- The great water debate- Brian explains the basics of the controversy over the water supply plan. Betty Mooney from Citizens for a Sustainable Water Plan called in to express her concerns about the current course of action and the fact that, in her opinion, the dredging option has not been fully explored.
- The Downtown Mall renovation- The city is moving forward on a $7.5 million renovation of the bricks on the Charlottesville Downtown Mall. The newest iteration of the plan would start the process in January, and finish by the end of April. The proposed fountains and Sister City Plaza have been removed from the plan.
- Deferred maintenance- “Howard” called in to say that he sees a pattern of deferred maintenance in local government, both with the water infrastructure and with the Downtown Mall bricks. Brian responded that there are definitely examples of lack of maintenance, but that doesn’t mean that local government isn’t now trying to look ahead.
Jun 202008
On the June 19 edition of WINA’s “Charlottesville–Right Now!” Jay James, filling in for Coy Barefoot, speaks with Brian Wheeler, the Executive Director of Charlottesville Tomorrow. The topics include:
Flowers’ Fragrance Diminished by Air Pollution
New audio, News, Radio Shows, The Oscar Show, UVA, WTJU
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Jun 182008
In today’s show, adapted from an article written by Fariss Samarrai, Senior News Officer for the UVa News Department, we look at a University of Virginia study, which indicates that air pollution from power plants and automobiles is destroying the fragrance of flowers and thereby possibly inhibiting the ability of pollinating insects to locate flowers, and may partially explain why certain populations of these pollinators are on the decline.
Of the five senses, smell is one that is sometimes taken for granted in our everyday lives. For most animals, the ability to distinguish scents is a large part of their everyday survival function, as has been attested to in an earlier broadcast entitled, “Inside the brain of crayfish.” For insects, the same is true…
For more information about the show or to see the full text, visit the Oscar Show’s blog.
In this week’s special episode, Ken White speaks with Darden’s Dean Robert Bruner, who gives us an update on what’s ahead for the School this summer.
Jun 172008
On May 27, 2008, representatives from Virginia Supportive Housing led an insightful and interactive presentation for the Charlottesville community on Single Room Occupancy (SRO) housing for the homeless — a proven, permanent solution to homelessness that’s taking hold in many cities across the country. The presentation took place in the “CitySpace” meeting room at the Charlottesville Community Design Center.
Virginia Supportive Housing, a Richmond-based statewide nonprofit housing provider, recently agreed to work with the Thomas Jefferson Area Coalition for the Homeless (TJACH) and the Charlottesville community to develop and manage an SRO facility in Charlottesville. The May 27 presentation gave members of the public, community agencies, local officials, potential funders and area media a chance to learn more about the SRO concept and to hear about Virginia Supportive Housing’s plans and timeline for opening an SRO in Charlottesville.
A Single Room Occupancy facility typically features several dozen efficiency apartments that are available at low cost to people who have been homeless, with on-site support services and security to help keep the SRO residents stable in their housing. In cities like Richmond, Norfolk, Roanoke, Fairfax and (soon) Virginia Beach, SROs have been successful in moving local residents — many of whom are disabled and/or veterans — off the streets and out of shelters and into permanent supportive housing.
91 Seconds on Film: The Incredible Hulk
WNRN
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Jun 162008
In this installment of WNRN’s 91 Seconds on Film, Ben Nuckols reviews the latest incarnation of the Incredible Hulk to hit movie screens. The movie is the second version of the classic Marvel character to be produced this decade, and is currently playing at the Carmike 6 on Seminole Trail.
Jun 162008
On the June 12th edition of WINA’s “Charlottesville–Right Now!” Coy Barefoot talks with Virginia Lieutenant Governor Bill Bolling (R) about the upcoming special session on transportation. Bolling summed up the prospects for the special session.
“There’s just no consensus… my fear is we’re going to go there on the 23rd, it’s going to be very short, its going to be very non-productive,” Bolling said., “I just don’t see a consensus building right now, and again it’s always possible that it could happen here in the next few days, but right now it seems highly unlikely.”
Governor Tim Kaine (D) has presented a plan that would increase fees for vehicle registration and increase taxes on car purchases, as well as levy a one cent sales tax increase on residents in Northern Virginia.
Bolling made it clear that he is opposed to such tax increases, stating his view that “there’s never really a good time to raise taxes, but frankly this is a horrible time to raise taxes because of the state of the economy.”
He also painted the Democrats in the General Assembly as out of touch with Virginia voters, arguing that there’s agreement between Republican lawmakers and voters.
