The dozen hopefuls running for Charlottesville City Council got a double dose of democracy Wednesday, when all candidates — both Democrats and independents — took part in two forums on the same day.
Seven Democrats — Satyendra Huja, James Halfaday, Kathy Galvin, Paul Beyer, Dede Smith, Brevy Cannon and Colette Blount — and five independents — Scott Bandy, Bob Fenwick, Brandon Collins, Andrew D. Williams and Paul Long — are competing for three seats up for grabs this year.
At an early-afternoon forum held by the Senior Statesmen of Virginia, the candidates took some tough questions from an older crowd of both city and Albemarle County residents at the Senior Center, with familiar controversies front and center.
“With the county’s portion of the Meadow Creek Parkway being finished this week, how can the city justify breaking its previous agreement and not completing its portion?” asked moderator and SSV president Sue Liberman as she read a question from the audience.
“I don’t think it can justify not following through,” said Beyer, a homebuilder and developer. “I think we have a problem in the city with making decisions and sticking with them.”
Beyer took the question first, but as a whole, the field was split on the road and its impact on McIntire Park.
“That parkway would do nothing to address the county’s major concern,” said Blount, a teacher and School Board member. “A two-lane road with 35 mile-per-hour speed limits is not going to address major traffic concerns. To tear up our park in that regard, toward that end, is not feasible.”
“We’ve been talking about it for 45 years,” said Huja, the only incumbent seeking re-election. “I think that should be long enough for discussion.”
“I think we justify not moving forward by looking at all the obfuscation and ignoring of environmental regulations and things like that,” said Collins. “This parkway is a mistake. And it’s never too late to look at a mistake and fix it.”
Halfaday, a fitness-club owner, said even though the decision won’t please everyone, there has been sufficient discussion.
“The community has thoroughly debated this parkway for many, many years,” Halfaday said. “Let’s build the road.”
The audience also submitted questions about another ever-present controversy impacting city-county relations: the water supply plan.
“The city and county are currently negotiating a cost-share agreement for the water plan, deciding who should pay how much for the dam and nine-mile pipeline. What do you think a fair percentage is for the city, and why?” asked Liberman.
Every candidate stressed the need for fairness, but none offered a concrete percentage. Some used the question to weigh in on the wider issues surrounding the water plan.
Smith, a co-founder of pro-dredging group Citizens for a Sustainable Water Plan, said it was fiscally irresponsible for the council to approve any plan before knowing the exact costs.
“How much should the city pay? I don’t think the city should pay anything,” Smith said. “In fact, the city should be compensated for the massive city resources that will be lost.” Smith said the city would lose the South Fork Rivanna Reservoir and the Sugar Hollow Reservoir as well as 200 acres of land at the Ragged Mountain natural area.
Galvin said she wouldn’t use her answer to revisit whether or not the current water plan is the right plan, because it is the plan on the table.
“It’s not a situation where Charlottesville is not growing. The projections are that it will,” Galvin said. “It does look like Albemarle County is growing faster, but both jurisdictions are growing… We will then deal with it in a very fair way looking at the relative growth rates in each jurisdiction.”
Huja echoed Galvin’s remarks, saying most of the water will be going to the county, so “most of the costs also should be paid by them.”
Fenwick, who supports a dredge-first approach, said the water plan all boils down to money.
“At some point, we have to turn the discussion from spending priorities to saving priorities,” Fenwick said. “It’s the people in this room that are going to be hurt the worst, who are on fixed incomes, when we can’t make the payments on all these bond issues and tax and fee increases that are almost certainly going to come down the pike.”
In the evening, the candidates traveled across town to the Cherry Avenue Christian Church for another forum hosted by the Fry’s Spring Neighborhood Association. There, the candidates repeated the sales pitches they had made earlier in the day and addressed issues of importance to Fry’s Spring, particularly the proposed Fontaine/Sunset Connector, a road that would connect Fontaine Avenue with Sunset Avenue/Old Lynchburg Road in the county.
Many of the independent candidates used the day’s spotlight to differentiate themselves from the field of Democratic candidates.
Williams acknowledged the difficulty of running as an independent, but said he wants to serve the public rather than any party.
“I believe the purest form of representation at the local level, is independents,” Williams said.
Bandy acknowledged that he might be the most polished candidate, but he would bring a different perspective to council.
“I’m not the best-known. I’m not the most affluent. I’m not the widest-respected. And I’m not the finest at being well-spoken,” Bandy said. “But I am a citizen of Charlottesville. And it is from that viewpoint I run my candidacy.”
Long urged voters to elect three independents in the fall, and repeatedly said today’s Democratic Party has strayed from its principles of standing up for the working class, poor and homeless.
Four of the five independents released a joint statement this week calling for fair treatment at media-sponsored candidate forums, voicing specific complaints about a July 20 Democratic candidate forum sponsored by The Daily Progress and Charlottesville Tomorrow.
“As declared and qualified ballot candidates for Charlottesville City Council, we ask both the public and local media today to take notice of impediments encountering independents running for office,” read a statement by Collins, Bandy, Long and Williams. “When a media organization offers patron funding and hosting of a candidate forum for one specifically targeted candidate group at the exclusion of another, a dubious, if not offensive, act has occurred.”
Fenwick said he chose not to sign onto the statement because he was running to win, not to be a “splinter candidate.”
“We all knew what we were getting into,” Fenwick said. “You do what’s in front of you. We all knew the political landscape. And that’s just the game.”
All of the current councilors are Democrats.
The Democratic primary is Aug. 20 and the general election is Nov. 8.
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