Good luck to Del. Steve Landes as he seeks his 9th term.
If you’re curious (and you really should be):
This is his website.
This is Del. Landes’ legislative history as shown on Richmond Sunlight.
After the jump, see his latest newsletter that speaks to redistricting:
After the veto of HB 5001, the House Privileges & Elections Committee (P & E), of which I am a member, followed the Governor’s advice to take the opportunity to strengthen the plan we had originally passed. On April 18th, the P & E Committee met and approved by a vote 16-0 House Bill 5005, strengthening our original plan by making several adjustments. As requested by local government officials and others, our changes repaired a number of split precincts. The House has adhered to a fair process standard that complies with law and makes each district as nearly equal in population to every other district as practicable.
On April 28th, the Senate passed their substitute plan with amendments on a bi-partisan vote of 32-5. The House agreed to the Senate substitute with amendments on a vote of 63-7. Thus the second redistricting plan known as House Bill 5005 was signed by the Speaker, President of the Senate, and the Governor to be effective April 29, 2011.
Since Virginia is still under the Federal Voting Rights Act, HB 5005 must still be approved by the United States Attorney General’s Office. But, at this point, it seems most likely that the new districts will be as they are described in HB 5005.
According to the description in HB 5005, the 25th House District will vary quite a bit from the way it presently looks. Basically, it appears that the 25th will be losing the precincts of the City of Waynesboro, Cross Keys, Elkton, McGaheysville, South Fork, Stony Run, and Lyndhurst.
The new district lines include the following precincts in Albemarle County: Jack Jouett, Belfield, Ivy, East Ivy, Crozet, Brownsville, and Yellow Mountain. In Augusta County the 25th will be made of: Verona, Crimora, New Hope, Weyers Cave, Fort Defiance, Dooms, Fishersville, and Wilson precincts. Finally, Rockingham County in the 25th will be comprised of: Ottobine, Port Republic, North River, Grottoes, Massanetta Springs, Bridgewater, Montezuma, and Mt. Crawford.
With these changes come mixed feelings. If re-elected in November of this year, I will certainly miss all the constituents in the precincts that the 25th District is losing, but look forward to making new friends and having the privilege of serving new constituents.
To check out the districts, there is a very user friendly website at www.vpap.org. They have listed a section right on their home page where you may click and explore the New District maps for both the House and Senate.
You may also access the Virginia General Assembly website at http://legis.virginia.gov and under “Legislative Agencies” in the left-hand box, click on “Legislative Services” where you will then see “Redistricting” on the left hand side. This will take you to the plans and interactive maps so you may view the final changes in HB 5005.
Thanks for reminding me that he started a study for ‘year-round school’ for the kids.
” Landes would like to see the results of a state study he was behind on restructuring the school year so that classes could be year-round, he said.”
I guess he forgets what it’s like to be a kid in school. Just what they need – all governent school, all the time. No, thanks, Steve.
I still don’t understand why he represents us. If he actually represented the interests of Albemarle County he’d vote to give us our own representative. We shouldn’t have to drive 45 minut3s to get to our State Delegate’s office. Albemarle County should have it’s own delegate, maybe two. But what do we have? Political gerrymandering that mitigates our influence in the State House and a Delegate that doens’t seem to care.