Several city residents are hoping a new organization can bring them together with county residents in order to collectively tackle issues with local governments. The newly formed Alliance of Neighborhoods sets out to unite city and county residents and neighborhood associations to “amplify neighborhoods’ voices” and bring key issues to city and county officials.
Jack Brown, spokesperson for the Alliance, says the community as a whole would benefit by more grassroots, democratic organizations created to ensure residents’ concerns are heard and acted upon.
“This group doesn’t think of itself as adversarial. It’s not like we are trying to stop progress,” he says. “But the group does think that neighborhoods are a vital strength of the Charlottesville and Albemarle region and yet there really isn’t enough to support and protect them.”
Colette Hall from North Downtown, Paul Brant from Belmont and Bruce Odell from Martha Jefferson make up the Alliance’s Interim Board, whose current task is to get the organization off the ground, gather interest among residents and help elect new officers and a new board. All current board members are from the city.
“The hope is that by putting together neighborhoods inside of the city and joining the neighborhoods outside of the city we can concentrate our voices and concentrate our attention on issues that really affect the quality of life in neighborhoods,” says Brown.
The idea of having residents come together isn’t a new one. A similar organization, the Federation of Neighborhoods, existed in the city for many years before it gradually died out.
“These things are tender flowers,” says Brown. “They need care to grow.”
County Supervisor Sally Thomas agrees. “These things usually have a life span and it’s hard to keep them going forever.”
Lee Catlin, county spokeswoman, says eight or nine years ago, the Albemarle Neighborhood Association counted 10 to 15 members who addressed issues that included traffic, growth impact and signage in neighborhoods. Since then, the void hasn’t been filled. County officials are “anxious” to see what the Alliance “has in mind.”
“I think that anything that we can do to have more organized and regular communication between neighborhoods and the city and the county is really a great benefit,” says Catlin.
Today, the list of issues that affect city and county residents span from traffic, to the proposed Meadow Creek sewer interceptor and the overall University expansion.
“Right now what happens with traffic is that there are local traffic problems that crop up because of developments,” says Brown. Old Lynchburg Road, for example, has become a real traffic problem, he says.
“So long as we have a distinction between city and county, so long as we divide up neighborhoods in small little organizations, separated geographically, then we almost guarantee that we cannot get to any kind of comprehensive solution.”
The Alliance’s first meeting will be held Tuesday, December 9, at 6pm in the County Office Building.
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