Heck of a Fortnight

The last two weeks have been a bit of a blur, and so much has transpired in the news that some important and interesting developments in the life of our City have not gotten the attention they surely deserved.

For example, on Nov. 2 Charlottesville announced the largest expansion of City parkland since 1987 (thanks to the largest private donation of land to the people of Charlottesville since 1974), expanding Forest Hills Park by 20% in one fell swoop. Thank you to Charlie Armstrong and his colleagues at Southern Development for making that happen; stay tuned for news on more parkland acquisition opportunities in the very near future.

That same night, Cville City Council unanimously approved Winneba, Ghana, as our fourth Sister City. A very special unannounced guest joined us all the way from Ghana for the public hearing -- our friend Joe Baami, the chair of Winneba's own Sister City Commission. What a wonderful surprise!

Also on Nov. 2, City Council approved the formal agreement establishing the new Local Energy Alliance Program (LEAP), which aims to produce 20-40% energy savings in 30-50% of Charlottesville-Albemarle homes and businesses in the coming decade (and will create many new "green jobs" in the process). Huge potential there.

The next day was Election Day. A big night for our City Democratic candidates, and a big night for Republican candidates almost everywhere else. (Interesting piece of vainglorious trivia: now that City Council elections are held concurrently with state/federal elections, more voters are participating in the selection of City Councilors than ever before; as a result, my 6,300 votes on Nov. 3 were the most ever received by a candidate for Charlottesville City Council. It's a record that's likely to be broken in the not-too-distant future, but for now it at least gives me marginally more standing when I try to pull rank with my children. My cat, on the other hand, seems entirely unimpressed.)

Last Tuesday, Nov. 10, the Charlottesville Planning Commission gave a welcome and gratifying "thumbs up" to two separate projects that I have helped to shepherd for several years now. One vote granted approval of a site plan for the new YMCA next to Charlottesville High School, and the other vote granted approval of a special use permit for the new SRO (Single Room Occupancy) supportive housing apartments for the homeless, on 4th St. NW. Once their doors are opened to the public, both of these facilities will positively affect the lives of many, many local residents in the years and decades to come.

Last Wednesday, Nov. 11, the CRHA (Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority) Redevelopment Committee met to get a status report on the Master Planning process for revitalization of our public housing neighborhoods in Charlottesville. We're about 3/4 of the way through the Master Planning process, and hundreds of public housing residents have been involved in it some form or fashion (by attending community workshops/charettes, participating in site visits to other redeveloped communities, completing resident surveys, taking an urban design class for students at CHS, etc.). We are committed to this NOT becoming another example of top-down urban renewal like Vinegar Hill, and our friends at PHAR are doing an excellent job of keeping everyone accountable to the Residents Bill of Rights that CRHA, PHAR, and City Council all approved before we started work on Master Planning.

Last week, the City announced that we had ended FY'09 with a surplus, despite the woeful economic climate and despite Council's decision not to increase the property tax rate last year. Chalk it up to City departments tightening their belts and our Commissioner of Revenue and Treasurer's offices doing an excellent job in collecting taxes owed to the City. One more reason we continue to be one of the only cities in the country to enjoy the highest possible bond rating from the leading bond agencies.

Tomorrow, Nov. 16, City Council will be asked to give the green light to a major environmental improvement initiative that too has been years in the making -- the $3.2 million Meadow Creek Stream Restoration Project. It's one of the largest ecological restoration projects in our City's history and I'm excited to see it moving forward.

That's just a sampling of things that have been going on here in Charlottesville, Virginia the last couple of weeks. Heck of a fortnight indeed.

***I would be remiss if I did not put in one more plug for this important effort, which has largely overshadowed much of everything else in Cville the last two weeks. Let's hope it ends with a positive resolution.

End the War in Afghanistan

The Charlottesville Center for Peace and Justice and other local groups are sponsoring a series of events this week to push for an end to the war in Afghanistan:

Thursday Nov. 19: Anti-War Demonstration, 4:00-5:30pm at the Federal Building (corner of Water St. and McIntire Rd.)

Thursday Nov. 19: Speakers Forum, 7:00 pm at the Albemarle County Office Building (401 McIntire Rd.)

Friday Nov. 20: Food and Culture of Afghanistan, 7:00 pm at Random Row Bookstore (315 W. Main St.)

Sunday Nov. 22: Screening and Discussion of "Rethink Afghanistan," 7:00 pm at T.J. Unitarian Church (yellow house to left of the church at 717 Rugby Rd.)

