The Progress highlights John’s experience as Chairman of the Albemarle  Economic Development Authority as the best candidate in “critical“  economic times.  The endorsement describes John’s background in financial services and complimentary public service record, saying “Smart economic  development  would be one of his goals“.

The Progress also highlights John’s status as an independent candidate  rather than a party nominee. It goes on to say that “Mr. Lowry  presents the most finely nuanced evaluation of county and district  issues. His independent stance and thoughtful approach will be a  valuable addition to the Board of Supervisors.”

The Progress sums it up clearly:  “we wholeheartedly endorse John  Lowry“.

See full story:
http://www2.dailyprogress.com/cdp/news/opinion/op_ed/article/lowry_tops_to_lead_miller/48011/

With the tolerant weather I have been knocking on a lot of doors recently. It is surprising how large Samuel Miller District is but that is another story. This blog entry is market driven – by voter questions, of course!

This week a couple of times I was asked by those who will be out of town on November 3rd – Election Day- when can they go to vote. Well, NOW, if you would like. The last day to absentee vote is the Saturday before the 3rd (Saturday Oct. 31st) until 5 PM.

Last week I went to see the Edge (absentee) voting machines get logic tested. Spooner is the rep who tests our machines – what a sense of humor, if he’d had his Irish cream for his morning coffee (we met at 8 AM) we’d be there still partying.

Probably the easiest place to go vote absentee is 5th Street County Office Building (1600 5th Street) is south of the Holiday Inn exit off Interstate 64. You will likely see Kari Sillett to explain your reason of need – lots of reasons are acceptable. As you enter the building you may see Ms. Yvonne Vess the nice lady who sits inside the front entrance. And as you finish voting (on the spot acceptance to get the ballot) you will likely see a happy Jake Washburne – he is Voter Registration’s manager.

My bet is this year we will have about 52- 55% turnout – higher than usual even though it is a Governor’s election, too. Don’t forget the listing under Governor – only one vote per ballot for Board of Supervisor – the listing to look for is John C. Lowry. I promise to make you proud.

Thursday, Oct. 22
North Business Council lunch at Noon at 29N Holiday Inn

Thursday, Oct 22
Advocates for Choice, PEC and ASAP sponsor a forum on Growth & the Environment at 7 PM at Westminster Presbyterian Church

Friday, Oct. 23
WINA Morning Show with Ric & Jane 9 AM

Good Morning. I am John Lowry, Candidate for Board of Supervisors from the Samuel Miller District. The election is November 3rd.

Today, we continue with our series of position statements about issues important to the voters of Albemarle County, today I am discussing careful stewardship of Albemarle resources.

Before I begin, however, I’d like to point out that I am the only candidate in this race to do so. While my opponents in this race take cover behind “Consensus Statements”, I beleive that voters want to know where a candidate stands on important issues. While the others may think that taking a stand isn’t important, you can be sure that you’ll be hearing more from me between now and November.

As I stated at my announcement this past April, one of my goals As Supervisor will be to maintain the quality of life we enjoy in Albemarle County, and to even improve it.

To this end, we must find the right balance between the use of our resources, the stewardship of our environment, and economic development. Our community’s goal should be to pass to our heirs an environment that is at least as good as it was when given us.

As part of that, we need to do a better job of creating and using renewable resources to at least offset what we consume. We must work to identify where we can do better, and improve the environment when we can.

Therefore, we will are challenged to protect our resources here in Albemarle. Our county has shown leadership in respecting the envroment. Our County Office Building has been recognized as meeting a high standard of quality by Energy Star. Our county is also in the forefront of pushing for “Leadership in Energy and Enviromental Design”, or LEED standards in all new constuction projects over which we have some say. We want LEED certified buildings in Albemarle County.

So we’ve made a start, but we must do better.

I pledge today that, when the voters Samuel Miller District elect me their Supervisior, I will work to protect the environment in our county three ways:

First, Water Resources.

Albemarle County made an early start in water resource protection. East of Tidewater, we are the only county to voluntarily implement elements of the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act.

