David Witmer wants to bring reduced-cost MRI scans to Charlottesville, but faces a lot of resistance.
When an old friend called me a few weeks ago to talk about bringing an MRI scanner to the Charlottesville area, it initially sounded like a story which was probably better left for the back of the Daily Progress. With all the talk about health care reform, the ever-increasing cost of health care and the fact that, as an entrepreneur, I’ve payed insurance that’s increased 50% in 2 years, I quickly realized that the issue went far beyond a clanking magnetic scanner. Explanations for increased health care costs are: overuse and misuse of insurance, the cost of treating the uninsured, increased prevalence of malpractice lawsuits, limited supply of health care providers, low growth in productivity (the ability to efficiently service patients) and more expensive treatments for people who live longer. Today, this issue has become very local. We look at how anti-competitive regulation more than doubles the cost for MRI services in Charlottesville.
Dave Witmer’s an orthopedic surgeon who told me several times that “no one is going to like me over there.” »Read More
Tuesday Night, from 7 to 8:30PM, at Rapture, Left of Center (*****POLITICAL ORGANIZATION) will host a event about the future of local food. The organizers will answer questions like “is the local food movement a passing fad for the wealthy” and “how do we expand beyond the farmer’s market to something accessible to—and affordable by—everybody?”
The legendary orgies that haunt Fellini’s, the fading bohemian essence of the mall, the top of the best places to live, a Miller’s bartender named Dave: I came to Charlottesville long after what I’ve heard some refer to as the glory days of this strange town. A city sparked to life during some moveable feast, fueled by an emerging, indelible arts and music scene, the veneer of big-city shallowness, drugs and alcohol, vagrancy, and a general sheen of bohemia.
Of course, I say this all as an outsider looking in, even after two years of living here. What I know, I know in passing. The half-smile nostalgic gaze from co-workers and acquaintances who recount memories of this city, its infamous and famous, its dirty and vulgar, its singular and spectacular moments. Like a man trying to describe the first time he saw fireworks or the first time having sex. It was wonderful, although a faded memory and an unlikelihood that he’ll never feel that way again. That faded glory is palpable and the ghosts of those days can be heard whispering between the sounds of the mall. Sometimes it feels like this town is recouping from a massive hangover from an epic party. A party somewhat memorialised by what I can only imagine was gawdawful tripe, a flash-in-the-pan piece of poesy or a truly incendiary and inspiring verse.
Somewhere, somehow, I managed to find for myself a dusted-off copy of “Fandango!”, a poem written in the mid-90s by an anonymous writer. In my adventure that led to the discovery of the copy, I also discovered Hypocrite Press, a local publisher publishing local authors who write about, you guessed it, life and their lives in the local area. »Read More
Planning on going home to watch tomorrow’s Inauguration on your teeny tiny HD screen? Why not grab a beer, lunch and enjoy it with other villains around town? WCAV listed a couple places around town where you can enjoy this historical day with others:
UNCUS reports that only 2 of the 7 contracts for the Downtown Mall Renovation had been given to local firms. I prefer shopping at local businesses and supporting local food, but the “local is better than anything else” mentality in the article strikes me as sensationalist and naive.
To be fair, there is probably some difference (let’s say local people do it for 10% more ) where it makes sense to favor local work. Take this passage from the article by Dave McNair:
As Jennifer Luchard, the city’s Procurement & Risk Management Services Manager, explains, “A preference for local products and firms in the case of a tie bid is allowed. Otherwise, there isn’t enabling legislation which allows a local preference.”
The city must also answer to tax payers. »Read More
Kate Collier (the owner of Feast) and Marisa Vrooman are in the early stages of planning a food hub for Charlottesville. Much like Horse and Buggy Produce, the idea is to serve as a central buying and distribution point for farms and consumers in the Charlottesville area. This helps small farms and consumers by providing the legwork for getting local food on a local eater’s tables.
Kate and Marisa are still writing their grant proposals, but I’m sure they will be curious to hear your thoughts.
I was talking with someone from one of the 5th District campaigns (i.e. Goode or Perriello) and they offered to do an online questionnaire for cVillain readers. Here’s what we will do. Let us know in the comments what questions you want asked. If you like someone else’s question, put a @4 where 4 corresponds to the comment number to let us know you like it.
We’ll pick the best/most liked 10 and submit the same questiosn to each campaign, give them a week to respond and publish the answers on the site.
Here is the video of the advertisement that Perriello has been trying to get the local television stations to remove because it is “libel.” According to the Perriello campaign’s attorney (in a letter sent to TV stations):
We do not expect you [TV Station] to act as a censor, prejudging all advertisements that are offered to you, but we do expect that when you are confronted with clear proof that a particular advertisement is false, you will refuse to run the advertisement in question. You owe your viewers that much
I think cville becomes even better when it can introduce me to something I have never even heard of…this week it is Spicy Senegalese Peanut Tofu soup at Revolutionary Soup. Thor touched briefly on how this is one of his favorite soup’s in his Week o’ Charlottesville Lunches series, and after trying it, I think it deserves its own soup bowl sized spotlight. It sounded very appetizing from the menu on the wall, but I was worried it would be some knock-off of a Thai-style peanut dipping sauce (satay sauce) turned into a soup. What I received was as non-Thai as it gets, and a my belly loved every bite of the small size cup I got (mistake #23093 in my book, order at LEAST the medium).
Nicola’s Veggies is this tiny door in the wall veggie restaurant located on 110 2nd St. NW (the north side of 2nd street on the Downtown Mall). When I say “door in the wall”, I literally mean it. Nicola’s interior space must not occupy more than 35 square feet. You order through a screen window next to the door, and someone inside, most likely a nice woman named Kimberly will scramble away making your lunch a hopefully green experience. And she really does scramble, but it must be ridiculously hard working in that tiny space, so if it takes 5 min to build you a great salad, please don’t give her any crap.
Their size does not detract from the food quality.It is owned by the same owners as Marco and Luca. I have had the exquisite pleasure of ordering lunch from them since they opened, and every time its delicious. Now I have to warn you, if you don’t like vegetables, like really hate them, then you might not like this. Nicola’s offers you a veggie overload.
