Lowry for Albemarle

Life has been good in Albemarle County.

Over the past year Albemarle County (and/or the city of Charlottesville meaning the area including Albemarle County) has been named in three separate surveys as one of the best fifteen counties in America to raise a family, one of the best thirteen counties to which to retire and recently one the top ten places to be to be healthy. These accolades come after many years of Charlottesville being associated as the top place to live in the country. Although our community has hit a big speed bump like the rest of the country, we should prepare now for better times ahead.

QUALITY OF LIFE

A key component of life in Albemarle is preserving the rural character even as population grows. Inevitably, more people will be moving into our area than will be moving away. In order to preserve the quality of life we have grown accustomed to, we must be vigilant and channel where and how that growth manifests itself. Critical to life having been good in Albemarle, growth itself had been voter’s single, biggest issue. Now, given the economic climate in which we live having growth is becoming a major issue.

We need to encourage our economic base. We need to keep tax rates low. We need to improve infrastructure. This means adequate water supply and sewer services.

We live in the land of our country’s forefathers. Were they to come back tomorrow we would want them to be proud of life as we know it in Albemarle.

EDUCATION

Education of our youth is the best single investment we can make. Over half of the county resources go each year to fund the public school system. In Virginia over a third of state resources also go annually to public education. So while education is the best use of our money it is also the biggest user of funds. Consequently, scrutiny of the quality of schools and our children’s education is most important. Albemarle has excellent schools, school administrators, education staff and a wonderful publicly elected school board. Final oversight for this major budget element, annualy, and ultimate responsibility for public schools percolates up to the Board of Supervisors.

TRANSPORTATION

A pleasant place to live means a reasonable ability to travel around our county. Many projects – connectors, extensions, and road improvements - need immediate attention. Where these improvements have been identified we need to find the will and the means to get them done. Less and less money is being provided to localities by the state of Virginia to get highway work done. If the state can not assume the responsibility at this time, then local governments must be allowed to step in. One possibility is for local governing jurisdictions to band to together to create regional transit/transportation authorities. Another option is for the state to allocate adequate revenue to match a pipeline of needs. There are existing agencies that can help with this effort; such as the Metropolitan Planning Organization, the Thomas Jefferson Planning Commission and the Chamber of Commerce.

SUMMARY

Samuel Miller District is a largely rural area. We have enjoyed being a wonderful place to live, work and raise families. Even though our county has had a reputation for being the best, change is inevitable. To embrace change we need a plan. The planks of the plan are quality of life, education and transportation. Knowing as much as possible about these critical issues will allow us to work the plan. Responsible, informed and prepared leadership is what the Supervisor’s seat is all about.