■ Community Profile: CHARLOTTESVILLE
Rethinking Charlottesville A
Community works to move forward after violent rally by Veronica Garabelli
violent rally held in Charlottes- ville last summer hasn’t signifi- cantly affected Helen Cauthen’s
work at the Central Virginia Partnership, but it has impacted her personally. “I live near where all that happened,”
says Cauthen, president of the partner- ship, which helps attract new businesses to the Charlottesville region. “It’s still disturbing.” The “Unite the Right” rally brought
white nationalists to Charlottesville to protest plans to remove a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from a city park. The event resulted in the death of counter-protester Heather Heyer, who was killed by a car driven into a crowd. Two state troopers on the way to assist the city, Trooper-Pilot Berke M.M. Bates and Lt. Pilot H. “Jay” Cullen III, also died in a helicopter crash. Months after the rally, the violent
clash of opposing groups in the streets of Charlottesville remains part of the national conversation. The city’s business leaders, however, are working to move forward, stressing that the violence seen in news clips around the world isn’t an accurate depiction of the community. “I think people … when they keep
seeing photographs and negative media, they are just a little leery about coming downtown. We’re now in the process of trying to change that image,” says Susan Payne, president of Blue Ridge Group, a local advertising and public relations agency and head of the Downtown Business Association of Charlottesville’s (DBAC) marketing committee. The association is working with City
Council on an economic recovery plan in response to the rally and a recent down- turn in business. Unrelated to the August events, DBAC also is seeking increased funding for the downtown mall in the
Photo by Mark Rhodes
The Charlottesville Albemarle Convention and Visitors Bureau’s Brigitte Bélanger-Warner continues to market the area’s attractions.
city’s fiscal year 2018-2019 budget, which will be adopted in April. When comparing the latter half of
2016 versus 2017, local data don’t provide a clear picture of how businesses have been impacted by the rally. The latest available figures show a downward trend in sales tax revenue and mixed results in meals tax revenue. Occupancy rates were down from August to October and increased in November. Data may be a mixed bag, but merchants on the down- town mall say continuing publicity about the event has had a dampening effect. Nonetheless, other developments
during the last half of the year also may have impacted the foot traffic. Paid parking, for example, was in effect in the mall area for 72 days before being sus- pended by the city. Also, hurricanes and floods on the Gulf Coast, Florida and Puerto Rico may have prompted visitors from those areas to cancel plans to visit Charlottesville.
www.VirginiaBusiness.com
Letter to consultants Following the August events, The
Central Virginia Partnership wanted to change the narrative about Char- lottesville, so it sent a letter to site selec- tion consultants. “We are a supportive and inviting
community working daily to bring new innovation, build business relationships and provide greater opportunities for our citizens,” the letter said. “Thus, we will not allow the feelings of outsiders to tarnish the region we know can provide wonderful opportunities to companies from across the nation and the world.” The letter was well received by the
consultants. Didi Caldwell, the found- ing principal at Greenville, S.C.-based Global Location Strategies, says the rally hasn’t changed her perception of Char- lottesville. She also hasn’t heard concerns about the city from her clients. “I am confident that qualified location strategy consultants would counsel their
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