Sustainability comes to Council for $1 million

Queen Charlotte married King George III in 1761. Named for the royal black lady, Charlottesville’s town charter was approved December 23, 1762.

Charlottesville, Va. – Planning Manager turned community organizer Missy Creasy asked Council for $100 thousand to become $1 million when matched by a grant from Housing and Urban Development, which has funded urban renewal and public housing locally since Vinegar Hill. The online Council agenda gives the timeline of events but omits the dollar amounts spoken at the meeting.

The purpose of the grant is to influence the City and County to adopt comprehensive plans more aligned with the global sustainability movement articulated in the Unit Nations document “Agenda 21”. Creasy said the goal is a more “livable, sustainable community.” She used all the code words.

The initial step in the comprehensive plan process is an informational fair April 27 from 3 to 7 p.m. at the Albemarle County Office Building, 2nd Floor Atrium. It’s open to the public. All comments, from now until the City and County adopt the next comprehensive plan Winter/Spring 2013, will be archived at www.1-community.org.

Mayor Dave Norris wanted a detailed breakdown in the million-dollar price tag. Creasy could not immediately provide a breakdown but said the money would hire staff to organize the community to provide feedback on proposed comprehensive plans.

On March 17 Charles Battig and Tom Deweese spoke at the same location. They explained in detail how the UN documents echo through local governments and how sustainability became a dirty word. Battig detailed the dates to show when and how Albemarle County staff have been a conduit for the global but un-American principles. No one spoke to the dates of Charlottesville’s involvement because Council is proud of those policies.

At its core, the sustainability movement subordinates mankind to the environment. This is nature worship and the opposite of most western religions where the spiritual is more important than the natural world.

"Tea Party hosting forum to review local sustainability initiatives" | Audio podcast March 17, 2011 by Charlottesville Tomorrow.

In other matters, there’s a committee planning the City’s 250th anniversary. According to the first speaker, most of the news has focused on the missing time capsule buried near the Courthouse in 1962. But it’s also a legacy project – what can we leave for the future? It’s about story content – what story do we want to tell or include in the next time capsule? The signature event will be November–Decemeber 2012 to coincide with the 1888 commemoration of the town becoming a city.

C0-chair Nancy Damon said Charlottesville is much different than its 200th anniversary. She claimed the city is “more diverse” than 50 years ago. She said historic photos would be made available.

President of Albemarle Charlottesville History Society Stephen Meeks said there would be exhibits in Cityspace and on the website www.celebrate250.com. Meeks doesn’t care much about local history, covering up Jefferson School’s history in Feb. 2007 at the site of the first Jefferson School on West Main. His own Society published in their 2006 magazine the origins of the school but Meeks continued to echo false information until a fellow board member exposed the truth last August on the Schilling Show.

Councilor Holly Edwards wanted folks to talk to former Councilor Kay Slaughter about story content and the Drewary J. Brown Bridge. A local NAACP president in the 1960s, Brown’s name has been perverted to include civil rights opponents in the list of annual honorees. For example, in 2002 Francis Fife was added to the list. As mayor 1972–74 Fife presided over the largest, most contested civil rights violation in city history. Today it’s called Downtown Extended or Warehouse District. Then it was called Garret Street urban renewal.

Three people spoke at the end of the meeting. Peter Kleeman wants city elections to move from November back to May because local issues are lost in the larger election. But Councilor David Brown said it was good to see City and County election coverage side by side in the newspapers. Dede Smith spoke about the water plan but has disseminated so much false information it would be irresponsible for me to repeat anything she said tonight without verifying.

Ivy McCall spoke at the first City Council meeting she has ever attended. She talked about “allocation of funds.” The sustainability grant and 250th celebration are good ideas as long as “we recognize all the history, not just what we like.” We should prioritize. If we’re cutting six tenths of a teacher per department, how can we justify these expenditures?

14-item, 115-page City Council Agenda April 18, 2011 with background material.

Previous Report: Council: No JPA bridge detour, No Belmont bridge repair, No art in historic zone, Apr. 4, 2011.

"First Baptist Church site of first Jefferson School", Feb. 25, 2007. Gives the number of urban renewal documents and photos. Scot French promises to publish the archives but doesn’t. The non-Vinegar Hill archives are closed to the public. Blair Hawkins made the initial request to view the archives Mar. 25, 2004 and has since implicated numerous officials in wrongdoing.