McIntire Park activist Bob Fenwick launches independent campaign for City Council
By Sean Tubbs
Charlottesville Tomorrow
Friday, May 15, 2009
 Independent City Council Candidate Bob Fenwick |
Bob Fenwick, a member of the McIntire Park Preservation Committee, has launched an independent campaign for the Charlottesville City Council that he promised would be a referendum on the Meadowcreek Parkway. He made his campaign announcement on the steps of his downtown-area home on May 15, 2009.
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“For 40 years, the Meadowcreek Parkway has been an open wound on our community,” Fenwick said. “A political campaign is perfect because you can say things publicly to a lot of people that you normally wouldn’t be able to say. We’re going to keep this issue up for five and a half months and we’re going to keep pounding it.”
Fenwick is also opposed to the building of the YMCA on the western end of the park, the temporary displacement of the Dogwood Festival, as well as the potential removal of a public wading pool that could be displaced by the Parkway’s interchange with the Route 250 bypass. Fenwick also said he was a supporter of adding dredging into the community water supply plan.
Another important issue Fenwick said he would promote is economic development. In the coming weeks, he said he will announce specific steps he would like to see the City take in order to create jobs.
In the meantime, Fenwick is trying to collect the 125 signatures he needs to get on the ballot for the November 3, 2009 election. Like fellow independent
Andrew Williams
, Fenwick acknowledged that it will be a hard campaign to defeat the two Democrats running in the race, but that he was confident he could win.
“A new day is about to dawn in Charlottesville,” Fenwick said. “A day of citizen representation, not citizen rule.”
Fenwick’s policy positions are spread out among a host of websites that he operates. Here’s a list of some of them:
Independent candidates interested in running for City Council have until June 9, 2009 to file paperwork with the City registrar.
See Charlottesville Tomorrow’s
Election Watch page
for complete coverage of the City’s 2009 elections.
