George,

After attending three of the candidate forums, I must say that I am very impressed by the Democratic contenders for the 57th, and also of the good turnout of informed citizens at the forums. I believe that whichever of the three is elected, Charlottesville will be well represented at the State Legislature.

I decided to support David fairly early in the race. We don’t see eye to eye on every issue, but I have a lot of respect for David. He’s been an effective and genuinely committed advocate for education, economic opportunity and social progress for the past fifteen or so years that I’ve known him. During the time that David and I served together on City Council I learned a lot from watching him in action. David was always great to get along with, even when we disagreed on some issue. His skills of listing, insight, persuasion and timing are impressive.

What has surprised me over the past couple of months is that Rich and Kim have turned out to be such compelling candidates. Having attended three of the forums, I’ve learned a lot from all three candidates and from the questions asked by the audience. The candidates all have good informative websites. They present their ideas and positions clearly and respond to questions thoughtfully. I am thankful to live in such a Democracy that produces this sort of competition in a three way primary for State Delegate. My only regret is that I’m voting absentee today because I’ll be out of town on the 14th. I hope that you all have great weather, see all your friends and neighbors at the polls and have a good after party.

David’s still got my vote. I don’t say this lightly, because Rich and Kim both have good ideas and great energy. I think any of the three would be effective in Richmond across a whole range of issues that this community cares a lot about. My support for David is mainly pragmatic – on balance I think he is likely to be the most effective across the greatest number of issues of importance to our region. Of course, your mileage may very. I base my conclusions after considering how each of the candidates might likely respond across a number City issues that we will be facing over the next few years:

By the time of the next State budget, Charlottesville should be mostly finished with a new five year strategic plan for our school system. The new plan is almost certain to require additional resources from the City and State in order to make a significant dent in the achievement gap and raise the overall quality of our schools. All of the candidates have similar values for education, but I think David will be best able to connect our local educational initiatives with State priorities and resources to help us solve our educational challenges, as well as to advance educational as a priority across the Commonwealth.

Transit oriented development in Charlottesville will be a lot easier if we have someone in Richmond with a solid working knowledge of both transit and development. I think our best chance for success in this area is to develop Main Street, Route 29 and Hillsdale Drive as a transit corridor backbone with priority transit service and a series of smaller stations with structured parking which serve as catalysts for additional pedestrian friendly development. I am pleased to see that a number of initiatives supporting this type of development are moving forward. I think all of the candidates support this as a concept, but I believe David’s got an edge when it comes to the skills necessary to engage the State as a partner in making it happen.

I’d also give David an edge in helping the City to take better advantage of the potential that the University and related technology and health care businesses can provide for workforce and community development.

David really understands economic development. We havent always agreed on how much physical development is appropriate for the City and surrounding region. But I’ve been impressed during the campaign to see David put some good ideas for sustainable development on the table – like incentives for schools to locate within walking distance of the communities they serve. I also think cities like Martinsville and Danville will benefit from having David in the legislature. If he could help them with some of their economic problems, Charlottesville might gain some credibility in Richmond, which we could use right now.

On environmental issues, its hard to compete with Rich for ideas and dedication to preserving the commons for future generations. I will credit Rich for moving David closer to what I think is the overall community consensus on environmental issues like local stewardship of our water supply, protecting open space, water and air, and generally trying to live within a sustainable environmental footprint. I also think that Rich is absolutely right about the need to change the conversation on how we deal with growth, although I have some concerns about capping property assessments as a response. I think Tim Kaine’s proposal for allowing localities to optionally tax owner occupied properties at a lower rate is a better proposal for Charlottesville. It would allow us to give more tax relief to homeowners who are getting squeezed by rising assessments without the potential to distort the market that could result from artificially low assessments.

I give a lot of credit to Kim for being a strong and effective advocate for progressive values like affordable housing, choice, diversity and reform within the criminal justice system. Kim sounds a lot like David did back in the day. Like Rich, I think Kim has had a positive effect on how David has positioned himself in this race. He’s sounding a lot more like the old David Toscano who convinced me to vote the straight (but not narrow) Democratic ticket for the first time, fifteen years ago. We need some more Democrats in Richmond with Kim’s level of energy and I think that Kim will still be a great asset to the region as a member of the homebuilders association who shares our community values.

So there you have it. I still think that David is the man, but I will be 100 percent behind whoever wins. I am really sorry that I wont be in town to see the final action. I would like to make one request of the candidates, and that is that they consider moving their respective parties to the same location after the results come in. I think that whoever wins will quickly earn the support of the other two as well as their supporters and it seems that this might as well start at the after party (which I will be sorry to miss). I also would like to give my thanks to all of those who have helped each candidate put together such polished and positive campaigns, all those who helped organize the many informative forums and especially everyone who came out to question the candidates and shape the public discourse.

Kevin Lynch (electronic mail, June 10, 2005)