Tag: Lloyd Snook

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Man on a mission

New Mayor Lloyd Snook says filling Charlottesville’s city manager vacancy is among his top priorities. Supplied photo

“To be effective leaders of change, we need two things,” said Councilor Lloyd Snook during last week’s City Council meeting. “We need vision, and we need the ability to build a team to realize that vision.”

Snook will now get a chance to lead that team-building effort. At the beginning of last Wednesday’s meeting, City Council members chose Snook as the next mayor of Charlottesville.

Snook, an experienced local defense attorney, was first elected to City Council at the beginning of 2020, and will serve a two-year term as mayor. Newly elected Councilor Juandiego Wade will be vice-mayor.

In Charlottesville government, the five city councilors choose the mayor from amongst themselves every two years. The mayor sets the meeting agenda, but doesn’t have much more power than the rest of the councilors. The city manager, who is not directly elected, runs the government’s day-to-day operations.

Snook was elected by a vote of 3-2. Brian Pinkston and Juandiego Wade voted for Snook, while Sena Magill and Michael Payne voted for Payne.

Magill said she supported Payne because of his ability to express complicated topics in a clear manner, and because of his ability to reach many different people.

“In my two years on council, I’ve seen firsthand that we are a divided community,” Payne said, “divided along race, class, ideology, education level.”

Payne said he hopes efforts to stabilize the city government’s operations don’t mean sacrificing the progressive vision that has animated the city for the last few years. “I’ve seen us have critical, difficult conversations that we haven’t had in years,” he said. “I’ve also seen us make real policy progress,” citing the adoption of the Future Land Use Map and the city’s affordable housing projects, which represent “one of the highest per-capita affordable housing expenditures in the country.”

“I think it’s vital for us going forward…to have stability with a mission and goal in mind,” Payne said.

Pinkston, Wade, and Snook—the coalition that joined to select Snook as mayor—have all been involved in local Democratic Party politics for years. Snook and Pinkston have served as chair and vice-chair of the Charlottesville Democratic Party, respectively, while Wade was been a school board member from 2006 to his election to council last fall.

“I’ve worked with Lloyd for many years. I think he has the knowledge of city government to handle this position,” Wade said. “I think he has the time to take on this responsibility.”

Two years ago, Nikuyah Walker was elected mayor 3-0, with Snook and Councilor Heather Hill abstaining from the vote. Snook and Walker clashed during the pair’s overlap on council; Walker called Snook “inept” during a meeting in September.

Juandiego Wade was elected vice-mayor unanimously. “Juandiego Wade has courageousness but also humility,” said Pinkston after nominating Wade, citing his long school board tenure. “I’m grateful for his leadership in the city.”

In his speech accepting the nomination for mayor, Snook emphasized the need for collaboration across city government, and said finding “a city manager who can lead Charlottesville for a decade or more” is among his top goals.

“We have a lot of smart people in Charlottesville,” Snook said, stating that he’d like to set up advisory committees of residents to advise Charlottesville on matters like transit, historic resources, and more.

“We have a good vision, we need to build our team, I’d like to be the next mayor to lead that rebuilding,” he concluded.

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In brief: Carter joins race, Dewberry gets sued, and more

Northern Virginia Delegate Lee Carter announced his gubernatorial candidacy on New Year’s Day. PC: Supplied photo

Jump in

The 2021 race for the governor’s mansion in Virginia got a little more complicated last week, when northern Virginia Delegate Lee Carter declared his candidacy for the office.

In his campaign announcement, Carter emphasized economic stratification as the driving force of discontent in the commonwealth. “[Virginia] is not divided between red and blue. It’s not divided between big cities and small towns. Virginia is divided between the haves and the have-nots,” he said.

Carter identifies as a democratic socialist and was a Virginia co-chair of Bernie Sanders’ campaign. He made headlines last year when he spearheaded a bill to cap insulin prices at $50 per month. With the 2021 General Assembly session approaching, Carter has already introduced a bill to abolish the death penalty.

Outside the halls of the state capital, the former Marine and electronic repairman has been active on social media. He’s got more than 100,000 followers on Twitter (six times as many as House Majority Leader Eileen Filler-Corn), and just before his 2018 election he made headlines after tweeting out a memorable self-initiated “oppo dump,” sharing that he was “on divorce number 3” and that “just like everyone else under 35, I’m sure explicit images or video of me exists out there somewhere,” though “unlike Anthony Weiner, I never sent them unsolicited.”

Carter joins former governor Terry McAuliffe, current lieutenant governor Justin Fairfax, state senator Jennifer McClellan, and state delegate Jennifer Carroll Foy in a crowded Democratic field.

McAuliffe, a career Democratic Party insider, announced record-breaking fundraising numbers this week—“the Macker” raised $6.1 million as of December 31. The rest of the candidates will share updates as a campaign finance filing deadline approaches in the coming weeks, but The Washington Post reports that McAuliffe’s haul surpasses any previous total from a candidate at this point in the race.

Spending hasn’t always translated to victories for McAuliffe, however. In his first run for governor in 2009, he outspent primary opponent and then-state delegate Creigh Deeds $8.2 million to $3.4 million, but wound up losing to Deeds by more than 20 percent. In 2013, McAuliffe beat Ken Cuccinelli in the general election, outspending him $38 million to $20.9 million.

The Democratic primary will be held on June 8.

PC: Supplied and file photos

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Quote of the week

“He said that in his many years of doing executive searches, he had never seen a level of dysfunction as profound as what he was seeing here.“

—City Councilor Lloyd Snook, in a Facebook post, relaying the comments of the firm retained to find a new city manager

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In brief

State senator killed by COVID

Virginia state senator Ben Chafin passed away last Friday at age 60 after contracting coronavirus. The southwestern Virginia Republican served in the legislature for six years, and was one of four GOP state senators to break rank and vote in favor of Medicaid expansion in 2018. Governor Ralph Northam ordered state flags lowered in Chafin’s honor over the weekend.

