"January 24, 2000

Dear Fellow Democrat,

Today I announced my candidacy for City Council. I am writing to ask for your support.

I am a twenty-five year resident of Davis Avenue in Charlottesville. My wife, Erin Garvey and I have an eleven year old daughter who is a 6th grade honor roll student at Walker Upper Elementary School.

Three major issues are behind my decision to run for City Council: first, my strong commitment to improving our schools' ability to challenge and prepare all students; second, my belief that the City's neighborhoods are its essential building blocks; and thirdly, that we must continue to pursue appropriate economic development strategies to keep our downtown and the City on sound footing.

I bring to this candidacy a long career of involvement in Charlottesville's civic and non profit organizations including:

- 13 years as the Director of the Legal Aid Society;
- 12 years on the Board of the Jefferson Madison Regional Library;
- 6 years on the Board of the Friends of the Library;
- 8 years as Chairman of the Region 10's Human Rights Committee
and 3 years on the State Human Rights Committee;
- 2 years on the PTO Board at Walker Upper Elementary, currently
serving as co-president;
- 1 year on Charlottesville's Parks and Recreation Advisory Board;
- I also have served on the Boards of MACAA, OAR and several Legal
Aid Societies.

I have practiced law for 25 years here in Charlottesville. I currently concentrate my legal work in the family law area and also volunteer considerable time to Legal Aid as an attorney. I am a certified mediator and volunteer in this capacity at the Mediation Center at FOCUS.

We live in a remarkable city which needs our constant attention and support. What can be done to maintain our excellence and improve our weaknesses?

Schools - They are the cornerstone of our community, the primary cost of our government, and the future of our city. We must also recognize the unique challenge of our schools.

* I support raising salaries for all teachers and staff.
* We must keep our commitment to small class sizes.
* I believe we should devote more attention to pre-K and K-4 classes.
* Our community must consider whether increased resources for schools are necessary to meet the needs of all our children.

Neighborhoods - They define the quality of life for our citizens.
Support of neighborhoods and their associations strengthens our city.

* All neighborhoods should be evaluated for traffic calming attention similar to the Greenbrier area when Rio Road was closed.
* We can be watchful of the scale of development of a new Courts building and manage its finite parking capacity while keeping the Courts downtown.

Economic Development - We need to continue to attract development to maintain the tax base to provide the funds for our school's and neighborhood's needs. We should be as proud of our AAA bond rating as we are of our award winning CHS Orchestra. What we really need to do is concentrate on redevelopment.

* Historic preservation and appropriate economic development can and should work together to provide quality jobs and additional tax revenues.
* We should increase the City's efforts to provide training for current citizens, like the biomedical project on West Main Street.
* The commercial corridors study will provide us with guidance for our future redevelopment efforts.

I also firmly believe that the Council was right in approving Wil Rieley's environmentally sensitive two lane Meadowcreek Parkway. It is appropriate now to honor that decision, made in the context of thoughtful deliberation by our elected leaders after a thorough airing of the public's viewpoints. It should be the job of the next Council to maximize the benefits of this decision and minimize any potential detriments.

The Democratic Party Mass Meeting to select the three nominees will be held at Charlottesville High School, Monday, February 21st at 7:00 pm in the Performing Arts Center. I urge you to attend and participate in the nomination process.

I look forward to addressing the issues and concerns of the citizens of Charlottesville during this campaign. Please call me at 977-5809 if you would like to discuss my candidacy. Thank you for your consideration."

Sincerely yours,

Peter McIntosh
624 Davis Avenue, Charlottesville, Virginia 22901 Telephone 977-5809,
email: pmcintosh@mhlrt.com