VOTE411 Voter Guide

One great thing the city and county has done is create the Regional Transit Authority. That will provide a regional funding mechanism so that we can work towards having a better, more consistent regional public transit network. Another thing they have done well is working together on the Vista 29 housing project. Contributing funding to regional, community-based solutions is a good thing, and I would like to see more of that. A lot of non-profits work with both jurisdictions, especially when it involves children and the schools. A lot of people, including our immigrant community, end up moving between city and county schools, and so even more collaboration between city and county staff as well as the organizations involved will always be a good thing.

When it comes to infrastructure, such as developments, there could definitely be more collaboration and communication between city and county. The Woolen Mills Industrial Park is one such example where city and county should talk about the impacts of developments along municipal boundaries. I know the county executive and city manager talk a fair amount, and I know there is friendliness between supervisors and council members. I would love to see the relationships between council and supervisors be a bit more formalized and routine - where conversations are not dependent on the councilors being friends. One idea would be to have quarterly meetings or an annual work retreat. We have a lot to learn from each other, and we also have similar issues we’re all grappling with. I think building those connections and saying to the community that we want to work together and participate in making this whole area better, is important.

I do not see economic development as a threat to our community. Tourism is one great source of economic development that does not put pressure on our community resources such as schools. I also think economic development includes housing. It is hard for businesses to find employees when they live an hour away and have to commute in. Commuting puts pressure on our roads and the associated car-focused infrastructure, which is expensive. I also think that rural areas should be included in economic development. If individual property owners want to create a source of income on their property, there should be more things they can do by-right. We should also continue to invest in workforce training and the trades, supporting the work that places like PVCC are doing.

Economic development is a way to diversify and expand our tax base so that property owners don’t have to shoulder so much of the financial burden. In the 2026 recommended budget, property taxes are 67% of the revenues. We need to increase economic development to reduce that number. In addition, families are business owners. Business owners are the ones who employ the people who live here. There shouldn’t be a discrepancy between the business community and the residents. We are all one community, and we need to work together to ensure that we all can thrive.

The need for housing, and housing that people can afford is the most important thing to me. In our public school system, 350 students are experiencing homelessness. Nearly 20% of Albemarle County residents do not make enough money to pay for their daily needs. 60% of the people who work in Albemarle County do not live here, because housing is too expensive. In the Jack Jouett district, 12% of homeowners and 50% of renters are cost-burdened.

Finding housing that one can afford is a serious issue – it is a crisis, and we need realistic, pro-people leaders in charge who can handle it. We need to increase our funding for the Housing Trust Fund, increase the properties that are in a land trust, speed up the development process, and have developer incentives that are truly incentives that work. I am especially passionate about the housing crisis because I rent my home, and have been a renter for over 10 years and so I understand how expensive housing it. I understand how stressful it is when you are forced to move and want to keep your kids in their schools.

I want housing to be affordable and easily accessible because I want people to thrive. I do not think the housing crisis is caused by having too many people in our community. The people in our community who cannot afford housing are the same people who are working and serving in our community. People in our community are the reason we have such a fantastic university and hospital system. People in our community are the reason that we can have so many music venues, and film festivals and book festivals and nationally known speakers and Fridays after Five, and a public transit system, and so many restaurants and unique hobby shops. Community is what makes Albemarle County great, and it is not the community’s fault that housing is scarce and expensive. I do not think we should build a wall around the county and say we are full. I think we need to build houses so everyone can belong.

I went back to UVA as an adult student, while raising 5 teenagers. I got my Bachelor’s in American Studies, while also completing the Distinguished Major’s Program in 2020, and stayed for my Master’s in American Religions with a graduate certificate in American Studies in 2023. I know how to work hard and get good results. I also love the process of learning, of doing research, digging in the archives and reading documents that explain why decisions were made and what people’s motivations are. I am a very curious, interested person. I want to know how and why everything in the county works and who all the various people and organizations are that we partner with.

I have already begun that research work in my campaign, attending meetings of commissions and boards, meeting with non-profits and community leaders to see what is working well in Albemarle County and where we can improve.

I am also a history teacher, and I have created and taught a high school class on local Charlottesville and Albemarle history. I have a solid understanding of how this county has grown and changed over the decades, and why people have moved here, stayed here, and left here. This is a unique and complicated place, and the issues we face today are not unique in the county’s history.

I bring a desire for learning and an aptitude for hard work, but I also bring with me my attitude towards people. I do not believe people are a burden. I do not believe their needs are a burden. I do not want to see less people here - I want to see more community.

The current comp plan we have, which was passed in 2015, says that we need to make sure we have enough land for development. It goes on to say that if enough development has occurred, then we need to reexamine the boundaries to ensure that we have space. I do not want to expand the development area for the sake of expansion. But I believe it is dishonest to talk about the high cost of housing without also talking about one big part of that cost being the limited supply of land. I do believe it is appropriate to at least examine if the policy needs to be changed.