You Dew you

The steel and concrete husk of a skyscraper that’s been languishing on the Downtown Mall for more than a decade is now facing further legal trouble, reports The Daily Progress. Last year, the Dewberry Group, which owns the building, changed the building’s name from the Laramore to Dewberry Living—but the Dewberry Living name violated a trademark agreement between the Dewberry Group and a northern Virginia firm called Dewberry Engineers, Inc. Now, Dewberry Engineers is suing the Dewberry Group for copyright infringement. The building itself remains empty.

The Dewberry Living building continues to stir up legal drama. PC: Ashley Twiggs

Eyes on the road

As of January 1, it is illegal for drivers in Virginia to hold a phone while operating a vehicle. If you’re caught gabbing while driving, or skipping that one terrible song, you’ll be subject to a $125 fine for a first offense and a $250 fine for a second offense. Opponents of the law are concerned that it will open the door for more racial profiling by law enforcement, while the law’s backers cite the dangers of distracted driving.

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In brief: Remembering John Conover, flicking off UVA, and more

Former city councilor John Conover, pictured here in 2007 with his wife, Virginia Daugherty, passed away on October 4. PC: Eze Amos

A fond farewell

Charlottesville superstar John Conover, 74, passed away over the weekend. Conover arrived in town in 1970 and started a printing press, before serving as a city councilor from 1980 to 1984. He later worked as an attorney with the Legal Aid Justice Center, served on the board of Live Arts, and helped spearhead the creation of the Rivanna Trail.

Conover was a “creative and quirky thinker,” said City Councilor Lloyd Snook at council’s Monday meeting. “I didn’t always agree with him, but I always listened to him…His was a full life, a life of service to the community and the poor.”

Conover’s personality shines through in all of the stories written about him during his time in Charlottesville—in a 2004 interview with The Hook, Conover said his perfect day featured “some competition, some reading, some affection,” and that his proudest accomplishment was “consistency in love and community.”

Court conflict 

For nearly 25 years, the Charlottesville Albemarle Adult Drug Treatment Court has helped local residents struggling with addiction get the treatment they need, rather than punish them with jail time. However, one aspect of the court has been a recent point of contention: Participants must plead guilty to their charges in order to enter the program.

Charlottesville attorney Jeff Fogel has brought up the issue numerous times to City Council, leading Charlottesville Commonwealth’s Attorney Joe Platania and Deputy Public Defender Liz Murtagh to give a presentation on the program during Monday’s meeting.

“With the post-plea docket, there’s an acceptance of responsibility and a desire for intensive treatment very quickly,” said Platania. “That is a component that leads to more success.”

Mayor Nikuyah Walker, who worked directly with clients battling substance abuse while at Region Ten, pushed back on Platania’s definition of responsibility.

“They don’t walk in the door, even after those guilty pleas, saying ‘I’m going to change my life and I’m thankful…’ All the people usually know at that time is that they don’t want to go back into jail, which they know does not serve them well either,” she said.

During public comment, community organizer Ang Conn urged council to think about the many people who did not graduate from the program, and in turn were given a sentence, as it considers future changes.

Since there have been only 400 graduates in the program’s history, “that’s approximately 16 successful cases per year,” said Conn. “That doesn’t seem to be a successful program to me.”

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Quote of the week

“Even if businesses fail, they can start another business…What we cannot do is bring someone back to life if they die.”

—Mayor Nikuyah Walker, on her Facebook post suggesting that indoor dining should be banned

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In brief

Disproportionate contact

For the third year in a row, crime charges dropped in Charlottesville—yet Black residents continue to be disproportionately arrested. According to the Charlottesville Police Department’s new annual report, 52 percent of the people arrested last year were Black, even though only about 18 percent of the city is Black. In 2018, 57 percent of people arrested were Black. Meanwhile, complaints made against the department have resulted in few repercussions: Out of the 50 internal affairs cases conducted last year, only 10 percent were sustained.

Sign up

UVA prez Jim Ryan penned an open letter to the university community this week, expressing his distaste for the controversial “Fuck UVA” sign on a student’s Lawn room door. Ryan didn’t like the profanity and also didn’t appreciate that the sign “fail[s] to acknowledge any of the progress that this University has made.” Though the sign is protected under the First Amendment, Ryan claimed UVA admin would consider “additional regulations” for the Lawn before next school year. Many students have pointed out that, ironically, last week the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education ranked UVA the No. 6 university for “open climates for free speech” in 2020.

Blair with me, here

With Dr. Tarron Richardson’s resignation finalized last week, Charlottesville’s new interim city manager appeared at Monday’s council meeting for the first time—or rather, appeared for the first time as a city manager. John Blair has been the city attorney since 2018, and has been a fixture at City Council meetings, sorting out the council’s procedural questions in a measured, deliberate drawl.

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In brief: Protestors push on, police donors exposed, victims speak out, and more

Activists stand outside the police station during a protest this weekend. PC: Eze Amos

Tenure trouble

UVA’s “Great and Good” strategic plan lists “recruiting and retaining excellent and diverse faculty” as a central goal. But this year, two black scholars who have been denied tenure claim the decision process was significantly flawed, possibly due to racial bias.

Paul Harris PC: Virginia.edu

Paul Harris has worked at UVA’s Curry School of Education since 2011, studying identity development in black male student-athletes and underrepresented students’ college readiness. For the past six years, Harris’ annual reviews indicated that he was meeting or exceeding expectations. So he was shocked to learn in January that an all-white, college-wide promotion and tenure committee had recommended against giving him tenure. Instead, he was offered a promotion—for a non-tenure-track position.

Harris says the committee claimed his research in the Journal of African American Males in Education in 2016 was “self-published.” (In fact, the peer-reviewed journal has a 23 percent acceptance rate.) The committee also got his citation counts wrong—they’re five times higher than the committee claimed.

