On what issue should City Council focus?

Eliminating the RWSA - they have wasted tens of millions of dollars on bogus studies to support a dam we don't need and to stop dredging --unltil we get rid of this agency we will see our rates rise and our environmental assets destroyed.

This is the most corrupt organization ever in the history of Charlottesville and we need to elect City Councilors that say enough waste --no more debt for unneeded infrastructure and the City should maintain their own assets if needed and make money for their citizens. They own all the dams and reservoirs and to watch them be destroyed is the height of foolishness.

CP, I guess you are in favor of higher utility rates for the poor and less money for schools. Water rates have been rising so high that the City has been subsidizing them to keep them affordable, but they can't do that forever, and that money could go to the schools.

It's your money and if you want it wasted on a dam and uphill pipeline to fill Ragged Mt. that's your choice not mine.

The more expensive you make utility rates the more unattractive our community will be for new businesses or citizens.

It is not city council who needs to focus on issues, it is the people. I'm so tired of city council working for themselves and not the people.

We already have big plans we are waiting for checks on. We are waiting on our $100 million check from the federal government to redo public housing. We need $1 million or so to run our bus system next year.. The check to re- do the Belmont Bridge we are waiting on from the State. The SRO at Vinegar Hill is funded (I think)? We have already spent the revenue sharing check from Albemarle. We think of plans then wait for other localities/Feds to send the checks. Start mailing them for the old ideas because its time for new ideas.

sidewalks and decriminalizing marijuana in Cville

How about this? . . . for a population of 145,000 it is completely wasteful to have so much duplication of effort. With all the anti-growth sentiment, the area will never reach a size to warrant two school systems, two fire departments, two governing bodies, two court systems, two assessors, etc..

Let's bite the bullet now and "unincorporate" Charlottesville and merge, save a ton of money and force us all to work together.

All this independent city stuff in Virginia is so lame and wasteful.

I actually talked to Mr. Tucker once about this, former County Executive, and he said: studies have shown this would not amount to a savings. Just telling you what he said

Paying TWO school superintendents, paying TWO fire chiefs, paying TWO police chiefs, TWO inspections departments, etc. . . COME ON! There's not enough scale here to warrant this kind of duplication.

What you heard is someone who didn't want to be the one of TWO chief executives to go. Consider the source on that one, then ask to see the numbers and audit the devil out of them. NEVER simply accept anything from a bureaucrat with a vested interest.

What is it with people taking comments like that at face value?

Figures can't lie, but liars can figure.

I think Betty is on to something. All this silly fighting between the City and the County and the waste.

City Resident:

Stop with the hyperbole. I used to run Ragged Mtn all the time and love it as much as you do. Its not going to be destroyed by the dam, it will be different but not destroyed, so chill with the hyperbole. "untold destruction" seriously, dude its not Comac McCarthy's the Road here, get some perspective.

I certainly didn't start out as a pro-dam/anti dredge person. I am always skeptical of corporations and developers and love nature and am a tree hugger. Like I didn't like the fact that all the commercial gyms in town were trying to shut down the Y, that was just gross corporate greed. But This water business has gone on for a long time. The info has surfaced. The City Councilors are all smart people with good heads on their shoulders. Now the DEQ (see Civille Tomorrow article) is basically saying that the Citizens for water Plan or whatever are the ones obfuscating and Providing inaccurate information:

"Earlier this month Citizens for a Sustainable Water Plan used an August 2010 DEQ letter on its website and in communications to local media to claim that dredging South Fork would provide 15.5 mgd.... “This is an inaccurate and inappropriate comparison that can only further confuse the public dialogue regarding the project,” said Kudlas in an email prior to the Hydrologics study."

So it has been the leadership of this group, Citizens for a Sustainable Water Plan, and their tactics that have turned me into a supporter of the dam. They love to fight, imposing their elitist views on everyone else, love to fight with the County. They just can't get over losing and they want to make the whole election about one issue. Norris wants a bunch of dredging puppets on council to undo the walter supply plan and then do his bidding. It makes me wish Schilling was back. That's what's brought me here. The thought of a few people trying to control Council by running a ticket, just makes me wanna puke. Its blatant power grabbing. In addition their leadership and that ticket is not qualified to be on Council by past record.

