LETTER: Public Spaces Should Not Be Privatized
August 19, 2012
DEAR EDITOR,
We the people own a collective array of resources that should not be exploited for private gain.
For the Founding Fathers, and later the high court, this notion is the original countermeasure to governmental abuse.
This is the current struggle for the old Cape Charles School — should Town Council have the ability to control the access and use of public space and assets?
Yes, the old school, especially the gymtorium, is public space, and the building and grounds are public assets.
Our public spaces have always served as a metaphor for our shared participation in the American dream of equality.
Public spaces are meant to be places where people from different backgrounds create a Cape Charles that includes everyone, and excludes no one.
It also invokes the notion of Lawrence Lessing’s idea of the Commons, “a resource in joint use or possession to be held or enjoyed equally by a number of persons.”
According to the courts, generally accessible government-owned places are tradition puble fora, and the American “traditional public forum doctrine” emphasizes the government’s role in protecting citizens’ access to public spaces such as the old school. These are the basic building blocks of our democracy. [Read more…]
SHORE THING
Local Man Follows the Path of Leonardo
The Rennaisance Man of Cape Charles: Ettore Zuccarino (with wife Carol reflected in mirror). (Wave photo)
By GEORGE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave
August 14, 2012
Italy has Leonardo da Vinci.
The United States has Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson.
And the Eastern Shore has Ettore Zuccarino.
All are “renaissance men” – individuals who excel in a wide variety of fields. And anyone who knows Zuccarino would agree that he fits the renaissance definition to a “T.”
Zuccarino and his wife, Carol, live across Old Plantation Creek from the golf course area of Cape Charles – a very short way as the crow flies, but several miles’ drive on dry land. But the couple are very plugged in to the Town, and we rightly claim them as our own.
I first heard of Zuccarino through a little advertisement he ran last winter in Joan Natali’s Cape Charles Happenings:
Quo Vadis Workshops: Where are you going? Try to Google the words “We can’t go on like this.” The hits are in the millions. Wonder why? To facilitate the understanding of this paradigm shift, a series of 12 workshops is offered at the Cape Charles Public Library during which we’ll explore together various wisdom traditions. . . .
I was intrigued. What kind of workshops would I find at the little Cape Charles library – and more importantly, whom would we meet? My wife and I signed up. The course was thought-provoking, but what lingers most in my memory is the person who planned it, advertised it, and conducted it with discipline and humor: Ettore Zuccarino. [Read more…]
COMMENTARY
Buying Bank Building Out of Sync with Comprehensive Plan
By TIMOTHY J. KRAWCZEL
August 3, 2012
Local governments in Virginia can do only those things that the state code specifically enables them to do, and must do them according to the procedures outlined in the Code.
Virginia envisions that local governments will have robust land use planning programs as a linchpin, engaged citizens, and active civic discourse.
One way the law of Virginia prescribes to fulfill this purpose is to require each municipality to have a Comprehensive Plan for the future physical development of the jurisdiction, founded on careful study and public input.
“Good public policy is made after a careful review of facts and consideration of public opinion.”
The Code of Virginia also obligates public officials, such as Town Councils, to carefully consider the adopted Comprehensive Plan before making a land use decision.
The Code is specific: Section 15.2-2232, Legal status of plan, stipulates that once a Town’s comprehensive plan has been approved and adopted, it shall control the general or approximate location, character and extent of each public facility . . . . Thereafter, unless a feature is already shown on the adopted master plan or part thereof , no park . . . or other public area, public building or public structure . . . whether publicly or privately owned, shall be constructed, established or authorized, unless and until the general location or approximate location, character, and extent thereof has been submitted to and approved by the commission as being substantially in accord with the adopted comprehensive plan or part thereof. . . . [Read more…]
SHORE THING
Put Your Money on the Mantelpiece
By GEORGE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave Columnist
July 23, 2012
When I was 10 years old, and wanted something, I wanted it NOW, and I wanted it BADLY.
My mother (who lived through the Great Depression), invariably said: “Put your money on the mantelpiece for two weeks, and then see if you still really want (whatever it was I had to have immediately).
That put me in my own great depression. Two weeks? An eternity for a 10-year-old. Money on the mantelpiece? I didn’t have any money — I wanted my parents to buy it for me!
So, I know of what I speak when I say that Town Council is behaving like a 10-year-old.
The indecent haste with which they voted to buy the Bank of America building is childish at best, and illegal at worst.
— Childish, because when Town Council found out they could buy the building for what seemed like a cheap price ($208,000), they threw caution to the wind, jumped in with both feet, and allowed no public knowledge or comment whatsoever.
Town Council didn’t have any money to put on the mantelpiece, but they sure wanted that impressive building with the stone columns. So they found some money waiting to be spent on hooking up two new wells to the Town water supply, and just took it.
— Illegal, because once again, Town Council is ignoring State code requirements in regard to the Town’s Comprehensive Plan: § 15.2-2232. “No . . . public building . . . shall be authorized . . . until . . . approved by the [planning] commission as being substantially in accord with the adopted comprehensive plan . . . .” Read the full text of the code here: (It’s a mouthful.) http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?000+cod+15.2-2232 [Read more…]
LETTER: Too Many Tomatoes? Bake a Cake!
July 22, 2012
DEAR EDITOR:
Too many tomatoes? Try making this Fresh Tomato cake!
I used an angle cake pan and cream cheese frosting, but you can use your imagination.
