Responding to criticism of the rather unorthodox proposals of new Charlottesville school superintendent Scottie Griffin, the always-calming UVa Dean Rick Turner declared in a speech at the Rotunda yesterday that “she’s being dragged through the mud because she’s black and female,” helpfully pointing out that he doesn’t “think white people in Charlottesville will do anything for black folks.” Turner believes that, if Griffin were a white man, everybody would be fine with her proposal, which would cut five student-contact positions and replace them with four administrators. Kate Andrews has the story in today’s Progress.
Archive for February, 2005
VDOT has allocated $1.5M to Charlottesville, to create engineering plans for the Meadowcreek Parkway, and Council has decided to send out a bid request for consultants to do just that. The expense is the largest relating to the Parkway in quite some time. It must be determined if the Parkway will have a full interchange with 250 and McIntire, or if it will meet up with the two in a stoplighted, 17-lane intersection, which would do virtually nothing to alleviate traffic. Engineering plans should be done in 2.5 years, followed by securing an estimated $25M funding. Neighborhood Development Services director Jim Tolbert figures that funding should be available by 2027. Gentlemen, start your engines. John Yellig has the story in today’s Progress.
silkyzephyr writes: The Jefferson-Madison Regional Library has been forced to suspend its Wifi service. According to one of the reference librarians, a hacker used it to break in and vandalize their computer. The library hopes Charlottesville’s information technology office can devise safeguards. That office is currently overburdened with the changeover to the new Citylink software, however. So it seems unlikely the library can restore Wifi service any time soon.
Bummer. Hopefully, they’ll plug in a $50 hardware firewall to partition off their public network from their private network to prevent that from happening again via WiFi or the computer lab. 02/11 Update: It seems that something got lost in the game of telephone. It was system trouble, but non-malicious, that disconnected the WiFi. They decided to leave it down, as it is just a pilot project, until they could fix the system problem permanent-like to bring the connectivity back. Thanks to library prez John Halliday for the info. Mea culpa.
There’s a whole kerfuffle over a letter circulating via e-mail, allegedly written by Charlottesville Assistant Superintendent for Instruction Laura Purnell, as James Fernald and Josh Barney report in today’s Progress. Purnell wrote a nasty criticism of beleaguered Charlottesville Superintendent Scottie Griffin, and ended up writing a letter of apology to Griffin. Griffin released the letter of apology publicly, but would not release the letter that made the apology necessary. To that end, keep reading to see the original letter in question, thanks to pseudonymous submitter “DumpHer.”
dsewell writes: WINA is announcing that starting Monday the 14th, Bill O’Reilly’s “Radio Factor” show will replace Clark Howard’s consumer affairs program. A phone call to the station confirmed that Howard’s show is being dropped entirely rather than moved to a different time slot.
I was going to bill this as the first post-Eure programming move on WINA, but in fact the sale of the station to Saga Communications has not (to my knowledge) been completed yet. So I have no idea whether it’s related to the sale.
Whatever the underlying reason, to my mind it’s an ominous move. Clark Howard is one of the few nationally syndicated AM talk radio hosts who is humane, reasonable, and capable of listening to callers rather than using them as rhetorical stepladders. I have no idea what his politics are, except that he is consistently on the side of honesty and fairness in business and the rights of the little guy in consumer transactions. Bill O’Reilly, on the other hand, is the apotheosis of what talk radio has become: a mean-spirited, pugnacious self-promoter.
Silver lining: WINA is removing the only reason not to listen to Diane Rehm and “Talk of the Nation” on Radio IQ during the 1-3pm time slot. That’s too bad. I quite like Clark Howard’s show.
Both Domino’s and Papa John’s refused to deliver pizzas at an HIV testing event at Westhaven yesterday, leading to charges of socioeconomic and — enter Rick Turner — racial discrimination. Managers from both companies cited a history of crime committed against drivers in a dozen areas of town, including Westhaven, as simply making it too dangerous to deliver there. Domino’s goes so far as to compensate by offering a two-for-one for Hardy Drive residents if they pick up their pies. AIDS/HIV Services Group director Kathy Baker points out that “whether it’s intended or not, it results in socioeconomic and racial discrimination.” The always-helpful UVa Dean Rick Turner says “Charlottesville has a blatant history of racial discrimination against black citizens,” and that this “reeks of racial discrimination.” Claudia Pinto has the story in today’s Progress.