“The problem in Richmond is not a lack of money, the problem in Richmond is a lack of fiscal discipline. We’ve got enough money through existing revenue sources to solve our transportation problems if we just use that money for transportation, as opposed to spending it on all of these new and expanded government programs, and the people of Virginia are a step ahead of the members of the General Assembly.”
Bolling outlined his proposals for solving the transportation problem without raising taxes. He said that reserving just 1% of the existing state sales tax for the transportation trust fund would result in approximately $950 million a year for transportation. As an alternative, he mentioned the possibility of requiring 10% of future revenue growth to go towards transportation expenses; he said that if the state had adopted this policy 10 years ago, it would have generated $800 million over the past decade. Bolling also laid out his plan for budget surpluses, arguing that “those budget surpluses are by definition one-time money, I think they should be used to fund one-time things like capital projects, building roads and bridges.”
Wake-Up Call: Father’s Day
New audio
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Jun 152008
On a special Father’s Day edition of the Sunday Morning Wake-Up Call, Rick talks to three local dads about the challenges of raising children in the modern world, including dating, dealing with contemporary issues, mortality, and alternative lifestyles. What about alcohol? Drug use? Going off to college? Find out what these three dads have to say about their experiences, worries, and hopes about their children.
Medicare Physician Care in Jeopardy
Senior Statesmen
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Jun 122008
As Virginia’s population ages, so does it’s need for geriatric care. Yet doctors trained in geriatric care are increasingly hard to find. On June 11th, 2008, the Senior Statesmen of Virginia invited Drs. David L. Chesler, M.D. and Jonathan M. Evans, M.D. to speak on the challenges of geriatric care both from a medical and financial point of view.
David L. Chesler, M.D., has been practicing Primary Care in Geriatrics in the Central Virginia area since 1977. He began his practice in the National Health Service Corps serving in Louisa County which is considered an under-served medical community. In 1980 he went into full-time practice in the Charlottesville area as a member of the Martha Jefferson Hospital. For 28 years he has maintained an outpatient geriatric clinic in Louisa County but his primary focus is within the Charlottesville area.
Dr. Chesler is part of Charlottesville Family Medicine, a primary care group of four internists and four nurse practitioners. The practice focuses on Primary Care and preventive health maintenance. Staff are certified in dietary as well as diabetic counseling. The internists maintain a full hospital practice caring for not only their own patients at Martha Jefferson Hospital but for those of other physicians in the Madison and Louisa County areas.
As a general philosophy, the practice stresses the importance of continuity of care. When possible, patients are followed wherever they go through the various changes of life and when no longer able to live independently.
Dr. Chesler is Boarded in Internal Medicine and has had additional qualification status in Geriatric Medicine since 1988. He sees patients at all the local nursing homes and has been medical director at The Cedars nursing home since 1983. He was educated at Dennison University and Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. He did three years of Internal Medicine residency at the University of Vermont before coming to Virginia. He holds an appointment as assistant clinical professor of Internal Medicine in the instructional faculty at the University of Virginia and teaches third-year medical students in an outpatient setting. He has been selected to “Best Doctors in America” for both Internal Medicine and Geriatrics.
He enjoys fly-fishing, bowling, dancing with a focus on Argentine Tango, tennis and gardening, He is married and has three daughters and four grandchildren some of which are boys.
Jonathan M. Evans, M.D., is associate professor of medicine at the UVa School of Medicine and chief of the section of Geriatric Medicine at University of Virginia. A strong advocate for improved long-term care in the community, he is a nationally recognized expert on geriatrics and palliative care.
He graduated from Mayo Medical School in 1989, and completed a residency in Internal Medicine and a fellowship in Geriatrics Medicine at Mayo Clinic, subsequently becoming a staff physician and Associate Professor of Medicine at Mayo Medical School. He remained at Mayo until 2000, when he received a Bush Foundation Award to pursue additional training in Public Health and Epidemiology at the University of Minnesota. He returned to Virginia in September 2001.
Dr. Evans has a clinical interest in long-term medicine and hospice care. For the past 10 years he has served as a hospice medical director, and was the founding medical director of Seasons Hospice in Rochester, Minnesota, the first free-standing Medicare-certified residential and inpatient hospice in the state of Minnesota. He has been a long-term care facility medical director since 1995 and was secretary of the American Medical Director’s Association (AMDA). He currently serves as chair of the AMDA Ethics Committee. He is medical director of Trinity Mission Health and Rehabilitation Center in Charlottesville as well as medical director of Hospice of the Piedmont.
