Cville Dems

The Charlottesville Democratic Committee

Community

Successful “Summer Fun in the Sun” Picnic with the Albemarle Dems (7/30/23)

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photo of people sitting at picnic tables listening to speeches75 people turned out on July 30 and did have a lot of fun… and got to hear good, short speeches from most of our local candidates!

The Albemarle Dems were super well-organized and had everything running smoothly and brought plenty of good food; thank you Karen Combs and crew!

John McLaren coordinated getting gas grills (thanks to Rodney Beard and Jules Tatum for providing the equipment and transportation) and Martha Donnelly (game buyer extraordinaire), Emily Little, and Dan Doernberg organized the games, with cornhole provided by Josh Throneburg and Jason and Tom Vandever.

Erin Monaghan took the games and miscellaneous other things to our storage locker for the next picnic (everyone said we should do this again, and hold more joint events with Albemarle!).

 

photo of Creigh Deeds speaking and holding a microphone wearing informal shirt and slacks

Creigh Deeds

 

Photo of Amy Laufer wearing a white blouse and blue skirt and sunglasses at the picnic

Amy Laufer 

Albemarle County Board of Education candidate Allison Spillman wearing her campaign t-shirt at her booth under a tent
Allison Spillman

 

Photo of Lloyd Snook, Sheila Haughey, and Madison Cummings at the Albemarle+Cville Dems Picnic 20230730
Lloyd Snook, Sheila Haughey, and Madison Cummings

 

Dems standing in the food line at the Albemarle+Cville Dems Picnic 20230730
The food line

 

Photo of grill cooks Lewis Combs and Rodney Beard making meat and plant-based hamburgers at the 20230730 picnic
Grill cooks Lewis Combs and Rodney Beard

 

Photo of Tom Vandever and Brian Pinkston at the Albemarle+Cville Dems Picnic 20230730
Tom Vandever and Brian Pinkston

 

Photo of Karen Combs wearing a blue "Get Vocal Vote Local" T-shirt at the Albemarle+Cville Dems Picnic 20230730
Karen Combs

 

Photo of Carrson Everett wearing sunglasses and a blue "Get Vocal Vote Local" T-shirt at the Albemarle+Cville Dems Picnic 20230730
Carrson Everett

Photo of Dems at the at the Albemarle+Cville Dems Picnic sitting around before the speeches began

 

Sunday 7/30: Albemarle & Cville Dems Summer Picnic!

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Cville Dems round blue and white logo with Albemarle Dems stylized donkey logo

Cartoon showing a family sitting at a picnic table

Come have fun and meet all our November candidates!

Date & Time: Sunday, July 30, 2pm-?? (original 6/26 was rained out)

Where: Darden Towe Park Picnic Shelter — Enter the Park, turn right at the T intersection, take the road to the end to reach the picnic shelter and Dog Park).

We provide: Hotdogs/Burgers/Vegan food options + games for adults and kids (we’re bringing cornhole, balls for soccer/kickball, bocce/petanque, and bubbles for little ones; feel free to bring more of the above or your own favorite picnic games/activities!).

You bring: Non-alcoholic beverages, a side dish or dessert, 1 chair per person, family and friends (kid-friendly!), and your Democratic Spirit!

Food, games, meet candidates, and lots of Dems… what’s not to like? Bring family and friends (especially those who aren’t as politically engaged!) and help spread the word!

RSVPs (optional but helpful) to: karencombs6522@gmail.com

2023 Juneteenth Celebration Events

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1. At the Jefferson School (Saturday June 17)

2023 Juneteenth poster                 2-panel graphic: the white left side lists the concert musicians and Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, the right side in dark red gives date, times, and location of the 9am parade, 11am libation, and 12pm concert. in the middle is a rectangular black graphic showing the back of male slave, shirtless and chained arms outstretch, with the words "Emancipation and Celebration" underneath.

The Jefferson School African American Heritage Center (JSAAHC) is celebrating Juneteenth this year on Saturday June 17th with a full day of events:

  • 9am Parade
  • 11am Libation ceremony
  • 12pm-3pm Concert (3 bands!)
  • 7:30pm CPG’s presentation of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

For more information and to sign up (to walk in the parade, to get tickets for the evening play) click here.

2. Other Community Events

• 6/18 7:30pm Concert: Rock & Reel: Monticello’s Folk Traditions Sunday, June 18 | 7:30 pm | UVA Rotunda (register for limited in-person tickets or stream it live)
• 6/19 11am & 4:30pm historic River View Farm Juneteenth Tours (Ivy Creek Natural Area, 1780 Earlysville Rd.)
• 6/22 6:30pm Northside Library screening of The Lives Between the Lines documentary (Reclaim, Honor, Repair: Descendants of Enslaved Communities at the University of Virginia)

REPORT: June 2nd Summer Bash Fundraiser (Featuring Rural GroundGame’s Lynlee Thorne)

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Fundraising Committee Chair Nancy Damon and her group (we thank them all for their great work on this!) gave us this recap of a very fun and successful event (even the weather cooperated!):
We had about 150 people come out to socialize, meet the candidates, and hear our speaker Lynlee Thorne, Rural GroundGame’s Political Director.
Big thanks to:
  • Our 60+ sponsors, at all levels, whose generosity makes all our work possible!
  • Our primary food vendor Soul Food Joint (for the chicken and sides and all their table and chair hauling/set-up/takedown), and to Sticks and Mona Lisa Pasta for some of the vegetarian dishes.
  • To Black Bear Composting for… composting!
  • To everyone who pitched in to help with the cleanup, which included delivering our excess to The Haven, which they greatly appreciated.
It worked out very nicely having Lynlee speak; we got lots of compliments about her organization’s good and important work, and our arranging the chance for them to learn more about it.
As Lynlee explained in her talk, Rural GroundGame (RGG) is a Political Action Committee that provides in-kind assistance to Democratic candidates running in rural areas across the Commonwealth. Our party has tended to neglect rural voters, and that has hurt us badly, especially in state-wide elections. RGG helps candidates in many ways (e.g. supporting canvassing efforts, media coordination), and it’s developing a new online platform and research arm.
For more information about RGG, to make a donation, or to see how you might be able to plug in as a volunteer or collaborator, visit www.ruralgroundgame.org.
                
                 

Draft Zoning Ordinance

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Horizontally-oriented graphic reading "Community Forums" in a yellow handwriting-looking script and "Long-Range Planning" in a standard print font surrounded by a white background and an abstract geometric design
As the City continues to discuss the draft Zoning Ordinance (all three modules are now available), a Cville Dems working group continues discussing how our party might contribute to the process by acting as an additional information channel. If you have thoughts on the matter, please reach out to us: communications@cvilledems.org .
Note: Cville Plans Together is holding a Module 3 open house at CitySpace 4:30-7:30pm on Wednesday, June 14. Members of our working group are planning to attend, please join us!

Cville Dems Zoning Plan Informational Forum is a GO!

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Horizontally-oriented graphic reading "Community Forums" in a yellow handwriting-looking script and "Long-Range Planning" in a standard print font surrounded by a white background and an abstract geometric design

The Cville Dems will host a post-primary informational forum, likely a late summer or early fall in-person event, about the City’s upcoming Draft Zoning Plan (all three mdoules are now available). Our party hasn’t taken a position on the issue yet.
A planning group has started meeting to organize the forum and would like to know:
  1. What issues are you most interested in (e.g. affordable housing, parking, density requirements, trees and environmental impacts)?
  2. What are some of the takeaways and/or fears people have shared with you (in person or online)?
  3. If you’d like to join our group!
For any or all of these, please reach out to us: communications@cvilledems.org .