Tolu Odumosu PC: Virginia.edu

Sociologist Tolu Odumosu has been on the tenure track at UVA’s School of Engineering and Applied Science since 2013. He’s co-written and co-edited two books, and helped write a $3 million National Science Foundation grant. After his third-year review suggested he expand his editing experience, he also became an associate editor of two journals.

But the engineering school’s tenure committee did not grant him tenure this year. It claimed that Odumosu hadn’t written enough work by himself, and was not the principal investigator named on the NSF grant. Like Harris, Odumosu had not been warned that his work was not up to par.

Both men appealed the decisions to UVA’s provost, but the appeals were rejected. The scholars are now appealing to the Faculty Senate’s grievance committee—their last option.

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Quote of the week

“This is a moment to step boldly into our future…We have to work together to decide what kind of Virginia we’re going to be. I’m ready for the challenge.”

—State Senator Jennifer McClellan, announcing her campaign for Virginia governor

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In brief

Still on the march

Charlottesville activists continue to mobilize the community to protest police brutality. Large marches and demonstrations have taken place in town at least once a week since the death of George Floyd in late May. Last weekend, protesters marching downtown also directed some of their energy toward patrons of the mall’s outdoor restaurants: The demonstrators chanted “Shame” at diners who were sipping beer and chewing on burgers.

Convention contagion?

Denver Riggleman’s campaign claims that several delegates who participated in the recent drive-thru Republican convention have contracted coronavirus, reports CBS19. The local Republican Party denies the accusation. Riggleman continues to criticize the drive-thru convention format that saw him lose the congressional nomination to challenger Bob Good. “Voter fraud has been a hallmark of this process,” Riggleman tweeted on election night.

Donor debate

Community members have noticed that the Charlottesville Police Foundation—dedicated to fundraising for the “advanced training, new technologies and equipment, [and] housing assistance” that isn’t covered by the department’s $18 million budget—posted a list of donors on its website. The list featured several local restaurants and other businesses, as well as individuals, including City Council members Lloyd Snook and Heather Hill.

Heather Hill PC: Eze Amos

Exposing abuse

Tweets about allegations of sexual assault and harassment directed at dozens of UVA students and staff appeared on an anonymous Twitter account last week. The alleged incidents once again drew attention to students’ calls for reform—in April, student advocacy group UVA Survivors created a list of demands for institutional change in sexual assault policy, reports The Cavalier Daily. The list has garnered around 1,700 new signatures in the past week.

Lloyd Snook PC: Supplied

 

Immigration action

UVA will now allow students to enroll and graduate “regardless of citizenship or immigration status,” the university announced last week. Previously, only DACA recipients—not other “undocu+” students—had not been allowed to matriculate. The decision represents a long-sought victory for activists around the school community.

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In their words: Where Charlottesville City Council candidates stand on key issues

From top left, clockwise: Sena Magill, Michael Payne, Lloyd Snook, Paul Long, John Hall, and Bellamy Brown.

Three seats are up for grabs on Charlottesville City Council because Mike Signer, Kathy Galvin, and Wes Bellamy are not running for re-election. (Photo: Eze Amos)

There are three open spots on Charlottesville City Council this year and three candidates who’ve won the Democratic nomination, usually a virtual guarantee of being elected. But three independents are still in the race, and as Nikuyah Walker proved with her victory in 2017, they can’t be discounted.

We asked each of the candidates the following questions: What steps need to be taken to achieve carbon neutrality in Charlottesville by 2050?; What avenues do you believe the city should take to combat the affordable housing crisis?; How far along do you see the city in the healing process following the white supremacist riots in August 2017?; and What would you want to be able to point to at the end of your term as something City Council accomplished? Here’s what they had to say:

Sena Magill (D)

Owner of Hatpindolly Vintage

Age: 47

Born: Birmingham, Alabama

Local resident: 40 years

“I’m doing this because it’s my home.”

On carbon neutrality:

We need to be looking at power-purchase agreements so that we can put solar [panels] affordably on all municipal buildings and schools. [We organize] a collective of homes that can buy into this so that they can get solar on their roofs as a power-purchase agreement. And what that is, is a company that owns the panels, and [the residents] are buying the electricity from that company…supporting the solar economy, and reducing the coal usage and carbon footprint.

On affordable housing:

We have to figure out how it is we’re going to keep our working class here—our city workers, our firefighters, our nurses, our care workers…and we’ve got to make sure it’s also quality housing. [One of my proposals is] a land strike fund, where you put like $2 million aside…for when a property comes available, the city can purchase it and hold it until a nonprofit can get its [finances] together to then purchase that from the city and keep it in affordable housing.

On the city’s healing process:

There’s still work to be done…The majority of our city suffered PTSD, different levels of it…This isn’t going to get healed until the city proves to people that it listened and is following through on its promises. Trust is given usually at the onset but once trust is broken, it takes a lot of time to re-heal.

On what she hopes to accomplish:

Really getting in place a transit system that works with Albemarle County, UVA, [and] surrounding counties…We’ve [also] adopted this great climate change goal in the city, but we need to then put into place a policy to enforce that goal…[And I want] the people in our city to believe council is going to listen to them.

Michael Payne (D)

Affordable housing activist

Age: 27

Born: Washington, D.C.

Local resident: 26 years

“I want to take a community-organizing approach to City Council.”

On carbon neutrality:

Residential, business, [and] transportation are some of the biggest areas to create specific action plans around…creating a regional transit authority is key…the Charlottesville Climate Collaborative has an initiative they’re working on to reduce emissions in homes…there’s [also] a Better Business Challenge in the city that City Council can promote and be a part of.

On affordable housing:

There’s no silver bullet, it’s a series of policies that are needed. I think the fundamental problem is the fact that, as a city, we’re landlocked in about 10 and a half square miles. We don’t have land to grow into and we’re experiencing both population growth [and] this cycle where rising land prices lead to speculative investment…So in terms of what the city can do…investing in redevelopment of public housing…finishing its affordable housing strategy [and] zoning reform.

