• We are in the worst recession in a generation. We can't afford to spend tax money or water rate money like it's monopoly money.  This is not the time to be spending tens of millions of dollars to advance a new dam, reservoir and pipeline when we now know we can get all the water we need for the next forty years through the much cheaper dredging-centered approach.  As a Council member, I intend to caretake tax money as if it were my own. 

• I believe in a moral free enterprise system. The city council has frozen funding for social agencies such as The Haven. To make the poorest among us bear such a heavy burden in this recession is unconscionable particularly since three members of council will find money to advance a new dam, reservoir and pipeline that won't be needed for 40 years. If they wanted to find money for a pet project they would find the money. City Council finds plenty of money for consultants' studies. Find money to help those who need it most! 

Environmental Stewardship.

• I believe in protecting and preserving City parks and natural resources for future generations.  As our population increases, it is especially important to vigilantly protect our parks to preserve our quality of life.    Some of my opponents think it's "greener" and "smarter" to use our parks for roads, an expanded reservoir, and other suburban infrastructure.  They seem to think it's "stronger" to give away our parks to the County to subsidize its development.  I think its greener to keep our parks intact and smarter to save our money.   I think a strong government represents the interests of its citizens.  

• I support making it easier for people to share residential space by easing zoning restrictions.  This "micro-infill" approach means that residents would be free to rent out unneeded rooms for others to live in.  Micro infill supports pedestrian friendly and mixed use neighborhoods.  Importantly, it also increases people's economic options.

• I support a dredge first, dam later approach to the community water supply.  This plan protects our assets, both natural and financial.   Click here to see how local environmental groups have been manipulated by corporate interests (The Nature Conservancy and the sprawl growth lobby). 

• I am for the preservation of perhaps the best open urban forest and grassland park in Virginia, a park that was given ‘to the citizens of Charlottesville, in perpetuity, as a park and a playground’ by Paul Goodloe McIntire who ranks just behind Thomas Jefferson as a benefactor to the city and The University of Virginia.  The city didn’t buy this park with taxpayer money.  It was a gift….a gift with conditions the city accepted.  The park has been handed down to us through three generations and this legacy should be passed on to future generations.  It should not be treated as a land bank from which the city council can make free withdrawals and then tax the citizens to purchase ‘make up’ land.  A city park and open space has an innate value to a community and, unlike a road, can’t be moved.  A road may take many different routes.  A park cannot.  It stays right where it is.

• I support efforts to reduce City resident's reliance on cars.  I support expanding walking, biking, and public transportation options.  Before we add more bus routes or buses I propose filling our buses with more riders.  How to do that?  We have two examples right in front of us.  The UVA bus system and the trolley - and the common denominator is both those are free.  It is fair to say that very few people think of bus transportation as their first option.  We can change that – the Charlottesville Area Transit or CAT – has already begun to change that with their marketing and promotion and I applaud that.  It is the first step.  Let’s take the second and most important step…..make the bus free.  When we make the buses free we make bus transportation easier.  We could move more people around the city more efficiently and decrease the congestion on our roads.  Fewer cars would mean safer travel by bicyclists, pedestrians and handicapped citizens and safer travel would promote more of the same.  We could increase the options of shoppers or diners or tourists to visit other areas of our city without the hassle of fumbling for correct change (twice, once going and once coming back) or circling the block looking for a parking space.  Riders could actually talk or text or surf the net on their smart phones without endangering anyone.  And I’m sure we could find an application for the smart phones to minimize the time spent waiting for a bus.  See my comments from Fenwick's Forums #3 for more on transportation.  

• We have a beautiful ready-made opportunity to finally create ONE good biking/walking corridor from the county into Charlottesville. Let's take a fraction of the money that would have to be spent on a Parkway/Interchange combination, and instead build a parking lot on the far county edge of the park, and construct a set of biking and walking paths that lead through the park and into the downtown area. Visitors from the County can have the option of parking their cars, and walking or biking the rest of the way in. Buses can drop off people who'd like to walk or bike part of the way into town. Its a cheaper, greener, solution, that keeps McIntire Park intact, and delivers on the promise Charlottesville has been making for years to prioritize and improve bike and walk commuting opportunities.