To the Editor:
After receiving the second phone call from the Euille campaign wanting to know if I have any concerns that the mayor needs to know about, I have to wonder what took him so long to ask. After all, he has had 4-plus years to ask me (or anyone else for that matter) what is important to me as a resident and taxpayer in Alexandria. The fact of the matter is that he, along with others on the City Council, have taken advantage of the fact that the council is elected at large, that is, they don't represent any particular segment of Alexandria residents. Therefore, when they are elected they are free to do whatever it is that they want without regard for the wishes of Alexandria residents (except of course, when election time arrives and they need to make some token gesture to appear as if they actually care about what people say).
As the city grows in size this form of governance becomes more and more of an outlier when compared with how most other urban city governments operate. As far as I am concerned, a vote for Bill Euille or Kerry Donley is a vote for the status quo. Allison Silberberg, however, has a record of not voting with the Democratic pack on the City Council by taking the opinion of individuals into account when making decisions. I support Allison in the upcoming Democratic primary so that Alexandria can move forward with polices that benefit individuals rather than favoring developers.
Micheline Eyraud
Alexandria