City Council Meeting   8/15/2011

Thank you for joining us today on Inside Nonprofits.

It's been said one of the best kept secrets in Virginia has been the existence of its native communities.

So yes, Virginia, we have Indians.

Amongst us, they're living, they're contributing to society in every way, just like other communities.

To tell us more about the Native communities, I have on the show Angela Daniel, Silver Star.

She is the founder of American Heritage Voices, and I also have one of the Board of Directors members, Diane Garrison.

Ladies, welcome to the show.

Thank you for having us.

So glad to have you here.

So much information that we can give viewers about your organization, but we're going to do our best

to get as much as we can in the little time that we're offered.

Well, this organization came to be, I'm a graduate student at the College of William and Mary in anthropology and as an anthropologist student and studying structures of society, I realized that monies were flowing to help native people generally flow to museums,

the academic facilities and institutions and so forth, but very rarely it didn't get to the native people themselves.

So I decided to start a nonprofit organization that could bring that money closer to the native people who are producing culture themselves.

And why was that important to you?

It's important to me because I do have native roots.

Did you have an idea that you had native roots?

No, no idea.

I just had a very strong interest in American Indians, but I didn't really know for sure.

There were little signals growing up, like my brother when he was younger, when you go out in the sun and he looked just like the typical image of an American Indian.

Now in Virginia, Virginia Indians come in every shade, color that one can imagine because traditionally, Virginia Indians believed in marrying outside of there.

They're groups to be healthy and they did not have any concept of race.

The mission of American Heritage Voices is to facilitate cultural expression and culture comes in a wide variety of forms.

Clothing, jewelry, and we have a history, a perspective of history that generally has not been told.

Okay.

That's correct.

The late chief of the Mattaponi tribe, Webster Little Eagle Kustelow,

Honored me with the Indian name of Silver Star in the year 2000.

It was due to, I did a lot of work for the Manupanaya.

That time I was a graphic designer.

And I did a lot of work for, I did their newsletters.

Just quickly, because we'll go into that in detail later, but quickly we realized that people have to be alive before they can produce culture.

And there's a great need in the Native community for

for direct social services and for educational scholarships.

Okay.

And tell me, you found out when that you had

Is it Indian blood?

Am I saying it right?

Well, I started questioning my mother.

Okay.

And she said yes.

Okay.

That it was on her father's side and whenever her father had mentioned it,

Okay, because it wasn't a good thing to be an Indian.

Yes, it wasn't safe to be.

The stumbling part, the challenge for me to embrace it has to do with

There's so many political having to prove that you're

and in the end.

I was about 30 when I actually found out and my father was always really dark skinned, black hair, black eyes and my sister and brothers too and my father got ill and was in the hospital and at that time he started telling me

So you suspected you had something in you as well.

Yes.

Okay.

And you embraced it fully.

Yes.

Yes, I did.

Well, I grew up in Oklahoma next to the Sac Fox Indian Reservation and I had always learned to make fry bread or native foods and I got out here with the military in Virginia and I started going to pow wows and meeting with people and they said,

They learned that I could do fry bread and I was invited from several of the tribes to do it and I helped.

There's an organization, Vital, had asked me to come and help at some of the Vital powwows and I did the fry bread for them and the Indian tacos and native foods.

And you document the culture and history.

You have publications, CDs, radios, obviously the website.

I like this here, reversing 400 years of silencing Native history.

As an African American, I know what it means to, I can relate.

You have Powhatans past and present.

Grandparents still speak.

Wingipo.

Wingopo.

Wingopo Magazine.

This has been a lifelong dream by a young Mattapanai woman.

She is an art student going back to school right now.

So we only have two issues out.

She goes around to the different people in the native communities and they tell her their stories.

Okay.

And you also have, before we go to break here, this book.

Briefly about this book.

It's Dr. Linwood Little Bear Custalo, one of the historians on the Mattaponi Reservation.

and I co-authored this book together.

He provided the Mattaponi oral tradition and I did the background research for the primary sources, European sources.

So this basically is the Mattaponi Powhatan version of the Pocahontas story.

or the early contact years.

And the title is the true story of Pocahontas.

Well, this is a true story according to the Mattaponi.

Okay.

And you also have CDs and for more information about their publications and to learn more about the culture, visit their website at AmericanHeritageVoices.com.

AmericanHeritageVoices.com.

So coming up, we're going to introduce to you the daughter of the Mattaponi chief.

I said it right, okay.

She's going to tell us how the Foundation of American Heritage Voices meets the needs, the housing and educational needs of Indians.

Hi, my name's Will, and for my summer vacation, I'm planning to go someplace really cool, my own backyard.

The city of Charlottesville and Albemarle County offer lots to see and do, and for a lot less than far away destinations.

Come on, I'll show you.

Welcome back.

You're watching Inside Nonprofits and our featured organization today is the Foundation for American Heritage Voices.

Joining Diane Garrison and me now on the show is Margie Sunflower Sargent.

Margie, welcome to the show.

Thank you for having me.

Diane, welcome back.

Thank you.

Welcome back.

Thank you.

OK. You all do a lot to meet the housing and social services and educational needs of the Indians in this area.

When we concentrate on emergency needs, we try to avoid doing chronic help.

But we are known to be open and willing if any Indian in the state calls us or any Indian period calls us for help.

We want to know what their problems are and we want to try and help them, particularly if the Foundation's help will enable them to get back on their feet and make something of themselves.

We have given five scholarships because Virginia Indians are not eligible for federal scholarships because we are not.

And it was the first time an Indian in Virginia had ever won this kind of an award.

Amazing.

People in the community have stepped forward, church people.

True American heritage voices.

That's wonderful.

Some people do have connection and feel like they're getting closer to their

roots in a way.

So there's a multitude of different ways people can really help us and a lot of those are the two main ones.

And you're helping a young man who's attending ODU?

Is that correct?

Yeah.

He wants to be an architect.

Alright.

And another one wants to be a lawyer.

And we raise all the money for their tuitions because their families can't afford to do it.

Right.

And it will be the first time

Yes, we were not allowed to be educated past the seventh grade.

And we're very big on education.

A grandmother on the Mattaponi Reservation

wanted to be able to support her children.

Her husband had left her, this is not unusual, with two children and we have just completed helping her to get a nursing aids degree and we paid for all her textbooks and her schooling and we put one of her daughters through college

and another daughter is going to nursing school.

So this is to help people.

And Diane, you all are helping or will help a grandmother?

She and I have kind of become friends and my background is actually dental.

I work in dental and there is a great need for medical and dental and

She had broke her glasses and I had seen her sitting there trying to hold her glasses talking to me and I said, what is this?

And she said that she, of course, didn't have the money to fix them.

So I had made quite a few calls and found a

Actually the Virginia Lions Club stepped up and we had to go down to Virginia Beach but actually got her a pair of glasses for her and I'm always providing dental needs because that's my heart is making sure all the dental needs are met and we're now working on getting some dental care for Dancing Owl.

How do you all come up with the names?

These are their true Indian names.

Okay, okay.

Does he come up with them himself?

Yes.

Oh, okay.

Yes.

He told Angie that she was Silver Star because she was the brightest star in the sky and to keep on shining.

And after that she was designated as the Canute Generation Carrier of the Mattaponi Oral History.

And you're a sunflower.

I'm a sunflower.

I didn't want to be a sunflower.

I wanted to be a bird.

She wanted to be a bird.

Birds, they're all eagles, except one, he's a bear.

My sisters are all doves, little doves, white doves, big doves, you name it.

I said, Daddy, I don't want to be a sunflower.

I want to be a bird.

And he said, no, you're going to be a sunflower because you bring sunshine to the tribe and healing.

Wow.

And I said, OK.

I'll be a sunflower.

I'm the only sunflower.

In the family.

And then the biggest thing we did this year recently was we had an African-American black Indian mix with Cherokee family.

Living down in Portsmouth area and the husband's truck had broken down and he had been donating his time volunteering on our reservation and his truck was unrepairable and he hauls scrap iron and helps people move.

We found him through the kindness

of People, a new van.

And he is now able to support his family.

And as a surprise, we arranged for the van to be donated to him on Father's Day from his three little boys.

Oh, wow.

And everybody broke down and cried.

That is amazing.

We are the best kept secret.

And the other story that I really feel is important to tell is the story of the soap making.

Diane, could you hold up a cake of soap?

One of our families, the father is Cheyenne, the grandfather is Cheyenne, and the mother is Madup and I.

One of their granddaughters was killed in an automobile accident.

She wasn't driving but she was killed and the family went into mourning and she had three sisters, little sisters, 8 to 13.

Alexis was the eldest and they wanted to buy flowers for their sister's grave and to help the family economically.

So they remembered that soap making is a great culture

Wow.

Four Indians.

Back when the English arrived, they were shocked that the Indians were bathing.

Bathing in the rivers every day.

The English didn't bathe.

Horrors.

and they were making soap.

So Alexis and her two sisters got out their great grandmother's recipe.

She was a medicine woman and they started to make soap and sell it.

Visiting at the time were doctors for the Tibetan Healing Eagle Fund.

There are many Tibetans in Charlottesville and the Tibetan Healing Eagle Fund had asked American Heritage Voices to help fundraise.

Is this something one can purchase on your website?

We can get you in touch with these children.

And the bars are inexpensive.

Well, the doctors were raising funds to train midwives in Tibet to deliver babies because the

Death rate for infant mortality is the highest in the world.

These kids made 50, 50, 5-0 bars of soap and donated, they were donated through American Heritage Voices who paid for the materials.

The doctors returned to Tibet to the hospital.

with 50 bars of soap and they had no soap.

So these are Indians giving back.

Giving back is so important.

We had helped Alexis and her sisters.

And if you want to find out how you can get a bar of soap and more, contact American Heritage Voices at AmericanHeritageVoices.com or they can contact you at 974-1506, area code 434.

We're going to take a little break and coming up after the break, as Margie Sunflower said, they give back.

American Heritage Voices helps

So many people.

So we're going to tell you how you can help American Heritage Voices.

So don't go away.

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Welcome back to the show.

This is Inside Nonprofits and throughout the show we've been speaking with the founder of American Heritage Voices and other board members.

But coming back to join us to tell us how you, the viewers, can help the American Heritage Foundation is Angela Daniels-Silverstar.

Well, there's, of course, it's always, finance is always welcome, but a lot of what we've been able to accomplish has been accomplished by people doing things for us.

Well, the Boars Head Inn is the site of our interview today with your program and the Boars Head Inn has been in partnership with us for probably seven, no, eleven years, probably.

Eleven years, wow.

Wow.

Yeah, we're here in the lovely Boars Head Pavilion.

Yes.

Another partnership has been with the Building Goodness Foundation, which you have had on your program, Andrea.

And this is a conglomerate of construction people, plumbers and electricians.

And they have been with us for over five years now, improving and remodeling housing on our reservation.

They completely restored our historic community center.

and they are working on private houses.

They can.

Almost every page has a donation.

Know what you give is not too big, not too small.

Every bit helps.

Every bit is greatly appreciated.

