George,

Over 30 years since LBJ's beginning of the war on poverty in Charlottesville we have seemed to move backwards. In 1970 15.7% of Charlottesvillians lived below the poverty level, the most recent statistics have that figure growing to 22.4% living below the poverty level. That seems to be a pretty negative statement of our accomplishments in this regard.

We live in a wonderful community, I have been quoted in the past as saying it one of the nicest if not the nicest in the country. I still feel that way but am very troubled by the disturbing trends were heading in. In the same time period the rate of families living below poverty in Charlottesville has increased from 5.4% to 10.0%.

All these figures are available from the Draft of the current Comprehensive plan that I as a Planning Commissioner am working on. It is easily viewable at the city's web site. I'm not sure where I'm going with this except to say our wonderful little city has work to do.

Sincerely,

Tim Supler (electronic mail, March 1, 2001).