CvilleDems.org

When: Sunday, November 18, 2:00pm to 3:30pm
Where: CitySpace on Downtown Mall
Topic: The League of Women Voters of the Charlottesville Area and FairVote Virginia will hold a panel discussion — “Reviving Democracy: Election Reform in Virginia” — Speakers will focus on ranked choice voting and campaign finance reforms that aim to level the playing field of electoral politics.

When: November 27, 6-8pm
Where: Monticello High School Forum
Topic: David Toscano and Creigh Deeds will talk about Medicaid expansion and the upcoming 2019 Virginia General Assembly session.

Thanks to the Charlottesville Democratic Committee of 100 for attending our meeting last week. We overwhelmingly voted to pass the following statement regarding the events of August, 2017 and our desire to diversify points of view within our organization:

Statement: “The Charlottesville Democratic Committee opposes all forms of discrimination that promote division, suppress equal opportunity, and deny anyone living in this country the right to equal protection under the law. We particularly denounce the racism and anti-Semitism that escalated into violence in our city in August 2017, and we reject the policies and beliefs that have underpinned those forces throughout our city’s and nation’s history. We are committed to fighting racism and anti-Semitism and their enduring and insidious effects in our community. We are also committed to helping to heal the city’s wounds and to building a diverse and inclusive Democratic Party in Charlottesville to better reflect the concerns of all residents.”

Democratic Breakfast on 8/25/18 provided information regarding local immigration issues, ICE activities, and ways to help:

CIRAC (Charlottesville-area Immigrant Resource and Advocacy Coalition: immigrantcoalitioncville@gmail.com; cirac.weebly.com

Sin Barreras (Without Borders): http://sinbarrerascville.com; sinbarrerascville@gmail.com

Doug Ford; “Se habla espanol”
Managing Attorney, Forthright Legal (sliding scale available) www.forthrightlegal.org
434/260-1329; doug@forthrightleal.org
2340 Commonwealth Dr., Ste 206, Charlottesville VA, 22901

Pipelines:

(The group also agreed to send a letter to Governor Northam, stating our opposition to the development of natural gas pipelines.)
The Charlottesville Democratic Committee believes in the development of clean energy and the protection of the environment. Therefore, we oppose the current and future building of natural gas pipelines in Virginia and ask our elected officials to do the same. Additionally, we oppose the proposed construction of the compressor station in Buckingham County. Pipeline construction and operation will have irreversible impacts on local landscapes and communities. Their completion will potentially hinder the necessary scaling-up of clean energy alternatives, such as wind and solar, in Virginia, adding unnecessarily to climate change and delaying the economic benefits of that transition. In addition, pipelines have significant potential to contaminate drinking water and may otherwise negatively affect public health, with low income residents and people of color likely to be disproportionately affected. Therefore, we believe that the use of eminent domain is inappropriate in this instance.

Health Insurance:

The Charlottesville Democratic Committee believes that access to affordable, high quality health care is a fundamental human right, and calls on all candidates and elected officials to make this a priority. We celebrate the recent Medicaid expansion in the Commonwealth of Virginia and strongly support expansion efforts across the United States. Still, Charlottesville has the highest individual-market health insurance costs in the nation, a result of extraordinary efforts by some federal and state legislators to sabotage, rather than reform and strengthen, the Affordable Care Act. We must work to improve health care outcomes while reducing out-of-pocket expenses, lowering drug costs, and reducing insurance premiums.