They need your help so they can continue to give back.

$1200 worth of needs need to be met and you can do that.

So help them.

So the website is AmericanHeritageVoices.com.

The phone number is 434-974-1506.

Get all the information you need about this wonderful foundation.

Ladies, thank you all for what you do.

It's been lots and lots of information.

Lots of information for inside nonprofits.

I am Andrea Copeland.

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Well here we are at the Virginia Discovery Museum and we're going to be visiting with them today and we're going to be looking at some of the artwork that appeals to children and how the museum has very, very interestingly been able to compile all of this into one spot and really be an attraction for the kids to come and play and a lot of fun for the adults as well.

So we're going to be talking today with the new executive director of the Virginia Discovery Museum and her name is Amy Wicks Horne.

Hi Amy, welcome.

Hi, thank you so much for having me.

Well, we're happy to have you and we want to welcome you to Charlottesville and to everything that's going on here.

I am in heaven.

I absolutely adore our mission, our staff, our location.

All right.

Well, that's something that is so much fun is you go in and you go through the museum.

There's so much to see.

We are very excited to be looking towards what the Virginia Discovery Museum will become by the renovation of our exhibits.

We've currently updated some of our paint colors.

We've installed Amazing Airways, which is an

We're looking to create a wonderful environment that supports that exhibit.

Get some warmth and light in that cabin.

Have a garden where kids can pick corn.

That is so cute.

Yes, you have to.

You absolutely have to.

And if you get them all going at the same time, you're in a forest.

That's it.

and in the back right now we have our Up Up and Away exhibit which has a helicopter teeter-totter, a great climber, you can dress up as a pilot, make a paper airplane and learn all about flight, which of course includes our bees.

We have an observatory beehive and every kid wants to find the queen bee.

We are so fortunate.

Our exhibits manager, Kristin Freshwater, has done incredible murals of the planet Earth, of the shuttle taking off, and of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

So you really do feel like you're in a different part of the world when you're in that exhibit.

And the clouds hanging low from the sky.

And one of our great friends, Steve Pianos, donated an incredible quarter-sized airplane that hangs from the ceiling doing kind of an acrobatic move.

Absolutely.

That's one of the things that is just a constant with art is you have to look up and you have to look down.

You can't always just look straight ahead and discover the art.

That's so much fun.

Well we love to have a local artist displayed as often as possible and our opportunity is in our room called the program room so it's where every birthday party, every magic school bus, all of our programs happen so a very high traffic area and we've had artists such as Amy Benoit a local photographer hang in that space we will show the pieces for six weeks we would

Students and our visitors every day.

But it's our passion to promote education and to outreach into the community and to be partners.

Well, I think you're right.

That's one of the things that we know for sure.

We have so many wonderful artists in so many arts venues in Charlottesville.

It's really exciting here, and the Discovery Museum is part of that, as well as the kids and all of the contributions that they make on a regular basis.

Just call the museum at 977-1025 and ask for Lindsay.

And that's it.

It's that simple.

Lindsay handles it for us and she has experience in the art field and she's able to help.

She has a great eye for what will fit and to be able to talk artist to artist about how the space would work for each individual.

Oh, absolutely.

Well, I noticed in the very front you had the exhibition you were talking about that was pretty fascinating.

And I saw one of our community leaders on TV working with us the other day.

We were so grateful.

A very generous donor allowed us to commemorate this exhibit in Pepe's honor.

And there's really no way to honor all the contributions that she's made to the museum and to Charlottesville and the surrounding areas.

But we think of her as family.

She was with us for over 20 years and really has been the guiding force behind us still being able to be a vibrant contributor to the community.

So we thought there could be nothing better than an educational and interactive and joyful and fun exhibit to honor her.

And the plaque will be up for all to see and to be able to know that children's museums are very important to her, our missions, our goals, and this is just one of the small ways that we can say thank you to her.

That day, David Toscano also honored her with a resolution that was passed by the legislature in her honor.

The appreciation for her runs deep and wide.

It does.

And very deserved.

Absolutely.

Very deserved.

She still contributes throughout the community and we consider her a dear friend.

Yes.

She does.

She's the best resource.

She knows how to make it happen, that's for sure, absolutely.

Well, one of the other things that I think is something that we probably should talk about a little bit is the historic carousel.

I know that the kiddies just enjoy being on it.

They don't know a lot about the history of it.

But as adults, we know that there's a little bit of history behind that carousel and it's very special.

Well as you can see, the carousel actually features castings from 1910, which is really amazing when you think about what you said, today the children just see a fun toy.

But it's an opportunity to look back at a generous donor that again helped us manage this.

When we're very, you know, happy about playing in the cabin or we are very happy about rocking on the helicopter, mom and dad can say, oh but don't you want to go out to that carousel?

And it's the greatest...

Thanks for joining us.

And we see that there are many different models for that.

Sometimes the parent's the teacher, sometimes the child's the teacher.

Good.

Well, it's all so exciting and there's so much going on.

Absolutely.

We are embarking on kind of a re-envisionment of our exhibits in particular.

So we've looked at our history.

We used to be a DeSoto dealership in 1929.

So our front gallery will kind of become a garage and a scientifically focused area.

Obviously the cabin, the Showalter family, will be kind of honored and that will become an entire area where you'll feel immersed in that part of the history with dress-up clothes, more light and warmth in that cabin.

and then in the back gallery we're talking about the possibility of looking for folks who would want to partner with us to create kind of a mini city where we could have a little theater, a little grocery store, a little bank where we believe in the children's museum field the stay times would be very long.

These are activities in which children really become engaged and kind of meditate in play almost, you know, lose themselves in the art of working at the restaurant or working at the bank.

and it's great for parents to be the customer at the restaurant.

Well I love the way that you have been incorporating the arts into this world, this special world down here because I think that if children learn about the arts when they're very very young then they really learn to appreciate them when they become adults and that's the very best way and if they don't have the arts

You know, we have to nurture our souls in some way and sometimes it's not as easy to do as it used to be.

So I'm really pleased with that and congratulate you on your fine work.

We're all looking forward to having you here and working with you.

I think it's going to be very exciting.

Is there anything you would like to say to all of those people out there that are watching you right now?

I would just invite you to come down, enjoy a piece of the downtown community and a historic part of the Charlottesville and Albemarle area and enjoy a day full of fun and learning at the Virginia Discovery Museum.

Well, Amy, thank you so much.

It's been a pleasure talking with you, and it's been a great pleasure watching all of these kids I liked, especially the little girl that was scooting across the floor.

The fastest scooter in the east.

The fastest scooter in the east on her little bottom.

Hi, I'm Sissy Spacek.

Everything is better when you love somebody, especially when that somebody is an animal in need.

Big dreams and good grades aren't enough to get into college.

There are actual steps you need to take.

Finding someone who can help is the first and most important.

Well, we are joining Jean Sampson in her workshop and her art studio here at McGuffey.

And we're going to be talking to Jean a little bit today about the classes that she does.

She has been enticing me for a long time.

And one of these days I'm going to say, all right, teach me how to draw, because she has a class I'm very interested in.

And I'm going to let her tell us a little bit about it.

But the most important thing is she's going to explain to us

Some of her techniques and some of the ideas that she has behind her successful classes and her ability to teach people who really haven't been able to do it up till now take all that fear away and go away with a finished product.

Welcome, Jean.

Thank you, Margo.

We're so happy to have you on Art Spotlight.

Great to be here.

Welcome to my studio.

I love your studio.

I love your studio.

Yes, I am.

A lot of everything.

A lot of everything, yes.

And it's bright and it's cheery and you've got a lot of light coming in.

I have wonderful light.

You do.

And you know, I bet you don't know, I went to school here.

Did you when you were young?

Back in the fifties.

Oh my goodness.

When it was a school school?

It was a grade school.

Well, let's tell people who don't know.

Most people know McGuffey.

They know what it is and what it's about.

Well, it was an elementary school when I was little and went through the seventh grade.

There was no middle school and then we went to Lane High School.

which is now the county office building.

And I still live in the house that I was born in so I walked there here then and I walk now.

So I don't go very far, I just dig my roots in deeper.

So you are really a rooted Charlottesvilleian.

So rooted.

And I love this place.

I love McGoffie.

I love Charlottesville.

And it's a wonderful art center.

It's a place where people really grow.

You come and you know you have the seeds of being an artist.

And then you get here and that's what you do.

You see other people.

They come in and you see what they're doing.

There is a drawing group that happens three times a week.

...figure drawings like I have on my wall.

And I, you start out pretty rusty if you haven't done it for a long time.

Well, that's something to be fascinated with.

I mean, it's amazing, isn't it?

Yes, it is.

It really is.

And how it works and that it even works is amazing.

And that it even works and that it's so beautiful.

No matter what, it's a beautiful thing.

I agree.

I agree.

Yes.

So I put the drawings on my wall and hopefully people will ask questions about when the groups are and we have live models.

They are great models.

That's wonderful.

That really is.

And not every place has the ability or the advantage of having the live models that are available to bring into the classes.

And we have Robert Bricker Studio is set up for drawing the model.

He is a fanatic about drawing the model.

So Russell Richards is one of the facilitators.

I'm one.

And Robert is one.

That's great.

We love it.

Really?

Well that's good to know.

That's really good to know.

Well there's so much here and I think that that's one of the main drawing cards for McGuffey is the fact that they offer such a variety.

We teach a whole lot of different things and you can, kids can take tours and so can adults.

I've given tours to the Red Hat Ladies.

Oh yes.

And they can sign up, they can call McGuffey, say I want to have a tour.

Three artists will be lined up.

to keep the people moving and we'll demonstrate or let them participate or let them just look at what we have and it's fascinating.

It's always different.

And one of the things I've noticed about the artists at McGuffey is that they don't stay the same.

You can see their art change.

Yes, you do.

We grow.

We see what each other are doing or somebody brings in something from outside.

People just do different things.

I have a bunch of students in my gutsy abstract oil painting class.

They all totally do something different.

And none of them paint like me, which I'm so glad of.

That would not be good.

I would love to know more about gutsy abstract art because I love gutsy.

Well, it is a class for people who, again, anybody can do it.

You don't have to know anything.

I'm totally not a technical person.

So this class is really about seeing and about a dialogue between yourself and the painting.

You take a step onto the painting and the painting says, all right, well, you did that.

Now, what are you going to do over here?

You made something happen here, which made something happen here.

So you've got to deal with this now.

So you just sit yourself back down there and look at me for a while.

And then when they get back, they say, oh, I didn't know.

That's how it looked.

It looks great.

You have to get back from it.

So that's one of my, my main rule is you cannot throw a painting away.

Anything that you paint, you might as well not waste your time hating it because it's just going to be the bottom layer of the next layer of the next layer of the next layer.

When you like it, it doesn't have anything to do with whether I like it.

As a teacher, it's when you like it that it's done.

Now, next year, this is how I paint.

Next year you may have outgrown it and then you can change it again.

I am not going to make you change a painting that you love right now.

I'll try to find out from you what you love about it.

We'll stay on the positive side.

What do you like about this painting?