Glad to see this happening here in Cville.

For more info.: www.charlottesvillepeace.org

Thank You Charlottesville

To all of the Charlottesville residents who voted in yesterday's election, to all of the supporters who donated time, energy and/or money to our campaign, to all of my fellow candidates, to my family and friends, I offer you all a huge word of thanks. While I am a bundle of mixed emotions today due to some of yesterday's other results, I am humbled by the trust you've shown in me and I hope to sustain your trust in the years ahead.

10,265 residents of Charlottesville cast a ballot yesterday. Typically, around 10-15% of people who vote in presidential or gubernatorial elections do not vote for down-ballot contests, like the one for City Council. If that pattern held true yesterday (which we know it did for other down-ballot positions), we can estimate that around 9,000 people participated in this year's City Council election, each of them voting for up to 2 candidates. Of that group,

* 6,300 people (or approx. 70% of voters) cast one of their votes for me
* 5,083 people (approx. 57%) cast one of their votes for Kristin Szakos
* 3,293 people (approx. 37%) cast one of their votes for Bob Fenwick
* 1,214 people (approx. 14%) cast one of their votes for Paul Long
* 382 people (approx. 4%) cast a write-in vote (presumably, many for Andrew Williams)

In the race for City Sheriff, James Brown won with 62% of the vote vs. 38% for Paul Best.

Kristin, James and I have each been running for 9 or 10 months, first for the citywide primary in May and then for the last 6 months as a general election ticket ("Your Charlottesville"). It was a long haul, but the destination was worth the journey. I am looking forward to serving with both of them in the years ahead.

Daily Progress recaps: "Szakos, Norris Get Easy Victories"; "Brown Wins Sheriff Post"

below: James, Kristin and I at the Election Night party @ Siips, photo by Jim Nix; following, Election Day portrait by Rick Sincere (http://ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com/2009/11/election-day-2009-photos.html)

A Personal Appeal Regarding Tuesday's Elections

Dear Friends,

Election Day is almost here and I hope you are planning to come out and vote on Tuesday!

In addition to Creigh Deeds, Jody Wagner and Steve Shannon, all of whom need our strong support, I am sharing the ballot on Nov. 3 with my friends Kristin Szakos (for City Council) and James Brown (for City Sheriff). As we enter the last few days of this campaign, I wanted to share with you why I feel so strongly that Kristin and James are our best choices on Tuesday. (And no, it's not just because they're Democrats.)

First and foremost, Kristin Szakos understands that Charlottesville has many challenges before it and she is committed to working through those challenges in a thoughtful, diligent, creative and collaborative manner. Kristin is the ONLY other candidate in this year's Council campaign who's come forward with positive, constructive ideas for addressing the achievement gap and reducing the dropout rate in our schools, for making Charlottesville a more bicycle- and pedestrian-friendly community, for strengthening the voice of neighborhoods in City decision-making, for bringing the community together around new and better approaches to reducing poverty, for encouraging citizen participation, for making City Council more accountable to our residents, etc. Kristin is the ONLY other candidate on Tuesday's ballot who's said she'll support the establishment of a dedicated fund for affordable housing in the City budget; if she wins, she'll be the critical 3rd vote we've needed to finally pass this important measure. And, along with independent candidate Paul Long, Kristin is the ONLY other candidate who has come forward with specific ideas for making our public transportation system more efficient and user-friendly so that we can reduce congestion on our roads and improve our environment. I may not agree with Kristin on 100% of the issues, nor should I, but I have full confidence that she will tell the truth and keep focused on what's best for all of Charlottesville and not just narrow special interests.

Anyone who knows Kristin, as I have for some years, is not surprised by the positive, issues-oriented, community-based campaign she has run this year. Kristin is an accomplished author, journalist, community activist, PTO President, non-profit professional, foster parent and mother. She mobilized thousands of volunteers from across Central Virginia last year to help get Barack Obama elected President, and has been an energetic leader in the effort to mobilize citizen support for meaningful health care reform in Congress. In other words, she knows how to bring people together and she knows how to get things done. That's exactly the kind of leader we need on City Council.

