This week, the class had a visit from Dave Norris, the mayor of Charlottesville. He was very animated and seemed to be extremely passionate about his responsibility to the city. While running for mayor in 2008, he was on a platform for 4 key issues. According to the City of Charlottesville website, these four issues included :

• "creating affordable housing for renters and homebuyers
• enhancing educational opportunities for children and adults
• fighting poverty and reducing racial disparities in our community
• promoting environmental sustainability in local and regional planning."

During our class visit, Mayor Norris really emphasized improving low income housing and integrating those neighborhoods with ones that weren’t government subsidized. I personally think this would do wonders for the community. Yesterday, I volunteered at a community center in one of Charlottesville’s housing projects. It was as if the area was secluded from the rest of the world. There were no other neighborhoods around, and the neighborhood’s playground was literally located amongst trees in the forest. Assimilating these individuals into the beautiful city rather than hiding them on side streets would ultimately improve Charlottesville as a whole. We should all work with the mayor in his efforts as long as we’re a part of the community. LET’S GET TO WORK !

-Alexis