We'll try to keep you doing more of that.

If something's not working, I'll ask you questions.

Good.

Yeah, that's how I work.

That's really interesting.

And how many classes are involved in the session?

I tend to have students who keep going because the truth is this is a process.

The painting is a process and the learning is a process.

And you can't do it all in a, you can't do it in a lifetime.

I can't do it in a lifetime.

It's like the never-ending journey.

Truly, you do outgrow them.

My students get to a point where they like what they've done and I said, bring it back next couple years and we'll see if you still like it.

When you don't like it, when you start picking around, bring it on back.

You've got a lovely underpainting, right?

I know that many of the artists that I've had in my gallery will paint a little bit on a painting.

Sometimes they're doing five paintings at the same time because they have to set it aside and they have to let it sit a while and then go back to it and look at it.

So you're teaching them to do exactly what most artists do and I think that's great.

All right, this is another one.

Well, I believe the only thing in the way of people's being able to draw is, first of all, fear.

Having been compared to your brother, having been told your grandfather was a great artist and the implication is and then you should be too.

And I've seen pressure put on little teeny kids like that and it takes all the fun out of it.

Well that's the way it should be.

I'm too old to not have fun.

Absolutely, and I made that decision some time ago myself.

I've done the not fun part.

I want to do the fun fun part now.

Great.

Why waste your time?

That's right.

So now you were telling me a little bit about how you draw with your left brain and how you draw with your right brain.

Let's talk a little bit about that and show us some examples.

All of my ideas came from Betty Edwards.

The Guru of Drawing.

At least there are many, many ways to teach drawing.

There are many ways to learn.

There are ways that the Old Masters use with the volumes and all of that.

What I want to do is have people be successful in a couple of weeks so they don't give up.

and then they can go on and learn the other things and I encourage them to go ahead and go on to other teachers at that point.

Success is a great motivator.

If they don't have success in a little while they'd say well I guess I wasn't an artist or arts too hard or I guess they were right I'm the musician and my sister's the artist and blah blah blah and then they give up

And I hate to see that when I know that everybody is an artist.

Everybody can do this.

For some, the more scared you are, the longer it's going to take you to get through the fear.

And I've got time, you know.

So we're slow.

This book has many, many, many exercises.

It takes you through many, many, I think it's four different phases of drawing.

We do just one or two.

And I only have a couple of exercises that I teach.

The exercises that I teach are to engage the right brain, which is your artist inside.

Your right brain has not been educated in this society.

Your left brain has been given all the attention, education, praise.

It's the one that makes money.

It thinks linearly, so when people come into my class, and I know they're here because they want to learn to draw, and I want to learn to draw fast.

And I think, well, okay.

Let that wanting to draw stay at the door, pick it up when you go home if you want to, but don't bring wanting to draw into here because that's an agenda that the left brain has and that's the part of your brain that's going to take up the space and the time that the right brain could be using for drawing.

The left brain is the business person, it's the mathematician, it's the one who talks.

Can you tell I have a really, really good one?

I have some of both.

It's the one that has the project orientation of starting somewhere.

Let's say start in Charlottesville.

Let's go to Crozet as fast as we can and with the most direct route.

Let's not look at any trees.

Let's not see what the sky is doing.

Let's not see the mountains.

Let's not do any of that.

Let's just go from here to here.

And then when we get there, we weren't going to enjoy anything.

We're going to find out where we're supposed to be next, and we're going to map out our route, and we're going to go... Well, that gets in the way of drawing.

So what we have to do is we have to give you exercises that really upset and bore the left brain.

And usually that results in people being mad at me.

Yeah, I know it's not them, it's their left brain.

It's not them.

This is really interesting to me.

I was looking at this and you said drawing for chickens.

This looks like chicken scratches.

It's marks that are made when you do what's known as blind contour drawing, which is actually the most direct route to shut up the left brain and

get into the right brain.

And the right brain is the one who knows how to draw the lines and the relationships as lines, but it can't tell you anything about it.

And this one is?

Same thing.

Right brain marks are very, very detailed.

Now this is a symbol from the left brain.

The left brain will draw your kindergarten standard symbol.

And if you happen to be able to draw a hand turned sideways, the left brain will actually draw the fingernails frontally on the head.

That has happened.

That's another blind contour drawing.

And then you've got a hole in the center.

So your left brain can't say, are you doing all right in there?

That might be a good tool for the kids when they're taking tests in class and nobody can cheat.

That would be a great tool.

We actually do that in our class.

And then the other thing that helps a lot, if you name things, the left brain says, oh, I can name things, that's my job, I'll give you the symbol for it.

If you draw the spaces in between things, you know, the shapes here, the spaces in between things have no names, so the left brain can't mess with it.

Right.

The left brain can't get in there and mess with it.

That is so interesting.

Well, I promise you that I will one day come and take advantage of one of your classes.

Please do.

And I really appreciate you working with us today.

Oh, this has been fun.

This has been so much fun.

Well, everybody come down and see it.

It's open.

Thanks so much.

In 1977, in Johannesburg, South Africa, an eight-year-old boy picked up the game of golf from his father.

By the age of nine, he was already out playing him.

The odds of this gentle lad winning the Junior World Golf Championships at the age of 14?

One in 16 million.

The odds of that same boy then making it to the US and European Pro Golf Tours?

One in seven million.

The odds of the Big Easy winning the Open Championship once and the US Open Championship twice, one in 780 million.

The odds of this professional golfer having a child diagnosed with autism, one in 110.

Ernie Els encourages you to learn the science of autism at autismspeaks.org.

Dr. Brown?

Ms. Edwards?

Here.

Mr. Norris?

Here.

Mr. Huja?

Yes.

Ms. Szakos?

Obviously, Dr. Brown is not able to be with us tonight, but we will look forward to having him at our next meeting.

We have a couple of recognitions tonight.

The first has to do with Women's Equality Day.

Actually, both of our recognitions tonight have to do with the power of women.

Whereas this year is the 91st anniversary of the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution, giving women the right to vote in 1920.

whereas in 1848, 163 years ago in Seneca Falls, New York the need was recognized and proclaimed but after great effort there is still no reliable protection in the United States Constitution for women against sex discrimination in general and whereas in the past years laws and policies in Commonwealth of Virginia have unjustly discriminated against girls and women in general or against particular classes of women such as a matter of reproductive rights, sexual assault, marital property and sexual harassment

and although some laws and policies have been somewhat eased, such improvements can be, have been, and are being reversed.

and whereas some institutional policies, whether overtly discriminatory or facially neutral in public, voluntary and private institutions still have inequitable effects on women.

Policies such as those dealing with insurance, pension, family medical leave from employment, job promotions, occupational choice, recreational opportunities and access to medical care including reproductive and abortion services and stereotypes still exist which limit women's roles and activities.

and whereas young girls and adult women must still contend with unwanted touching, sexual, physical and verbal assault and rape and being viewed by men as objects to use thus illustrating that many stereotypes are still operating which reinforce unjust assumptions and whereas most of the care of the young, the disabled and the elderly is still provided primarily by women many of whom through economic necessity must also work in the job market and or at home

and whereas in many other ways the task of providing equal opportunities to women and men and the task of removing burdens which fall unjustly on women as compared with men remain uncompleted.

Now therefore be it resolved that the City Council of Charlottesville, Virginia does hereby proclaim August 26, 2011 as Women's Equality Day in remembrance of all those women and men who have worked to develop a more equitable community which acknowledges both the real similarities and the important differences between women and men with liberty and justice for all.

and be it further resolved that the City Council urges all citizens on August 26th and thereafter, one, to treat all distinctions and classifications according to gender as initially suspect and to be questioned until they are justified by an equitable and compelling interest of the community, the institution or the individual affected,

and two, to require that the burden of justification for any distinction according to gender be borne by those who wish to discriminate against women as compared with men and three, to examine all facially neutral criteria such as physical stature requirements, occupational qualifications, child care assistance opportunities, home maintenance responsibilities, elder care benefits and disability benefits to determine whether they have disparate impact on women

and four, to promote affirmative action in the public, voluntary and private sectors to overcome the effects of past discrimination and stereotyping which have limited the life chances of women and girls as compared with men and boys and five, to eliminate all unjust discrimination and prejudice against women and ensure equality of rights, privileges and responsibilities under equitable principles and practices for all women and men.

and here to receive this Women's Equality Proclamation, I believe it's Kabi here?

It's been 91 years since women got the vote and we've come a long way but we still have a ways to go and I really appreciate the fact that City Council is willing to go on the record and state that you care about discrimination and you care about looking at distinctions of any kind particularly in this case for women

and men or girls and boys and looking at that distinction and putting the weight of the burden to justify that on the person who's making that decision.

And if it's good for that individual and it's good for our community, then to allow it.

And if not, then to stand against it.

And I just want to give you our appreciation.

We now want to acknowledge and recognize our city's official roller derby team, the Charlottesville Derby Dames, and we have a few of the Derby Dames here tonight.

We wanted to make sure everybody knew that Virginia is for Shovers.

This Saturday, August 6, 2011, there's five different teams across Virginia who are competing for the title of the best in state here at the Main Street Arena on the downtown mall.

It's an all-day event from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., family friendly.

This is a wonderful experience, and if you haven't had a chance to see our official roller derby team in action,

I hope you do take advantage of this opportunity.

Sure.

I'm Becky Birnbaum and I've been a member of the Charlottesville Derby Dames about a year and a half.

and I just want to thank the city council for supporting us and all of the downtown merchants who are helping us put on a big event this Saturday.

We've got some cooperative things going on and the Virginia Wildlife Foundation who we're donating a portion of the proceeds to will also be there and have some animals for everybody to take a look at.

So on behalf of the Derby Dames, I just want to thank you for

Great, thank you.

We have a few announcements.

Just as a reminder, we'll not have a second City Council meeting in August, so the next meeting will be Tuesday, September 6th.

Also, City Hall will be closed on Monday, September 5th.

There will be normal trash and recycling service that day, but no CAT service, no bus service on Friday or Saturday of that first week in September.

Actually, I have a small pile of announcements.

The first is announcing the Charlottesville Citizens Police Academy beginning August 25th for 10 consecutive Thursdays from 6 to 8.30 p.m.

It's a chance for citizens to learn more about what the police department does.

They're going to have a unit on the dogs, the canine unit.

one on gangs and forensic and juvenile matters, General Investigations Bureau, anybody who wanted to know more about the police department and wants to get involved, this is the place to do it.

It's free.

The meetings will be at City Space.

And if you would like to register, you call Sergeant TV, is it McCain?

McKeen, sorry, at the Neighborhood Services Bureau at 566-1436.

And then,

We also have a couple of our town council meetings in your neighborhood coming up.

They're still a little ways off, but because we don't have a second meeting in August, I'll announce them now.

One is, let's see which one, Thursday, September 8th will be for, oh gosh, where, obviously I didn't, here I have another sheet that has it a little better.

September 8th is for the downtown Martha Jefferson neighborhood.

It will be at City Space at 105th Street above the parking garage or above the first part of the parking garage from 6 until 8 p.m. That's Thursday, September 8th.