On the city’s healing process:

There’s many community members still dealing with unpaid medical debts [and] injuries both physical and mental. The national media attention of this event has waned, but for many community members, they’re still struggling…I do think as a community we’ve been healing and we’ve been getting to a better place, but…we have to take seriously looking at creating real structural transformational change here locally [that] changes outcomes.

On what he hopes to accomplish:

No. 1, that we’ve made the commitment to begin the redevelopment of public housing process in order to provide decent conditions and wealth-building opportunities to our public housing residents. No. 2, that the city has finished its affordable housing strategy and begun to implement it and has a clear approach for how they prioritize and strategically make investments to create affordable housing. And No. 3, that we have created plans for how to achieve our emissions target reduction goal.

Lloyd Snook (D)

Trial lawyer

Age: 66

Born: Plainfield, New Jersey

Local resident: 58 years

“I’ve got experience with every major issue that’s important to Charlottesville right now.”

On carbon neutrality:

There is no one answer, there are about 50 answers and they all need to get progress on, [but] there is much more carbon being used in homes and business than by government…Ultimately, what we need most to do to accomplish that goal is to be able to influence the home and industrial uses.

On affordable housing:

I am the only candidate who has tried to put any numbers on specific things that might be done…We need to build where we can [and] more building will happen, but we’re not going to build our way out of this problem…It’s been estimated that if we could just speed up the process [at Neighborhood Development Services], we could make the process for getting accessory dwelling units approved faster, cheaper, easier all the way around and then promote it.

On the city’s healing process:

The analogy that I use is to say that August 12 was basically the ringing of a bell, and bells continue to ring for a long time, and the vibrations and reverberations persist. We’re still seeing some of that…A lot of the realizations that have taken place since that time were news to folks, particularly white people, largely because they had never been forced to confront some of the history, [and] I don’t think we’ve got a consensus yet on what our response should be.

On what he hopes to accomplish:

We have moved forward on the buildable portions of the affordable housing…That we have gone through this backlog of reports that we haven’t been able to do anything about; that we’ve finished the revision to the city code [and] the zoning code; that we have finished the comprehensive plan and we’ve got a meaningful plan for affordable housing at all levels…Simply: We’ve finally caught up to what we were supposed to have been doing all along.

Bellamy Brown (I)

Student at UVA’s Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership

Age: 40

Born: Charlottesville

Local resident: 15 years (left at age 14; moved back in 2018)

“I’m a service-oriented leader.”

On carbon neutrality:

The low-hanging fruit are LED lights around the city; the electric buses that are out there; [and], as they’re building and developing the infrastructure, obviously doing that in a way that takes into consideration the carbon footprint…For me, there’s no real plan and I think that’s been with a lot of policies throughout. I want action-oriented stuff and those are the low-hanging fruit I think we can take to get there.

On affordable housing:

When you get down and talk to the neighborhoods, each of them has their own fabric…To say that someone is going to put up R-6 or what have you over at Belmont or anywhere else, that’s B.S. because you need to have two other people to sign onto that. So my thing is that we have a bucket of tools [and] we work with public, private, nonprofit, and the community together to come to some viable solutions.

On the city’s healing process:

This is the first year where we didn’t have anything happen on the anniversary, so I think people got to a point where they could have a breath…[There] are scars that are going to be there for some time and people heal in different stages. So I think we have to have leadership that steps up and sets the tone for how we’re going about that.

On what he hopes to accomplish:

I would want to be further down the road in terms of our role in affordable housing, infrastructure for me is a big one…filling this gap in the low-income communities…rebranding our community as a whole, getting away from every time someone hears Charlottesville they have this negative reaction, and ideally having a more collaborative council across the board where you don’t have to agree on everything but we can do it in a mature manner.

John Hall (I)

Inventor and design engineer

Age: 68

Born: Winchester, Virginia

Local resident: 25 years

“I want to provide direction for the city.”

On carbon neutrality:

I’ve known other inventors and other people from physics at UVA, and one had what he called a ‘recuperator engine’ to recycle the exhaust and keep burning it until all you have delivered into the environment is warm air…I would also like to line the combustion chamber of an engine with ceramic material…any ceramic material could burn very, very hot so that the fuels could be burned very hot and clean.

On affordable housing:

I felt like I had a really good idea to acquire the old Landmark hotel, which is now a shell…but I think it can be refurbished and rebuilt starting with what we already have there…Just pay for the land value and maybe a little bit extra, so that Mr. John Dewberry and his Deerfield associates will be well provided for and be happy to say Okay, we’re going to help Charlottesville, we’re going to release it, no lawsuit, no questions asked.

On the city’s healing process:

I think the events of 2017 in August are reflective of what we were still debating and a polarization of people—because of the statues…Recently, people have gone across the line and defaced those statues, [but] before this all happened, I said let’s take down the orange fences, promote unity of mind among our people, so that we can go forward and put that in the past and heal.

On what he hopes to accomplish:

I think some of my ideas would be accomplished in the future. It might not be that I get credit for it but…I see it’s inevitable that the Charlottesville Area Transit buses will go to the airport. I was first to propose that. I think it will also happen that in terms of transportation…we can have fold-out stop signs on all public transportation buses, they don’t have to be school buses…what we do to protect our children…is good for our adults as well in public transportation.

Paul Long (I)

Retired

Age: 70

Born: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Local resident: 21 years

“I have a lot of patience and am a good listener.”

On carbon neutrality:

I believe Charlottesville needs its public transportation system to be revamped…that would be a great improvement to decrease carbon dioxide. I also think in terms of watching what’s going on in the Amazon River basin in Brazil, the city should make an effort to plant 15,000 trees, [and] we should be using solar panels as much as possible.