The Chesapeake Bay states are right now in the process of reviewing stormwater management regulations. The enabling legislation already passed will dramatically change our stormwater runoff standards. While they are still under development, these regulations are expected to be implemented by Oct 2011. Within the next year and a half the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation must finalize these standards.

I pledge today to engage Albemarle County in these discussions to make sure they find the right balance between ideals and practicality, and to be ready on day one of the Supervisor job work with the various affected parties to assure positive action for Albemarle’s Water Resources.
Second, regional public transit.

Our community has grown to the point that we need to develop more and better ways for our citizens to use mass transit. For example, raise your hand if you use or have used a bus to go to work - how many of you can join me in raising your hand? How about the Trolley from Downtown to UVA and back - raise your hand if you have used the Trolley? How about Jaunt? Raise your hand if you have used Jaunt.

My point is we need to increase use of our current transit system and build a better one for the future. I’ll be talking more about transportation policy in the coming weeks, but I pledge today to engage Albemarle County in creating, with our partners in the City, a Regional Transportation Plan that recognizes the importance of all modes, including public transit.
Finally, convenient recycling.

As I have gone door to door calling on voters in Samuel Miller, there is one issue that comes up over and over, throughout diverse neighborhoods: our residents WANT to recycle. People will go to great effort, at their own cost, to recycle.

It is time for Albemarle County to do a better job facilitating recycling.

It is simply common sense to help sustain our Enviroment. Existing requirements on trash haulers are not being enforced to utilize recycling.

I pledge today to require Albemarle County to create better, more convenient, more accessible ways handle what we can sustainably use again. The reason this site was chosen to make these comments today is it demonstrates what our citizens want.

Rather than close on Monday for lack of funding we need to be open for business when people are ready to recycle. We need satellite recycling centers so that the simple task of recycling isn’t an hours long chore for citizens who live far outside of the city of Charlottesville.

Environmental issues are a timely topic. We are at the deadline for Land Use revalidation forms to be submitted to the County Assessor’s office. Land Use is yet another valuable tool to protect out resources.

About two-thirds of Albemarle County is in Land Use. Because it provides those who use the land for agricultural revenue tax breaks, Land Use helps preserve Albemarle County’s rural character. This tax relief is an incentive to rural land owners not to develop rural spaces which protect our green, open space environment. Conservation easements do so, too. They permanently protect our rural landscape from development.
I pledge today to improve the Land Use and Conservation Easement systems, and will work to preserve the character of the County that we all love.

If elected I will listen to and speak the conscience of my constituents. I will work for better management of our Environment. I am asking voters to choose me November 3rd.

Oh, and one more thing:

Apparently, the Rivanna Solid Waste people say they do not have figures of revenues and costs of this center. That’s a big deal to me.

We need more open, transparent accounting for the economics of recycling. But the problem isn’t about recycling — it’s about governance. We need more open, transparent accounting for EVERYTHING that the county government touches: The Recycling Center, the RSWA, County departments, County Schools. It shouldn’t take a Freedom of Information request to find out how we’re spending taxpayer dollars.

The Board of Supervisors is ultimately responsible. I pledge today that when I’m elected to the Board of Supervisors, that creating an open, transparent accounting system will be a priority for me.

John’s statement will be at the McIntire Road Recycling Center on McIntire Road in Charlottesville.

This event is the third in a series of monthly position events that John will be holding over the course of the campaign. John’s formal position paper will be released next week.

John Lowry, a long-time resident of Albemarle County, is currently the Chair of the Economic Development Authority of Albemarle, and recently retired after nearly 35 years in the investment industry.

Thank you all for coming today. As has been mentioned, this is the second in what is a series of monthly press/media meetings. Today, I’ll be talking about economic development issues.

We’re at the Airport today, because it represents on the of the accomplishments of which I’m most proud. In 1989, I was the chair of the Joint Airport Board, and the Airport Authority decided that the Airport needed to become the gateway to the community. By the time I left in 1992, this facility was transformed into a driver of economic growth for your community, helping many new business create new, high-paying jobs.

It is a model for responsible growth.

What sets me apart from the other candidates for the Samuel Miller Board of Supervisors Seat in the November election is my experience in economic development.