And all of council, or at least usually all of council at most if that's necessary, will be there and it's entirely public comment with no three-minute limit.

Dinner will be served, childcare will be provided,

It's a time for the public to speak and for us to sit and listen.

We also will have all of the, or a lot of the department chairs will be their department heads.

so that often specific issues can be solved on the spot and that the people who need to hear about the problems will hear about them or need to hear about your great ideas.

If there's something new, we'll hear about them.

The next one after that, there's going to be one on Thursday, September 2nd at Burley School, and that will be for the Rose Hill and Kellytown neighborhood.

Thank you, Ms. Szakos.

And we also wanted to announce that our popular Movies in the Park series, we have the next one coming up August 12th at sundown, the movie Up will be playing at Meade Park.

Before we move on to matters by the public, I did want to take a moment to note that we lost a very special member of our community over the weekend.

Ms.

Dawn Reddick is a third grade teacher at Clark Elementary who's lost to violence in Newark, New Jersey.

And it's always sad when we lose a member of our community to violence, but particularly when we lose a teacher, it's quite tragic.

and Dawn was a young woman with wonderful potential and had just recently been acknowledged and recognized for her teaching abilities as a winner of the Golden Apple.

We are now going to move on to matters by the public.

And as is our custom, when you come forward, please state your name and address.

And we ask you to keep your comments to three minutes or less.

and Tatiana Patton of the 2209 JPA.

It's been a while since the last time I was standing in front of you.

I was moved by Ms. Edwards' comments on behalf of Mr. Huja at the last council meeting and inspired by the vote of confidence taken in him at the last meeting to ask you for another vote of confidence.

Tonight you will hear again from the environmental organizations that support the water supply plan that you passed in earlier 2011.

I'm president of one of those groups, the Rivanna Conservation Society.

But I don't want to speak about the water supply plan.

I want to speak about another public attack on the environmental organizations that support the plan.

the Nature Conservancy, SELC, RCS, Piedmont Environmental Council, the League of Women Voters have come forward time and time again to help the City Council, the County of Albemarle, Board of Supervisors, the staffs of both and even in Green and Fluvanna to navigate complex and layered environmental issues.

We have served on your commissions.

You've used us as a brain trust time and time again.

and the article that was written in The Hook has fired a broad shot across the bow of the environmental community.

We have been your brain trust and we hope that you trust that the information that we give you which is based on environmental science and data and not influenced by costs and other things that you may have to consider when making a decision is true and rendered in good faith.

Thank you, Ms. Patton.

Good evening, Richard Stattman, 116 Olinda Drive, Mr. Mayor, Councillors, Mr. Jones, Mr. Brown.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion

or prohibiting the free exercise thereof or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Our nation's First Amendment, 45 words, the date 1791.

They ring loud and true today in the home of Thomas Jefferson.

A bedrock of our country, the Bill of Rights defines the relation between our government and the people.

To quote Julian Bond,

The First Amendment means everything to me.

Everything spoken in this chamber tonight, all words great and trivial, are protected by this amendment.

As important as the air we breathe.

As Robert Corn River noted First Amendment attorney says, the First Amendment is more than about speech.

It's more than about words.

It's about the freedom.

Our Constitution and Bill of Rights, including the First Amendment, let our judgments and opinions be formed, tested, and expressed.

As the US Supreme Court said in US versus Playboy Entertainment Group, they are for the individual to make, not for the government to decree, even with a mandate or approval of a majority.

Speech that offends, speech that is hurtful, but speech that is protected.

A recent Daily Progress editorial on May 22nd asked in part the public to pay attention to fight back to complain about any free speech restrictions.

The editorial closed by noting how painful it is to see freedom slowly being nibbled away by public quote unquote servants and more distressing when the public doesn't notice or care.

Free speech cannot have a restraint based on the content of what is said.

In other words, no to restricting any language based on its content.

No to viewpoint discrimination in matters of free speech.

In this limited public meeting place, only the steps necessary to preserve order, procedures, and decorum of the meeting apply.

The legal cases surrounding free speech in this limited public meeting are very well known.

They include White versus City of Norwalk, Luckett versus City of Grand Prairie, Texas.

How many times a citizen may use the public comment section to speak to an issue, whether an individual can address pending litigation Charlottesville is involved in, whether one can criticize a member of council or any individual.

All this is protected by the First Amendment or falls perilously close to a prior restraint and raises the specter of censorship.

The public comment section of this regularly scheduled body is a time where free speech rights should deserve heightened protection.

All citizens enjoy this protection.

Responses by counselors to speech that is protected in this limited public meeting should never hint at a climate of restraining free speech or characterize public comments in a way that silences First Amendment protections.

A link to the last City Council meeting podcast has been sent to one of our nation's leading trial attorneys whose specialty is First Amendment cases.

Counselor responses to Mr. Lloyd, to Ms. Napoleon, to anyone catch the attention of people like Chip Mellor at the Institute for Justice.

Before the dam, before dredging, before the bypass, before the Meadow Creek Parkway, before the pump station, before steep slopes, there is free speech.

The greatest threat to free speech?

The government, whose representatives often seek to impose or control or guide the general discourse for what they believe is the public good.

Nat Hentoff famously said, is free speech for thee and not for me?

Thank you, Mr. Stammer.

Two weeks ago, I spoke before this body during the matters before the public.

As an interested citizen and a taxpayer, I expressed concern in that others and I are unable to fully understand the dialogue of Mr. Huja during the council meetings.

I did not make any personal attacks or any type of reference to accent, etc.

It is the given right of all citizens of Charlottesville to understand, to know what is discussed within this room and in its entirety.

I'm here tonight to declare that my comment as well as Mr. Lloyd's remarks were then inaccurately, improperly and unjustifiably attacked by Ms. Szakos.

This is a mature forum where an issue should not be swept under the rug as a citizen asks your board to make improvements or amends.

There are some of us who will not accept or excuse such an abuse of power in the role of leadership.

Two weeks ago, Szakos expressed displeasure or embarrassment for Mr. Lloyd's and my comment.

She then falsely labeled my statement as xenophobic.

Have you read the definition of xenophobia as a condition encompassing fear and hatred of foreigners?

I have traveled widely.

I have taught children of other cultures.

Any intelligent person who accesses the podcast of July 18th can hear for themselves that the accusation and labeling of my statement in this matter is entirely blind.

It is a false indictment.

Ironically, the response echoing obvious rage before the visiting delegation of Afghani women exemplified a squelching of free speech by a representative of this board.

For that one should hang ahead and shame.

Ms. Szakos demonstrated unto this delegation of women who yearn for liberty a very poor introduction in allowing free speech.

I must also express concern that this council must step up to the plate in protecting our water resources and our park land.

Burying our heads in the sand over the water situation of McIntyre Park is unwise.

Former decisions have been made on shaky ground.

It is imperative as one votes in the primary and upcoming election to look to the candidates who will advocate for the citizens of Charlottesville.

Look to the candidates who will truly protect our resources.

Don't remain home.

As you are a registered voter, exercise your right to vote.

Your vote is needed to change the direction of this city.

Thank you, Mr. Pollard.

Good evening.

Coming before the city council is becoming a bit like what I've read about coming before the McCarthy Commission.

Individuals who speak of problems are branded xenophobia, where no xenophobia existed, just branded.

It's one way to shut her up, just make her self-conscious.

I was branded as disagreeable, that might be true, for addressing the statements of others and attributing those statements to the author of the statement.

My report on what I was told by AECOM was simply a report.

That's what they told me.

Yet I was told that I was calling them a liar.

That's patently false.

It's slanderous.

What about free speech and what about McCarthyism?

Think about it.

I mean, this is what we're about.

This is the land of Thomas Jefferson.

Okay, back to the water, the supply and demand.

taught in high school, taught in college, taught in graduate school is price elasticity.

When you raise the price, you kill the demand.

Demand goes down when the price goes up.

I asked AECOM about that and they said they hadn't considered it.

This is fundamental.

ACSA Commission used the supply, the demand of elasticity to come up with their conservation pricing.

Every time you go up 3,000 gallons they double the price.

It's a pretty steep demand, submission on demand.

I asked ACON if they had the report from ACSA and they said they weren't aware that it was even in existence.

It wasn't in their background information.

Just Google it.

It's a hot topic across the country.

Conservation pricing is coast to coast, north to south, and if you Google it, you're going to find some very high level responses.

You'll find a lot of companies, like what they use, what the Albemarle County Service Authority used, they hired someone from Annapolis.

I forget the name of that company and I keep looking for it.

There's no surprise that Charlottesville

has one of the lowest demands per capita around because we are the second highest cost of water in the state of the cities.

We're second highest.

You would expect us to have a low demand.

In 2002, we saw a dramatic drop in our demand.

And it didn't rebound.

And a lot of that was conservation.

But a lot of that also was because they doubled the price of water at that period of time.

They suppressed the demand.

Looking forward, it's important because ACSA is a large user of water and they have instituted this demand elasticity model.

They're doubling the price every 3,000 gallons.

What is that going to do to demand?

ACON did not consider it.

They didn't even have the report to consider it.

So when they go forward with their

Second rendition of their report, I hope that their demand, my pleas for them to consider price elasticity are included.

Oh, and the four environmental groups, they say that if we dredge today, we don't have enough water for today.

Even if we dredge, we don't have enough water for today.

That's a real powerful statement.

You gotta sound the alarm.

This city's in peril.

Next summer could be worse than 2002.

No alarm.

Hi, my name is Liz Palmer, Albemarle County.

This is Martha Levering from the city and Linda Goodling from the county.

We're representing the League of Women Voters Natural Resource Committee here and we've just turned out two statements, one from the Rivanna Conservation Society and one from us.

The League of Women Voters, Rivanna Conservation Society, TNC, PEC and SELC support the water plan

approved earlier this year by city council because it provides more water for people, more water for rivers, and is less expensive to rate payers.

The dredge only option supported by some opponents of the plan is more expensive and does not provide enough water.

We often hear arguments that you have to choose between the environment and the economy.

The city-county approved plan shows that you can save nature while saving money.

The city county approved plan will raise the pool at Ragged Mountain Reservoir by 30 feet and store an additional 1.1 billion gallons of water.

It will also eliminate the unsafe conditions at the old Ragged Mountain Dam, solving two major problems with one project.

Much has been made about new information on dredging contained in the HDR study completed last summer.

Some have claimed that the HDR study shows that dredging costs less than we originally believed and insists that the plan should be abandoned, that the adopted plan should be abandoned.

This claim is false.

The 2004 Gannett Fleming study estimated the price to remove all the sediment that is in the reservoir now, plus all the sediment that will accumulate in the reservoir for the next 50 years.

HDR gave an estimate for one-time dredge to remove only the sediment that has already accumulated.

The total cost of a dredging project depends on how much sediment you remove.

In order to compare the cost estimates provided by the two studies, you need to look at the cost per cubic yard for removal.

From the chart in the handout we've given you, you can see those unit costs are the same.

The more detailed HDR study breaks the dredging into two parts.