For these reasons and more, please come out and vote for Kristin Szakos for City Council on Tuesday. And while you're at it, please vote for me too. :-)

As for James Brown -- James has impressed me mightily during his campaign for Sheriff. He won a convincing victory in the May primary election, but didn't let it go to his head. Instead, he set out to meet with as many people as possible (both he and Kristin have knocked on hundreds of doors the last few months) and let them know his vision for the Sheriff's office. James grew up in Charlottesville and has ably served our community for over 15 years in the criminal justice field, as a police officer, pretrial investigator and probation officer. I know he will do great honor to the Office of Sheriff. He has specific ideas for building on Cornelia Johnson's outstanding legacy as our current Sheriff and intends to use his position as an elected official to influence kids in a positive direction. He also plans to "green" the Sheriff's office by phasing in hybrid vehicles, to reduce fuel usage and save taxpayers' money. Last but certainly not least, James is a genuinely good and decent and compassionate human being, which should count for something in politics. His campaign slogan says it all: "With respect, communication and diversity we can all progress."

*** Do you have 5 minutes you can spare in the next couple of days? Please forward this message (or better, one of your own) to any friends, neighbors, co-workers or family members who live in Charlottesville, and encourage them to get out and vote on Tuesday. If you're on Facebook, Twitter, etc., you can do the same there. Feel free to point folks to our website, www.YourCharlottesville.org, for more info.

*** Do you have 1 hour you can spare on Tuesday? We need folks to hand out sample ballots at the polls and/or make reminder calls to favorable voters. Please contact Jim Nix at jim-nix@comcast.net or (434) 987-3321 to sign up.

Thanks for all the support you've given me over the years, and for any help you can give over the next few days. And if you're free on Tuesday evening, we'll be gathering with volunteers from all the Democratic campaigns at Siips on the Downtown Mall from 7pm onward to await the election results, and hopefully celebrate victory -- come join us!

Best,

Dave Norris

Kristin, James and I with Congressman Tom Perriello

Daily Progress Endorses Norris for Re-Election

I was pleased to receive the endorsement of the Daily Progress today. Below is their editorial, in full:

Norris Earns Council Return

Charlottesville needs Dave Norris’ experience on Council.

Mr. Norris has become seasoned in his first term in office, including his current stint as mayor. He has a broad view of the city’s strengths and challenges, and is particularly qualified to address several of the major issues facing Charlottesville.

Take the issue of affordable housing, which has been one of his main themes in both campaigns. Specifically this year, Mr. Norris notes that the city is facing the complete revitalization of its aging public housing stock. The effort will be both expensive and fraught with emotional pitfalls, since the city’s (and nation’s) last major effort at reinventing low-income housing brought us “urban renewal,” the scars of which still linger.

Mr. Norris and council have already taken steps to alleviate residents’ fears by involving them in the planning process. Mr. Norris’ background as a nonprofit leader with housing expertise will help the city continue to negotiate this difficult path.

Mr. Norris is also well acquainted with the details of many other critical issues, from the need to upgrade outdated sewer and stormwater lines to the problem of school dropout rates and achievement gaps to the necessity of ensuring adequate water supply for the city and the larger community.

On several issues, including the controversial one of dredging the South Rivanna Reservoir and/or raising the Ragged Mountain Dam, Mr. Norris has shown himself capable of listening to wise counsel and taking into account evolving information. This is an important quality in a public servant.

Dave Norris has proved his mettle, and he deserves to be returned to Charlottesville City Council.

Newspaper Ad/Flyer for Norris-Szakos-Brown Campaign

Here's the full-page newspaper ad that we're running this week -- feel free to print out and post at your place of work or on your favorite local bulletin board!

http://www.hotlinkfiles.com/files/2419659_cr6cx/YourCharlottesville_Newspaper_Ad.pdf

New Radio Ad for Norris-Szakos-Brown Campaign

Check out our hot-off-the-presses radio ad for the Norris-Szakos-Brown campaign -- to begin airing tomorrow. Many thanks to Cle Logan of 92.7 KISS-FM for lending his smooth voice and good name to the cause! As always, for more info.: www.YourCharlottesville.org

"Charlottesville Candidates Need a Broad Vision"

I used to serve on the Piedmont Housing Alliance Board of Directors with Helen Flamini and have come to know her even better through her impressive work with the exciting McIntire Botanical Garden project. I was honored to see the Letter to the Editor from Helen that was published in today's Daily Progress:

City Council elections will be here on Nov. 3. There are many issues confronting the citizens of Charlottesville in the days ahead, and it will take dedicated and informed leaders to meet those challenges.

With so many important issues facing the City Council candidates, this would be the wrong time to elect a candidate whose entire focus is on a single polarizing matter. What is needed is a candidate who is focused on all the important issues affecting the city: affordable housing, transportation, education, recreation, environmental sustainability, revitalization of public housing, fiscal responsibility and McIntire Park.

