molly conger

@socialistdogmom

i’m just the note taker. she/her. the cop reading this is wasting tax dollars

Charlottesville, VApatreon.com/socialistdogmomBorn September 4Joined October 2009

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molly conger

@socialistdogmom

Apr 17

exclusive from me: the albemarle county commonwealth's attorney's office has brought felony charges against tiki torch marchers nearly 6 years after unite the right

the-devils-advocates.ghost.io

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There is no statute of limitations on felonies in Virginia.

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there’s nothing i love more than an absolutely deranged city council meeting. i have no idea why this meeting is full of senior citizens dressed as pirates and i don’t even need to know, it just rocks.

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Brian Reese

@BrianReese_

May 24

Pirates have taken over the Hampton council meeting

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got nuked/is in a zombie in between state because i posed as jk rowling apologizing for being a relentlessly cruel bigot, follow me here

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i've never made a secret of the fact that i think objectivity & neutrality are nothing to aspire to, so i'll tell you i'm happy to vote for natalie oschrin & michael payne. i guess i'll toss my 3rd to cooper. we'd be fine with another snook term, but fenwick would be a disaster.

thanks to the

for hosting this city council candidate forum! it was good to hear from all 5 candidates.

snook cites some accomplishments in this year's budget - "we actually did something we've been talking about for a decade," with the school reconfiguration getting funded.

snook, an incumbent candidate & the current mayor, says "the single biggest issue for the city is stability in leadership at the top. he calls the events of 2017 "a bell that continues to ring," "the reverberations are getting fainter but they're still there."

cooper: as a lifelong resident & a city employee, he sees it from all angles & agrees there is a lot of work to do. he emphasizes transparency & ensuring the people have a voice at the table.

payne: "it's been a difficult few years for charlottesville but i still think we've done some incredible things," citing public housing redevelopment and the climate action plan. "we can make a positive change," but there's a lot of work to do.

natalie oschrin encourages people to check out her campaign website at nat4cville.com she says transit, housing, and safety are intertwined & have to be addressed together.

nat4cville.com

Natalie Oschrin 4 Charlottesville City Council Natalie Oschrin

Natalie Oschrin is running for Charlottesville City Council

(ok sorry i wasn't going to mention it because it feels mean, but he keeps talking about being a tax payer but there's pending litigation in city circuit court about extremely delinquent taxes for his downtown home!!!)

fenwick: "let me say a few words about zoning," "there's 3 things people talk about most: zoning, taxes, and violence." he says citizens who want a substantial say in how the city grows "are not obstructionist," but they "are the billpayers"

that's it for questions since we're almost out of time. each of the 5 candidates now has 2 minutes to give their final thoughts.

cooper: "i agree with each and every one of them" and says the area is beautiful, agreeing that it should be purchased and turned into a park.

payne says the city needs to strengthen environmental regulation on critical slopes & flood plains, the current protections are inadequate.

payne: "i've been clearly and publicly opposed to it from the beginning," "there's so many ways that it's a bad idea." the proposed project isn't consistent with the new draft zoning and isn't affordable housing.

oschrin says those buildings would "literally be in my front yard," the proposed project is on her block, giving her added perspective. she was initially excited to see proposed housing, but the plans fell short - tons of impervious surface for parking.

fenwick: "i'm against building in the flood plain." he compares the hog waller to new orleans, which seems like a BIT of a stretch, but says it is possible to build on top of fill, but it presents added challenges & costs. he agrees the city should explore buying the land.

snook says the city can't tell a property owner they have no right to develop their property in any way, but the city CAN use eminent domain to purchase the land to ensure it remains undeveloped.

next question is about building on the flood plain. snook: "i think the only solution that makes any sense is for the city to say the way we keep that land undeveloped is to buy it to be used as a park."

payne also says reliable bus routes so that people actually use the bus & having well paid, unionized bus drivers are also part of any plan to revitalize transit.

payne says we can NOT switch our fleet to compressed natural gas - that will lock us into that infrastructure & delay any transition to electrification of the fleet.

payne: school buses are a good place to start with electric buses - they can charge mid-day. it's more complicated with the CAT buses, but there's federal funding for things like mid-route charging stations. "that money is not going to be available forever"

oschrin continues: the housing crisis is part of the emissions problem - people commuting from surrounding counties HAVE to drive here to work. the solution has to come from all angles.

oschrin: "more buses, any way we can get them, is good." we can't let the desire to reduce emissions come at the expense of improving transit overall - electric is good, but getting people out of their cars is the most important step.

fenwick also says every bus stop needs a bus shelter - people aren't going to stand in the rain for a bus, whether it be gas or electric. but he comes back to his earlier statement about outsourcing our problems, saying electric buses rely on child labor overseas.

fenwick: "for years i have preached about getting smaller buses," saying he's never seen a full city bus. he says he's asked staff for years but the answer wasn't satisfactory.

snook: the transit plan being discussed now "is going to require a lot more buses," and it takes 2 years between wanting a new bus and getting a bus. he hopes the study will allow us to get started as soon as possible.

snook: the study being conducted now is required by federal law before the city can buy electric buses because the cost is largely subsidized by the state & federal government. the study is to determine if it the most economical choice, snook says the answer is probably yes.

cooper: "common sense? let's just do it," "it's just a no-brainer," after the study is done, let's run the numbers and just invest in it, he says of electric buses.

next Q: albemarle county has 2 electric buses, UVA has ordered its first set of electric buses - what are the candidates' views on how the city should proceed with electric vehicles?

martha robertson is a local politician in tompkins, NY and also oschrin's aunt. she says watching her aunt has been inspirational for her.

oschrin: "who is good to choose? is it a young dynamic leader like AOC?" is it a teacher like elizabeth warren, is it someone like 25 year old maxwell frost bringing a young progressive voice to florida? but her answer is martha robertson

fenwick says "i was gonna cheat on this question because barack obama is by himself as far as a standard by which we should all strive to meet," but his actual answer is hubert humphrey, "the happy warrior."

oh no i was scrambling with a technical problem and i missed cooper's answer, sorry dashad snook says barack obama, citing his "eloquence" and the fact that he is a "deep thinker," and "for not being afraid to be seen to be intelligent," saying politicians are afraid to be smart

next Q: what local, state, or national politician, past or present, is an inspiration to you payne asks "politician?" forced to choose a politician, he says bernie sanders. "the country has abandoned our working class," and be appreciates sanders' tenacity on the issue.

fenwick says we have to communicate more. it feels like he's alluding to specific things but it feels weird, rambling, and vague. he says in the past, "it was a different way of living down here," and he wants to "rebuild the community spirit."

snook says the reason we haven't been building the sidewalks was that we didn't have the project managers to oversee that work. he says council has asked the city manager's officer to try to hire more project managers.

snook: "i'm going to start with this answer where i started with my campaign four years ago," he says we need to "continue to rebuild the city government," "we've made very important strides in the last 4 years, but we're not done with that yet."

cooper: "i'm big on mental health," and says he just got a text from his mom that his 12 year old brother just started vaping. he says we need to educate children about the dangers of vaping.

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