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Browsing Category Politics
Big donations in Albemarle politics
The news came out yesterday regarding the largest donations to local political races.There surely may have been more critical elections locally, but I can’t remember one.Financially, one can’t argue that the monetary donations help the candidates – but what is the potential risk for those getting big donations, perception-wise?In Albemarle, the candidates have raised at least $150,000 – for Board of Supervisors seats, salaries for which area minute fraction of the amount raised. Local politics should not be subject to partisan politics – but they are divided by the type of donors. This is true – for the amount of time and effort the Supervisors put in, they’re underpaid.
An offer for politicians who blog in CharlAlbemarle
Of the current candidates and incumbents for Albemarle County’s Board of Supervisors and the Charlottesville City Council, why don’t more blog?In the City, incumbents Dave Norris and David Brown, who is running for re-election, blog. Candidates Peter Kleeman and Barbara Haskins do, too.In the County of Albemarle, none of the incumbents or candidates blog, and only one of the School Board members does.Brian Wheeler, running for re-election on the School Board, has done more to bring transparency and openness to local politics than almost any other local politician.At the state level, this is one of the blogging leaders.Is anybody missing from this list?Here is an offer to any of the current or prospective members of the local seats – I’ll give you an hour or two of my time to show you how to blog…. It’s neither hard nor intimidating, but it may be new for some and there is a learning curve.The selfish return for you is this – members of the public will read what you write…. Make no mistake – it’s work, but would benefit all of us.Would any of the current or prospective members be willing to take this offer?
November Referendum on Growth in Albemarle
Will Goldsmith with C-Ville has an excellent summary of next month’s Albemarle County BoS election:In electoral terms, this is an off year, with no federal offices up for grabs. Typically, voter turnout is particularly low in Virginia during odd years like these, when there’s not even a governor’s race to push the masses to the polls. To see that, we can look at 2003, the last year a Board of Supervisors race was held without a governor’s race: Of 54,000 registered to vote, only 17,500 came out—32.5 percent…. With the seats divided up by district, that means each seat will be decided by 3,000 to 4,000 voters.With so much at stake, this has shaped up to be one of the most meaningful races for the Board of Supervisors in recent memory—the perfect referendum on the path the county has been taking lately, particularly as concerns development.Vote or don’t complain.Charlottesville Tomorrow’s election guides have just been released as well.
$270,000,000
McDonnell says if the local highway oversight group known as the Metropolitan Planning Organization takes the Western Bypass off its Six-Year Transportation Improvement Plan, our highway district could lose a lot of money…. The Attorney General issued his opinion at the request of Lynchburg State Senator Steve Newman (pictured below), who’s been fighting for years to get a bypass around Charlottesville.Attorney General McDonnell’s letter is here (PDF):You ask whether the Charlottesville-Albemarle Metropolitan Planning Organization (“MPOâ€) would risk losing its primary system highway construction funds should it remove the proposed U.S. Route 29 Bypass around Charlottesville (“Bypassâ€) from its Six-Year Transportation Improvement Plan (“Planâ€). If MPO removes the Bypass from its Plan and the federal government requests reimbursement of its funds expended on the Bypass, you ask whether MPO would be required to repay such amount from its primary highway system funds. Response It is my opinion that if MPO removes the Bypass from its Plan and the Federal Highway Administration requires the Commonwealth to reimburse the funds spent on the Bypass, an amount equal to such reimbursement would be deducted from the primary system highway construction funds for the Department of Transportation district in which the Bypass is located.
Are Libertarians gaining traction in Central Virginia?
Based on the recent press for Arin Sime, perhaps so, including this editorial from the Daily Progress -The most honest, positive and straightforward political ads this season, with issues and positions spelled out in plain English, without highly selective, emotional attacks, appear to be those of Libertarians….The ads can be seen as honest and positive “because it’s 100 percent ideology,†Saxman said…. Most localities will make a small cut in the tax rate, yet due to the rising assessments, you are still paying significantly more in taxes!Setting the local tax rate is the prerogative of your local government…. If your local government feels they need more money than that, they will have to be more open in their desire and raise your tax rate, instead of claiming they are cutting the tax rate even though your tax bill is going up. This is an interesting and related post from the Real Estate Bloggers – Taxes and real estate – how do they affect each other?Cvillepodcast has more with Bob Gibson.Rick SincereThe benefits of embracing transparency are huge.
Water supply and drought in Central Virginia
For the first time, buyer clients of mine have specifically chosen to not look in the Charlottesville area and instead are redirecting their search to Waynesboro, just west of Charlottesville.(