Dave Norris has worked toward addressing those issues as well as continuing to promote and support the goals from City Council's Vision Statement 2025 that will continue to make Charlottesville a great place to live for all its citizens.

Innovative and thoughtful ideas to improve community representation are but one example of the leadership role exemplified by Dave Norris. City voters should re-elect Dave Norris and elect Kristin Szakos to City Council, as they work to ensure continued progress in making Charlottesville the great city it already is.

Helen Flamini

Strengthening Charlottesville's Neighborhoods

Yesterday, Kristin Szakos and I unveiled several proposals for strengthening the voice of Charlottesville's neighborhoods in City decision-making. For the full text of the proposals, click here: http://yourcharlottesville.org/neighborhoods.php. As with our bike/ped proposals from a couple of weeks ago, we cannot claim original authorship of any of these ideas -- they were all gleaned from conversations we've had with neighborhood leaders across the City over the course of this campaign. Kristin and I are both committed to more meaningful and proactive engagement between City government and Charlottesville residents in the decisions that affect their (your) lives.

Toward a More Bike-Friendly and Pedestrian-Friendly Charlottesville

Today, Kristin Szakos and I unveiled a set of proposals (based on input we solicited from local citizens and bicycle/pedestrian advocacy groups) to make Charlottesville a more bicycle-friendly and pedestrian-friendly community. This is an issue that Kristin has a real passion for and I'm looking forward to her leadership in this arena. For more info., see http://www.yourcharlottesville.org/bikesafety.php.

UVa Provost Makes Case for Single Payer Health Care

Advocates of Single Payer health care, like myself, are often portrayed as wild-eyed idealists (when in reality, there's really nothing that radical about a Single Payer system -- click here to find out more). One could hardly call Tim Garson a wild-eyed idealist. He's a highly-respected pediatric cardiologist who also happens to serve as Executive Vice President and Provost of the University of Virginia. This past Sunday, the Daily Progress ran a profile on Dr. Garson in which he makes a compelling case for a number of reforms in our health care system, including the institution of a Single Payer system. Click here to read the full article.

Responses to Sierra Club Candidate Survey

The general election for City Council is about to shift into higher gear (election day is Nov. 3, with myself and Kristin Szakos on the Democratic ticket), and to that end I share with you my responses to a recent Sierra Club candidate survey on environmental issues -- a policy arena that is obviously near and dear to me, both as a citizen and as an elected official. I encourage you to read Kristin's excellent responses as well: http://kristinforcouncil.blogspot.com/2009/07/sierra-club-questionnaire-response.html

What is your position on the preservation of McIntire Park in its entirety?

I am a strong supporter of our City’s parks and recreation program, and have championed a number of initiatives to expand and enhance parkland/green space in our community and improve recreational opportunities for our families.

McIntire Park, as our City’s largest park, should be the crown jewel of our park system. Instead it has suffered from a failure of imagination and as a result, only a tiny percentage of our population ever sets foot in McIntire Park on a regular basis. The eastern half of the park is reserved almost exclusively for golfers, who are several hundreds in number (out of a combined City-County population of 130,000+). The western half of the park is primarily used by softball and baseball players, most of whom don’t live in the City. While the picnic pavilions, wading pool, Dogwood Carnival, 4th of July fireworks, Dogwood Memorial, etc., do draw occasional visits from local residents, McIntire Park is by and large underused and underappreciated. That is the main reason why there hasn’t been more of an outcry about the plan to pave a major road right through the eastern half of the park. If more local residents had a firsthand appreciation of McIntire Park, if more local residents had a vested personal interest in saving McIntire Park, we would not even think about building the Meadowcreek Parkway. We need to open McIntire Park to the community. In particular, we need to provide opportunities for more CITY residents (especially residents from disadvantaged communities, who have historically felt excluded from the park) to use and enjoy the park as a resource for family recreation, youth enrichment, community-building and appreciation of nature. When I consider any proposed change to McIntire Park -- or any City park, for that matter -- I ask myself if the change will advance these four goals, and do so in a cost-effective manner. I do not believe in rigid adherence to the status quo for McIntire Park, because the status quo has not served the best interests of either the park or our community.

Do you support construction of the parkway in McIntire Park?