On affordable housing:

I think UVA is the major contributor and one of the issues that [Jim] Ryan said they’ll be doing somewhere down the line is mandating that second-year students live on Grounds and I think that would help. It would open up maybe 1,500 apartments…But having said that, a lot of the apartments’ [rent] is still too high…I don’t think the affordable housing crisis is going to be solved until the federal government takes an active role in the issue.

On the city’s healing process:

Obviously there’s a lot of racial feelings here in Charlottesville, but most of the people who came here in August of 2017 were [from] out of the city…and I think there needs to be healing in terms of the racial injustices in the city that existed way before the August disruptions that happened two years ago.

On what he hopes to accomplish:

That I was instrumental in improving the public transportation system, that I was instrumental in having a change in viewpoints towards how drug addicts are treated, [that] City Council [was] an instrument in appealing to the state legislature to change a lot of the rules that are in the books…and also that I was instrumental in increasing the services to homeless people.

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‘Progressive energy:’ Hudson, Payne wins signal generational shift

Millennials Sally Hudson and Michael Payne were the big winners in the June 11 primary. photos Amy and Jackson Smith, Eze Amos

In the end, the 57th District race pitting a millennial and a baby boomer for the open House of Delegates seat wasn’t even close. Thirty-year-old Sally Hudson crushed two-term City Councilor Kathy Galvin with 66 percent of the vote in the June 11 primary.

The same dynamic played out in the Democratic primary for City Council, where there are three open seats. Michael Payne, 26, led the pack of five candidates. In November, he’ll supplant outgoing councilor Wes Bellamy, 28 when elected, for the title of youngest person to sit on council.

“I think it’s a big turning point for our small community,” says former councilor Dede Smith, who is a Hudson and Payne supporter. “We’re coming into a new era with our leadership.”

For former mayor Dave Norris, Hudson’s margin of victory “indicates local voters are ready for a new direction.”

Hudson says, “It was striking we won every precinct in the district.” She’s unopposed in the November general election, and she says she’ll spend time helping other Dems get elected because “the Republicans in Richmond are so unsupportive of what we want to get done.” The GOP holds the House by a slim, two-seat majority.

In the City Council race, many had predicted well-known lawyer and top fundraiser Lloyd Snook, 66, would bring in the most votes. He came in second behind Payne.

“The order surprised me,” says Smith. And Sena Magill’s taking third place was also a surprise for Smith. “I thought Brian Pinkston was emerging.”

Former city councilor Bob Fenwick, 73, trailed in last place.

“I think it’s a generational shift,” says Smith. “Being a candidate in the fairly recent past, most voters were baby boomers or older. It was shocking. I think we’re beginning to see a wake up to this maturing [millennial] generation that voting matters.”

For Payne, co-founder of Indivisible Charlottesville, leading the pack is a sign “the community wants to see bold, progressive change on affordable housing, racial equity, and climate change.”

“One of the qualities Michael and I share is a sense of the fierce urgency of now,” says Hudson.

Primary winners Payne, Snook, and Magill will face independents Bellamy Brown and Paul Long on the November 5 ballot, and while the odds are in their favor in Dem-heavy Charlottesville, in 2017 Mayor Nikuyah Walker became the first independent to get on council since 1948.

Statewide, UVA Center for Politics’ Kyle Kondik saw “some progressive energy,” but that didn’t always prevail, notably in the 35th District race in which incumbent Senate Minority Leader Dick Saslaw eked by his challenger.

“If Democrats win the House and Senate, it will be the most liberal state government in Virginia ever,” says Kondik. Hudson, he says, is to the left of outgoing House Minority Leader David Toscano. If Dems take the General Assembly and get a chance to govern, he says that could result in policy change—the same message Hudson was hammering.

The other trend in local Democratic primary races is that women prevailed. Chief Deputy Chan Bryant defeated RMC regional director Patrick Estes with 63 percent of the vote to secure the party’s nomination for Albemarle sheriff. She’ll face independent Ronnie Roberts, Lousia police chief, in November.

And in the Rivanna District, Bea LaPisto Kirtley edged out Jerrod Smith with 54 percent of the vote. She does not have a challenger for the Albemarle Board of Supervisors in the general election in November.

The other General Assembly primary that includes part of Albemarle is the 17th District, where former Charlottesville School Board member Amy Laufer’s 79 percent of the vote obliterated Ben Hixon. Laufer will face incumbent state Senator Bryce Reeve, who easily fended off challenger Rich Breeden with 82 percent of the vote in that district’s Republican primary.

Correction June 17: Jerrod Smith was misidentified in the original story.

 

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Opinion

The virtues of incivility: Looking closer at the City Council candidates

Despite the refrain from all quarters that the defining issue of this year’s City Council election is housing, this election is a referendum on the status quo.

In what feels like hundreds of candidate forums, the five candidates in the Democratic primary for City Council have spent more energy agreeing with one another than setting themselves apart from the field. Their answers to many of the questions posed to them by community groups and neighborhood associations have started to blend together, a nearly indistinguishable blur of progressive generalizations.

All five candidates agree that we have a housing problem. They’ve all voiced support for funding local schools and closing the achievement gap. They all agree that the Lee and Jackson statues are lightning rods for hate that don’t belong in downtown Charlottesville. They all agree that improvements should be made to public transit, even down to the details of establishing a regional transit authority, making stops more frequent and regular, and erecting more bus shelters. They’re all committed to the noble, if nebulous, idea of equity.

In our small blue city, the Democratic primary is the de facto election. There are no Republican candidates. As a state with open primaries, that means our Democratic candidates can coyly court Republican voters. So it’s worth examining the candidates’ messages more closely.

Lloyd Snook is running on a platform of a return to civility. Snook says he decided to run because of the “chaos and disorder” of City Council and what he sees as “decisions not being made intelligently.” He later clarified that he was not referring solely to “what goes on on Monday nights” at City Council meetings, but when asked at a Belmont-Carlton Neighborhood Association-hosted forum, he was unwilling to articulate specifically what sort of bureaucratic and departmental reforms he envisions pursuing to “get the government to work right again.”