The infrastructure needed to support housing is a real concern, and it is expensive, and definitely is part of the equation about if or where more development should occur. But housing is also infrastructure. It is just as necessary to a community as roads, water, and sewer, and there is also a cost when we do not have it. There is a business cost. It is hard for business owners to get employees when they do not live nearby. There is a cost to people’s quality of life, when they spend hours a day commuting and stuck in traffic. There is an environmental cost. 52% of Albemarle’s greenhouse gas emissions come from transportation. There is a cost to taking care of people who struggle to afford their home or do not have a home.

In years past, the county has not developed in the way it should, having only 58% of the possible density we could have had. We have lost 800 acres to a state park. We have land by the river that will never, and should never, be developed. There are creative ways we can gain back some of that land lost. But we are also dealing with the consequences of earlier decisions and now we need to figure out how to provide a human need in a very limited amount of space.

I think we should continue partnering on various initiatives and community events. I also think that the partnership with UVA should include the students. Many UVA students live in the county, and in the Jack Jouett district specifically, and I think the Board of Supervisors – or at least the Jouett supervisor should have a relationship with the students. I think their concerns should also be on our radar and find ways that we can collaborate together on things. I think the students should know that their government while they live here cares about them.

This cooperation is particularly critical in the Jack Jouett District, which I hope to represent, as it is the one county magisterial district best defined by the "urban ring" designation. I'm pleased that the county and city have in recent years begun to cooperate more readily and deeply, even if much of this is informal and unrelated to specific jointly managed public services. Indeed, our county's revenue sharing agreement with Charlottesville is a tacit acknowledgment of how significant and critical this is, for public services often financed and spearheaded by Charlottesville City representatives, but counted on in many ways by Albemarle County residents. I'd be very pleased to consider almost any new initiative--formal or informal--by which the two governments could enhance and broaden their cooperative efforts. The question suggests that "efficiency" is of prime importance in this matter; this may be a material concern in some cases, but in most respects, the more significant challenge is simply the "coordination" of service, which in many cases cannot be delivered "well" or effectively without it.

This is perhaps the thorniest of all questions our county residents and leaders will face in the coming years. For starters, all local governments throughout the country find it difficult to discern the difference between tax base "diversification," tax base "growth," and/or genuine cost-benefit accounting for economic development. Because there are numerous ways that municipalities "obscure" or never see many of the costs, (such as a mounting need for storm water management that--up to a point--Mother Nature has previously provided, quietly and free of charge), we're often caught off guard. Infrastructure requirements (construction and maintenance), deferred until such time as a crisis presents itself, are commonly ignored in all this--as are public safety and school management services on the margin, unrelated to competence or "effort." We do know quite well, of course, that more densely populated communities cost more, not less, than their less densely populated counterparts. Confusion on this often reigns simply because denser more urbanized regions are also "efficient," in that the more complex and expensive services can be delivered more efficiently in more compactly populated areas. The upshot? "Development" effects on traffic, schools, public safety, and the environment are often negative, no matter how hard we try to manage them, while the offsetting revenue (and economic) effects are far less clear, or disparate. A good example of the latter is when talented, well-paid professionals connected to a development project migrate to the area. Their above-average compensation boosts area retail sales, and often comes closer to paying (though almost never exceeding) the public service costs they necessitate, compared to the average resident. At the same time, their above-average spending power also exerts powerful inflationary impact on local housing and local service sector prices, in general. This should all be judged with great deliberation and care.

A more equitable tax policy, more closely related to "ability-to-pay."

Decades-long experience with public policy in general, at all levels of government, the ability to ask important questions and to seek expert advice on the most difficult of these, and an overarching commitment to sound economic policy, to the building of prosperity and opportunity from the ground up, and to an uncompromised defense of broad civil rights.

The existing policy is worth keeping and improving upon, as the resources we depend upon (including the clean water noted here in the question) are likely more threatened than we know, and in a much more precarious state than most imagine. As an economist who understands the way in which "growth" is often conflated with "prosperity," I'm also prepared to question the future growth assumptions upon which we often predicate our policies and management.

By urging the university, where I worked for over a decade, to become a full and interested partner in all local governance issues. And since the university is also a key partner to our state government, I would also urge them to consider more fully and clearly the concerns of their Charlottesville and Albemarle County neighbors in all of their deliberations with state leaders. In turn, county leaders should always invite the opinions and guidance of UVa leaders and policy specialists, who often have much to offer, especially when it comes to seeing a modestly "bigger picture," or when tackling a problem that is not confined to any clear municipal boundary.