For eight years, I have been the chair of the Albemarle Economic Development Authority. Economic development in a time of uncertainty is a common theme of elections at National and State levels. As fortunate as we are to live in Albemarle County, we are long overdue to be looking for ways to have more activity here. More activity means more jobs and more business revenue to our county government.

Recently, Albemarle has had a stable contribution of approximately 13% of each year’s general budget revenue coming from businesses. Although stable at 13% this is also a fairly low number compared to other prosperous counties we count as peers. In Chesterfeild, they enjoy a 20% contribution from business revenue and in Henrico it is 28%.

How can we raise the business revenue portion in our mix? I believe that Albemarle County needs a real Economic Development Strategy. This is obvious to anyone who thinks the issue through.

Last year the Board of Supervisors voted to hire a consulting group to do a Resource Management Review. After months of research the study culminated in a presentation to the Board this past February 11th. During the day meeting, the consultant revealed the three most important ideas. One was for schools. One was for Information Technology. The third was a clear statement that Albemarle County needs an Economic Development Strategy.

That same day in the evening portion of the meeting, I stood in my role as Economic Development Chair to ask why does not the County have a Director of Economic Development? Why do we not have an Economic Development office?

We have no web listing, no staff listing in our County Directory for Economic Development, not even a telephone listing for an Economic Development Department.

My study of 24 City/County groups in Virginia revealed every one of them had a listing and a department - some nice web work, too. We are the ONLY one that does not.

Albemarle has a growth area delineated by bright lines. My comment is not a statement about our growth policy. What we need is a staff focusing on the growth of commerce were it is allowed.

I want to say one thing about the word “Growth”. It is a word that people fear. But the issue isn’t growth, it is responsible growth. We can grow our economy in the right way.

Already, Albemarle County is the home to the greenest grocery store on the East Coast. It is home to thousands of high-tech jobs. And think about it - how many gallons of gas, how many tons of carbon, has this Airport saved, by eliminating countless trips to Dulles and Richmond?

Ultimately, responsible Economic Development will result ion less dependence on rising property taxes. It is one of the best ways of moving the tax burden from homeowners, who see proposals to raise their property taxes every year. It is simply the right thing to do.

Our County administration has plenty of talented staff. Some staff can have multiple job tasks and I submit that the time is long overdue for the BOS to recognize responsible leadership. Recently staff offered the Board a list of what the consulting group recommended. Unfortunately, the Board of Supervisors has yet to take action. When I am elected, I will make this a priority.

Now is the time to take advantage of a natural opportunity. There are so many that think highly of us. Let’s let the most sought after business FITS come create jobs HERE, NOW.

(Charlottesville, VA)
John Lowry, Independent candidate for the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors, will deliver a short statement on Economic Development issues at 10:00am Thursday July 23rd, 2009. He will be available for questions following his statement.

John’s statement will be outside of the Main Terminal Building of the Charlottesville-Albemarle Regional Airport. The location was selected because John was instrumental in raising the funds required to upgrade the Airport to the modern, convenient facility it is today. Because of this, the Airport greatly contributes to the economic health and vitatlity of Albemarle County and the region.

This event is the second in a series of monthly position events that Jogn will be holding over course of the campaign. John’s formal position paper on Jobs and Economic Development will be released July 30th.

John Lowry, a long-time resident of Albemarle County, is currently Chair of the Economic Development Authority of Albemarle, and recently retired after 35 years in the investment industry.

John’s web site - Lowry for Albemarle - can be accessed at http://www.lowryforalbemarle.com

Candidate Training Program | Sorensen Institute

Held at Carter Hall in Millwood, VA the latest intensive, four-day program focused on fundamentals of a winning campaign for office. John Lowry graduated May 17, 2009.

Lowry adds this credential to his portfolio. Of 250 graduates of the program more than 60 have served in elected office around the Commonwealth. The most recent elected grad from Albemarle is Ann Malek – Class of 2007. Many local leaders participate and support Sorensen for its broadly appealing sense of ethics.

