Tuesday, May 29
Transit proposal gets props
Let’s face it: Charlottesville has a rockin’ national rep. We might not be No. 1 any longer (enter sigh of relief here), but we still lead among American cities. Today’s USA Today lauds the city’s proposal to cut out bus fares as a way of upping ridership on public transportation and cutting back on traffic congestion. “Everybody and their mother has been moving here in the last five years,” City Councilor Dave Norris told the paper. “We’re trying to…get people out of their cars.”
Roll credits: Herskowitz is tourism winner
 Virginia Film Festival Director Richard Herskowitz is “Tourism Person of the Year.” He got the accolade from the Charlottesville Albemarle Convention & Visitors Bureau for all the visitors the film festival brings. |
Capping off the official opening of the new Visitors Center at the west end of the Downtown Mall this evening, the Charlottesville Albemarle Convention & Visitors Bureau recognized Richard Herskowitz as this year’s “Tourism Person of the Year.” Herskowitz directs the Virginia Film Festival, which has brought thousands of visitors to the area and which will mark its 20th anniversary in October with a festival focusing on families in the movies.
Wednesday, May 30
Spotty football program no impediment to SI.com nod
 UVA may not be a true sports school, but still, SI.com, the website for Sports Illustrated, recommends a stop in Charlottesville to take in the ties-and-sundresses at a football game, or a basketball game at UVA’s new mega-arena, the JPJ. |
So UVA is no powerhouse on the gridiron. That doesn’t keep SI.com, the online version of Sports Illustrated, from declaring Charlottesville to be “among the best road trips” sports fans can take. The top row of Klockner Stadium earns designation as the “best place to spend a spring Saturday afternoon,” (true dat) and the John Paul Jones Arena wins out as “the best college basketball arena anywhere,” no doubt making those development officers smile with pride.
Thursday, May 31
Miller Center chews on sound bite culture
The private roads of Farmington were put to the test today, as hundreds of shiny (and expensive) vehicles flocked to the spring Chamber of Commerce luncheon. Chuck Rotgin, president of North Pointe development company Great Eastern Management, was honored as the “Small Business Person of the Year.” Delivering the address was Gerald L. Baliles, former governor and current director of UVA’s Miller Center, who exhorted the crowd to improve the educational system so that U.S. business could keep growing. But he also let slip an upcoming endeavor of the Miller Center: A series of national debates that will start in the fall, intended to bring back civility and counteract the sound bite culture.
Friday, June 1
Presidents no princes
 If UVA President John T. Casteen, III is like other university presidents, his main job is to consult, consult, consult, former Casteen speechwriter Margaret G. Klosko writes of university leadership in Inside Higher Ed. |
“There is something in a university that prevents Machivellian leadership,” writes Margaret G. Klosko, former speechwriter for UVA prez John T. Casteen III, in an Inside Higher Ed piece. University presidents, for various reasons, rely on consensus-building to make their decisions, Klosko writes. Virginia Tech President Charles Steger was a prime example when he met with a “Leadership Team” following April 16’s shootings. Given her former position at UVA—and the number of commissions Casteen seems to be consulting with constantly—we’re willing to bet Klosko is on the money when it comes to how things are run at our nearest university.
Saturday, June 2
Legal thrillers? Who needs ‘em?
Lawyerly dramas are out, people. John Grisham’s next novel, on the way in September, is Playing for Pizza, a fish-out-of-water tale about an American football player in Italy. Apparently it’s a funny one; we’ll see if it also earns the title bestowed on Grisham’s gazillion other books: “Page turner.”
Sunday, June 3
Foxfield’s other crowd
All breeds of fancy, well-groomed beings turned out at Foxfield as the Charlottesville Albemarle Kennel Club held its 49th annual AKC All-Breed Dog Show at the racecourse this weekend. Purebred dogs from herding to sporting to toy breeds were rated on showmanship, obedience and, we assume, other fine qualities. The show totaled about 1,000 dogs of 125 breeds. Sandy Lady, president of the CAKC, told WCAV News, “Each dog show brings about $350,000 a day into the economy of the community.”
Monday, June 4
The most wonderful time of the year
If you’re reading this paper, it’s likely that as of tomorrow, you owe the tax man some dough. June 5 is the deadline for the year’s first half of personal property and real estate taxes in both the city and county. Personal property taxes will cost you $4.20 per $100 in the city and $4.28 per $100 in the county. Don’t worry—car tax relief can knock about half the cost down. But, there remain those pesky real estate taxes—rates were contentiously set this year in the city at $.95 per $100 and $.68 per $100 in the county.
