Cville Dems

The Charlottesville Democratic Committee

Action Item: Save Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) from Gov. Youngkin!

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Photo of a house surrounded by floodwaters with a caption "Thanks to RGGI, for the first time ever localities all across the have access to dedicated state funding to perform critical flooding resilience planning and projects."Gov. Youngkin continues to work on gutting the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a crucial and highly popular multi-state cooperative effort to rein in greenhouse gasses. He couldn’t get the General Assembly to change the law that brought Virginia into RGGI, so now he’s trying to use changes to administrative regulations to get what he wants. 
We need to stand up for RGGI! Between now and the end of March, please post a comment opposing the governor’s actions on the State’s feedback portal.
Some background information:
“…RGGI is one of Virginia’s top global warming solutions and is currently under attack. We need you to show your support for RGGI and protect this critical program.” Environment Virginia, 3/15/23
“Gov. Glenn Youngkin wants to remove Virginia from the initiative, also known as RGGI — pronounced “Reggie” — a consortium of 12 East Coast states where energy producers trade emission reductions for credits, or buy credits to emit carbon dioxide past the capped amount.” Richmond Times-Dispatch, 3/16/23
“At a press conference organized by the League of Conservation Voters Thursday, William and Mary student Philip Ignatoff touted the benefits of the funding RGGI participation is generating and argued Virginia should lower energy bills through electricity rate reform.” Virginia Mercury, 3/16/23

Town Hall Meeting (Thursday 3/23) on Gun Violence

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Flyer with two yellow-background text boxes at top announcing "Townhall Meeting" and "Empowering Families: Keeping Our Community Safe from Gun Violence" and giving location, date, and time. Pictured are 5 event guest speakers: Charlottesville Police Chief Michael Kochis, Carl Murray, Sen. Creigh Deeds, Kim Powell, and BUCK Squad's Herb Dickerson.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

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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 designThe 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:
  1. Would you like to see some kind of panel/forum on Zoning?
  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

Getting Ready for UVA/Bert Ellis Shenanigans

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photo of Bert Ellis Jr. wearing a pale yellow shirt and dark sport jacketBert 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