Council needs to get act together

Charles I. McGinnis Albemarle County
Published: May 5, 2008

It has been wisely said that perfection is the enemy of the good. No finer example of this thought can be found than in the dysfunctional, ineffective, perpetual dithering of the Charlottesville City Council regarding the Meadowcreek Parkway.

Change is invariably ac-companied by trade-offs. If there is no downside impact, there is no progress. The test is one of balance; does the good outweigh the “bad”?

The Council appears completely willing to sacrifice the wealth and convenience of those it claims to want to attract to downtown, out of deference to a handful of neighborhood and environmental activists who seem firmly committed against change if it accommodates someone outside their circle. Charlottesville apparently cannot find the leadership to reject a tyranny of the minority and to proceed with the decision-making process, a process that unfortunately has become one of on again/off again. 

Time passes, costs escalate, the number of citizens and residents increases, more time is wasted by drivers trying to get downtown, and Char-lottesville’s Council decides that it cannot decide.

It enlists citizen advisory groups, wastes their time and ignores their findings and recommendations.

It hires presumably competent professional engineering and planning advice and then overrides that advice out of deference to an entrenched, dedicated group of naysayers.

The only thing Char-lottesville seems to agree upon is that it wants more money from the federal government, the state government, Albemarle County and homeowners.

I fear that unless and until the single-party stranglehold on elected office is destroyed and real choice is offered to voters, it will always be thus.