Cville Dems

The Charlottesville Democratic Committee

REPORT: Executive Committee Meeting (4/24/23)

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Six cartoonish (faceless) people sitting around a meeting table

Our first in-person Executive Committee meeting since before the pandemic (not counting some hybrid meetings) was held in Rives Park, and the weather thankfully cooperated. Highlights:
Jason Vandever gave a Treasurer’s Report; we’re well within our budget.
We discussed sending a postcard to registered voters in town to make sure that they know about the June 20 Primary.
The precinct lines for Charlottesville have been redrawn, as the City does every 10 years, and when this happens it poses a few temporary but interesting technical challenges we deal with, e.g.:
  • two precincts no longer exist;
  • there are two new precincts that technically have no one representing them, because the precincts did not exist at the time of our last reorganization (and our bylaws don’t address this scenario!);
  • some Precinct reps no longer live in the precincts that they represent due to the redrawn lines;
  • Mike Cameron and Mary Ann Harris have found a very few errors in the VoteBuilder database that put people in the wrong precinct (we’re advising the DPVA’s tech team of these).
To deal with this short-term, it was agreed that:
  • A proposed amendment to the bylaws will be presented for the May 22 Full Committee meeting.
  • In the meantime, precinct leaders will develop an ad hoc reorganization to handle the upcoming election.
We’re looking for suggestions on how to schedule the May 22 Full Committee meeting. We need a quorum to approve the change in the bylaws, so turnout is important, and it’s possible that a Zoom meeting would get a higher turnout. On the other hand, if we have another park meeting, we can invite the Primary candidates to chat with people before and after, and that could help drive turnout. Members are encouraged to share your views with John McLaren: cvilledemschair@gmail.com .
Nancy Damon updated us on the progress of our upcoming June 2 Summer Bash fundraiser (see below!), on the lawn at the Jefferson School African-American Heritage Center. Our goal is $10,000; so far we have $8,000 in sponsorship pledges… please pitch in and help us reach our goal!
There was broad agreement that our party should host an information forum on the City’s zoning reform process (see below).
Nancy reminded us of the opportunity to once again be a sponsor of (and table at) the Chihamba Festival (7/29). The Festival is also hosting a fundraising ball on June 3, and it would be great if local Dems attended that event too.
Based on feedback from the State Senate candidates, who told us there have already been five informational forums scheduled, we decided not to hold another one of our own.
Madison Cummings reminded us of the Albemarle Dems fundraiser May 7, 6-8pm, at Greencroft. In the past, a good number of Charlottesville Democrats have attended this event, and we encourage people to attend this year as well! Rep. Jennifer McClellan will be the guest speaker.

Don’t Myth This!

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Graphic with white capital letters "FA" in the middle and then to the right there are two sets of additional letters - slightly above are the letters "KE" to make FAKE and slightly below the letters "CT" to make FACTThe Virginia Department of Elections has a helpful Mythbusters page where you can see common misperceptions and misinformation (and get the real facts!).

Executive Committee Meeting Monday 4/24 6:30pm

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Six cartoonish (faceless) people sitting around a meeting table
We’re trying to find an outdoor location that will hold 20+ people with some social distance, we’ll email everyone Sunday or Monday with a Zoom link and a physical location if found.
Agenda highlights:
1. Meet the officers of Rally PVCC (see below), a new PVCC student organization aiming to mobilize students to become more engaged in the civic life of the greater Charlottesville community
2. Final list of candidates (and thanks to all who helped, see below)
3. Discuss logistics for various Candidate Forums (see below)
4. Decide whether to hold an informational forum about the Draft Zoning Plan revisions (see below)
5. Update on our June 2 Summer Bash fundraiser (see below).

New Organization Profile: “Rally PVCC”

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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.
Photo of the founders of Rally PVCC: Emily Moss, Mara Cox, and Justin Roberts
Founding officers of Rally PVCC: (L-R) Emily Moss, Mara Cox, and Justin Roberts
Though the club will be welcoming to all, the three founding officers all personally fall on the progressive end of the political spectrum:
        • 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!