Press Release 4/10/2024: Communities for Accountable City Council (CACC) Returning District/Ward Elections to the City of Alexandria
Communities for Accountable City Council (CACC)
Returning District/Ward Elections to the City of Alexandria
FOR RELEASE: April 10, 2024
Contact: info@accountableALX.org
COMMUNITIES FOR ACCOUNTABLE CITY COUNCIL (CACC) PROMOTES RETURNING DISTRICT/WARDS ELECTION SYSTEM TO ALEXANDRIA
Non-partisan group issues Candidate Survey on District/Wards to City Council candidates, media, and civic associations
CITY OF ALEXANDRIA, VA - The Communities for Accountable City Council (CACC) began issuing its Candidate Survey to each candidate for Alexandria City Council and Mayor. Candidate responses are requested by Monday, April 22.
The Communities for Accountable City Council (CACC) is a non-partisan group of Alexandria residents exasperated with the intransigent Alexandria City Council that is unaccountable to communities and neighborhoods because of Alexandria’s At-Large election system.
For its first 150 years, Alexandrians elected their city government by district/ward, until 1950 when segregationists installed at-large elections to suppress minority voices. Today, at-large elections similarly insulate the centrally-elected City Council from all voices, even betraying their core supporters.
CACC seeks to return accountability to City Council by returning community-based District/Ward elections to Alexandria after a destructive 74 year hiatus.
Just recently, City Council egregiously ignored extensive citizen opposition to its Zoning For Housing (ZFH) ordinance which eliminated all single-family housing throughout the City. This callous betrayal has sparked widespread, bi-partian outcries that demand reform and accountability of the City Council.
District/Ward elections have always been the norm in America. From the US House of Representatives and the Virginia House of Delegates and Senate, to the City of Alexandria’s current School Board, district elections are practically assumed. The Alexandria City Council’s at-large elections are a certain outlier.
In fact, at-large elections like Alexandria’s were outlawed in 2021 by the federal court in Virginia Beach for violating the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Yet in 2023, each City Council member maintained their support for the tainted at-large election system; the same City Council that overran citizens with Zoning For Housing (ZFH).
Reinstating District/Ward elections is a simple majority vote by City Council to change the City Charter.
CACC believes the return to District/Ward elections is a moral, civil-rights imperative that every community, neighborhood, and constituency deserves.
CACC believes that a new day of accountability for City Council is near, and urges all citizens to join the non-partisan demand that Candidates for City Council and Mayor commit to reinstating District/Ward elections.
The return to District/Ward elections will be well-positioned if just 4 candidates for City Council commit to it and are elected in the Democratic Primary June 18.
To inform citizens, the CACC Candidate Survey presents additional details behind the segregationist roots of the at-large election system and the tragic results for all citizens. Candidates are receiving the Survey today with responses requested by April 22. The Survey and results will be posted at AccountableALX.org.
The Candidate Survey and supporting materials are also being provided to Alexandria local media with the expectation that each will use the information during candidate interviews.
Visit AccountableALX.org to review the Candidate Survey, Candidate Scorecard, and information on joining the Community movement for an accountable City Council of Alexandria.
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Communities for Accountable City Council (CACC) is a non-partisan grassroots organization of Alexandria, Virginia residents who fundamentally believe in City of Alexandria government accountability. The CACC does not seek to endorse any Alexandria City Council or Mayoral candidate. For more information, visit AccountableALX.org.
