On a sunny Wednesday morning in front of the Charlottesville City Hall, Mayor David Brown announced he would seek a second term on City Council . That means there are now five announced candidates for three open seats. Mayor Brown is the only incumbent in the race for the Democratic nomination, which will be decided in June. City voters will go to the polls in November.
David Brown has operated a chiropractic practice in Charlottesville since 1982 who was first elected to the Council in 2004. He has served as mayor of the five-person council since then. Before government service, he was active in the governance of his profession, having served as president of the Federation of Chiropractic Licensing Boards.
He says his tenure has been productive and he wants another shot at helping solve the challenges the region faces.
“I feel like we’ve gotten a lot of things done,” says Brown, citing the passage of an affordable housing initiative and a stream protection ordinance. He also says transit has improved during his time on the council, and the east end of the Downtown Mall has been transformed. “Pedestrian and trail issues, bicycling issues have become more prominent.”
Brown says there’s a lot more work to be done, and he the city and county must continuing working together.
“Most of the issues we face are regional issues – growth, traffic, poverty, affordable housing. The solutions for these problems are also regional.”
Brown cites the creation of a regional transportation authority, work on an eastern connecting road, and continued joint of the city and county planning commissions as examples of the kind of cooperation he’d like to see more of.
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The City Council election is being held in November 2007 and local Democrats have scheduled a June 2nd nominating convention. See Charlottesville Tomorrow’s Election Watch page for complete coverage of the City Council elections.
Sean Tubbs