There is a general belief, particularly among people who do not attend them, that City Council meetings are chaotic. While there have been several meetings I would certainly characterize that way, those have been traumatic exceptions.

Outside of the meetings in the immediate wake of a terrorist attack that killed a member of our community, the only time in the past two years that a recess has been called because business could not be conducted was due to armed members of a neo-Confederate group threatening other members of the audience. The idea that City Council cannot conduct its business because of ongoing disorder is a myth that could easily be put to bed by regularly attending what are, in fact, very mundane meetings.

This myth persists because it feels true. It has a kernel of truth, and believing it facilitates the larger narrative that we need to return to how things were before, before people who traditionally did not engage with politics started showing up, before advocating for racial and economic justice became mainstream talking points, before anyone started talking about making the wealthiest among us pay their fair share to make this city livable for all its residents.

Shrouding regressive politics in the language of order and gentility is not new. And in an off-year primary for a local election, much of the electorate is not engaged enough to listen beyond what feels true. It’s easy to say, as every candidate has said throughout this campaign season, that you support finding solutions for our affordable housing crisis. But listen carefully to the solutions on offer.

Sena Magill has campaigned on reforming the regulations on and incentivizing construction of accessory dwelling units. Michael Payne is pushing for fully funding resident-led public housing redevelopment and investing in new affordable units. Bob Fenwick has focused on what he views as the misuse of special use permits, and Brian Pinkston has committed to few specifics.

Snook, while in favor of making it easier to add accessory apartments, also said, “We don’t have room for 4,000 new units in Charlottesville.” Despite being corrected during that April 30 forum by Payne, who clarified that the housing study indicates a need for 4,000 “interventions,” rather than newly constructed units (a fundamental difference), he repeated the claim at a May 13 forum, stating “We’re not going to build our way out of this problem.”

Snook’s plan for affordable housing is regional, which is another statement that, on its surface, sounds reasonable enough. What he’s shared of that plan is the belief that affordable housing should be built on less valuable land, land in the county. His commitment to better regional transit, then, seems to be for the primary purpose of busing people his housing plan would displace into the county back to the city for their low-wage jobs.

At a May 24 student-led climate strike, Payne had this message for the youth organizers: “There will be people who push back, people who tell you you don’t know how politics really works, that you’re being uncivil. I’m telling you, don’t listen to them!”

We are a small city facing big problems. General platitudes that amount to ‘Make Charlottesville Great Again’ won’t solve our housing crisis or mitigate the coming climate disaster. It’s time to face the reality that Charlottesville hasn’t been great for many of its residents throughout its history and move forward, however uncomfortable that might be.

Conger is co-chair of the Charlottesville chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, which voted May 13 to endorse Michael Payne for City Council.

Categories
News

Local races: Your primary guide

Primary day is June 11, and there’s more on the ballot than the 57th District race between Kathy Galvin and Sally Hudson.  If you live in the city, the three people who win the Democratic nomination will likely be the ones to fill the three empty seats on City Council in November because of the city’s overwhelming Dem majority—although Nikuyah Walker upended that tradition with a win as an independent in 2017.

Albemarle has two Dems facing off in the Rio District, where Norman Dill did not want a second term on the Board of Supervisors, as well as in the sheriff’s race. And there’s a lot going on in the 17th Senate District, most of which is in Spotsylvania with a sliver of eastern Albemarle. Two Dems are looking to challenge incumbent state Senator Bryce Reeves, as is a member of his own party.

City Council

Sena Magill

Age: 46

Hometown: Charlottesville

Education: Tandem; PVCC;
then UVA, B.A. in psychology

Day job: Mom and owner of Hatpindolly Vintage; previously at PACEM and Region Ten

Political experience: Volunteer for Leslie Cockburn; member Charlottesville Democratic
Party Committee of 100;
current Carver precinct co-chair

Biggest issue: Climate change and affordable housing. We
have a lot of work to do to reduce our carbon footprint.
We have to work on our public transit, city walk- and bikeability, density, and the efficiency of units, tying affordable housing and climate change together.

Special power: Problem solving, empathy, and understanding. And I can make a beautiful and tasty cake.

Lloyd Snook

Age: 66

Hometown: Born in Cranford, New Jersey. I moved here when I was 8.

Education: Venable; Walker; Lane High School; Stanford University, A.B. in economics; University of Michigan Law School, J.D.

Day job: Attorney, Snook
& Haughey, P.C.

Political experience: Chair of the Charlottesville Democratic Party, 2001-2004; on the
State Central Committee and the 5th District Democratic Committee, 2005-2013

Biggest issue: Getting city government working effectively again so that we can begin to address substantive issues like affordable housing.

Special power: Speed reading, and I stay up later at night than most normal people.

 

Michael Payne

Age: 26

Hometown: Charlottesville

Education: Hollymead and Baker Butler; Albemarle High School; William & Mary, B.A.
in government

Day job: Affordable housing advocate

Political experience: Common Good fellow; Tom Perriello’s 2010 congressional campaign; researcher, Tim Kaine’s 2012 Senate campaign; co-founded Indivisible Charlottesville; volunteer for multiple House
of Delegates campaigns in 2017; organizer with the Charlottesville Low-Income Housing Coalition

Biggest issue: Creating truly affordable housing, and preventing Charlottesville from becoming a small-town version of San Francisco.

Special power: Bringing people together through community organizing.

 

Bob Fenwick       

Age: 73

Hometown: St. Louis, Missouri

Education: Georgetown University, B.S. in physics

Day job: Small business owner, general construction contractor

Political experience: One term on City Council 2013-2017; numerous city and community environmental, historical, planning, and budget committees

Biggest issue: Addressing the need for City Council to set representative, common-sense city policies that have achievable goals for all citizens.

Special power: Photographic memory…except for names.

