undeveloped land just south of town, Biscuit Run, have been bought by Hunter Craig for an astounding $46.2M. The land will be turned into yet another development with a name apparently generated by computer for maximum irony value, “Fox Ridge.” It will include somewhere between 900 and 5,000 residences, which would bring about a significant increase in the Albemarle County population. The Breeden family, who has lived at Biscuit Run for many years now, have kept a chunk of land for themselves to continue to live on. David Hendrick has the story in today’s Progress.

In other news, my old buddy Eric Breeden is now my bestest friend in the whole wide world.

Council Decides on At-Large School Board Elections

Published by Waldo Jaquith on November 22, 2005 in Education and Politics. 42 Comments

There were fireworks at last night’s City Council meeting on the matter of whether the elected school board should be based on wards or at large. Republican Rob Schilling claimed that only a ward-based system would provide racial diversity, which led to a strong rebuttal from Democrat Kendra Hamilton, the only member of council that is neither white nor male. John Yellig described the exchange in the Progress:

“I have allowed members of the public and a certain member of council to distort and misrepresent all sorts of things – the history of desegregation, my politics, my actions, my words,” she said. “But enough is enough. It’s time to set the record straight.”

Referencing an e-mail Schilling sent to some voters Monday, Hamilton ridiculed his assertion that he’s “the only councilor who cares about the African-American community.”

“I never thought that I, as a black woman, would be reduced to explaining to a bunch of white people…that I know what I’m talking about,” she said.

Schilling angrily responded to Hamilton’s comments, saying, “I’m not going to let that stand,” and, over calls for order from Mayor David Brown, added, “I’m going to stand by every word I wrote in the e-mail today.”

So…who’s gonna provide a copy of that e-mail?

Anyhow, Council voted not to petition the General Assembly to permit the city to have ward-based elections, so at least the first elections, this May, will be at large.

7:15pm Update: God bless Sean Tubbs. He’s posted the relevant portion of the audio from last night’s Council meeting. You can hear Schilling for the first 13:50, and then Hamilton for the rest of the clip.

8:55pm Update: Somebody has posted what is said to be Schilling’s e-mail.

Sideblog