There's the dredging that removes material we can sell called part one dredging, and there is the dredging that removes material that we have to dispose of called part two dredging.

The HDR study also said that dredging part one and two one time will create 151 million gallons of storage.

With the dredging only option, we get the same storage we had in 1966 and we have to pay to fix the old Ragged Mountain Dam.

The city county approved project

includes dredging only where we can offset the cost by selling the sand and dirt.

The dredging only option includes the dredge sell project and the more expensive dredge store project as well as fixing the Ragged Mountain Dam.

So new information on the cost of the dam and the cost of dredging shows that repairs would pay $26 million for the city county adopted plan

and about $36 million for the dredge only option.

That's $10 million more for one-eighth the amount of water under the dredge only plan.

And the less expensive plan is also the greener plan because it provides enough water for people and rivers.

And I hope that you continue to support this plan.

Thank you, Ms. Palmer.

Good evening, I'm John Cruikshank.

I live at 324 Parkway Street and last year my family renovated part of our home.

This turned out to be a lot of work considering the modest size of this construction project.

We carefully selected a contractor and had numerous meetings with the designer.

My wife and I spent hours discussing the many options.

We solicited input from our friends and family,

We were eager to complete the work on our house, but no one, not the designer, contractor, or either of us ever considered beginning construction until we all agreed on the completed plan and had a written cost estimate.

This just seemed like common sense.

But when it comes to McIntire Park,

The Virginia Department of Transportation seems to think this type of planning is unnecessary.

Rather than face a preliminary injunction on the McIntire Road extended, they asked the Army Corps of Engineers to terminate their clean water permit for the stream crossing.

They had recently decided to modify their design for the McIntire Road extended to eliminate all impacts to this stream.

To date, however, they have not released any information about the new design or the additional costs.

The VDOT spokesman stated last week that despite this new design for the road, they're ready to begin construction right away.

He said there are other construction activities that can go on while we are determining the method to cross this creek.

The people of Charlottesville have a right to know what is going to happen to McIntire Park before it happens.

This park belongs to the citizens, not the VDOT administrators.

There's a big difference between a box culvert and what we suspect will be a bridge.

The adverse effects on the park are very different in terms of traffic noise and view shed.

I am asking the Charlottesville City Council to prevent any road construction in McIntire Park from proceeding until there has been a full disclosure of the alternate plan for this stream crossing and a public hearing has been held on the new design.

Good evening.

I'm Peter Kleeman.

I live at 407 Head Street in the city.

I'm here also to talk about the issue of construction in McIntire Park.

I have been inquiring of the Virginia Department of Transportation for the last week plus a few days without response about what the proposal would be to construct such a facility as you see behind you.

in McIntyre Park.

Interestingly, the permit, which would have allowed crossing of the creek, the stream that runs east-west, north is to the right on that map, so it'd run up and down about, oh, I guess it's three-quarters of the way to the north or a little further.

My understanding of the construction method proposed by VDOT for this project was to regrade this site using a significant amount of earth from the south side of this stream to fill in the very low land area which is on the north side of the stream and there's embankments up to about 30 feet high that would be constructed to get the elevation of the road so that it could meet at Melbourne Road.

But without the box culvert in place, it's impossible to move earth.

from the south side of that stream to the north side of that stream.

I'm curious, I've heard rumor that there may well be a meeting between some of the city staff and VDOT about this project and some of the proposed ideas.

I would just like to encourage staff and counselors who might be involved to question VDOT about how they plan to move the significant amount of earth that is going to be moved in this project.

It appears the only practical way to do that would be to load earth from the cuts that will be made on the south side onto trucks, take them out into 250 Bypass, perhaps take Park Street around to Melbourne Road to be able to get to the area where the deposition of this material is required.

If we think about the truck issue that's been discussed in the water, dam construction, concerns about trucks on River Road or Riverside, River Road I guess it is.

Reservoir, that's right, Reservoir Road.

I think that the impact of having many trucks on Park Street during a relatively long period of construction is going to be of much greater significance than anything imagined and opposed on Reservoir Road.

So I hope that you do have a meeting with VDOT, that you do make some of the materials public and perhaps allow individuals to come and actually listen to what is being proposed.

Thank you, Mr. Kleeman.

Mayor Norris and members of the City Council.

My name is Paul Long.

I live at 1410 Grady Avenue.

The City of Charlottesville continues to have countless residents who are homeless who have fallen through the cracks of our social service network and they will be sleeping on park benches, under bridges, on the banks of the Rivanna River this evening and this is unconscionable.

No one should be forced to be homeless in the United States.

I again call upon this City Council to appropriate $2 million of the previous budget's $3.5 million budget surplus to nonprofit organizations and churches to establish year-round permanent shelters for the homeless.

And I also want to object to the announcement that

On the Labor Day weekend, the Charlottesville Transit Service will not be operating.

This is the only urban area and city that, to my knowledge, that allows this public transit service not to operate on legal holidays.

And there are many residents of Charlottesville who don't have couriers who work, who may want to come down to the downtown mall to see movies and shop, who will not be able to do so because of that.

And I also think that if the city is

Deliberate in its efforts to try to attract people to use public transit service.

It should be operating seven days a week, Sundays and legal holidays as well.

Thank you, Mr. Long.

Okay.

Not mine.

Rebecca Quinn, 104 4th Street here in the city and I'm here of course to talk about water plan.

Questions about numbers abound and numbers that have been published and repeated in the last two weeks I think seem designed to add to the confusion.

Any sense of credibility is strained by claims that dredging will somehow reduce the total volume of water in our system.

Every time we pull back the curtain, or even just read the footnotes, we learn a lot.

Today, the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority, made available to citizens for a sustainable water plan, its instructions and email discussions with Hydrologics, the company that runs the safe yield model.

We haven't finished our review, but, especially if you read the footnotes, it doesn't take much to see we've been offered a false comparison.

Here's what we know.

The HDR study demonstrates the South Fork Rivanna Reservoir has more water and silting is much slower than was assumed when the dam and pipeline plan was hatched.

This additional storage capacity is ignored by Rivanna.

The entire water system has more capacity than Rivanna is counting, especially Fever Creek is included.

It has more water than Crozet is projected to use even in 50 years.

And three, Rivanna's numbers purporting to compare dredging and dam scenarios are misleading because they assume the permitted stream flows for the dam and pipeline plan would be required for a dredge first plan.

This is, in my opinion, perhaps the most egregious and artificial constraint in the whole analysis.

Dredging is an entirely different project with entirely different stream and wetlands impacts, and I think it's outrageous we are asked to accept Rivanna's imposition of the same stream flows.

We the public and you the council should not accept this false comparison.

You should demand a complete, fair, and transparent assessment of today's system capacity,

as well as the capacity we get with dredging.

We do not have that now.

Given what we know about our water use today, which has fallen more than 20% in 10 years, and projected water use, especially when realistic population numbers are used, we remain convinced that much more could be done to address stream flow objectives today.

All they have to do is increase the size of the pipe, releasing water from Sugar Hollow, and they could do a lot more.

and it can be done without making us go into debt to pay for more than $140 million in capital improvements we may not need for many decades to come.

Dredging provides additional water every time it rains and without a pipeline, without pumping water uphill.

And that increased capacity along with better management of sugar hollow means we would have more water for people and more water for our rivers and it would cost much less.

I appreciate people who want complicated things simplified.

You know, I like getting into the numbers.

I'm one of those people.

But I understand the desire for simplicity.

But sometimes that contributes to the false comparisons.

With more time, I would be glad to dispel what I think is another simple, yet very misleading comparison.

And that is the gallon for gallon comparison that we have heard, not only from a member of council, but from other dam supporters over and over.

Just because simple numbers are repeated does not make

A situation simple.

Thank you Ms. Quinn.

Good evening, Stratton Salita, 704 Grave Street.

Just had a few things to what Ms. Quinn just said.

The recent cost estimate comparisons between the big dam plan and dredging have not included the pipeline that would be necessary to make the big dam plan work.

at an estimated, I think it was $60 million.

That's more expensive than the dam itself by a considerable margin and I'd like to know who they think they're fooling.

So I'll just add that along with the idea or pardon me,

the statement that the demand analysis, again, has been proven dramatically wrong.

We know that instead of going way up, it's actually gone down something like 20% over the last 10 years, our water usage.

So we don't need as much water, as has been said, and dredging is less expensive if you don't cook the numbers.

But what I'm mostly here to talk about is this latest VDOT action where after spending over two years trying to get a permit from the Corps of Engineers, the day before they were going to have that permit tested in court, VDOT decided that they didn't want the permit anymore.

and I hope you all are very curious about why that is, why they would try so hard and then just give it up.

So let me give you just a little bit of history.

A few years ago VDOT first applied for this permit from the Corps of Engineers but they showed the Corps of Engineers a road that ended in the middle of McIntire Park.

Now you might say, well, why was that?

Well, because the interchange is supposed to meet McIntyre Road in the middle of the park.

But VDOT didn't want to show that the federally funded interchange was the logical endpoint of the road, so instead they just pretended like the road ended in the middle of the park.

The reason they didn't want their term to be the federally funded interchange is because the rules are written that if you need federal money to finish your state project, you're supposed to apply those environmental and historic protection laws to the whole state project.

They didn't want to do that.

So VDOT showed this half road.

The Corps of Engineers said,

Hold on, we can't continue to process this until you show us a whole road that doesn't end in the middle of a field.

So then VDOT said, oh well, we'll just build our McIntyre Road extended, our Meadow Creek Parkway, right to 250 and make an at-grade connection with 250.

Well the problem with that is that council had decided that that was not a very good idea because if you were to build an accurate connection with 250 it would immediately double the traffic congestion on the 250 bypass.

Immediately you would have to sit there at that light for twice as long as you do now.

And the parkway itself would be an F. So council had said no parkway without an interchange.

but VDOT was saying that they were going to do this at grade so Mayor Norris at a meeting brought this up with the city staff and said you better clear this up with VDOT and city staff person Angela Tucker said that she would get with VDOT and clear that up well six weeks later she wrote a letter city staff person to VDOT saying if the interchange isn't built then council will approve an at-grade connection with 250 which was patently untrue

but perhaps it would have helped to get that permit.

Well, the Corps sent that to some people who were consulting parties on this project and council sent the correction to the Corps of Engineers and VDOT saying, no, we did not agree to build an at-grade parkway.

And so- Mr. Slice, can you wrap up here?

Oh, yes, thank you very much.

Well, in any event,

I hope that you all will not allow VDOT to build a plan that the city has not even looked at, yet alone agreed to and I hope that there will be at least a new public hearing and in December you will allow the interchange, the connection for this road, this half road to be tested to see if it is in fact legal.

Thank you Mr. Salinas.

Good evening, Brandon Collins, 536 Meade Avenue.

I've lived in Charlottesville all my life.

I have a daughter who's also lived here all her life.

I noticed on the consent agenda today you're appropriating money for transit and figured that was a good opportunity to bring up the issue with Jaunt that they are facing some really high gas prices and their budget's gotten a little screwy because of that and they need the money.

and I hope you give it to them.

