Chesapeake and Ohio R.R. Depot, 1909

In today's Daily Progress, Seth Rosen writes of my friend Lynda Kennedy watching out the windows of the City's brand-new Transit Center yesterday for her bus to arrive. Had Lynda been looking out those same windows 98 years ago, she would have had a much different view of her transit options:

Another Local Government for Sustainability

When it comes to taking action on climate protection, Charlottesville is on the verge of some big and (hopefully) bold changes. We're not exactly in the forefront (yet!) on this issue, but with the City having signed on to the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement last fall and with Council having created a Citizens Committee on Environmental Sustainability this winter to develop innovative proposals for reducing our impact on the atmosphere and the environment, we're definitely moving in the right direction.










At our Council meeting last Monday, March 19, we took one more step forward by agreeing to join ICLEI -- the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (tagline: "Local Governments for Sustainability"). We're only the third Virginia community (after Arlington and Blacksburg) to join this global body, which provides hands-on assistance to local governments in helping folks like us to achieve our goals for sustainable development. (One specific tool that comes with ICLEI membership, for example, is a Clean Air and Climate Protection software program that helps localities to establish and pursue measurable reduction targets for greenhouse gases [carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide] and criteria air pollutants [NOx, SOx, carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds, PM10] associated with electricity and fuel use and waste disposal in our own communities.)

We have a lot of work to do and a series of difficult choices to make if we are to succeed in becoming a true "Green City," but given the fact that some of the nation's (if not the world's) most visionary thinkers & planners on matters of environmental sustainability live and work right here in Charlottesville, I believe that we have what it takes to set a new standard for local action in this vitally important arena.

Elections, or Coronations?

I don't often find myself in complete agreement with the editorial page of the Daily Progress, but on the issue of injecting some actual competition into our supposedly competitive elections, I concur 100%. I continue to believe that nonpartisan redistricting is one of the most important reforms needed in our state. The gerrymandered districts we have now have produced little but political polarization and incumbency-for-life. As the Progress editorial concluded, "Virginia can and must do better." Amen to that.

Deltiology on High

So I was dining with my friends David and Jenny Robinson the other night, and David happened to mention that they had moved their company (Birch Studio Graphics, a most excellent design firm by the way) into a building on High Street that supposedly used to be a church. Well, it so happens that I have in my collection a postcard of a "High Street Baptist Church," and I've never been able to visualize where on High Street this church may have been located. So the next day, I went to the Charlottesville Assessor's on-line listing of Cville properties and found this image of Birch Studio's new home at 619 E. High St.:


And I compared it to this postcard (circa 1905) from my collection:


There are clearly a lot of differences between the two pictures, but David was convinced that it was the same building. (His exact words, when I e-mailed him this image, were: "Bingo! That’s our building. What a find!") I've since confirmed, via the 1907 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map, that this is indeed the same location. David's going to enlarge this image and print it out on canvas for display in their foyer. Pretty cool!

Va. Festival of the Book -- "Faces of Homelessness and Hope"

On Sunday, March 25, at 1:30pm at Gravity Lounge downtown, as part of the Virginia Festival of the Book, La Trina Neal will be discussing her book He Gave Me Shelter: A Year of Grace, a chronicle of her personal experiences as a young homeless woman in Washington, DC. You should come and hear her story. Erik Speer (from COMPASS Day Haven) and I will be joining Ms. Neal for a discussion about homelessness here in Cville.

Here's the book description: "He Gave Me Shelter is an inspirational and poignant story of a young woman whose dreams were derailed when circumstances forced her into a homeless shelter. Faced with the challenges of getting her life back on track, La Trina finds herself negotiating with the colorful and troubled personalities of the other residents. While settling into a successful routine, a crisis at the shelter forces her into the role of resident manager and, eventually, executive director. Through this animated and emotionally charged tale, the author provides a guided tour of this too-often unseen world, while giving voice to the homeless and dignity to their daily struggles."

David Sawyer, R.I.P.

David Sawyer died in a car accident this past week -- you can read his obituary here. Back in the '80s, David ran a little place on West Main St. called the Garden Gourmet Vegetarian Restaurant (more recently the site of Continental Divide), which featured quite the alternative culinary/cultural/musical scene, with regular performances by Boyd Tinsley (pre-DMB) and many others. I regret that Garden Gourmet closed its doors before I moved to town.

I did not know David well, but we had a number of mutual friends, and we would run into each other at the Cville VegFest each year, where he would be staffing a table for some environmental group or another. I know that he will be greatly missed, and my sympathies go out to his friends and family. Contributions in his honor can be made to The Fivefold Path, Inc.