“I can feel the Holy Ghost, hallelujah.” Those were the final words of evangelist Alfred Guy Jr., as he preached at a revival attended by 114 people at the Pentacostal Outreach Workship Center in Earlysville on Friday night. He then collapsed, dead of a heart attack. Rather than being upset, the congregation was uplifted. Said one member of the congregation, “I was raised in church, but I have never seen a service where the Lord has taken a pastor home. It was as though I was walking on the clouds.” Reed Williams has the story in today’s Progress.
Cecil writes: According to Cathy Harding’ s report in the most recent issue of C-Ville, Mayor Brown is blaming the head of the School Board for much of the sturm und drang related to recent decisions regarding the Charlottesville City Schools–more specifically, for the way recent decisions have been communicated to the public and the way public involvement has been managed. 02/16 Update: James Fernald at The Daily Progress weighs in with their version of the story today, which points out that Laura Purnell’s letters has gone entirely unaddressed. As City Councilor Blake Caravati points out, the letter was “breath-taking,” and, on the school system’s refusal to address it, he says that “you just can’t wish those things away.”
A young lover decides to propose marriage. Lacking money, he goes to Glassner Jewelers, asks to see a $1,500 pair of rings, and runs like hell. He presents the stolen rings to his sweetheart, who says, happily, “yes.” He tells her that he got them at Glassner. She goes there to get them resized. Jailarity ensues. Reed Williams has the story in today’s Progress.
UVa Dean Rick Turner, head of the local chapter of the NAACP, has called for increased involvement on the part of black families in the Charlottesville schools. Not willing to stop there, though, he went on to claim that the problem is “a slave-like mentality on the part of too many black people,” that teachers are racist, and that Mayor David Brown should resign for meeting with school principals without Superintendent Scottie Griffin present. That ought to settle the whole matter, eh? The increasingly-busy James Fernald has the story in today’s Progress.
cornelious writes: A school that focuses on assisting underachieving students and not on test preparation could be coming to Charlottesville’s school system. A proposal for a charter middle school was submitted to the city School Board last week. Chairwoman of the School Board says it’s “interesting and would like to hear more about it,” or something to that effect. Seems to me this is an opportune time to bring this proposal forward.
From the northern end of town up through northern Albemarle (and perhaps farther?), I can pick up a radio station that I’ve never heard of before, 101.1FM, WBAG. It is the greatest radio station ever. In a total of perhaps two hours of listening, I’ve heard The Doors, Jem, Dave Matthews, Kid Koala, Dizzy Gillespie, Soul Coughing, Mike Doughty, Lyle Lovett, Loretta Lynn….a bit of everything that is good and right about music. Three out of four songs that they play, I know and love; the rest I’ve never heard and love anyway. There are no commercials, no PSAs, no no breaks for song identification. The only station ID comes at the top of the hour, and says, only, that it’s WBAG. But WBAG is in North Carolina, and it’s a commercial station. The FCC knows nothing of a 101.1FM in the area. Their LPFM (low power FM) database lists only one 101.1FM in the state, and that’s way down in Hillsville. The station’s signal strength drops so sharply — from perfect to gone in the span of a couple of miles — that it’s almost certainly some sort of LPFM, though presumably one not licensed by the FCC. Has anybody else heard this wonderful station? Anybody know who runs this unauthorized station? When it came into being? I’d love the story behind this.
Ryo_Road writes: Today (February 22, 2005) the Albemarle County planning comminssion plans to discuss the plans of the newest shopping center destined for the Charlottesville area. According to the planning agenda the center has plans for a bank, resturaunt, and several retail stores. The developers will face a hurtle, however. Neighbors in two subdivisions, Woodbrook and Carsbrook, plan to attend the meeting to fight the project. If, or better yet when, the project is approved it will continue the historical trend of building up 29 solid all the way to Ruckersville. Commission notes can be found at albemarle.org.
Sometimes, the parody just writes itself. A year and a half before the election, Kenneth Jackson has declared his candidacy for City Council as an independent. Jackson, along with Ann Reinicke, ran as a Republican in the last election, but both were soundly defeated by the Democrats, with Jackson receiving just 10% of the vote. Helping nothing was the Daily Progress‘ February ‘04 revelation that then-candidate Jackson had been convicted of assault and battery four times over the course of a decade, three times with a knife. The best thing that he had going for him in the race was a bizarre endorsement by the very newspaper that revealed his penchant for stabbings, who asked, hilariously, “What other candidate has seen the law enforcement system, the court system, the social services system from the perspective of somebody in trouble?” Jackson intends to use the leftover money from his ‘04 race to start off his ‘06 race. The Charlottesville Republicans, who have the cash, will likely beg to differ. John Yellig had the story in yesterday’s Progress.
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