They need that supplemented.

Jaunt is an extremely needed service for people with disabilities and senior citizens.

It's not like me, when I can't get on the bus, you know, I'll wind up walking or hopefully riding a bike, something like that.

Folks who have disabilities really need that service and without the extra money Jaunt is looking at.

Reducing service and reducing hours perhaps.

We should always be looking to expand Jaunt for people with disabilities and senior citizens.

I also noticed the money being put aside for the reentry workforce program.

I was looking at the program.

It's a really great program.

I'm glad to see it getting going and I think this is a pretty good start.

I don't know that $30,000 is really enough to ensure that this program is going to get going.

You know, is it that with a little more money you could actually get a couple more people involved in that program?

You know, I know it's a pilot program, but I really hope council can give its full attention and full funds to make it really work because it, you know, it can really make a huge difference in the lives of a lot of people and not just our friends who are reentering society, but, you know, their families and their neighborhoods and our whole community.

So I hope you will consider maybe putting a little more money towards that.

The other thing is the McIntyre Road extended, you know, I first want to say, you know, I've heard a lot of stuff that if we weren't paying so much attention to the dam and the parkway that, you know, council would maybe spend its time feeding the homeless and feeding the hungry and

you know making sure we had a much better society and that's just I saw it two weeks ago here and it's just been repeated repeated repeated you know if that's the case go ahead and vote tonight to feed everybody and house the homeless I mean that would be awesome can you do that I'd love that but you know in the meantime it does seem like a no-brainer if they change the plan for the road please have public input I think you heard plenty of questions tonight you could learn a lot from what the public has to say about this road

and we need that information and, you know, you're going to have to take another vote on it.

Thank you, Mr. Collins.

Mr. Mayor, Members of Council, my name is Bill Kittrell, I'm with the Nature Conservancy.

First thing I have to do is say hello to my daughter Maggie who is either at the swimming pool or watching this and I'll be curious to find out when I get home, which she chose.

I'm here tonight on behalf of the five prominent environmental organizations.

League of Women Voters, Southern Environmental Law Center, Piedmont Environmental Council, Rivanna Conservation Society and the Nature Conservancy to endorse the approved city-county water supply plan because it provides enough water to meet the needs of people and nature and we oppose the dredging only option because it does not.

Meeting the needs of both people and nature is challenging but the approved city-county plan does exactly that.

We need enough water storage capacity so that we don't have to take as much water from the rivers during droughts.

With enough capacity in a reservoir, we use that water during droughts and refill it by skimming water from the rivers during the rainy season.

Without enough storage capacity, we're forced to choose between having enough water for people or for nature.

The approved city-county plan provides enough water so that we don't have to sacrifice our rivers.

So as environmentalists, we support a solution that does not force us to choose between water for us or water for nature.

We support a plan that is big enough for both.

Three weeks ago, DEQ sent an email to Rivanna saying that opponents of the plan should stop using the safe field numbers shown in the state's August 2010 letter because it did not contain accurate information.

The state said to compare the numbers in the state's letter with the plan's numbers is, quote, an inaccurate and inappropriate comparison.

DEQ also told Rivanna that it should work with its scientists to determine how much water the system will provide from dredging only while also protecting the rivers.

We received that information from Hydrologics, Rivanna's consultants, two weeks ago and it absolutely reaffirms our support of the approved plan.

I showed the information graphically on my handout to you.

This table before you shows the minimum amount of water that we're going to need over the next 50 years based on AECOM's demand report.

I placed arrows on it showing that dredging alone only provides 9.2 million gallons a day

while also protecting the rivers and that's a key thing.

The new dam with 30 foot pool rise provides 12.5 million gallons a day and the dam and pipeline provides 15.3 while providing enough water for our streams.

Since we are currently using around 10 million gallons a day, we think this is transformational information because it tells us that we can't even meet our community's current needs while protecting the rivers at the same time.

So we, as environmentalists, oppose the dredge only plan because it clearly requires us to sacrifice our rivers.

Finally, some opponents of the plan have said that we can simply rewrite the permit or take river protection out of the permit.

That approach

would continue the same destructive practices we have seen for decades with our rivers.

We find that unacceptable.

Thank you, Mr. Kittrell.

We are now going to, well, thank you to everybody who came to speak tonight.

We are now going to open the meeting to council member responses to matters by the public.

Who would like to get us started?

Mr. Mayor, I'd like to speak.

Last time Ms. Napolean said some comments about me, asked her if she was understanding me, and I'm sorry that she's having such trouble.

I'm aware that I have an accent, and I've had that for a long while.

I think I'm going to have it for a few more years.

So, but I am trying to do the best I can.

And I will, just for your information, back up my name plate says,

I don't know if you can read it.

So, I'm trying to do that, and I continue to try to do that, and usually I manage, but sometimes I don't succeed.

In those times, I'll try to improve.

I almost didn't wait in, but I will, I just wanted to

to note that last week, since I was called out for what I said last week, in my defense I will say that I said at that meeting that I would defend to the death everyone's right to say whatever they came here to say.

I just wanted to make a general statement about public comment because I do have just a very unique role.

I was watching one of our local pastors on TV and the message that he provided

reminded me of some of the experiences that I've had in council chambers and learning how to listen and to appreciate all the things, all the gifts that are brought to us.

And even with some gifts you want to keep, some you want to exchange, but they're all gifts.

But what he said that made me think about public comment was

and analogy of the roadrunner and the coyote that was always chasing the roadrunner.

And he said that it was something that he had learned from his mentor.

And he said that when the cartoon was being devised that they decided there would be some rules

And I'm kind of paraphrasing it now because I'm trying to remember how he told the story.

But the bottom line was the coyote could never hurt the roadrunner.

And the coyote could not catch him.

And even though the coyote was after him relentlessly, the roadrunner's response was always the same.

Even though he knew the coyote was after him to kill him and eat him, his response was the same two words, beep beep.

and it helped me to frame some of the gifts that you bring.

But the core of this message was whether we're here or in the audience or someplace else, wherever you are, the bottom line is make your haters your elevators.

Take that opportunity to learn and grow with whatever gift you bring.

So now you know for my last six months

during public comment period.

All right.

Mr. Rick?

Mr. Mayor, I also want to acknowledge that there are a number of groups in the community who help us from time to time.

And in this case, the five environmental groups

have done that for us.

I appreciate their assistance.

I appreciate assistance for other groups also, but I think that's what makes our system good.

Thank you.

Well said.

I have a few comments to make, specific comments to make.

First of all, before I address tonight's remarks, I do want to publicly apologize again to Brandon Collins, whom I corrected a couple meetings ago on some information he brought to Council.

And it turned out he was right and I was wrong, and I again want to publicly apologize to Mr. Collins.

You were correct on the transit funding.

Also, I fully agree with you that we should find ways to support Jaunt.

I don't know if you have any updates on that.

What we've done in response to the letter that was sent to us back in the early part of July was to say that we are certainly willing to consider their request, but we wanted, because it's the beginning of the fiscal year, we wanted to see how things would play out during the first quarter.

And at that point we would evaluate where they are, where the gas prices are,

and then come back to city council and have a discussion about providing additional funding.

We just thought it was so early in the fiscal year that maybe it would make a lot of sense for us to jump out, provide the new funding without really knowing how things are going.

Great.

Thank you, Mr. Jones.

Also, Mr. Collins, I agree on the re-entry funding.

I see that as just a down payment.

If the program succeeds as well as I think all of us hope and expect it will succeed, I fully expect you'll see continued, if not expanded, city support.

And thank you for encouraging us in that direction.

I also wanted to have Mr. Jones respond to a couple of good questions that have been raised tonight by Mr. Kleeman and others about the status of the McIntyre Road Extended Project in light of the withdrawal, the permit request from the Corps of Engineers.

Sure, just briefly there was an email that we received from Jim Utterbach of VDOT and they are in the process of working on a design for a bridge over the stream.

They have said to city staff that they would provide a preliminary design before the end of this month.

We are setting up a meeting with city staff and representatives from VDOT in the next week or so to have a better understanding of the approach and time frame and that type of thing.

But they do believe that they can build a bridge that would be similar to the bridge that was already built with the Albemarle County portion of the parkway.

And that they would take into consideration

both the staff considerations when it comes to the aesthetics of the bridge and also the public input as well.

I've asked that if we have a design and we were promised that by the end of this month that we would put that on the agenda for consideration during the first meeting in September.

And I understand they've also said they believe they can make this change within the existing budget.

And the intent along in terms of the construction of the parkway was to begin on the northern end believing that that wouldn't affect this portion of the parkway until later on a few months down the road.

So they felt that they had plenty of time to develop a design that would come back for public consumption.

I think the sense that I'm hearing from people tonight and from other emails we've received, people want to make sure that this is a public process and I gather from your statement that you're just as committed to that as you've always been.

Yes sir.

I also wanted, not to keep putting you on the spot Mr. Jones, but I also wanted to, if you could give us an update on an issue that Ms. Quinn and others have raised regarding

the water projections, water demand projections that sort of underlie this table here from AECOM which have the city of Charlottesville going up in population from about 43,000 today to about 70,000 in the next few decades and which obviously is, I think to a lot of us, a pretty shocking estimate.

You had some information regarding a follow-up conversation

Sure, our staff from Neighborhood Development Services met with representatives from AECOM, I think it was about a week ago, a week and a half ago, and explained to them some of the concerns that we had about those numbers and we wanted to know a little bit more about the methodology, especially in light of the fact that AECOM had expressed to folks that we had provided those numbers to them, which in fact we did not.

We talked about population growth over the last 10 years, we had some conversations with them, but we did not provide numbers to them.

Great, thank you.

And then the last thing I would say is I would like to get, and if you've provided this before I apologize, I don't remember seeing it, but some information from staff on what it would take to keep our transit system open on holidays as Mr. Long has suggested.

All right, thank you all, and thank you again to everybody who spoke tonight.

We're now going to move on to the rest of our agenda.

Mr. Mayor, the council has discussed and recommends Natasha Sintaski for, Sintaski, sorry.

As a planning commissioner, she's a young lady who's with a planning background.

I'll second.

Second.

Any discussion?

Hearing none, please indicate your vote.

And it carries unanimously.

So congratulations to Natasha Sinitsky.

And also, I want to publicly thank all of the candidates who applied.

We had a really strong applicant pool this time.

Very good pool.

Very good pool.

It was a very difficult decision.

And we encourage everybody who applied to it.

Absolutely.

Thank you, Mr. Huja.

We'll now move on to our consent agenda.

Item A on the consent agenda tonight is the minutes of July 18th.

Item B is an appropriation of $5,000 Virginia Commission of the Arts Challenge Grant, second of two readings.

Item C, an appropriation of $2,774.80, Federal Bureau of Investigations Overtime Reimbursement for the Cyber Crimes Task Force, second of two readings.

Item D, an appropriation of $7,700 for the 9-11 Memorial Steel Project, Phase 1, second of two readings.

Item E is an appropriation of $1,011,823, appropriation of fiscal year 2012 transit grants, second of two readings.