Ingredients:
1 box yellow cake mix with pudding in the mix
4 eggs
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 cups chopped fresh unpeeled tomatoes
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Directions:
Chop and drain the tomatoes slightly.
Beat eggs and oil together until smooth.
Combine all ingredients and mix well.
Spray pan with baking spray, bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.
Cool and frost.
Delicious!
SANDY MAYER
Letters to the Editor are welcome on any subject relevant to Cape Charles. Submissions must be signed, and may be emailed to [email protected].
SHORE THING
Scandinavian Scandal in the Historic District
By GEORGE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave
July 16, 2012
This town is a little bit business-unfriendly. That’s my observation, anyway, as someone who’s lived here all of two years.
And not just business-unfriendly – it’s also more than a little bit improvement-unfriendly.
You just have to jump through so many hoops to get permission to do anything.
Latest case in point: The Cape Charles Hotel. Two years ago, the hotel had shut down and was a blight on Mason Avenue. Obviously, there’s no town rule against empty storefronts – we’ve got plenty of them.
The old hotel was particularly ugly, in my humble opinion, with its orange-salmon paint job. But there’s no law against ugly, apparently.
So – along comes an investor, buys the hotel at bank auction, pumps who knows how many million $$ into it, and opens up an elegant, tony boutique facility that is, or should be, the pride of the Town.
And now come the complaints. Folks don’t like the plate glass dividers on the balconies. Looks too Scandinavian for the Historic District.
At last week’s Town Council meeting, Town Planner Tom Bonadeo reported that the hotel is not in compliance with the architectural guidelines approved for it. There were supposed to be wrought iron partitions, and instead we got plate glass.
And it sounds like the Town’s planning to do something about it.
Meanwhile, as a property owner who does vacation rentals, I think about tourists’ first impression of Cape Charles – which is not Mason Avenue, but Randolph Avenue. As they drive into town, that’s what they see first. [Read more…]
SHORE THING: My ‘Macaca’ Moment
By GEORGE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave
July 11, 2012
Mention the word “Macaca,” and millions of people will vaguely recall it had something to do with a politician turning his attention toward a college student who was videotaping every word he said.
That politician was George Allen, and July 11 marks exactly 5 years and 11 months since Allen infamously nicknamed the student videographer from UVA (who is of Indian descent) “Macaca” — a kind of monkey. Commentators blame that 1-minute indiscretion for Allen’s loss to now-Senator James Webb. You can relive it here:
Last night I had my own “Macaca” moment – nothing dramatic like the Allen episode, but nevertheless I felt a little like that UVA student, S.R. Sidarth, as he stood filming a speaker who suddenly directed everyone’s attention to the cameraman.
I was attending a meeting of the Cape Charles Planning Commission, and the commissioners were hearing a presentation by Echelon Resources developer J. David McCormack. As everyone in Cape Charles knows, Mayor Dora Sullivan has signed a contract to sell the old school, playground parking lot, and basketball court to Echelon Resources for the sum of $10.
Last night was the first time that a representative of Echelon Resources has spoken publicly about the deal, and I was filming it.
McCormack began by mentioning the friendship between his wife and Town Manager Heather Arcos. His wife is from Nassawadox, and “just by sheer coincidence,” McCormack said, “we realized that we had – she had a relationship with Heather.”
“That’s really as far as it goes,” McCormack concluded.
And then the presentation began – at least for several seconds — before Planning Commissioner Malcolm Hayward asked, “Are you fine with this camera?”
And then, for a few fleeting seconds it was all about George. “I’m happy to meet George . . . I got a lot of emails from George via Edwin [Gaskin, his Echelon partner] over the last couple months . . . I’m happy to hear from George, glad to meet George,” McCormack said, facing the cameraman (me).
“Whatever happens with the school at the end of the day, I’m going to still be neighbors with you all – by virtue of my relationships in town,” McCormack explained. [Read more…]
LETTER: Thanks to All Who Made Tall Ships A Success
June 14, 2012
DEAR EDITOR:
On behalf of Eastern Shore Virginia Festivals (ESVAF, Inc.) and Tall Ships At Cape Charles, I want to extend our deep gratitude to our sponsors and the community at large, including all who helped make our June 8 -12 festival such a huge success.
In Cape Charles, the five-day festival brought throngs of visitors (more than 7,000 of them, by a conservative count) to tour the tall ships and go on day sails, while also enjoying the food music, and entertainment, plus all kinds of family-friendly activities and 43 terrific vendors selling crafts and wares of all kinds. In a boost to the local economy, cash registers were ringing all over town as visitors patronized shops, filled B&Bs and the new Cape Charles hotel, and packed restaurants. We thank our local merchants and business community for their support and great efforts in preparing to welcome all these visitors – the town never looked better!
The way in which both towns and the larger Northampton County community came together in support of such a huge and challenging initiative was truly inspirational to me personally as well as to the members of the Tall Ships At Cape Charles Steering Committee— more than 30 people from throughout the County, who worked and planned for nine months to bring this amazing event to fruition. Other towns participated through their volunteers and sponsors, making Tall Ships At Cape Charles truly a County-wide festival. We are grateful to our state tourism representative, Lynne Lochen, whose expert advice and guidance kept us on track, and to Jonny Stevenson and her team in Eastville for their enthusiasm and hard work planning their own Star Spangled Day.
With such a magnificent effort, it is challenging, indeed, to try to thank everyone, and not leave anyone out; in addition to all listed here, Eastville organizers are preparing their own, special thank-you letter to those who made their Star Spangled Day such a success. [Read more…]