       

 

Brian Pinkston

Age: 47

Hometown: Albany, Georgia

Education: Georgia Tech, B.S. in mechanical engineering; UVA, Ph.D. in philosophy

Day job: Project manager, facilities management, UVA

Political experience: Region Ten board member; active with Charlottesville Democratic Party; volunteered on Kellen Squire’s campaign in the 58th

Biggest focus: To build strong personal relationships among council members so that it can function well.

Special power: I guess this is a power I want to have? To be able to see in the dark.

Albemarle

Albemarle County

Board of Supervisors: Rivanna District

Bea LaPisto Kirtley

Age: 69

Hometown: Keswick

Education: B.A. in American studies; M.S. in school management and administration

Day job: Retired and a volunteer for local nonprofits—Piedmont CASA, Hospice of the Piedmont, and 100+ Women Who Care

Political experience: Mayor, council member, and planning commissioner in Bradbury, California; board of directors, South Coast Air Quality Management District; Metropolitan Transit Authority; California Contract Cities Association; San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments

Biggest issues: Transportation, education, affordable housing, and climate resilience.

Special power: Energy and focus.

 

Jerrod Smith

Age: 29

Hometown: Barboursville

Education: Albemarle High School; Bucknell University; UVA Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy, MPA

Day job: Grants analyst, PRA Health Sciences

Political experience: Rivanna District Democratic co-chair; member of the Places 29 North Community Advisory Committee

Biggest issue: Those that stem from income inequality throughout the region.

Special power: Facilitating collaboration.

 

Sheriff

Chan Bryant

Age: 49

Hometown: Charlottesville, member of the Scottsville community for the past 11 years

Education: Piedmont Virginia Community College, associate’s in police science; James Madison University, bachelor’s in business administration

Day job: Chief deputy for the Albemarle County Sheriff’s Office for the last four years

Political experience: None, but after knocking on hundreds of doors this spring, I’m learning a lot about it.

Biggest issue: Manpower shortage. We will be adding an extra circuit court judge and a Juvenile & Domestic Relations Court judge beginning July 1. Additional staffing was requested in the FY19/20 budget, but not all requested positions were approved. If elected, I will make needed staffing a top priority.

Special power: Time traveler— I would want to travel back in time to be able to tell my dad how much I love him since I did not get the chance to tell him before his sudden passing two years ago.

 

Patrick Estes

Age: 38

Hometown: Richmond

Education: University of Virginia

Day job: Regional director,
RMC Events

Political experience: First-time candidate

Biggest issue: To push the envelope of what it means to be elected in Albemarle beyond just core responsibilities, aiming to lead this office through community engagement, green-energy initiatives, growing partnerships with state and local officials, and more.

Special power: Incredible agility. From my time on the football field, to running security at the Super Bowl and events throughout Virginia, and raising three kids, I know what it means to be flexible and adaptable in every situation.

17th Senate District

Democratic primary

Amy Laufer

Age: 47

Hometown: Mt. Calvary, Wisconsin

Education: University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, B.S. in geology; Columbia Teachers College, M.Ed. in secondary science education

Day job: Math and science teacher until my second child was born with medical issues

Political experience: Commission for Children and Families as an advocate for children with special needs; Charlottesville School Board for seven years, serving as both vice chair and chair; founder of Virginia’s List, a PAC with the goal of electing women to Virginia state office

Biggest issue: As a former teacher and school board member, I am extremely passionate about education, including universal preschool, increased vocational and technical training, and [including] broadband [as]  part of access to education.

Special power: Getting three kids out the door and to school on time!

 

Ben Hixon

Age: 36

Hometown: Monroe, Louisiana

Education: NYU; Hunter College; University of Washington

Day job: Computer scientist/engineer and community activist

Political experience: 2017 Democratic nominee for the 30th district of the House of Delegates; chair of the Culpeper County Democratic Party

Biggest issue: Strengthening education, including increasing teacher pay and affordability
of higher education and investing in trade schools and vocational training.

Special power: As an engineer, I seek to understand problems, develop solutions, and implement fixes that are practical and efficient. I don’t shy away from complexity, I focus on it.

Republican primary

Bryce Reeves

Age: 52

Hometown: Spotsylvania

Education: Texas A&M University; George Mason University

Day job: Owner and operator of Bryce Reeves State Farm Agency; former Army Ranger and police detective

Political experience: Senator, Virginia’s 17th Senate District; Spotsylvania County Republican Committee chair

Biggest issues: Protecting those with pre-existing conditions, and providing a variety of affordable health care options; protecting our most vulnerable: foster children and the unborn; supporting and ensuring the well-being of our veterans and law enforcement officers.

Special power: Would be to heal the sick.

 

Rich Breeden

Age: 50

Hometown: Waynesboro

Education: American Military University, BA and MA; Henley-Putnam University,
Ph.D. candidate, 

Day job: Small business owner

Political experience: Not a politician, and have never run for public office until now

Biggest issue: Changing the way Richmond does business and bringing people from all walks of life together to solve the challenges facing the district. Defend the Constitution; protect the unborn; fight for redistricting reform, term limits, and campaign finance reforms; work with others to improve our education system; and address the challenges associated with emerging technologies and automation that will affect our job market.

Special power: My unique background working with emerging technologies gives
me an understanding of how automation is impacting today’s manufacturing, services, and transportation jobs, and how
these same technologies will threaten individual liberties.

 

For a detailed look at the 57th District Democratic primary, see our feature story.

Categories
Opinion

Strategic voting: A guide to single-shotting

Mayor Nikuyah Walker likely benefited from her supporters’ embrace of single-shot voting in 2017, finishing first at the end of an independent run for council. Photo by Eze Amos

By Jake Mooney

Seventeen years ago, when I was a reporter for The Daily Progress and Lloyd Snook was the chairman of Charlottesville’s Democratic Party, he accused me of writing an instruction manual for voters to elect Republican Rob Schilling.