Jonathan’s professional goals revolve around developing and improving systems of care for older persons, and in maintaining the dignity and nobility of spirit of those who reside in long-term care facilities as well as those who care for them. His research interests focus on the concept of “age-appropriate care,” preventing disability and iatrogenesis (an illness or problem caused by a doctor’s treatment) among older patients, and improving clinical outcomes of care. He has published numerous articles relating to a variety of medical conditions in the elderly and authored papers on a variety of subjects covering a broad spectrum of clinical conditions as well as ethical issues in the care of the aged.
Jun 122008
On the June 10 edition of WINA’s “Charlottesville–Right Now!” Coy Barefoot hosts a call-in discussion of the housing market with local Realtor Jim Duncan, who blogs at http://www.realcentralva.com/. The topics include:
- Duncan’s analysis of the current housing market in Central Virginia.
- Tips on how to price your house to sell in the current market.
- Public transportation- The impact of the lack of public transportation on potential buyers in the area.
- The desirability of urban living and its effect on housing prices
Jun 122008
On the June 10 edition of WINA’s “Charlottesville–Right Now!” Coy Barefoot speaks with Brian Wheeler, the Executive Director of Charlottesville Tomorrow. The topics include:
- Meadowcreek Parkway- City Council has identified their preferred interchange design for the intersection of the proposed parkway and the Route 250 Bypass; Brian and Coy discuss the government strategy of treating each portion of the parkway as a separate project, potentially in order to avoid review of the project as a whole.
- Rivanna Station Military Base- The military is proposing the construction of a DIA (Defense Intelligence Agency) facility that will accompany the expansion of the National Ground Intelligence Center (NGIC). The Joint Use Intelligence Analysis Facility (JUIAF) would involve the expanded NGIC, the DIA facility, and civilian support offices built by local developer Wendell Wood.
- Light Rail transportation to Washington DC- The State of Virginia is looking into competing proposals for rail transportation from Charlottesville to Washington DC. According to Kevin Page, Chief of Rail Transportation for Virginia’s Department of Rail and Public Transportation (DRPT), said that the largest obstacle at the moment is the lack of funding.
- County Board of Supervisors to vote on dredging and conservation- The Board of Supervisors will vote on a resolution to explore dredging and increase water conservation efforts that will bring the Board’s intent in line with the City Council’s.
- Albemarle County Board of Supervisors considering change to minutes- County staff currently publish verbatim minutes of the Board of Supervisors meetings, but the Board is set to discuss the possibility of publishing “action minutes”, a greatly condensed version, in order to save money.
Jun 122008
On the June 9 edition of WINA’s “Charlottesville–Right Now!” Coy Barefoot spoke with Charlottesville Mayor Dave Norris on a variety of topics including:
- The 50 Year Community Water Supply Plan- Mayor Norris pointed out that one of the missions of the planners was supposed to be the restoration of natural stream flow to the Moormans River, and that “if you take that goal out of the equation, and say we’re not going to restore natural stream flows to the Moormans river, then it opens a whole other set of possibilities, in which dredging makes a whole lot more sense.”
- Affordable housing developments- Norris addressed concerns about the lack of affordable housing in Charlottesville, saying “every developer I’ve met with in Charlottesville gets it…the Chamber of Commerce here, for four or five years in a row has said the lack of affordable housing is the number one public policy priority in this community, so it’s not just the social justice people that are saying this is a need, the business community gets it, the employers get it, the developers get it.”
- Woolen Mills trail proposal- Norris and Barefoot also discussed a new trail in the beginning stages of development that would allow residents to “hop on your bike or walk or run up to Monticello from Downtown Charlottesville.”
100 Year Anniversary of UVa’s Skinner Organ
History, New audio, News, Radio Shows, The Oscar Show, UVA, WTJU
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Jun 112008
In today’s show, written by Jane Ford, Senior News Officer for the UVa News Department, we celebrate the one hundred-year anniversary of the E.M. Skinner Organ, which was installed in UVa’s Cabell Hall in 1907.
AUDIO SLIDE SHOW: E.M. Skinner Organ Celebrates 100 Years
On March 29th, 2008, UVa celebrated the 100th anniversary of the E.M. Skinner Organ, an iconic fixture of the University of Virginia since its installation at Cabell Hall in 1907. At the turn of the 20th century, pipe organs were models of cutting-edge technology and American engineering, an organ expert told an audience celebrating the 100th anniversary of the E.M. Skinner organ…
For more information about the show or to see the full text, visit the Oscar Show’s blog.
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