Item F, an appropriation of $97,500, Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services, Neighborhood of Promise grant, first of two readings.

Item G, an appropriation of $65,000.

CASA START, Truancy Prevention Program, first of two readings.

Item H, Appropriation, Workforce Development Program, carryover funding for fiscal year 2012, first of two readings.

Item I, an appropriation of $182,500, Charles Laubemarle, Adult Drug Treatment Court Grant Award, first of two readings.

Item J, an appropriation of $65,000, Teens Give, Service Learning and Life Skills Program, first of two readings.

Item K, a resolution, Reentry Employment Program, allocation of funds from Reentry Workforce Development Account, $30,060, first of one reading.

and item L is resolution real estate assessment system upgrade $199,232 and GIS web viewer $50,000 first of one reading.

Seconded.

It's been moved and seconded.

Any further discussion?

Hearing none, please indicate your vote.

And the consent agenda is approved unanimously.

Thank you very much.

Next item on our agenda tonight is a public hearing and an ordinance relating the transfer of Elliott Lott to Habitat for Humanity.

It's before us tonight on the first of two readings.

Good evening.

First of last month, I was here discussing the remnant parcel of this lot, or portion of the lot, on Elliott, but we're talking about the south side of Elliott Avenue at the corner of Ridge and Elliott.

This was referred to previously as lot number two.

Initially going back all the way to December,

This is officially the seventh time we've been and hopefully the last time with information and requests regarding subdividing this lot and transfer and sale and so forth.

But back in December, the council had decided to sell the lot to Southern Development, who owns and is in the process of undergoing, was undergoing looking at expanding Burnett Commons at that time.

Subsequent to that, it was decided that the lot would be more appropriately used based on neighborhood feedback for a landscaped area, possibly including signage and art in place if that was approved as well.

So tonight we're coming back to you in terms of the public hearing portion to consider the transfer of lot number two to Habitat for Humanity who is now partnering

with Southern Development in this Burnett Commons Phase II in which they would have an affordable component of four lots going to Habitat for Humanity and other three affordable lots going to the city.

But keeping lot number two not as a for sale lot to Southern Development but as a transfer or gift lot to Habitat to eventually be transferred to Southern Development and used

Yes, sir.

Yes.

Excellent.

Excellent point.

Any questions for Ms. McCue before we open the public hearing?

Hearing none.

Thank you, Ms. McHugh.

We do have a public hearing scheduled and Colette Hall is scheduled or signed up to speak.

Good evening, Councillors.

Colette Hall, 101 Robertson Lane,

Please correct me, but is this the same lot that former mayor Blake Caravaggio discussed two or three city council meetings ago?

That's an adjacent parcel.

That's not this lot.

Okay, thank you.

Okay, my next question is, so to just clarify what the staff woman just said, this lot is going to be given to Habitat for Humanity, but it's going to be deeded over to Southern Development.

In turn, they're going to build some affordable housing units.

Well, not on this lot.

What is going to happen to this lot?

Is it going to be a pocket park?

Because I don't understand what she's saying and I'm so confused about it because Mr. Caravaggio was talking about the fact that why wasn't this really open to bidding to all small businesses and that really concerns me because there are other builders in the area beside Habitat for Humanity

and Mr. Kiravati.

I'm not an employee of Mr. Kiravati, but he made some good points.

He did say it should be more transparent and open to more businesses.

I'm a small business supporter.

They hire people.

Thank you.

Let me just say that we did, in recognition of the comments that Mr. Caravaggio made, we did extend that process so that other bidders had a chance to prepare bids.

No further bids came forward, and we went ahead and voted on that particular lot.

I will try.

I wish we had a map open.

Can I have a smaller one here?

You're welcome to look on it.

It was originally just one parcel and it was subdivided or surveyed and subdivided into three different parcels that we referred to as lot one, lot two, and residual.

And each of them had been acted on at different times and I agree it's probably confusing and one of the points I made was this is the seventh time we've came with some, you know, with some matter regarding

the disposition of this particular parcel of land.

But at present, Lot 1, if we go all the way back to December, Lot 1, it was proposed to transfer that to Habitat for Humanity to place a spec house that was being developed by CATEC on that lot.

Subsequent to that, Habitat accepted the lot

did some test drilling there and discovered that we have massive amounts of fill there.

And the cost to actually excavate it and make the lot buildable was estimated around $50,000.

So they determined it was too expensive to take and place that house there.

I'm not sure exactly where it went from there, but I believe that CATEC ended up putting that house, I believe in Greene County.

Habitat just basically acknowledged that the lot was going to be expensive to develop and it would take, you know, special circumstances in order to allow them to use that.

At the same time, because lot number two was adjacent to Burnett Commons, the council decided back in that December, January timeframe to offer that to sell to Southern Development.

They were agreeable to purchase it initially, however,

After that, they began amassing some adjacent lots back behind that are adjacent to this property but not owned by the city.

They either have options to purchase or I'm not sure exactly of all the formalities of those transactions, but long story short,

they realized that they could amass with city property as much as five acres to do something really substantial there, expand Burnett Commons, add an affordable component and allow for some green space.

And so there was a discussion and they approached Habitat, talked with Habitat about possibly utilizing their lot, approaching the city about requesting the residual lot,

and as we kind of came full circle Habitat and Southern Development entered into a memorandum of intent spelling out their specific ideas but really that they wanted to partner together to move forward and to not only expand Burnett Commons but to add this affordable component.

The lot number two

I mean, clearly Southern Development could have just purchased it, placed housing on it, but in meeting with the neighborhood and adjacent property owners, it was determined that they really just didn't want a house there and they felt like it would be more appropriately used as green space.

So, in trying to be responsive to those requests, they came back and said, you know, we could buy it, but we hate to buy something that we can't really utilize.

and so it was looked at possibly transferring it with this other property so it could become part of the homeowners association and be up kept with the other common areas.

Okay, so what was up for sale then?

The residual lot, lot D is right here.

All right.

Thank you.

I realize it's complicated.

Absolutely.

I had followed all this and I kind of understood it.

Yes, thank you, Ms. McKee.

Anybody else from the public like to speak on this matter?

Okay, we will now close the public hearing on this matter.

We have before us an ordinance tonight on the first of two readings.

Alright, it's been moved and seconded and it will carry forward to our next meeting.

Thank you again, Ms. McHugh and Ms. Hall.

Next item is a public hearing and an ordinance relating to the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority easement for, I never know how to pronounce it.

Is it Skanks Branch or Shanks Branch?

Does anybody know?

It is Skanks Branch.

Right.

I've heard it both ways over the years.

Thank you.

Mayor and Councillors, I probably will not pronounce it correctly at all because I haven't got that in my head yet.

Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority owns a sanitary sewer collection line known as the Shanks Branch Interceptor line.

which is approximately 7,000 linear feet.

It begins on the east side of the McIntyre Road across from the parking lot of the Albemarle County office building and it goes under the 250 bypass and ultimately connects to Rivanna's Meadow Creek sewer line which is downstream.

The current 21-inch sewer line needs to be replaced with a larger 30-inch sewer line to accommodate current capacity and additional flows during rain events.

In addition, this new sewer line will be deeper than the existing sewer line, and this gives the city an opportunity

to eliminate city sewer line stream and creek crossings upstream.

These stream crossings can prove problematic to the city over time.

Currently, Rivanna has sewer overflows at various locations along the Shanks Branch sewer line.

Improvements to Rivanna's Shanks Branch sewer line are mandated by the Department of Environmental Quality in a consent order where a plan and schedule is due to them at mid next year.

The line is being upgraded in segments with the lower downstream portion which is approximately 640 feet and what we refer to in the memo as segment one in order to keep the phasing clear as part of Rivanna's Meadow Creek interceptor project.

The next segment which is about 1150 feet is part of the Virginia's Department of Transportation's McIntire Road extended project.

These easements for the first two segments have already been granted to Rivanna.

Segment 3, which is approximately 850 feet, was designed independent of but in conjunction with the interchange project even though it is outside the interchange limits.

It was realized that the sewer line had to be connected by the city.

If they are not connected, Rivanna would have to pump this section of sewer or it would pose an interruption of service to city customers.

The sequencing of the work was reviewed and it makes more sense to include this section of the

this section of the sewer line with the McIntyre Road extended project and the process has begun where the contractor will include this section of sewer line in his work hopefully using the same unit prices which are very favorable.

Funding for segment three is the responsibility of Rivanna.

Segment four's easement is where the sewer line in association with the interchange project through Harris Street is located.

This segment is approximately 1940 linear feet.

VDOT and Federal Highway Administration will participate in the cost of the sewer line relocation associated with segment 4 which is a benefit to the city.

Segment 3 and 4 are highlighted on a map behind you and these are the segments that are under consideration for easement by council tonight.

The granting of the permanent easement to Rivanna has been advertised for a public hearing and will require the adoption of the attached draft ordinance.

I might note the final section, which is section 5, which is upstream of this current Shanks Branch project.

is being designed by the cities as part of the 14th, 15th Street replacement project.

It's about 2410 feet of Rivanna's line that will be included in the city's project which we're looking to upgrade and council will address that sometime in the future for easement consideration.

The last time that easement was considered for Rivanna, landscaping was a concern.

Landscaping will be handled in the same manner as it was addressed in the past where Rivanna is allowing to plant trees in the easement and this language is outlined in the current proposed deed.

I do want to emphasize that if the roadway projects do not move forward,

Rivanna is prepared to take the plans that have been developed and bid the sewer work themselves.

Therefore, this easement will be required.

The replacement of the Shanks Branch Line is Rivanna's highest priority after they construct the current Meadow Creek project.

The replacement of the Shanks Branch Line must proceed in order to be in compliance with the consent order by Department of Environmental Quality, eliminate the sewer overflows that are happening now,

and provide adequate sewer capacity for city customers.

Just to reiterate, what you're saying, if I understand correctly, is that this line has to be upgraded and needs to be upgraded independently of whatever roadway project is moving forward.

That's exactly right.

It just so happens that the roadway projects are happening in the same vicinity right now

All right, thank you.

That's correct.

Something that people may wonder if they can see this map is about the impact on the rescue squad.

That really is not, it's not a problem.

I think the entrance to the rescue squad is going to be reworked as part of the interchange, but it's not a problem with the sewer line easement at all.

Currently the sewer line goes through there now.

Any other questions for Ms. Hildebrandt before we open the public hearing?

Thank you, Ms. Hildebrandt.

We will now open the public hearing.

Colette Hall, 101 Robertson Lane.

I have multiple questions.

This is going to happen in the North downtown neighborhood.

I'm the former neighborhood president and I live right near here.

I can't read that map, so that big line that kind of goes from

Ms. Hildebrand has talked about Harris Street.

They tore up that whole bank at Skanks Branch and that bank that's west of the creek is all grassy area and I emailed her and I emailed Crystal and I emailed everybody in the city I could and said, you can't plant trees there now.

Now, what did they do with that bank?

It was sewer work as part of our rehabilitation project.

That's upstream of this project.

That's off this map.

