2005-01-03 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

which had been commissioned by council nearly 25 years earfier, to study similar issues and concerns. As was that prior Task Force, I asked that this current Task Force be charged with making recommendations, so that we, as a council, could act, or choose not to act, upon these recommendations. Unfortunately, the immediately prior council to this one specifically denied my request, and in fact, prohibited this Task Force, by charge, from making any recommendations to Council, presumably because Council did not want to be in the untenable position experienced by the infamous council of 25 years ago, wherein the Task Force's and the citizens' expressed will was thwarted. Nonetheless, the last fine of the third paragraph on page 4 of the Task Force ' s report states: "we befieve that the discussions do reflect important concerns of citizens about City Government that need to be addressed by City Government." The final paragraph on the same page goes on to state: "We ask the citizens of the City of Charlottesville and the members of the City Council to explore and evaluate the work of the Task Force and develop recommendations for improvements to City Government." Impficit in these statements is a recommendation, although none was called for. Many of the problems of 25 years ago still persist today no "system of patronage, "no "organizational agreements" between political and demographic groups, and no noble defense of the status quo will remedy the ills of our current system and bring a more fair and representative form of government to Charlottesville. The wait for justice and equity has been long; the time to act is now." Mr. Caravati also thanked the Task Force and Sheri Iachetta for its work. He said that if we went to an elected Mayor, the real change is the form of government that would have to ensue from that. He asked if this surfaced. Mr. O'Brien said the Task Force was not considering going to a strong Mayor form of government, but keeping the same power the Mayor now has, only directly elected. Dr. Brown asked if the Task Force found that the existence of a ward system was a factor in voter turnout in other areas. Mr. O'Brien said that in some places voter turnout seemed to increase, but it as not a unanimous finding. Mr. Caravati noted that the turnout in Richmond increased from 16% to 40% by changing their elections to November. Mr. Caravati said he is aware of areas where there is lower voter turnout despite having a ward system. Mr. Lynch said that one of the biggest issues he heard when running for Council, especially from the south side of the City, is that there are a lot of former felons who have served their terms, some of them many years ago, and are now productive members of society who cannot vote. He said he thinks this is the number one representation issue that we ought to be working on and it is not addressed. Mr. O'Brien said that is a State level issue and the Governor is working on it. Ms. Hamilton said she was struck by the fact that so many names were repeated as attending the public hearings, with many of the usual Democrats or Republicans with their issues. She said the hearings seemed to be a mixed success. Mr. O'Brien said given the level of publicity for the meetings, he anticipated a larger turnout. Ms. Hamilton said she feels a class analysis is lacking. She said there is a perception by speakers that there is under representation of neighborhoods. She said she saw a cost issue but not a representation issue. She said there is an education and wealth gap in neighborhoods where there has been little or no representation. She said there was