No. I have long opposed the Meadowcreek Parkway and have repeatedly voted against it while on Council. I do not believe the Parkway advances the goals I spelled out above for use of park space; furthermore, the Parkway is going to produce an unacceptable level of vehicular congestion in downtown Charlottesville from County cut-through traffic, just as we are trying to make downtown more pedestrian-friendly. If we are going to build more roads in this region, they should be roads designed to carry traffic around our residential neighborhoods and not directly through them.

What is your position on the proposed YMCA in McIntire Park?

I strongly support the YMCA in McIntire Park, not only because it does advance the goals I mentioned above for use of park space, but it also (more importantly) will be an invaluable resource for students at the Charlottesville High School next door. We have a serious need for positive recreational, enrichment and employment opportunities for teens in this community, and locating the YMCA adjacent to our High School (just as the new Boys & Girls Club is located adjacent to our Middle School) will be a big step forward in meeting these needs and countering the negative influences that are otherwise available to our young people out on the streets. Those who argue that an indoor recreation facility will “destroy” McIntire Park, and use patently false claims and divisive rhetoric to back up their assertions, ignore the fact that we already have two other parks with indoor recreation facilities in them (Washington and Tonsler), neither of which has hardly been “destroyed” by those facilities – even though both of those indoor facilities have a much larger relative footprint in their parks than the Y will have in McIntire. Finally, I support the YMCA because it will save the taxpayers of Charlottesville tens of millions of dollars vs. us building and managing our own second indoor aquatic and recreational facility, and thousands of lower-income City residents will be offered free memberships in the Y. Having said all of that, it is essential that the YMCA be well-designed and that any new parking be kept to a minimum, and that public transportation be extended to McIntire Park to reduce the need for parking and make sure all members of our community can enjoy the YMCA and the park.

What would you do to encourage alternative transportation and to improve pedestrian and bicycling safety?

Since I have been on City Council we have added Sunday bus service, expanded bus routes, increased frequency of service to certain neighborhoods, incorporated new real-time technology, and made other improvements to our transit system. Due in large part to these changes, transit ridership has risen dramatically, from approx. 1.5 million trips in 2006 to 2 million trips in 2008. We are now working with our regional partners (Albemarle County, UVa, JAUNT, etc.) to explore establishment of a Regional Transit Authority, which has the potential to significantly expand funding for public transportation and thereby increase ridership even further. I believe a trunk-and-feeder bus system, with a highly-visible, fast, frequent, fare-free “trunk line” connecting our major residential/commercial/employment centers (29 North, UVa, West Main/Downtown, Pantops), combined with a better park-and-ride system and smaller buses running frequent routes into our neighborhoods and feeding into the trunk line, could take transit ridership to an even higher level in our community. As for pedestrian and bicycling safety, I am proud of the fact that City Council allocated $750,000 this past year to new pedestrian safety improvements and created a Pedestrian Safety Committee to identify opportunities for making our City safer for those who are trying to get around on foot, on a bike, in a wheelchair, etc. In recent years we have also increased investment in sidewalks, bicycle trails, and other bike/ped amenities, in part by re-directing surplus funds from our road-paving budget to these kinds of uses. There are more improvements yet to be made (for example, I would like to see us expand our network of dedicated, off-road bike/ped trails), but we are at least moving in the right direction.

The City of Charlottesville has sought to promote marketing of locally produced foods. Are there any steps you believe the City should take to support local production and sale of healthful foods.

The City Market and Farmers in the Park have both been very successful, but both have been operating with a perpetual cloud of uncertainty over their heads with regard to their long-term future. That uncertainty needs to end. We need to secure a permanent home for the City Market at a site that will allow the Market to grow and thrive. We need to figure out a better way to manage/site Farmers in the Park so that it doesn’t have the look and feel of an afterthought. We need to broaden the consumer base for our markets by allowing low-income residents to use EBT cards at the markets; we’re currently exploring a pilot program along those lines. We need to encourage community gardening in more neighborhoods and thereby encourage more of our residents to get involved in growing their own food. I myself have been heavily involved in the effort to transform the old First Christian Church building downtown into a community resource center for the homeless, hungry and disadvantaged; one component of that project will be a community kitchen (“Kay’s Kitchen”) that will support production and distribution of local foods. I am eager to hear other ideas as to how the City can support the burgeoning local-foods movement.

Do you believe the City Council should support the determination of an optimum sustainable population size, such as the one proposed by Advocates for a Sustainable Albemarle Population, and use this information for future planning?