Class picture : CTP Class of Spring 2009 | Sorensen Institute

“What you do by way of this early education will reap tremendous benefits in the years to come”. – U. S. Senator John Warner

The curriculum for the class included in-depth coverage of fifteen different aspects of a winning campaign. Highlighting the spring CTP were Lt Governor Donald S. Beyer, Jr. and Delegate Joe May speaking to stresses on candidates and their families at an evening dinner discussion.

Remarks as prepared for delivery:

Good Morning. I am John Lowry, and I’m running for the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors.

I have, just a moment ago, come from the Election Manager’s office. Clarice Shermerhorn has my declaration of candidacy. I will be on the November 3rd ballot for the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors in the Samuel Miller District, without party affiliation.

Our area, as all others in Virginia, is required by the state to have a fifty-year supply plan. In 2006, the parties concerned – county, city & the four Boards - voted upon and approved a plan. The regulatory authorities have issued permits for an expansion of the Ragged Mountain reservoir.

This is as it should be: Stated simply, the dam at Ragged Mountain has structural deficiencies. We must either fix the dam — giving us little or no additional capacity, or build a new one.

We are reminded of today’s news that if we do not get started now, we will begin to miss state-mandated deadlines. We can not wait.

Likewise, the present pipeline coming from Sugar Hollow reservoir is almost a hundred years old. It’s no surprise then, when I tell you that it leaks. Like the dam at Ragged Mountain, the only choice is to fix it, or build a new one.

Additionally, a separate part of the fifty-year plan is for a new pipeline to come from the South Fork Rivanna Reservoir to Ragged Mountain. This way, the Ragged Mountain Reservoir will be fed silt free, extending its life for future generations.

These are the centerpieces of the current Water Plan, and I am here to tell you that I support the plan. Prudence tells us that it is time to move forward. After years of political football, it is time for responsibility.

It is time to move forward.

Sometimes it seems that when there’s a hard decision to be made, some of our local leaders decide that the right thing to do is to choose up sides, then fight endlessly, regardless of the realities.

So it seems when it comes to the Water Plan. That’s not fair to the people who live here. As a Supervisor, I’d like to change that mindset.

There are those who say that the current Water Plan should be scrapped. They say that conservation, and dredging the South Fork Rivanna Reservoir, is the best way forward.

They are both wrong and right.

They are wrong, because the question is “What will the our water supply need be fifty years out?” Will the next generation have safe water to drink?

The simple answer is that, in a growing, vibrant comminity, we must plan for more reservoir capacity.

Fundamentally, the question is not “more capacity OR dredging and conservation”? The answer is “more capacity AND dredging AND conservation”.

Where they are right, is that taking better care of our resources is important. That means taking care of what we have.

I have no objections to considering dredging the Rivanna Reservoir, particularly if the goal is to extend its lifespan. But dredging is not the alternative.

That said, how much will it cost? While many talk of costs certain, the reality is we will not actually know what price tags are until the components go to bid. However, I submit it is better to finance our plan sooner than wait to pass the burden to others. It will almost certainly be cheaper now rather than later.

I will note that on this issue, I am uniquely qualified. Financing the Water Plan will be done using debt. In my time on the Economic Development Authority of Albemarle, we have issued more than half a billion dollars worth of bonds to make our community better. I have nearly 35 years worth of experience in investments.

When it comes to financing the Water Plan, I can help our county, our region, and our community move forward.

The projects will be paying us back for decades to come. we must start now.

Most parties agree that for a fifty year plan and a growing community we are going to need more capacity for storage.

Around the edges of the agreed on plan, studies of alternatives for the SFRR can and should be done.

Getting a reliable set of estimates for dollar costs to the alternatives is reasonable and prudent.

Finally, success for our plan is rooted in capable management. As a leader you have to believe in your managers. The RWSA has talent that is responding to those whom they serve. I am optimistic about their abilities and I am optimistic about the Plan.

Thank you.

I’m happy to take a few questions now.

This event is the first in a series of monthly position events that John will be holding over the course of the campaign. John’s formal position paper will be released next week.

John Lowry, a long-time resident of Albemarle County, is currently the Chair of the Economic Development Authority of Albemarle, and recently retired after nearly 35 years in the investment industry.  John’s web 
site - Lowry for Albemarle - can be accessed at: www.http://www.lowryforalbemarle.com