I was not perfect as a reporter, but I thought this was unfair because I never would have tried to get any particular candidate elected, certainly not Rob Schilling. But what also rankled, then and now, was the underlying idea that there was something wrong with voters casting informed and intentional votes for the candidates they want to win, whoever those candidates may be.

Snook was angry, specifically, that I wrote about a strategy called “single-shotting,” which Schilling’s supporters were planning to use and eventually did use successfully. This approach likely also helped Mayor Nikuyah Walker win her council seat as an independent in 2017, and it’s one that some politically minded people are starting to talk about again as the Democratic primary approaches.

In short, single-shotting is when you vote for just one candidate, even when you’re allowed to vote for more because there are multiple open seats. If you think that sounds incredibly simple, or like something that barely deserves a proper name, then I agree with you. But I’d like to spend a few more words here on the general idea: An instruction manual, if you will, for casting your smartest possible vote(s).

The first thing to remember is that, even if there are multiple seats open, you don’t have to cast all of the votes you’re entitled to. You may be allowed to vote for three candidates, but you can choose to only vote for two, or one. For some reason, people have a hard time with this: They think you’re wasting one of your votes if you decide not to cast it. I would frame it differently, and say that by voting for candidates you aren’t really excited about along with your favorites, you’re actually diluting the power of each of your votes.

The guiding principle, basically, is to vote for the person or people you most want to see win. Unsure about whether a candidate is worth one of your votes? Just close your eyes and picture that person beating your top choice, and decide if you like the way that feels. The point here is not just to vote for the people you like, but to avoid voting for people who might beat them.

Here’s how it worked for Walker in the last election: She knew a lot of people would be voting for the two Democratic nominees, Heather Hill and Amy Laufer. If some of her supporters had voted for Walker and Hill, and some for Walker and Laufer, then those votes, combined with votes for a Hill-Laufer ticket, would have buried Walker in third. In order to beat at least one of them, Walker needed to get a lot of votes, but also to minimize the number of votes Hill and Laufer each got.

In short, Walker needed her supporters to vote just for her, and not for either of the others. Just like Schilling needed his supporters to vote just for him, and not for either of the Democrats. In both of their cases, thinking about the race this way seemed to work. (It’s hard to know because the city doesn’t track single-shotting, but records show there were 5,877 votes that could have been cast and weren’t.)

This election—which is actually the Democratic primary, but will go a very long way towards deciding who gets elected in November in this heavily Democratic city—is even more complicated because it’s got three open seats, not two. In practice, I think that means it will be hard for supporters of any one candidate to shut out any one other candidate altogether; there are just too many open spots. But you can still try to make sure your top choice or choices get elected while giving the candidates you don’t like as few allies as possible.

So: Do you really like candidate A, and think your top priority is to make sure that person gets on the council? Then just vote for candidate A and leave the other spots blank. Are you really sold on candidates A and B, but not so sure about candidate C, even though C seems like a nice enough person? Well, how will you feel if C gets enough votes to finish ahead of A or B?  Personally, I’d skip the vote for C—unless, of course, I was positive C wasn’t going to get that many votes, and I wanted to support that person as a symbolic gesture.

True, by casting fewer than three votes, you’re giving up your theoretical right to choose all three winners. But in practice, your top three choices likely won’t all get elected, and you want to avoid helping your third choice beat your first choice.

Back in the real, non-hypothetical world, I don’t know exactly who I’m going to vote for in the upcoming City Council primary, although I confess I have a decent idea of who I’m not voting for. (I’m part Sicilian, and don’t let go of grievances very easily.)

What I am sure about is that people deserve to elect the candidates they want, and no one else. If they need instructions to make that happen, then so be it.

Categories
News

Snook announces run for council

Attorney Lloyd Snook wants to help Charlottesville get its "ship righted." staff photo

Around 100 of Charlottesville’s Democratic establishment packed Bashir’s January 15 for defense attorney Lloyd Snook’s launch into the race for City Council.

Snook cited “dysfunction at the top” of city government as the impetus for joining the race. “There are things that are going on in the city that I want to be a part of helping to fix,” he said.

He listed a morale problem in city hall, and said, “The police department got me really concerned. Snook, a criminal defense lawyer for 39 years, said police are not getting support.

Snook served on the Planning Commission in the 1980s, and said, “For many years, we thought we were a 20th-century town, when we’re a 21st-century city with 21st-century problems,” such as affordable housing, gentrification and transportation planning. “I want to prepare the city for the 21st century.”

The third plank of his platform is the “prison pipeline,” which is often called the school-to-prison pipeline, but Snook said he thinks that’s unfair to schools when they only have children six hours a day. He wants to looks at other factors, like housing and food, that affect children and families.

After the August 12 white supremacist invasion, he said the city’s response has not been very constructive. Snook seemed unfazed by unruly City Council meetings and quoted Martin Luther King Jr.: “Riot is the language of the unheard.”

Snook’s mother, Helen Snook, worked toward integration in the 1960s, and her son said part of the city’s dysfunction is in how it’s dealt with racial issues. “That needs to change, frankly more from the white side than the black side,” he said. “There’s a level of well-placed deserved anger that we as white folks tend not to acknowledge.”

Attending the launch were councilors Heather Hill and Kathy Galvin. Galvin, whose term will end this year, has not announced whether she will seek a third go on council. Nor have fellow councilors Wes Bellamy and Mike Signer announced whether they’re going to run again for the three open seats.

Delegate David Toscano drove over from the General Assembly in Richmond to be at Bashir’s. He said he ran for City Council in 1990 with Kay Slaughter and Snook, who came up short in votes. “[Snook] came up and said, ‘David, I’m writing you your first check,’” and handed Toscano a check. “I’m returning it,” said the delegate.

Delegate David Toscano had a favor to repay to council candidate Lloyd Snook. staff photo

Snook joins Dem candidates Michael Payne and Sena Magill in the likely June 11 Democratic primary. Independents Paul Long and John Hall have also announced runs.