Feb 6th Speech to City Council
Speech begins at 1:14:24
Mr. Mayor, Councilors, Staff, and citizens, Hello. My name is Natalie Oschrin and I thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. I wish I could be there in person but unfortunately I am home with COVID.
First, I want to thank Councilor Magill for her contributions and leadership, as champion for social services, affordable housing, and addressing housing insecurity here and at Region Ten before that. I wish her and her family all the best. She was elected with a mandate by voters, including by me, to pursue these worthy concerns. I hope to address these issues and others, with fresh eyes and energy as a new member of City Council.
Introduction
I spent most of my childhood in the Meade Park neighborhood, where I live now. I graduated from CHS and then UVA, afterwards moving to take a job in Charleston, SC. In high school and college, I volunteered for political campaigns at the state and federal level. While in Charleston I was the staff for a city councilor, getting experience at a municipal level during a time when Charleston was beginning a period of massive growth in both resident relocation and as a tourism destination. Growth and tourism, of course, are issues that are very familiar for our city as well. My graduate degree in hospitality and tourism management formalized an education in how companies and cities administer their resources and market and maintain their attractiveness. My career in Charlottesville’s hotel and event industry has been all about collaborating with small businesses to create memorable experiences for those who are in and who come to town, and on a daily basis I solicit direct feedback from clients, asking “what is your connection to Charlottesville, why are you considering coming here?” So I also bring to the table the viewpoints of our business community and the visitors that we serve.
There are so many reasons why my family and I are lucky to call this area home. However, obviously, our town is not equally rosy to all residents, and we are at a critical juncture for improving the quality of life for all our citizens and the quality of the environment in which we live.
Why now, why me?
My mission, should I be selected to serve on City Council for the rest of this term, is to champion access to work, schools, commerce, and services by pushing for even more homes and mixed use areas to be built within city limits, and for improved public transit, pedestrian, and bike routes so that getting into a car is not the default strategy for reaching any destination. With the passage of the Future Land Use Map and the zoning rewrite that is underway, these livability goals align with current council policy, making steps towards addressing historical and current inequity, and increasing market-rate and affordable housing options for all. I’d be committed to working well with the current councilors to move these goals forward. I have the motivation to move past incrementalism and address problems swiftly and at a correct scale. We have to do big things.
My Perspective
My generation is looking forward to an uncertain future. My peers are at the age when some of us are trying to buy houses, finish school, start families, care for aging parents, help provide for younger siblings. But uncertainty about the future can interrupt those plans, and stems from several places, from the struggle to find housing and food, lack of faith in financial & government institutions, job dissatisfaction, a national regression of cultural norms and human rights, and a lack of visible representation of people our own age in decision-making positions - having power over our own futures. These are not necessarily new concepts or concerns. When my family moved to Charlottesville in 1990, the poverty rate was 22.5%. Today, the poverty rate is 23%, so for a quarter of the population, the future HAS ALWAYS been uncertain. We know too much to let this stand. We are too well-resourced to not make big changes.
Happily, the areas where the city is best equipped to make big changes - housing and transportation policy - are the areas that will have the most direct impact on improving the daily lives of and the equitable distribution of resources to the citizens of Charlottesville.
Let’s start with housing...
MOST homes in the area are over $400,000. The barrier to entry into the housing market is so high, there is no possible room for equity without intervention from the City. The Affordable Housing plan is an extremely comprehensive and well-thought-out document, put together with tremendous partnership and care. I applaud the timeline set in the calls to action, with subsidies in place and zoning adjustments understood and implemented within 6 and 18 months. But I would even encourage that zoning updates could be bigger and approved even faster.
The 2018 Housing Needs Assessment says that, “The city’s housing supply is limited by its small geography and built-out nature.” I agree that there’s not much to be done about the geography, but I strongly disagree with calling Charlottesville “built-out.” Not when there are surface parking lots taking up space directly adjacent to the Downtown Mall and areas like Barracks Road and Harris Street are single-story commercial. I look around and see plenty of space, even in my own backyard. Increasing supply is the key.
The big things the city can do, and thankfully is in the process of doing, are upzoning everywhere, and subsidizing various programs in the meantime to help people pay their rent. The $10 million budgeted for affordable housing is a great help to the community, and the Pathways program has been a success in helping keep people in their homes over the challenging past few years. I want to see the planned cuts to the Pathways program in the new budget stopped and their finances restored. I also support the recommendation from the Affordable Housing Plan to provide Low-Income Housing Tax Credits to allow locals to participate in the building process.
Independence from Cars
The second part of improving livability is transportation, and of course they are linked. More homes means people can live near their destinations and do not need to rely on cars as a primary mode of transportation. I support eliminating parking minimums for all new construction, even incentivising builders to spend less on car parking. Parking requirements raise the overall cost of development which is then passed to the homebuyer or renter, decreasing affordability. Every dollar spent on cars is a dollar not spent on bike lanes, sidewalks, safer streets, e-bike subsidies, public transit frequency, and streetscapes.
Reducing car-dependency reduces air and noise pollution, improves accessibility for those who cannot drive or cannot afford cars, and reduces construction costs by eliminating the need for private car storage. By reducing parking and increasing housing, we can’t just make it harder for folks to drive and call it a day. We have to give them alternatives that will one day feel like the natural choice.
Equity
We are all in this together, aligned on issues like housing affordability and climate change. Of course everyone here wants good schools. Greater housing supply increases opportunity for equity across the board. More homes mean lower costs for tenants and buyers and less housing insecurity, and the opportunity to build generational wealth. If folks have shorter commutes, they can spend more time with their family instead of in the car going over the mountain. Teachers can afford to live in the districts where they work, reducing turnover by incentivizing talented teachers to move or stay here.
My hope for the future...
...is that the city will make BIG steps. I have the time, energy, and drive to devote to Council so that we can take aggressive steps towards access and affordability in a timely manner. We have to be supply-side progressives for housing and transit, knowing that providing the housing and transit options will address and induce demand in the direction we shape it.
I ask
I am asking for your vote to serve the remainder of this City Council term so I can join you and move forward as one for Charlottesville. I thank you in advance, and look forward to partnering with you for the community.