Charlottesville City Council Candidates Forum — TONIGHT (Wednesday 5/24)
Community
New Organization Profile: “Rally PVCC”
A new student political organization is forming at PVCC!
PVCC student Mara Cox took a “Women in American History” course from Prof. Jennifer Tomas in Fall 2022 and, in a class discussion, was really surprised how many of her classmates didn’t realize there was an election coming up that year (didn’t follow current events much at all). Though political decisions impact almost every aspect of students’ lives, from housing costs and food insecurity to health care and transportation, and understanding of the world, most of her classmates were intimidated by politics and political discussion. And in an unrelated Geology Club author event, Timefullness author Marcia Bjornerud emphasized that addressing climate change and other challenges requires scientists to get involved in politics, and politicians willing to learn and value science.
Putting those two threads together, Mara decided to plunge into political work herself, and that was the beginning of Rally PVCC.
Though the club will be welcoming to all, the three founding officers all personally fall on the progressive end of the political spectrum:
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- Mara Cox (co-President) – Mara, now 33, was working in the food service industry before illness and pandemic boredom led her to start reading about evolution, which led to a passion for geology that brought her to college (at age 31) to study geology and hopefully go on to teach geology at the community college level. She started the Geology Club at PVCC, which is now the most popular student club on campus!
- Justin Roberts — Justin is a member of Charlottesville DSA who’s done anti-eviction work with its Housing Justice Committee (canvassing tenants facing eviction, court watch, etc.). That work, particularly talking 1:1 with the housing insecure, has galvanized his desire to build working power in Cville. He’ll be attending VCU in the fall.
- Emily Moss (co-President) — Emily was born and raised on California’s Central Coast, where she was active in local politics. She previously attended design school and worked in product design and brand/media consulting, but her passions for climate justice, human rights advocacy, and politics in general have led her to “switch gears”; she’s attending PVCC to earn general credits to transfer to UVA and then plans to attend law school!
The group is now chartered by PVCC, with Prof. Tomas as faculty advisor. They’re planning to hold an event in late April or early May (maybe even a City Council candidate forum!?), while school is still in session, to build some momentum for a big launch soon after Fall semester begins.Their focus over the past 5 months has been soliciting opinions from other students about the mission and structure of the organization. That process is still ongoing, but a general concept has started to gel; a club without partisan labels, litmus tests, or any set agendas that would help educate students about political issues and encourage students to become more civically engaged in their communities (Charlottesville) and in the political process. To do this, the club would be a safe space where any student who was interested in learning more about issues could come and engage with other students (and potentially outside community members) in a safe space.Please reach out to Rally PVCC at rallypvcc@gmail.com if:- you or a friend/family member might be interested in keeping informed about their events and programs
- if you’d be willing to act as a community resource for them (e.g. as a potential speaker, or advisor to students in an area you’re knowledgeable about, etc.)
The Cville Dems are looking forward to working with these very sharp and energetic founders to help build a vibrant student organization at PVCC. We’re confident that, as its members learn more the serious issues we’re all confronting, they’ll find themselves largely aligned with Democratic Party values and policy prescriptions.Note– shoutout to PVCC student Torrance Malone for connecting us with this group! -
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Interested in an Informational Forum on the City’s Zoning Plan?
At the March 27 Full Committee meeting, we continued discussing whether to sponsor an informational forum about the City’s upcoming Draft Zoning Plan (Modules #1 and #2 of 3 are now available) on which our local party hasn’t taken a position. We did an informal straw poll at the meeting and a significant majority voted to hold a forum.
So far, most of the informational events have either been the City presenting the plan or presentations from local activist group Livable Cville; there’s not been an event where people can hear perspectives from multiple stakeholders.
We’re thinking that, in addition to being useful in and of itself, such an event can be part of our agenda of increasing outreach to the community. Working class and minority families are increasingly being priced out of the local housing market, and they need to know that we hear and share their concerns.
This will be on the agenda for the 4/24 Executive Committee meeting, so we want to check one more time to see:
1. Would you like to see this kind of multiple stakeholder panel/forum on the Draft Zoning Plan?
2. If so, what groups/people would you be most interested in hearing from?
3. Any other thoughts about this that you’d like to share with us?
Please send your thoughts to cvilledemschair@gmail.com .
More broadly on the topic of community outreach: we’re always looking for ideas and projects to increase our involvement in our community, and we would love to hear from you about what we can do in that regard (e.g. each newsletter issue now identifies a possible action item that’s relatively quick and easy for people to engage with). Please send any ideas or suggestions for anything else related to community engagement: cvilledemschair@gmail.com . Thank you!
Town Hall Meeting (Thursday 3/23) on Gun Violence
The Charlottesville Coalition for Gun Violence Prevention (CCGVP) has organized a Town Hall to be held at Buford Middle School on Thursday March 23 from 6:00-7:30pm.Speakers will include Charlottesville Police Chief Michael Kochis, State Sen. Creigh Deeds, and representatives from the BUCK Squad and Charlottesville and Albemarle County Public Schools.
If you have ideas to share, or want to know what you can do to help stop the violence, please attend or show your support in other ways!
Candidate Forum + (maybe) a Zoning Forum
The Cville Dems will definitely be sponsoring one or more candidate forums, probably in coordination with the Albemarle Dems; we’ll announce details as soon as they’re worked out.We’re also wondering if people (you!?) would find it helpful for us to sponsor an informational forum about the upcoming Draft Zoning Plan (Module 1 of 3 available here) that City Council will be voting on in June. The party hasn’t taken a position, but it’s an important issue and we’re wondering if a panel representing a wide variety of stakeholders would be valuable in sharing the many perspectives held within the community.
So:
- Would you like to see some kind of panel/forum on Zoning?
- If so, what groups/people would you be most interested in hearing from?
- Any other thoughts about this that you’d like to share with us?
Please send your thoughts to cvilledemschair@gmail.com
Getting Ready for UVA/Bert Ellis Shenanigans
Bert Ellis, long-time reactionary and new UVA Board of Visitors member, has already telegraphed his intention to shake things up at UVA even if he’s restrained from cutting down First Amendment-protected student political speech he doesn’t like on Grounds.The Washington Post profiled him as “controversial board newcomer who has voiced skepticism of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, been protective of the legacy of Jefferson and advocated for a new course for the flagship university. They also underscore mounting political tensions throughout public higher education as Republican governors and their appointees challenge university culture, norms and operations.”
We’re thinking it might be good to identify some Dems in advance as a quick reaction group that would be ready if/when Ellis and others in his Gov. Youngkin-appointed cohort try to push through changes that threaten academic and/or personal freedom at UVA. We’d coordinate with the UVA Dems on this. Note that there may be pressure from the UVA Administration on faculty and students not to speak publicly about Ellis or other Board of Visitor actions.
If anyone’s interested in being part of such a group, please contact cvilledemschair@gmail.com