So, since we're talking about the culvert and the bridge and all that that's going to happen north of all of this, we're talking about all of this that's going to happen south of all of this.

This culvert that is not going to happen now and this bridge that might happen now would be north of all of this new easement that we're talking about.

and that we're required by law to do that.

Either they have to do it or we have to do it.

Any other?

Good evening.

I'm Peter Kleeman.

I live at 407 Head Street in the city.

I notice on the map that's highlighted that this is apparently new right-of-way that's being asked for.

And there is a sewer that's in the ground there now.

I'm curious if there are right-of-ways that are going to be returned to the city that will be

No longer maintained by Rivanna Water and Sewer and what the opportunities are as part of this project that could enhance the park that would allow other plantings

The existing sewer line has probably been maintained by allowing only limited growth on those areas so that digging can be done if necessary without removing large trees.

I think there's a palette of plant materials that are allowed to be used in those right-of-ways.

And so I'm also curious that if these things are going to be removing additional trees that are part of the memorandum of agreement for screening of the historic properties like Rock Hill Gardens, I'm just curious if there's any notation in any of your material that indicates what are the existing right-of-ways

Thank you, Mr. Kleeman.

We'll get some clarity on that in just a moment.

Anybody else in the public like to speak?

We will now close the public hearing.

We have included the impacts of the sewer relocation in the both memorandums of agreement, one which is now null and void but will still be honored by agreement with Department of Historic Resources and the other under the interchange.

I don't believe that the existing line is under a formal easement but is covered by a multi-party agreement that allows for its maintenance.

Okay, thank you.

Is there a second?

I'll second.

Alright, it's been moved and seconded.

It will carry forward to our next meeting.

Thank you, Ms. Tucker and Ms. Hildebrand.

Next item on our agenda is a public hearing in ordinance relating to the grant of utility easement under Jefferson Park Avenue and West Main Street to the University of Virginia.

It's before us tonight on the first two readings.

Mr. Mayor, Members of Council, I think if you've been up recently to the intersection of JPA and West Main, you've seen a lot of construction ongoing there.

We've received a request from the University of Virginia for a 40-year easement to underground utilities, electrical conduit and related facilities under JPA and West Main.

As noted in the agenda memo,

The two main objectives for this project was to improve pedestrian safety at that intersection by creating a bump out which reduces the walking distance across West Main and JPA and also to underground utilities along the south side of West Main Street.

We've included in your agenda materials an ordinance that is offered tonight for first reading and the standard deed that we use with the university for this type of easement.

Thank you Mr. Brown.

Any questions for Mr. Brown before we open the public hearing?

We'll now open the public hearing.

There's nobody from the public who signed up to speak on this matter.

Is there anybody who would like to speak?

All right, we will close the public hearing.

All right, it's been moved and seconded too.

We'll carry forward to our next meeting.

Thank you, Mr. Brown.

Next item is a report and resolution regarding the Solid Waste Cost Share Agreement for the McIntyre Recycling Centers before us tonight on the first of one reading.

Thank you.

Mr. Mayor, members of council, during your budget deliberations we did discuss the continued participation on the part of the city with the Albemarle County in operating the McIntyre

Recycling Center.

If you may remember last December, Rivanna, in an attempt to hold down its costs did change some of the services and some of the hours of operation.

This has held down the costs dramatically and we now are able to come forward to you with an agreement.

This is a one-year

agreement and the Rivanna board made the decision that we would revisit it in January after six months of operation and so we may come back to you.

What we wanted to do was revisit it again before you went into your budget deliberations for next year.

I did make a mistake on the memo so I must tell you that the

Cost share is based on last year's citizen survey, not the one that we just finished last week.

Well, you made a liar out of me.

Well, no.

It was my mistake telling me it was me.

That's fine.

At this point I can only give you an estimate of what I think this is going to cost because if you remember how we've been working on the Rivanna, we have a budget but then it's kind of what really happens during the year and costs which is again why we want to revisit it at the end of six months.

The estimate at this point is that the city's share for this year would be $32,557.

and based on the comments that you all made during your budget deliberations, I think that's a reasonable amount to meet the desire that you all had to continue to provide the service to our citizens.

I have a couple of just brief questions.

Is there anything, I don't think there's anything here,

We addressed that and there was not sufficient interest from our partner in doing it.

It's very expensive.

It is, I know.

It is very expensive.

But again, at the end of six months, we want to relook at this.

Again, the fluorescent bulbs are the ones we have the problem with because they have to save those for the household hazardous waste days.

And I will admit my ignorance that before that, I was, as the spouse of someone who was the designated goer to the McIntire Recycling Center, I was unaware that we were now accepting other plastics.

Is that?

Yes.

It's in a separate bin, but they have been able to find a market for that.

I would like to see in advance of the six month review sort of a menu, if you will, of items.

There are things that we have cut back on, like operating days, like certain services.

and I have said publicly that not only do I hope we can find a way to restore the level of service we had before but actually go beyond that and expand services available at the recycling center.

Not a problem.

Thank you.

It's been moved and seconded.

Any further discussion?

Hearing none, please indicate your vote.

And it passes unanimously.

Thank you, Ms. Mueller.

Next item is a report, Dominion Virginia Power Systems Update.

I'm very pleased to note that we have with us tonight a good friend of ours.

from Dominion Virginia Power, Mr. Scott Reed.

I really appreciate you coming tonight and I apologize I haven't returned your call, Scott.

But I very much appreciate having Mr. Reed here tonight.

We asked Dominion Power to come and just speak about the state of our energy transmission system here locally.

We've had issues as is well known regarding power outages,

That's not a good way to make friends among elected officials.

No, it's not.

We recognize that.

I'm kidding, I'm kidding.

One of these will make this screen go down maybe.

It happens, Matt.

Wonderful.

Well, good evening, Mr. Mayor, City Council members, Mr. Jones, Mr. Brown.

I'll let you all find your seats.

I want to thank you very much for inviting us here this evening to provide a system update for Dominion Virginia Power.

My name is, like the mayor said, Scott Reed.

I'm External Affairs Manager for Dominion.

I represent the company and the communities where we do business.

My region of our service territory stretches from Culpeper County down to Nelson County,

and then Albemarle east through Goochland County and of course the city of Charlottesville as well.

I hope this doesn't count against our 45 minute allotment of time, does it?

We were asked to provide a brief update on Dominion Virginia Power's operations.

I'd like to spend several minutes on this and reserve the bulk of our conversation, however, for Rob to address some specific reliability issues in the area.

While both of us welcome any questions during the presentation, we'll gladly remain here at the podium to answer any questions you may have afterward as well.

I hope you will forgive the elementary nature of this graphic here, but I think sometimes it helps when we present to the public to go over some terms and concepts that we in the industry use.

You'll see in the top left a power generation station.

That's where electricity is generated.

It's sent out onto the transmission lines at a very high voltage.

It is at this high voltage that is transmitted efficiently and inexpensively across the state and across the region.

You'll see there next the transmission to distribution substation.

It's at these substations that the very high voltage is stepped down to a much lower voltage that is transmitted across the distribution lines.

If you think of the transmission lines as an interstate highway system, the substation is like the exit ramp and the distribution lines are like our secondary roads.

Those distribution lines provide power to our homes and businesses.

You can see the boxes down there.

They're transformers.

and I think Rob will refer to all of this different equipment in some of his presentation.

Part of that system that we operate provides power of course to homes and businesses and as homes get larger and businesses consume more electricity, we are obligated as a company to meet that demand and that presents some challenges for us in the industry.

In 1980, the average U.S. household had three electronic products and today that number is 25.

I think that just sort of illustrates how demand continues to grow.

Just on July 22nd of the week before last on Friday when it was sweltering 102 degrees here in Charlottesville, Dominion set a new all-time record for power delivery.

Not necessarily generation, but for electricity delivered to our 2.2 million customers.

Electrical demand in Dominion service area has been identified as the fastest growing in the 13 state mid-Atlantic region, having experienced 40% demand growth over the last 10 years.

Third party forecasts project 4,500 additional megawatts of demand projected over the next 10 years.

We face this while all the while importing the second most highest level of energy behind every state other than California.

We do, however, have a strategy for addressing this increasing demand and we call that Powering Virginia.

Our strategy involves more than just additional generation capacity, though that is a very critical and necessary component.

More holistically, we are investing heavily in conservation, efficiency, system upgrades, transmission and distribution solutions, and smarting the grid.

On the generation side, just this past spring, we brought Bear Garden Power Station in Buckingham County to commercial operation that's been running

ever since we brought it online non-stop.

The new generation station in Southwest Virginia is 90% complete and Warren County Power Station is state of the art gas-fired three-on-one combined cycle plant and Front Royal is undergoing regulatory review.

Additionally, we've announced plans to convert three coal

and our service territory to biomass and announced plans to convert our Bremo coal station to gas.

Additionally, we have an exciting solar project announced in Halifax County.

I'd love to speak more if we had time.

Conservation and efficiency programs at Dominion have proven to be very effective.

Compact fluorescent light bulb rebates, heating and lighting retrofit programs, new electric vehicle and time of use rate schedules, home energy reports and new tools for evaluating electric consumption are but a few.

More are being developed and will undergo regulatory review soon, including expanded net metering and solar distributed generation capabilities.

In 2009, under the paramount marquee on the downtown mall here in Charlottesville with the mayor, Governor Kaine, our CEO, as well, Dominion launched Smart Grid Charlottesville.

Smart Grid Charlottesville is a bundling of many new efficiencies and features made possible by modernizing the electric grid.

Parts of Smart Grid Charlottesville include installation of LED street lamps on McIntyre Road, many of which you've probably seen, a solar demonstration project at the SPCA, home energy reports, partnering on the EcoMod and EcoRemod projects, and replacement of conventional meters with smart meters throughout the city and in Albemarle County.

Our customers are just beginning to realize some of the numerous benefits of deploying smart meters in Charlottesville.

Many of them are listed up here on the screen in front of you.

Smart meters allow remote real-time meter readings, avoiding monthly visits by our service trucks.

Voltage conservation, a technology made possible by smart meters, ensures we are making the most of every watt generated by more precisely delivering optimum voltage to the customers.

Our outage notification will enable us to better pinpoint exact trouble areas in the event of an outage, accelerating restoration times, while remote service connects are possible with smart meters.

And I'm proud of the fact that since activating this feature in April, we've eliminated 3,000 truck rolls for meter connects or disconnects.

And we expect this number to increase even more as students return to UVA this fall.

Additionally, real time energy use data will enable dynamic or time of use pricing, improving customer choice and optimizing generation and demand cycles.

In addition to the savings efficiencies, customer choice and environmental benefits, many features of smart meters have direct and indirect benefits to electric reliability in Charlottesville.

Thank you very much.

My name is Robert McIntyre.

I'm the reliability manager for the Northwest area.

I'll speak as eloquently as Scott.

I'd rather be crunching numbers somewhere, but I'll do my best to get through this.

I brought a bunch of subject matter experts with me, so if you do have any questions, please feel free.

We have folks from construction, planning, operations, forestry, and a performance engineer from our reliability group.

So I have

I think I got it all covered in.