In a social media letter to Charlottesville City Manager Sam Sanders, 5th District Rep. John McGuire called on the city to delay the opening of the Holiday Drive emergency shelter.
The congressman raised concerns about the impact on businesses in the area and the physical condition of the building, but gave no alternatives for housing the people currently living in encampments along the Rivanna Trail near Free Bridge. The city is working to open the emergency shelter on September 1, the deadline it set for clearing the encampment sites because of safety and environmental concerns.
“The fundamental question is whether the City has fully assessed the potential public-safety and economic impacts of placing a large number of individuals at this location and whether sufficient safeguards and resources will be in place from day one,” reads an excerpt from McGuire’s letter. “Local businesses should not be expected to bear the additional costs of private security surveillance, or other measures because the City has failed to provide adequate protections.”
While the letter was shared on the representative’s social media accounts on August 22, and is dated August 20, Sanders reportedly has not received any official communication from McGuire about the emergency shelter.
“I have not received the letter, so we have not provided a response yet,” says Sanders. “I believe it was posted through social media, and that is not official communication for me.”
The city says it has responded directly to concerns from business owners in the area, and has a safety plan in place.
“We don’t share the details of all those plans for obvious reasons, but we are absolutely fully prepared to address anything that might happen here,” says Sanders. “Our coordinated effort has … put together the most comprehensive set of services that we can in this building, and local providers have been a part of that conversation with us. We look forward to being able to open this facility, something that the city has needed for a very long time.”—Catie Ratliff
Flock off
A small group of protesters gathered outside the Lowe’s on U.S. 29 on August 22, joining in the DeFlock National Week of Action. The business has three of the automated license plate readers, which have come under national scrutiny amid numerous reports of law enforcement officers misusing the database.
While the City of Charlottesville opted to end its agreement with Flock in December after a one-year trial period, private businesses can still install the cameras.
Aside from the Lowe’s parking lot, there are no known Flock cameras in the Charlottesville area, but a handful can be found around Ruckersville and Gordonsville. A map of known Flock cameras and other ALPRs is at maps.deflock.org.