I supported the funding for this study and am pleased that it’s now in progress. I believe ASAP’s effort has been mischaracterized as an effort to create an arbitrary, legally-enforceable cap on population that we cannot grow beyond. Instead, I see it as an effort to better understand the optimum “carrying capacity” of our region’s natural resources, with an eye to understanding how our use of these resources – the choices we make regarding our built environment, our patterns of living and moving and using energy, etc. – impact the quality of life for ourselves and future generations. Decisions regarding growth need to be informed by a thorough understand of how that growth will affect the manner of living to which we’ve become accustomed.

The City of Charlottesville is surrounded by Albemarle County and the environments of the two localities are intertwined. Is there any any environmental issue in which you believe additional City-County cooperation should be sought?

The issue of climate change is one that lends itself naturally to greater collaboration between regional partners; carbon emissions know no jurisdictional boundaries, and we can do more to curb them by working together than by acting separately. I am pleased that the City and County have taken the first steps toward creation of a joint Regional Climate Action Plan, which will hopefully lead to closer cooperation between City and County on a range of emissions-reduction strategies (promotion of green building, energy and water conservation, renewable energy, alternative transportation, preservation of green space, recycling/waste reduction, etc.). This effort will build on the Local Energy Alliance Program (LEAP) which the City and County recently unveiled, an initiative which is putting our region in the forefront both statewide and nationally as a clean energy pioneer. I was very pleased that the City of Charlottesville was named the “Greenest City in Virginia” last year for our size, and we should pursue every opportunity to scale up our environmental sustainability efforts for wider beneficial impact.

Would you support reconsidering the Community Water Supply Plan if the dredging study shows restorative dredging is economically and environmentally feasible?

Yes. I have insisted that the City and County revisit certain assumptions underlying the Community Water Supply Plan, one of which is that dredging is prohibitively costly and unfeasible. We are now conducting a feasibility study to see whether this particular assumption holds water (pardon the pun). If dredging is determined to be economically and environmentally feasible, if we can safely assume that there will be more than a 5% decrease in per-capita water consumption over the next 50 years (which I believe there will be), and if enlarging the size of the pipeline between the South Fork and Ragged Mountain reservoirs will lower the necessary storage capacity of Ragged Mountain, then my hope is that we can avoid building a large new dam at Ragged Mountain and instead simply repair and enlarge the existing dam. This approach would conceivably save the taxpayers/ratepayers a significant amount of money and result in much less environmental destruction.

Will you work to increase parkland acquisition in the City?

Not only will I work to increase parkland acquisition in the City, but I already have. For the first time in memory, this year’s City budget includes funding for parkland acquisition, and we’re about to announce a major gift of parkland from a local developer. I have been working with City staff to identify and prioritize parkland/green space acquisition opportunities and we will be pursuing a variety of strategies (purchase, donation, easement, etc.) to secure as many of these parcels as possible in the coming years. I am not opposed to creative, urban-infill, pedestrian- and transit-oriented development in the City, which I would much rather see than continued suburban sprawl in the County. However, if we are going to adhere to our goal of substantially increasing our tree canopy and enhancing our status as a “Green City,” we cannot stand by and let all of our green space be chewed up by development. We have to be proactive in adding to our inventory of parkland/green space and instituting policies and incentives for private sector efforts to protect and enhance green space as well.

Rally w/Creigh Deeds this Sunday on the Downtown Mall

Creigh Deeds is appearing in Charlottesville this Sunday, Aug. 2, at 4pm at Central Place on the Downtown Mall to kick off an 8-day campaign swing. Come down and show your support for our next Governor! www.deedsforvirginia.com

Cookout for Healthcare with Cindy Sheehan--Saturday, July 18, 12:00pm

from AfterDowningStreet.org:

"Cindy Sheehan, one of the best known peace and justice activists in the United States, will be joined by other speakers in support of public healthcare at a cookout open to the public and the media. Please join Cindy for lunch at noon on Saturday, July, 18, 2009, rain or shine, at 707 Gillespie Ave, Charlottesville, VA, 22902. Cindy will talk about her new book and the need for an expanded public healthcare system.

RSVP: http://afterdowningstreet.org/cindyevent

Also at noon on Saturday, elsewhere in Charlottesville, others have announced plans to hold an anti-healthcare rally that they misleadingly call a rally for "Patients First." Participants include Kay Coles James, the disgraced director of the United States Office of Personnel Management known for hiring unqualified government employees based on their attendance of a fourth-rate, right-wing university; Del. Ben Cline, whose opinions are paid for by his campaign funders, including Medical Facilities of America, US Tobacco, Va. Hospital & Healthcare Assn., Medco Health Solutions, and Va. Independent Insurance Agents; Tito Munoz, a small business owner who helped John McCain lose Virginia; former city councilman and aspiring Rush Limbaugh, Rob Schilling; and Ben Marchi, a former employee of ethically reprimanded and indicted congressman Tom Delay.