As to your point about the referendum and the election, you are not listening,. My point is that I don't think its right to have a entire election hijacked by a small group of people about one sour grapes issue, when you could have a referendum to decide the whole thing without polluting the election with puppetry. Look, when the last Council-appointed school board screwed up the supt. search and hiring process and brought on a maelstrom and cost the city 300,00 in buy out, the opponents didn't sit around whining about it for months and months nor did they try to pollute the next election with sour grapes politics and puppets on council. They got the signatures needed, put it on the referendum, then the Council had no choice but to change over to an elected school board.

If your dredging people are so sure of themselves, go run a referendum and stop polluting the waters of our elections. Let's move on and focus on other things like housing, economic growth, unemployment of minorities, improving our educational system for minorities. But that would mean you would have to get more signatures, maybe more than votes on August 20th. Maybe that's the real scam here. Vote away, my votes may well cancel out your votes, but i won;t vote for any one-issue puppets of a Mayor who is just pissed off bec. he lost a vote last year. I think the rest of Charlottesville are grown-ups and know a tantrum, even an electoral one, when they see one.

So far Galvin and Huja seem the most independent and not bound by some dredginista regime. Beyer looks like he has the same potential. Blount might, but looks like she has been swayed to become a puppet, though its not too late and I thought I saw a moment of hesitation tonight at the candidates' debates when Cannon and Smith were doing their silly orchestrated softball questions to each other, when it came time for Blount to do it, she first asked to skip, then she didn't serve up the pablem "what's you closing statement Brevy", she at least gave him a softball question. I thought I saw a moment when she might be having second thoughts of getting into the same Norris bed wit Smith and Cannon-We'll see about that.

Kathy Galvin totally dodged a question tonight that people need to keep asking her: You championed a plan to "save money" in the city schools that will indeed save $500,000 a year BUT will cost $40-50 million to fund. How is this in any way, shape or form going to "save money"?? And how will you pay for this grandiose scheme? Which taxes will you increase to pay for it? And how can the city possibly maintain its AAA bond rating by taking on so much debt? And what does this say about the kinds of fiscal decisions you will make on council?

@ City Resident: I didn't see any real evidence that the dredging plan will a) save money, b) provide the water we need. See the CT article yesterday on this ("Environmental groups say new study shows dredging is insufficient for water plan", Brian Wheeler, July 19). The test I see is will the candidates put the citizens first by assuring them of a reasonable long-term water supply plan. Both dam versions did that. RWSA and DEQ seem to have issue with the "information" put forward by the Citizens water Supply group. It seems like the County is up for some dredging. I think this whole issue is being manipulated by a few who are presenting questionable facts and confusing the public debate so they have a "big issue" on which to get elected. The agenda seems like it is really "anti-growth. In the end i am confident the voters of Cville will see these tactics and the one issue agenda as not viable credentials for Council.

"My candidates" along with Szakos, and Brown certainly have not been mislead by "big money interests" (who are these big money interests by the way-enlighten)? Have you ever met Kristen Szakos? Tough as nails and independent as one gets. Sorry your corporate conspiracy story doesn't fly.

and yeah, right, the smith-cannon-blounts are "independent thinkers? Did you see the debate last night? Even the DP called them on their prefabricated and sophomoric strategy- yeah real independent. Group think and that tells me how the are going to vote on other issues as well, like the next time we hire a new superintendent.

More political figures, including Mayor Dave Norris, appear on the locally-produced Charlottesville politics interview program Politics Matters with host Jan Paynter: http://bit.ly/polmatters

1. Ghana...by all means focus on Ghana. This is what a provincial city council should do for the enhanced well-being of the community.

2. Pictures of Dave in Ghana; we need to know he's the guy seeking #1 in earnest

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph we need to focus on Ghana why don't people see this?