Crozet's community blog
It’s the time of year when the Virginia General Assembly is in session.
Now is a good time to track the bills our legislators are sponsoring.
And for fun, I like to see who gives how much to each legislator … it seems that the Dominion Political Action Committee, per Richmond Sunlight, has given $2,500 to each. Good fun.
Even more information on the money each has received can be found at VPAP.
Dig in.
Ann Mallek’s town halls are a good way to get informed and share your opinion with our Board of Supervisor representative.
From Ann:
What is on your mind? Please come and share your priorities for the county. What should be included in the fiscal year 2017 budget? How quickly should we re-acquire our capital investment program for county facilities? Choices must be made.
Three town halls to choose from:
White Hall have a new school board representative in David Oberg. It was nice and refreshing to have a contested election for a change. Candidate forums, blog posts, discussions … kinda nice.
And, with only 3,912 people voting in the White Hall School Board election, if you voted, your vote actually mattered!
Images below thanks to Smart Cville.
Jonno Alcaro won the At-Large School Board seat.
Interestingly, while Steve Landes won the election, he lost Crozet White Hall.
Ann Mallek won, unopposed. 209 write-ins? I’d love to see who was written in!
Last night was a fun forum at Brownsville. The White Hall and At-Large candidates for school board made some time to lay out their positions and reasons for running for school board.
First thoughts:
I was thisclose to leaving out my opinions, but can’t help myself. The tweets are after the break; I highly recommend you read those.
As a friend said last night on Twitter:
I’m glad we all have chance to watch presidential politics tonight, but we’d be a better country if more people paid attention to local govt
Truth.
Read the tweets.
It’s a bit weird to be having a contested election. And nice! There is much more than School Board on this year’s ballot, but local elections are where our votes can matter the most.
There are various forums coming up for the White Hall School Board candidates. If I have any information incorrect or missing, please let me know or correct me in the comments.
6 October – The Crozet Elementary PTO is hosting a candidate forum
7 October – “From the Daily Progress: White Hall School Board Forum at Henley Middle School Cafeteria 6:30-8:30 PM (doors open at 6).”
13 October from 6:00 to 6:45pm: The Brownsville PTO is hosting a forum
13 October (waiting for confirmation) the CCA is holding a candidate forum – probably from a bit after 7pm until ..
Charlottesville Tomorrow’s education reporting has been top-notch.
Curiously, the Virginia State Board of Elections page’s most recent election results are from 2003(!) for the White Hall School Board seat. During that election, 3,770 votes were cast. As of 2010, Crozet’s population was 5,565 people; I’d wager we’ve added at least 500 people since then.
In an election with this relatively few voters, these votes matter.
Election day is 3 November, 2015. Now’s as good a time as any to learn who’s going to be on the ballot.
Start here; the Virginia Department of Elections has a pretty good site.
For the first time in I don’t know how long, we have a choice for our School Board rep; neither of whom is the incumbent.
White Hall School Board: David Oberg and Caroll J. “C. J.” Hatcher are competing.
At-Large School Board seat: Dolly R. D. Joseph, Catherine M. Lochner, J. S. “Jonno” Alcaro
More at the excellent CvillePedia’s page.
Click through to see my sample ballot (I live in the Brownsville district) — there are some big elections, namely the school board, Commonwealth Attorney, Soil & Conservation … dig in, and please, please please, be an educated voter. And a personal request: if you’re not going to be said educated voter, consider not voting.
Continue reading “What’s on the Ballot in Crozet this Year?”
Charlottesville Tomorrow reports:
David Oberg, an attorney with theCharlottesville-based firm Jones & Green, is running for the White Hall District seat on theAlbemarle County School Board.
Oberg, 45, who formerly directed Blue Ridge UniServe — an organization that aims to support local education associations — made the announcement Tuesday atClaudius Crozet Park.
“If I’m elected, I will do the absolute best I can to represent the needs of our county, the needs of our kids and the needs of our teachers,” Oberg said. “I’ve worked pretty much my entire life on public education, and if elected I promise you I will be tireless.”
Topping Oberg’s list of key issues is the role high-stakes standardized testing plays in public schools.
That there were so many there yesterday in support was impressive. The pizza provided didn’t hurt. 🙂
Albemarle County Supervisor Ann Mallek will announce her candidacy for Supervisor representing the White Hall district.
She was first elected to the seat in 2007.
When: Tuesday, February 24, 2015 at 10 am
Where: Crozet Western Albemarle Library, Front door, east side
Competitive elections are good for everyone – the candidates and the constituents.
Steve Landes just announced that he’s running for reelection.
His competitor is Angela Lynn.
So far, VPAP reports that Steve Landes has about $26k and his challenger has $0; that’ll probably change.
While you’re researching (you do research, instead of voting for the D or the R, right?), see what bills he’s sponsored in the General Assembly.
The Virginia General Assembly is nearly back in session. What are our legislators up to?
– What bills are they proposing?
– On which committees do they serve?
– Do they support or oppose legislation that matters to you?
Spend a few minutes checking out what Delegate Steven Landes and Senator Creigh Deeds are up to. Then call them. Email them. Look at who their major donors are* (Dominion’s PAC has given to both of them, for example).
While you’re checking this stuff out, have a look at the newest bills to be introduced in the General Assembly?
If you’re curious, these are the bills that I’m tracking.
* For fun, spend some time at VPAP digging into donor information.