Marchi says: "Health care legislation being pushed by the liberals in Congress will threaten the sacred relationship between doctor and patient and strip away patients' rights to choose a plan that best suits them."

Yet, Americans consistently tell pollsters that they want public health coverage: http://tr.im/sENL

Other nations that have public health coverage (government spending on private or public healthcare) provide their people with better care. The U.S. system is ranked 37th by the World Health Organization. The United States is 24th in life expectancy and 29th in reducing infant mortality. Infants who do not survive the US system do not get a chance to possess patients' rights.

A single-payer system, which would go further than the compromise that has Marchi so upset, would cover everyone at all times with no exceptions, allow completely free choice of doctors, invest in preventive care, allow patients and doctors to make their own decisions free of insurance company restrictions, reduce the 30 percent waste in the current system to the 3 percent overhead in Medicare, and create a net gain of 2.6 million jobs, $317 billion in business revenue, and $100 billion in wages. See: http://tr.im/sETE

House Resolution 676, backed by 86 congress members, would accomplish these things and meet every one of Congressman Tom Perriello's goals for healthcare as listed on his website: http://tr.im/sEUO

Cindy Sheehan said: "Health care is a basic human right and the only way to get obscene profits out of the way of patient health is single-payer, as many nations around the world do. We challenge both Democrats and Republicans to put people before insurance companies, big-pharma, and HMO's."

Summaries of this issue:
http://charlottesvillepeace.org/node/1939
http://charlottesvillepeace.org/node/1854

Video of recent forum in Charlottesville:
http://charlottesvillepeace.org/node/1882

Join us at noon on Saturday, July 18, 2009, at 707 Gillespie Ave, Charlottesville, Va. Kids are welcome! There is no charge, but it is appreciated if you bring something to eat or drink. Please go to this page and post a comment that you are coming and how many are coming with you. And if you are able to bring something to eat or drink and know what it will be, please post that: http://afterdowningstreet.org/cindyevent"

Congressman Perriello Wows 'Em on "Morning Joe"

Tom Perriello consistently impresses. See for yourself, from MSNBC yesterday:



We need to make sure Tom gets re-elected to Congress next year so he can continue to provide energetic leadership for the 5th District. Please give what you can by clicking here.

Barnie Day Predicts Deeds Victory in November

What a party last night at the Charlottesville Omni! The eyes of the Commonwealth (and beyond) were on Charlottesville as Creigh Deeds celebrated his stunning victory here in the Democratic primary for Governor. Congratulations to Creigh and to Jody Wagner for their convincing wins yesterday. It's great to see the party now lining up behind them as the Deeds/Wagner/Shannon ticket prepares for a tough race this fall. (In Charlottesville, of course, that's the Deeds/Wagner/Shannon/Toscano/Norris/Szakos/Brown/Brown/Chapman/Richards ticket. Damn, that's going to make for a looooooong bumper sticker.)

There's been a lot of commentary over the last 24 hours about How Deeds Won, How the Other Candidates Lost, What Deeds' Victory Means, etc., etc., but now's the time to start looking forward. To that end, I recommend this analysis by former Delegate Barnie Day: http://virginiatomorrow.com/2009/06/10/barnie-day-assessing-deeds-v-mcdonnell/ While we absolutely cannot take anything for granted, I think Day hits the nail on the head when it comes to the dynamics of this race and I agree with him that Creigh's in very good shape to win it on November 3. Go Creigh!

Deeds, Wagner on Tuesday

I have had many people ask me in the last week who I'm supporting for Governor and Lieutenant Governor in the Democratic primary tomorrow. While I don't necessarily believe that endorsements from local elected officials (unlike, say, from the Washington Post) make a huge difference in such contests, I have gone on record as endorsing Creigh Deeds for Governor and Jody Wagner for Lieutenant Governor as I believe they would be our strongest ticket going into the November general election -- and just as importantly, the pair most likely to Get Things Done down in Richmond.

