"There was some equivocation, but four of the six candidates for Charlottesville's, City Council said at a forum Wednesday that they favor construction of the controversial planned Meadowcreek Parkway in some form.

The road, a continuing source of division in the city's government, had yet to emerge before Wednesday as the defining campaign issue that it was in the months before the 2000 election. The forum, with sponsors that included the Democrats for Change, and another anti-parkway group, was the first chance most of the candidates had to explain their positions on the road in depth and in public.

Aside from Alexandria Searls and Waldo Jaquith, who said they oppose the parkway, the road's popularity among candidates varied by degree. Mayor Blake Caravati, who was elected to the council in 1998 as a parkway opponent and later reversed his, position, on Wednesday said he supports and 'probably will continue to support' the road.

Still to be resolved, he said, are the size, location and appearance of the parkland that the council has insisted must surround the road.

David Simmons, meanwhile, said the parkway should be built, but in conjunction with a regional network. In what became his mantra for the evening on a variety of topics, he said regional planning of such a network should involve 'collaboration, understanding, [and] involvement of the entire community.'

The parkway would run from East Rio Road in Albemarle County south through the eastern edge of the city's McIntire Park to the US. 250 Bypass at McIntire Road.

Bern Ewert, who last week unveiled his own proposed alignment for the road, said it is 'very unlikely' that he will support construction if the city and Albemarle County do not adopt his plan.

'It would be very hard for me to vote for any alignment other than this, unless I was given a very good reason why,' Ewert said, holding aloft a large diagram of his proposal.

Ewert said the proposed alignment, which hugs the Southern Railroad tracks north of the city more closely than the city and county's existing plans, will do more to protect natural areas.

The proposal drew criticism from fellow candidate Joan Fenton, who argued that the council should stand by its previous, conditional, decision to support the road. The Albemarle County Board of Supervisors supports the road, and the county has already secured state approval for a parkway alignment that cost roughly $120,000 to develop.

'My understanding is that the Board of Supervisors is very upset that the issue has been raised again,' Fenton said. 'Once you have a commitment with somebody, you have to honor that commitment and move on, even if not everybody agrees.'

She joined Jaquith, though, in adding that the whole discussion may be moot. 'I believe the reality is that, right now, there is no money to build this parkway, that the budget situation in Richmond will not see this road built for many years,' Fenton said.

Searls said city residents should have a chance to see the land in McIntire Park that the road would pave over before they decide, and Jaquith disputed the notion that the parkway is necessary for the economic health of downtown. 'I assure you, the Downtown Mall has never been in better shape, we've never had more people turning out,' he said.

In general, the candidates focused more closely Wednesday on specific issues and proposals than they did at a similar forum a week earlier. Fenton, for example, said the city should establish an alternative transportation and smart growth planning committee, and should color-code its buses by route.

She also endorsed an idea, raised early in the meeting by Searls, to keep track of residents' water usage on their monthly bills and charge a higher rate for households that use more water than the average amount.

Ewert said the city should do more to educate neighboring counties on the costs of development, and should encourage the construction of dense 'town centers' while preserving other areas as open space. Ewert supported a similar approach while he was chief executive of Prince William County.

Ticking off possible ways to make Charlottesville more friendly to pedestrians, Jaquith said the city should build more sidewalks, better lighting, brick crosswalks, and footbridges over the CSX train tracks through the middle of town.

Caravati, the sole incumbent among the six Democrats running for two available seats, said the council will announce a detailed set of positions on regional transportation issues 'in the next month or two.'

The announcement, he said, likely will include a stance on the proposed Western Bypass, on which Caravati and the council as a whole have remained deliberately vague.

The city Democratic Party is scheduled to choose its nominees at a convention Feb. 23. The election is scheduled for May 7. As of Wednesday, no Republicans had entered the race." (Jake Mooney, The Daily Progress, February 7, 2002)