Teachable Moment

members of the public speak
Via the stepwise Parks and Rec ten part “Park Master Planning Process” members of the public are halfway to the finish line, the 18th hole, the goal posts, whatever lousy sports analogy you want to employ. Halfway to adoption by the City Council of a McIntire East Park Master Plan.
(One suggestion to P&R, can we take out the qualifier (Master)?
Were there UVA anthropologists/sociologists (or maybe systems engineers or religion majors) in the room February 28, in native dress, doing fieldwork? Extracting the academic relatable lessons from this painful and painstaking process?

Pictured above, Public Mtg. 4, the Venting phase. Earlier in the evening Chris Gensic oriented the Public and answered questions. Following Mr. Gensic the Public was invited to speak. The Public can be characterized in many dualistic ways. Male/Female, republican/democrat, grid/cul-de-sac, old/young, elitist/populist, eggheads/athletes, polemicists/harmonists, tree-hugging/bulldozing, orator/listener, round-ball/no-ball. The binary way of thinking is divisive, but we think like we walk.

And so people stood on their hind feet and said stuff. Mostly flights of rhetoric, emotional pleas, cants and rants. Some information emerged. For the hardy and open-minded, there were things to learn, as least two of the City Councilors dropped by.
NEXT MEETING: Monday, March 26th, 6:00pm at the Buford Middle School Auditorium, Parks and Recreation Advisory Board Public Hearing.

flow chart

Many of the speakers represented the local chapter of The First Tee™ .
The First Tee™ was established by the World Golf Foundation in 1997 as a 501(c)3. The initial focus was on creating affordable access for those not previously exposed to the game of golf.
The First Tee™ headquarters is located in the World Golf Village, a 6300 acre real estate development (almost the size of Charlottesville). The World Golf Village is located South of Jacksonville Florida in St Johns County, I-95 south to exit 323, then take the International Golf Parkway.
As of today March 2, 2012 the average home price for homes for sale in World Golf Village is $270,214,
The First Tee™ headquarters gets a walk score of 46, it is located in a suburban landscape.
Honorary Chair of The First Tee™ is President George W. Bush. Former honorary chair was President George H.W. Bush.
The mission of The First Tee™ is “to impact the lives of young people by providing educational programs that build character, instill life-enhancing values and promote healthy choices through the game of golf.”
The life-enhancing “Nine Core Values”:
– Honesty, Integrity, Sportsmanship, Respect, Confidence, Responsibility, Perseverance, Courtesy, Judgement.
The CHO Chapter of The First Tee™ has been chartered since 2004 and is one of 202 Chapters operating in 46 states and five countries.

Amen.

Charlottesville Tomorrow has the story

crow talk

crow with nest materials
Crow with nest materials on the grounds of the Albemarle County office building.

In his book “A Miracle of Catfish”, Larry Brown listens in on some crows watching a dozer dude nap.

A clan of local crows flew in and lit and walked around on some limbs and started saying in
their crow language, “What the hell’s up? Anything to eat?…
You think we ought to sneak in on the ground for them scraps? He ain’t
got no gun. Least I don’t see one.
Naw, man, he may be just playing possum. They do that sometimes. That’s
how my uncle got killed. My mama told me. Fell for one of them owl decoys
and a good mouth caller. Let’s just watch him for a while.
I think he done eat it all anyway. What was it? Fried chicken?
Yeah. Fried chicken. Wing and a leg and a thigh.
That’s another bird, too. I mean if you think about it. Seems kinda cannibalistic
if you know what I mean.
I ain’t related to no chicken, but I can see that other biscuit from here.”

Urban Design

Our City is currently involved in several urban design discussions simultaneously.
Are cities gender neutral? Our city, being Charlotte’s Ville. Maybe she can multitask. Talk about redesigning her central park and her bridge downtown and not cut off the wrong leg by mistake.
I have missed the bridge-design events & discussion. Watching the video by Dan Bluestone and Brian Wimer has me playing catch-up.

Why do we allow our bad things to happen to our cities? Why do we allow our cities to be designed by autos and fire engines?
Jim Kunstler talked a bit about the Law of Perverse Outcomes in his November 2011 “Eyesore of the Month”.

http://www.kunstler.com/eyesore_201111.html

day of rest

woolen mills sunday school picnic
Victoria Dunham and I are doing a presentation of the Woolen Mills Village and WM Neighborhood this afternoon. Arg. Some technology involved. HDMI, UDF, MP4, codecs. Crazy modern stuff.
I went for a walk in the brilliant morning light, in the graveyard. I know a lot of people in graveyards. In the memory business. In the learning business. Learning from the lives of others, learning from our own, it is important, joyful and simultaneously very very sad.
Talk is at Cville Coffee, 1500hrs.

falling

wet press
Verdict came down in the case of of The Commonwealth of Virginia vs. George Wesley Huguely V. So did the rain.

Dave Chapman
Commonwealth’s Attorney Warner “Dave” Chapman addresses the media on the stairs of the Circuit Court following the jury’s announcement of their sentencing recommendation.

anti-icing

anti-icing brine
Had a few inches of snow Sunday afternoon. In preparation, Saturday night the City applied some manner of brine solution to the streets. I’ve seen this stuff on the interstates before but never in town. Much tidier than the salt slinging trucks…