Lynch: vote for Edwards, McKeever, and mayor
This morning an outgoing City Councilor issued the first endorsements of the upcoming election, but already his statements have come under fire from a former councilor.
Incumbent Kevin Lynch, who isn’t seeking a third four-year term, taps newcomers Jennifer McKeever and Holly Edwards to join mayor David Brown as his picks. “Both want the best for their young children and have translated this into a desire to be advocates for all of our community’s children,” Lynch wrote in an email sent out earlier this morning.
Conspicuously absent was any mention of former school board chair Linda Seaman or of Satyendra Huja, the retired city planner who oversaw construction of the Downtown Mall and myriad other large civic projects during his 31 years in City Hall.
“Well, that’s fine,” said Huja, when contacted for comment. “That’s his choice. It’s a Democracy we live in.”
Besides a Democracy, it’s a town seemingly controlled by Democrats, and whoever wins the most votes from the party faithful at this Saturday’s Democratic convention typically wins the election, which occurs in November this year.
“I’m just a traditionalist on this, but I don’t think a sitting councilor has any business endorsing anybody,” says former mayor and councilor Blake Caravati, who believes Maurice Cox may have been the last such councilor to make endorsements. Caravati, who left Council last year, says he definitely wouldn’t endorse McKeever because she has opposed the Meadowcreek Parkway and questioned the expenditure of public money on the Charlottesville Albemarle Rescue Squad creating a new rescue operation within the Charlottesville Fire Department.
The Dems have been known to devour their own, and Huja notes that while he hasn’t earned any endorsements, he hasn’t sought any either. He will, however, get introduced at the June 2 convention by Cox, an urban theorist whose ideas on creating dense developments, bike paths, and even streetcars weren’t always met with applause. Today’s City Council consists of five Democrats led by Brown, who has been dubbed a “consensus builder.”
“God, it’s gotten boring up there,” says Caravati. “I miss the days with me, Meredith [Richards], Rob [Schilling], and Maurice [Cox]. Sometimes we fought like cats and dogs, but it engaged the public.”
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i’ll choose boring and productive over childish and disfunctional any day, mr. caravati.
Please keep questioning the Charlottesville Fire expenditure, there is more there than meets the eye!
If Mr Lynch wants to endorse somebody, than I, as a fan of his eight years of hard work and experience WANT his opinion. Who better to do a realistic evaluation of the candidates?
If a politicain thinks it inappropriatte than perhps that politician should stop worrying so much about Roberts Rules of Order and worry a little more about TAKING CARE OF THE PEOPLE.
Kevin is a real person. Whoever he endorsed will be a real person. nuff said.
ubcareful2 your an idiot! More ems tansport units are needed, you should’nt speak unless you know what your talking about!