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George: In response to the request for issues that are not being addressed in the City Council race I offer the following open letter to the five potential new members of City Council. Dear City Council Candidates: I am writing to ask your respective positions on three related issues. First, if elected, would you vote to approve a contract between the City and one or more citizens if the contract contained a provision that prevented the citizens from speaking out on a matter of public importance? I raise this question because the City has entered into such a contract in the past. Indeed, the City is currently a party to such a contract and that fact raises a second question for you -- if elected, would you vote to repeal this contract provision thereby allowing the citizens to exercise their First Amendment rights in full? This is not a hypothetical issue; the future City Council will probably have to vote on this matter because the current City Council has not -- despite being requested to do so almost 5 months ago. The contract to which I refer is the settlement agreement in the lawsuit brought by neighbors of the Ivy landfill against the City, the County of Albemarle, and the Rivanna Solid Waste Authority (RSWA) for alleged environmental contamination of the property surrounding the landfill. (As you know, the RSWA was created by the City and County to operate the landfill.) At the time of the lawsuit, the landfill had plans to expand by creating a new cell, specifically "Cell 5." In order to do this, however, the landfill had to apply for a permit from the State's Department of Environment Quality. As part of the settlement of the lawsuit, the neighbors of the Ivy landfill agreed not to provide written comments, oral comments, press statements, or documents that in any way could be deemed "opposing" the permit for Cell 5. In other words, local officials contracted with a group of citizens NOT to provide information to the state agency responsible for determining whether a new cell would be operated in an environmentally responsible fashion. The response from local authorities to this charge is that there is nothing improper about the "no opposition" clause because the neighbors "voluntarily" agreed to it. Although it is debatable how "voluntary" it is when private citizens agree to such a provision rather than face further litigation costs in the tens of thousands of dollars, the issue of voluntariness is only a small part of a much larger question. Indeed, it is my view that, if there was ever an attempt to enforce the provision, a court of law would declare it unconstitutional even if the waiver of First Amendment rights was found to be voluntary. But constitutional or not, do we really want public officials contracting for the silence of a group of citizens who have first-hand knowledge of an issue that is of immense importance to the entire community? For reasons of water and air contamination, and the potential tax consequences for cleaning up such contamination, the issue of possible environmental damage extends far beyond those whose property borders the landfill. Now if recent press coverage is correct, the Ivy landfill is in the process of closing down and the issue of the "no opposition" clause may appear moot. But if my understanding is correct, the application for Cell 5 has not been formally withdrawn. This may simply be an oversight but if so, why won't the City , the County or the RSWA voluntarily agree to waive the no opposition clause? On behalf of the neighbors of the Ivy landfill, I wrote a letter to City Council, the Board of Supervisors, and the Board of the RSWA requesting just such a waiver. I made that request almost 5 months ago. To date, the only action of which I have been informed is that Charlottesville City Council discussed the request--in February -- but decided nothing. That fact leads to the third question for you -- if elected, how long will it take you to at least address the questions asked of you by your constituents? Thank you for your consideration of these questions. I look forward to your response. Sincerely, J. Joshua Wheeler (electronic mail, March 5, 2004) Associate Director Editor's Note: For related articles on this web site, see Rivanna Solid Waste
Authority Seeks Dismisal of Law Suite, Protest
Shows Settlement Not Mutually OK, Lindsay
Dorrier Questions Landfill 'Gag Order', County
Was Wrong to Require Ivy Landfill Plaintiff's Silence, Ellora
Young Comments on Free Speech at the Ivy Land Fill and Multi-million-dollar-decade-long
Cleanup of Ivy Landfill.
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