Former Charlottesville city planner Satyendra Huja announced his candidacy for City Council today, Seth Rosen writes in today’s Progress. Huja is seeking the Democratic nomination, touting his 31 years charting the city’s development path. He oversaw or spearheaded some significant city improvements in his career, including the Downtown Mall, CTS, revitalizing West Main, several parks, JAUNT, McGuffey, and Meals on Wheels. Like most of the candidates thus far, he’s advocating for expanding the availability of affordable housing, also supporting more sidewalks and bike paths, protection of our natural resources, significantly expanding the frequency of bus service, and slowing the rate of tax increases.
Courtesy of Charlottesville Tomorrow, here’s the video of Huja’s announcement:
For more about Satyendra Huja, see his website.
He would be (and as been) a blessing to our city.
Best of luck! :-)
He’s a great guy, and someone with a proven record of improving Charlottesville. Most of the best innovations, including the revitalization of the Downtown Mall can be traced to him.
So let’s get this straight: Huja is for expanding the availability of affordable housing, also supporting more sidewalks and bike paths, protection of our natural resources, significantly expanding the frequency of bus service, *and* slowing the rate of tax increases. Really, we can do all that and “slow the rate of tax increases”? Slowing the rate of a tax increase is still supporting an increase. So Huja is for all those new or expanded programs, and he wants to raise our taxes to do that.
Can someone just say that? It’s not as if a Democrat in Charlottesville would not be voted into office by being frank about raising taxes to provide for new and increased social programs. Have the conservatives got the Cville Dems and the media cowed into mincing words?
Which leads me to this rant: When a Republican votes to give tax decreases to the wealthy, the wealthy do not *keep* the money. They invest it or spend it; all of it! Unless they keep cash under their mattress. It goes to banks which provides loans to all of us, it goes into the stock market which provides capital to companies that employ us, and they even give it to charities and even the Democratic party, because believe it or not, a preponderance of the wealthy are Democrats!
When a Democrat raises taxes for social programs, those programs most often effect all of us positively. Locally, the creation of the Downtown Mall, nationally, government funded student loans, minority loans, social security…the list is long. This money does not just disappear into the pockets and bellies of the poor or disenfranchised. It gets spent, creates jobs, provides for education, medical care, and the welfare of all of us. Last time I looked, there were a preponderence of Republicans who manufactured and sold goods and provided services to those whose money came from taxpayer-funded programs.
Are we not long overdue for the censoring of the phrases “tax-and-spend” and “tax-cuts-for-the-wealthy”? Are we not sane enough a society to know that both of these work for the common good? That Reagan’s “trickle-down” theory is just as valid as Roosevelt’s “trickle-up” theory (aka a chicken in every pot)?
So Mr. Huja, and all candidates for council, would you please just speak about taxes frankly, out loud, unafraid and unashamed, so everyone understands where you stand on taxes?