LETTER- Kleeman asks hard questions

Thanks for your recent profile of Independent City Council Candidate Peter Kleeman [Hot Seat: "Outspoken: Squeaky wheel runs for council," September 13].

As a citizen advocate, I have worked with Peter for several years, and I can't think of anyone better qualified. Peter listens. He asks the right questions and allows himself to hear people out and learn. Peter reads. Much to the consternation of the bureaucrats and politicians trying to push projects forward with little concern for the law, he dispels their willful ignorance with his encyclopedic knowledge of government procedures. Peter is on the people's side. For years he has been a consistent and informed voice for positive change– particularly toward improving citizen participation in government decisions.

Is it any wonder the Republicans aren't running anybody for Council this November 6? Why would they, when two out of three of the Democratic candidates are for the money? By this I mean that while they portray themselves as selfless public servants, they seem particularly concerned with protecting the plans of those inclined and equipped to give future campaign contributions or great jobs

 I think it's interesting that the CTS fare-free month is the one immediately preceding our transit-challenged mayor's re-election bid. [Fellow candidate] Satyendra Huja is apparently the best thing to happen to Charlottesville since Al Gore invented the Internet.

[David] Brown and Huja are actually as green as asphalt. How else could one characterize their eagerness to turn Charlottesville's central park into a traffic funnel pointed at our downtown area? They don't seem to care about following Federal environmental laws or increasing traffic and pollution in the City.

Peter Kleeman, along with Holly Edwards, will be city councilors who owe no favors and look out for all our citizens equally. They are the real deal. Couldn't we have just four Councilors for a while?

Stratton Salidis
Charlottesville

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