August 4, 2011
The Sierra Club has released its endorsements for the Charlottesville City Council race.
The Club is putting its support behind Colette Blount and Dede Smith. Both candidates were on hand for the announcement Thursday morning at City Hall.
Members say they chose Smith and Blount because they believe the two have the ability to deal with environmental issues that need to be addressed by City Council.
"We think they both have a very deep understanding of the essential nature of environmental protection, which sometimes gets lost in discussions of what is the public interest because we often become concerned with more day-to-day things," said Tom Oliver, of the Piedmont Group of the Sierra Club.
The Sierra Club has been critical of City Council for its decisions on the Meadow Creek Parkway project. It asked questions of each candidate before reaching a decision on the endorsements.
"We've known these candidates and we've sent them questionnaires that dealt with tough issues. We very much like what they have done in the past and we very much like they answers they provided on our questionnaires," Olivier explained.
Blount and Smith are both Democrats and currently serve on the Charlottesville City School Board. The Democratic party will hold an unassembled caucus on Aug. 20 to nominate three candidates for the November election.
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