City Considering Closing Buford or Walker

Published by Waldo Jaquith on September 3, 2010 in Education. 11 Comments

The city school system is thinking about shutting down Walker Elementary or Buford Middle, Rachana Dixit wrote in yesterday’s Progress. Walker serves solely fifth- and sixth-grade students, while Buford serves seventh- and eighth-grade students. By consolidating them—probably at Buford—the city could save up to $700k/year in salaries…but it would require $21M in capital costs.

From the late sixties until the late eighties, Buford and Walker were both middle schools. In 1988, they split the duty, with Walker taking the lower two grades, and Buford taking the upper two.

The school board will vote on this in mid-October.

Bob Tucker to Retire

Published by Waldo Jaquith on August 26, 2010 in Government. 1 Comment

Just a few months after Gary O’Connell departed as Charlottesville city manager, Bob Tucker has announced he’s stepping down as the county executive, NBC-29 reports. In the equivalent role to O’Connell’s, Tucker has run the county for twenty years. His retirement is effective December 31. Expect a search firm to be hired and a national search to be conducted. Presumably this puts the county in the awkward position of competing with the city for the same talent.

Maurice Jones Shooting to be City Manager

Published by Waldo Jaquith on August 26, 2010 in Government. 10 Comments

Maurice Jones is shooting to be the city manager, Rachana Dixit writes in the Progress today. He became acting city manager when Gary O’Connell stepped down in April. Before that he was assistant city manager. Jones is perhaps best known for his time as a sportscaster for NBC-29 in the mid-nineties and, after that, serving as the city spokesman. An outside search firm is trying to find a replacement for O’Connell; Jones has not yet formally applied, but intends to shortly.

As this process unfolds, keep in mind that Charlottesville has a strong city manager form of government. The city manager is in charge of the city—basically a mid-sized business—the equivalent of mayor in many other cities.

The Hook Investigates VQR

Published by Waldo Jaquith on August 18, 2010 in Business, Meta News and UVa. 35 Comments

In the current Hook is one of the longest articles that I recall them publishing: Dave McNair’s investigation into the suicide of VQR’s Kevin Morrissey. There’s a lot more information, and better sourced information, than in the Chronicle of Higher Education piece, published last week. Perhaps the most interesting revelation in the article is that there was a 32-year veteran of the UVA-published magazine who says she was forced out by editor Ted Genoways in 2005; after she filed a harassment complaint against him, the university gave her a severance package. She calls Genoways “a danger” who “should not be in charge of other people.”

Obligatory disclaimer: I work for VQR, I’ve accepted a new job elsewhere at the university, this is super awkward to write about, and I’ve lost all perspective as to when I should write about this on cvillenews.com and when I shouldn’t. Based on the explosion of comments on The Hook’s site this afternoon and evening, though, it looks like people are still pretty interested.

Homeless Man Beaten Near Mall

Published by Waldo Jaquith on August 17, 2010 in Crime. 14 Comments

A homeless man was beaten half to death overnight, the Daily Progress reports. Robert Kartheiser was found in the bushes between the Omni and the federal courthouse. He’s hospitalized, unconscious, and it’s not clear that he’s going to live. Police don’t have any suspects, and are looking for leads in the case.

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