I may not agree with either of them on 100% of the issues, but they are both progressives in the sense of willing to fight for the interests of working Virginians, for increased investments in clean energy, for improvements to public and higher education, for civil rights and civil liberties, etc., and they both have successful track records of pushing for positive change on the state level. I have had the good fortune of getting to know both Creigh and Jody personally and they both strike me as authentic, sincere, well-informed and aptly-experienced. When you throw in the Democratic candidate for Attorney General, Steve Shannon, you have a ticket that well-represents the state as a whole (Creigh from Southwest/Central Virginia, Jody from Hampton Roads, Steve from Northern Virginia) and would elect the first woman to the office of Lieutenant Governor in Virginia history. That distinction should have belonged to Emily Couric, but Jody is a good second choice.

None of this is to take anything away from any of the other candidates who are on the ballot on Tuesday, at least two of whom I like and have a great deal of respect for. Turnout tomorrow is expected to be abysmal, so whomever you support, get out and vote because your vote will carry even more weight than normal. As for me, when I go into that voting booth tomorrow, I will be "pulling the lever" for Deeds and Wagner and I encourage you to consider doing the same.

Creigh Deeds for Governor: www.deedsforvirginia.com
Jody Wagner for Lieutenant Governor: www.jodyforva.com

p.s. For what it's worth, this fall I will be sharing a ballot and a coordinated campaign with whoever wins tomorrow, so I do admit to having slightly more of a vested interest in the outcome than the average voter. :-)

Election-Eve Rally with Creigh Deeds

Cynthia Neff for Delegate

Yesterday I attended a meet-and-greet for Cynthia Neff, candidate for the 58th District seat (Greene County and parts of Albemarle, Fluvanna and Orange) in the Virginia House of Delegates. I was very impressed. Not only did Cynthia demonstrate a keen understanding of how the General Assembly has dropped the ball on issues like transportation, energy, education and the environment, she was also unafraid to call out the bigotry and small-mindedness that has prevailed in Richmond on matters of equality and non-discrimination for all our citizens. Cynthia is running against a well-funded incumbent, but it's a swing district and she has the vim and the vigor to win this thing in November. Please lend her your support -- www.cynthianeff.com. Go Cynthia!

The Day After

Yesterday was a big day for the Charlottesville Democratic Party -- the first time the party used a Firehouse Primary to choose its nominees for City Council (and Sheriff). Over 1,600 residents participated, meaning we had many more voters taking part in selecting our nominess than in the past; prior nominating conventions typically attracted 400-600 voters. We even had more voters yesterday than the 2006 U.S. Senate primary between Jim Webb and Harris Miller, when 1,554 Charlottesville residents cast their vote. I was at the polls for almost the entire day and it was great to see a steady stream of voters and friendly faces all day long.

The final vote tally for the Council race was as follows:

Dave Norris -- 80.49%
Kristin Szakos -- 61.13%
Julian Taliaferro -- 43.32%

As always, excellent coverage of the day's proceedings was provided by Charlottesville Tomorrow: http://cvilletomorrow.typepad.com/charlottesville_tomorrow_/2009/05/norris_szakos2.html

I'm still wiped out by the day's events (OK, and the revelry afterwards) but did want to offer a few quick thoughts.

* First and foremost, thank you to the voters, to the people of Charlottesville, for your confidence and support. As I've said all along, I don't expect everyone to agree with me on each and every issue that comes before Council, but I do hope people see that I've worked hard to get the City moving in the right direction on a number of important fronts. I look forward to making yesterday's endorsement "official" on election day, November 3. (By the way, we need to change the date of these nominating primaries. It's ridiculous to have a 6-month general election season for City Council races. The United Kingdom has been known to pull off nationwide Parliamentary elections in less than 6 WEEKS.)

* Many thanks to the folks who worked on my campaign team, particularly my campaign manager, Becky Reid (a genial genius of a strategist & organizer who walks on water and makes a killer eggplant sauce) and my communications director, Tad Abbey (who somehow juggled his campaign duties with getting married and landing a new DJ gig on WNRN -- congrats Tad!). Everyone who contributed time, money, moral support and/or advice to my campaign deserves my unending gratitude.

* Congratulations to Kristin Szakos and James Brown III for running great campaigns and coming out ahead yesterday, and best wishes to Phillip Brown, Mike Baird and, of course, Vice Mayor Julian Taliaferro, all of whom ran good races and deserve heaps of praise for their service to our community.

* Bottom line is: it was a great day for democracy, and a great day for Democrats, in Charlottesville. And now, on to November 3!

Below: James Brown and Kristin Szakos at the polls; me and Becky Reid at the after-party at Rapture.