I know all of you must be going into post-lunch food coma mode, but here is just one more morsel to chew on before you stop pretending to actually be working…It seems an article the C-Ville wrote about a local neighborhood pissed off some residents. One of them sent a letter to the editor, and for some strange reason I think the only place anyone will read it is on cVillain, so, without further ado:
From: J K
To: editor@c-ville.com; advertising@c-ville.com; editor@readthehook.com; stuart@readthehook.com
Sent: Thursday, May 8, 2008 12:28:30 PM
Subject: Cville hack job on Fifeville neighborhood building
letter to the editor re:
http://www.c-ville.com/index.php?cat=121304062461064&ShowArticle_ID=11430505084074196
New Lows in Hackery: C-ville Hit on Purple People Eater I won’t presume to know Will Goldsmith’s or the C-ville’s motivations in general, but in regards to your Purple People Eater item on a building in the 200-block of 5th Street S.W.: Could you BE any more biased?
Goldsmith opens the piece with standard C-ville truthiness: “Just about everyone…hates” the building. Oh really, Mr. Goldsmith? I’d like to see a transcript of your interview with “everyone”.
The piece then relies on a series of conjectures and inaccuracies to support a tenuous case that the building has caused injury to the neighborhood somehow. Of note, Ms. Firehock mentions the building’s height, which Goldsmith magically expands later in the piece to four stories. It is actually only three. The article also finds fault with landscaping and balconies. There is some landscaping, although admittedly minimal, and the balconies were clearly designed as a point of access to the condo units, not as bonus living space. So, in someone’s opinion, these elements are lacking, but Goldsmith passes off these tidbits as though they were definitive and factual. Lazy.
In addition to the above, Goldsmith calls the sidewalks narrow and claims the building has walled itself off from the neighborhood. I’d like to ask what other sidewalks in the city he is comparing, measuring, and interviewing pedestrians about to reach this theory?
And did anyone note that 5th Street S.W. happens to be a narrow, busy street, with limited parking? The so-called “insular” nature of the Purple People Eater provides a safe and easy place for residents to park their cars. Would C-ville have us believe that planning ahead for parking in a high-density area is suddenly a problem? If so, this city is going to run into major problems in the next few years.
To the point of the building being too tall or an ugly color, one need not look far for that argument to fall apart. There are no less than
5 buildings within site of the Purple People Eater that are exactly as tall or taller. And, to address the question of color is quite an arbitrary bone to pick. What about the bright, bold colors of the new LiveArts building on Water Street, or the pink monstrosity that used to be the C-ville’s home on South Street? And the beloved West Main Street Market (1 block away) is painted an almost identical color.
How would the restaurant- and shop-owners feel about a 200-word hit-piece on how ugly THAT building is?
In short, this continuing effort to manufacture controversy and stir things up with your puerile, trifling editorial sense has been, unfortunately, par for the course.
p.s. There are a few residents with units for sale that may have a bone to pick with you. And some realtors that might reconsider running any more ads in your rag of a magazine.
Popularity: 29% [?]
Tagged as: bad reporting, C-Ville, condo, local news, poop, purple people eater, Real Estate
Bill Atwood (arch-a-jerk supreme) when question about the building basically goes “my bad”.
This is the same guy who wants to tear up Crozet pizza and build a huge building downtown behind club 216
You can check out the Crozet mess in the DP today.
Dude, if you don’t refer to the C-ville Weekly as C-VILLE, they get all pissy and write you angry emails. You better change it before you get a tongue-lashing.
Great picture of Jim Duncan.
@1 are you talking about the watermark? i’ve seen renderings…is the tearing up of crozet pizza as imminent?
Wow, that is long. I’m gonna need a raincheck on reading it OR you can put it on tape
@4 according to the DP article Crozet Pizza lease is up in 09
what building is this? And who is Bill Atwood? And why is he a jerk supreme?
I skimmed that article inset and remember looking at the picture and being thoroughly confused. Eventually I conjectured that the first floor was below ground. Silly me. Trusting this bastion of local journalism to fact check the accompanying photo.
Just about everyone…hates
This is awfully close to the Fox News tactic of prefacing wild ideological talking points with “Some people are saying…” in order to insert said talking point into the dialogue without having to back up anything. Check it out.
to manufacture controversy and stir things up
While annoyingly transparent, I definitely prefer this to the “20 Year Old Crime”, “Random List” or “What will be the next big band from Cville?” canards that get trotted out monthly. Fortunately the hook picked up the slack on the latter this week. Thank god. I didn’t know I cared about random musician one’s opinion about random musician two until this week.
c-villearticle that started the whole dust up with pics of said building.
You guys are silly.
@8 i certainly hoped they didn’t skip KOB like the C-VILLE did. that made for some angry ranters this week.
fifeville article is also preferable to that crap about john whitehead & the old chick who tried to whore herself out to the president & then complained when he expected her to follow through.
I skipped KOB and I’m better for it!
totally agree. who the hell cares. either write something about the actual music, maybe even a show review, or write about something else.
I agree that the “just about everybody hates” line is poorly chosen, but otherwise, the letter writer sounds off-base and whiney.
Probably a realtor trying to sell around there. Get over it, “J K”
“J K” = Just Kidding…
Just about everybody knows that.
Also: I think KOB Should cover a KORN song.
/aw shucks.
I kind of like the so-called “Purple people eater.” It was surprising to read that “everyone” hates it.
@15 Oh boy do I have a remix for you! I’ll burn it to BluHDROM - you don’t wanna sacrifice sound quality for this gem.
I’m too scatterbrained to read that right now. Could someone summarize it for me in 5 words or less?
@2, cant we refer to C-VILLE however the f we want? Besides if they do write us an angry email it will make for a hilarious post! And then, yes, you will be there to wave the “i told you so” finger. Or, we can create a secret, oh so public, code name for C-VILLE a la uncus. Thoughts?
@19 C-swill?
Could someone summarize it for me in 5 words or less?
JK mad. Cville Slanted. Tedious.
@20, how about JK MAD, as in just kidding mad (sounds like bad english!)
I thought the Hook music article was awesome. I know half the people in those bands and it’s really cool to see them featured (in color! woo!) and giving their feedback on each other. Nicely done, Hookers.
@21 Thank you. I knew I could count on you.
/eleventy two, eleventy three
music article was awesome
So was it just seeing someone you know in print, or was it the extremely nuanced commentary (ie “I think they really rock, I saw them and it was really fun!”). If it was the commentary, why didn’t you just ask them if you are their chums. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think it was bad. I just don’t think it was anything.
sounds like bad english!
There’s a reason for that.
No, I liked seeing the other bands too, all in one place. I wish we had a local artist directory on the web. And it was a fun article, not supposed to be Rolling Stone or anything.
not supposed to be Rolling Stone or anything
Fair enough.