Over 170 people came out for the Charlottesville Clergy Collective Saturday screening of the “Repairing the World” documentary about the mass shooting at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue on Saturday February 11; the event was important in continuing the community dialogue around how we can work together to combat antisemitism, racism, and other forms of hate in our area.
Jennifer McClellan in 2/21 Special Election
If Jennifer wins this election, she would become the first Black woman to represent Virginia in Congress (taking the late Rep. Donald McEachin’s 4th Congressional District seat).
To find out more, and to support her (!), check out her website and her Mobilize page.
Six Finalists for Vacant City Council Seat
There were 20 applicants for Sena Magill’s former seat on Charlottesville City Council (this Daily Progress article gave short profile information about each) and today the City announced that it has narrowed the field to six.There’s no election for this opening; the current City Council members will choose one of the six finalists to serve out Sena’s term on Feb 21. A public community input session will take place this Monday, Feb. 6; you can go to City Council’s meeting page if you want to sign up to get a seat at the live meeting, to get a link to watch virtually, or to register to participate or speak.
Here’s the alphabetical list of the all the applicants, with asterisks by the 6 finalists:
| Kate Bennis |
*Alex Bryant |
| Michael Cusano | Philip B. d’Oronzio |
| Donald J. Dunham III | *Kathy Galvin |
| Margaret Elaine Gardiner | James Louis Guidry Sr. |
| Sam Gulland | John Edward Hall |
| *Lisa D. Larson-Torres | Carla J. Manno |
| Sarah Moniz | *Natalie Oschrin |
| Rosia Parker | *Leah Puryear |
| John Santoski | Maynard Sipe |
| *Kristin Szakos | Christopher Charles Valtin |
Action Item: Gun Violence
We’d like to honor the memory of Eldridge “Skeete” Smith, a longtime valued member of our community who was lost to gun violence last Saturday night.- Juandiego Wade: “I was hurt to the core when I heard that my dear young brother, Eldridge, went home to the Lord. He was part of our fraternity’s mentoring program for almost 10 years. Big L was like a son to me. We did countless trips, mission assignments, tours together over the years. He was a phenomenal athlete and friend. I will work with a heavy heart to address gun violence in our community.”
- Wes Bellamy: “Rest in power to my brother, body guard, and overall just great guy Eldridge Smith….Gun violence is taking our brothers out in ways that are unimaginable. We owe it to our people, our children, our families, and ourselves to think twice before we act.”
Mr. Smith was an active member of the B.U.C.K. Squad, a local grassroots organization that’s working hard to reduce this very violence in our community.
Consider contributing to a fund being set up for the benefit of Mr. Smith’s family (details not yet set), making a contribution now to the B.U.C.K. Squad itself, boosting them on social media (Facebook and Instagram), or volunteering a few hours to assist them or other gun violence prevention groups in their valuable work.
Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) is Recommended!
At our January Full Committee meeting, following Delegate Sally Hudson’s introductory overview and Q&A, we passed a resolution recommending that the City adopt RCV for all City Council primary and general elections.
The City has yet to hold any public discussions about adoption of RCV, and the reality is that our software couldn’t be ready to handle RCV until this April, too late to try to safely use RCV for the June primary. If the City decides to adopt RCV, its earliest possible use would be for the November City Council elections.
