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To All Concerned Democracts & Citizens of Charlottesville: I write in response to Erin Garvey, and in defense of Maurice Cox, who is the object of Ms. Garvey's letter. I start off by encouraging everyone to read the full text of Maurice Cox's e-mail to the School of Architecture Student Community (see full text at the end of this response). I believe every one should have the benefit of reading the full text before forming any opinion about this whole issue. As you know, when quotes are taken out of context, it does not read as meaningfully as if read as parts of a full text. So, I urge you to kindly take a moment to read what I think is a much more meaningful "call for participation" than a vulgar attempt to "sway" the Democratic Nomination process, as Ms. Garvey will have everyone believe. It is a piece that was written to awaken what we can all agree is the lethargic state of our youth's involvement in the political process. The overall tone of Ms. Garvey's letter suggests that Maurice Cox is somehow less committed to a dignified democratic process than some people in the City, Ms. Garvey inclusive. I completely disagree. There is nothing undignified or under handed about Cox's email. I also reject the notion that only a handful of people, who have been in the City a long time, care deeply about the well being of Charlottesville. Maurice has been a role model for architecture students on how to lead a life of civic engagement, and leave a community better off as a result of their presence. The Kellytown Community Workshops and the Fifeville Transition Zone, are just a few of the positive marks they have already left. This undeserving attack on Maurice Cox by Ms. Garvey would not have happened if Ms. Garvey's significant other, Peter McIntosh, had won on Monday night. Whenever there is a contest, there necessarily must be winners and losers. The beauty of the democratic political process should be the ability of all candidates to be able to graciously accept defeat. I believe this is what is behind all this uproar. The notion that some people think they have the right to decide who should be successful when there is an election is simply arrogant and very worrisome. There are rules to be followed. They were followed. The fact that only four students responded to Cox's email supports my believe that this is "much ado about nothing". I urge all the candidates who lost to be gracious, accept defeat and let us all go about the business of winning all the three open seats on City Council for the Democratic Party. The ability to accept defeat is an art that needs to be learned. The spirit needed here is that of respect for all individuals and being gracious in the face of defeat. Moji E. Olaniyan (electronic mail, February 25, 2000) ****MAURICE COX'S E-MAIL TO A-SCHOOL STUDENTS Dear A-school Student Community, Something incredible is happening Monday, February 21st @ 7:00 p.m. at the Charlottesville High School, Performing Arts Center and I need your participation. Perhaps the single most important political event in the City of Charlottesville (outside of the general elections) will be taking place that evening. The Democratic Party of Charlottesville will hold its political caucus (a mass meeting) to select the three democratic candidates who will run this May for Council. As you probably know, I am running for re-election to City Council. The Context: Two hours Monday night and you can help make/shape local history. An exciting new group of Democrats has formed to pursue constructive change. The Democrats for Change are a new, progressive force within the Charlottesville Democratic Party. I, and three other Democrats for Change (Kleeman, Lynch and Brown) are running on their platform. The group was started as a coalition between local civic leaders - environmentalists,neighborhood activists, fighters for social justice, educational system advocates, civic planners and designers and advocates of more open government - all of whom felt that they had been working outside, and often at odds with, the existing political establishment.' Local designers from Mcdonough and Partners have served on the Democrats for Change steering committee from the very beginning and many other Uva Arch Grads have participated in the development of the Platform. The Democrats for Change website has good information including the DFC Platform and DFC Candidates. http://dfc.cstone.net/ The process: 1) To get involved is very simple.Quickly, get informed! Go to the Dems for Change website at dfc.cstone.net, to learn about the Dems for Change candidates, their positions, and the Dems for Change Platform. 2) Make sure you're registered to vote in the City of Charlottesville and that you know the precinct you live, and vote in (i.e. Venable, Alumni Hall, Jefferson Park Ave., etc). you don't have to be registered as a democrat (in Virginia voters register without declaration of party affiliation. If you're not registered, you can do so right up to the meeting time). 3) To get into the meeting, (come early, maybe 6:45 p.m., about 600 people are expected!) you will be asked to sign a 'loyalty oath (http://www.loper.org/~george/archives/2000/Feb/87.html) ' to the Democratic Party stating that you intend to support the democratic slate in the upcoming local election. Don't let the language bother you. It has always been interpreted simply as 'an expression of present intention, not a restriction on later changing one's mind'. 4) You will hear 4 to 5 min. speeches from the eight candidates vying for the three open seats in the council race. After the candidates give their speeches, the audience will divide into their voting precincts where they will be given a ballot listing all 8 candidates. You will have 3 votes to cast and I recommend that you use them all (for 3 Dems for Change Candidates of course!). Immediately afterwards the votes will be calculated proportionally. Every vote counts to boost your candidate's standing in the ranking (the top ranked three get it, so a critical turnout is extremely important). After voting, you can wait to find out the results or go home(or back to studio!) and read about it in Tuesdays paper. The whole process should only take about 1 1/2 hrs. to 2 hrs and be extremely entertaining. For those of you who are very busy (that means everybody!) this is probably the single most efficient use of 2 hours of your civic time imaginable! If you tend not to get involved (this early) in the political process, but usually vote in the general election, i assure you, you'll find this backstage political drama more fascinating and entertaining than NBS's "West Wing" (and the candidates speeches shorter than the acceptance speeches at Mon. nite's Grammys.) I went to my first political caucus at age 36 and finally understood something about the grassroot nature of our democracy. conclusion: Lastly, you should view your participation in the context of our collective
responsibility as citizens and design professionals. As designers,planners,
historians and preservationists we all aspire in our own way to change,
for the better, the current and future realities of our environments. At
the A-school, civic engagement in the political and cultural life of this
community is evident everywhere; W.G. Clark on the Brd. of Architectural
Review, Ken Schwartz on the Charlottesville Planning Commission and Brd.
of Arch Review, Maurice Cox on the Charlottesville City Council, Will Reilly
on the County Planning Commission, Elisa Rosenberg on the Charlottesville
Parks Advisory Brd., Beth Meyer on the County's Development Iniative Study
Committee (D.I.S.C.), Moji Olanyian as President PS. Feel free to email me with any questions you may have or to let me know if you make it (and bring a friend.) Thanks Maurice
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