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1 RESOLUTION: To fully interpret key downtown public spaces within the City of Charlottesville, north of the historic Downtown Pedestrian Mall and east of the historic McGuffey School, in keeping with the recommendations of the Blue Ribbon Commission on Race, Memorials and Public Spaces (BRC) such that a more complete history of race relations is told and the City’s commitment to truth, freedom and equity is affirmed. WHEREAS the Charlottesville City Council made a clear commitment to reveal and tell the full story of Charlottesville with regards to race through its public spaces when it established the BRC in August 2016; and WHEREAS the BRC’s Final Report acknowledged that far too often our public spaces and histories have ignored, silenced or suppressed African Am erican history, as well as the legacy of white supremacy and the unimaginable harms done under that cause; and WHEREAS the Ku Klux Klan rally at Justice Park (formerly Jackson) on July 8, 2017 and the Unite the Right rally at Emancipation Park (formerly L ee) on August 12, 2017 and the ensuing violence perpetrated by white supremacist and neo -Nazi groups, served to amplify the original purpose of the Robert E. Lee and “Stonewall” Jackson statues as symbols of racial oppression, overwhelmingly directed towar ds African Americans, but now also immigrants, refugees, Hispanics, the LGBTQ community, and religious minorities like Jews and Muslims; WHEREAS the City’s key downtown public parks within the area north of the historic Downtown Pedestrian Mall and east o f the historic McGuffey School, currently contain the Robert E. Lee statue in Emancipation Park, the Stonewall Jackson statue in Justice Park, the slave auction block in the area known as Court Square (an area that may have also played a role during the Re construction era and been home to the Freedman’s Bureau ); WHEREAS it is the will of the Charlottesville City Council that the Robert E. Lee statue be relocated (as per a 3:2 majority vote by City Council on February 6, 2017) and the “Stonewall” Jackson s tatue be relocated (as per the 5:0 unanimous vote by City Council on August 21, 2017,) to either a battlefield or a museum outside of the City limits pending Virginia Court decisions and/or changes in the Virginia Code; and WHEREAS the exact date of the r emoval of the Robert E. Lee and “Stonewall” Jackson statues is as yet unknown and may take considerable time to be resolved by the Courts and General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia, but the need to change the narrative surrounding these statues a nd tell the full story of race through our City’s public spaces is immediate . BE IT RESOLVED that the City Council of Charlottesville directs staff to: Develop a two -phased Master Plan [herein referred to as the Interim and Final Master Plan] for the rede sign of the Emancipation (formerly Lee) and Justice (formerly Jackson) parks and the Jefferson Madison Regional library (JMRL) front and side yards (in collaboration and coordination with the JMRL) in accordance with the following goals by phase; • PHASE I -Interim Master Plan (to begin immediately , prior to the removal of the Lee and Jackson statues): o Engage the community at large in a comprehensive discussion about the purpose, meaning and character of Charlottesville’s downtown public spaces, including bu t not limited to addressing issues such as;