Winchester VOP supporters continue police meetings

In November 2004, 14 residents of the Winchester area decided on a set of issues they wanted to take to local law enforcement officials, working with VOP’s racial profiling campaign.

On May 18, four residents of the City of Winchester held the second meeting, organized by VOP, with Winchester police. They met with the city’s new police chief, Eric Varnau. The meeting focused on four points developed at the November meeting.

The first was the need for more realistic and relevant training for police, leading to more respectful behavior.

At the initial meeting, the group learned that training related to racial issues was limited to initial training at a state approved police academy, followed by the four hours of diversity training required for all Winchester city employees. However, Chief Varnau informed the group he is planning to expand the training required significantly. On September 1, an officer will be assigned full-time to running a training program which will go above what is required by the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services. Chief Varnau agreed to consult and work with groups in the community, including VOP, as this training program is developed.

The second issue was data collection on racial profiling.

Chief Varnau confirmed that at this time, the Winchester police do not collect race, gender and other data on each police contact. However he did note that for each contact with the public there was an incident report with an incident number, and that the Police Department could go back to those reports and develop substantial information from them. He agreed that collecting data on race for each contact would be positive overall. He said that while some law enforcement officials may have a “fear of what you may find,” he personally would prefer to know about any problems that might exist with his department.

The third issue was making reports and complaints on racial profiling.

Chief Varnau urged that VOP encourage people in the community to make complaints where appropriate, so that he can act on them. He stated that he gets very few complaints, but that the police “must hold ourselves accountable,” and that the behavior of one officer can negatively influence perceptions of the whole department.

The fourth issue was foot patrols and community policing.

The chief said that he was committed to returning to these methods, but that it takes time to change procedures in place. He identified the officer mainly responsible for these programs, so that community people could contact the officer.

Other issues also came up in the meeting, and gave the chief and the community residents the opportunity to lay the groundwork for future cooperation.

For additional information, please contact Larry Yates at llyates@shentel.net or (540) 436 -3432.

VOP House District 4 Chapter meets with Delegate Joe Johnson

In May, members of the 4th House District Chapter met with Delegate Joe Johnson to follow-up on the legislative session. Chapter members expressed appreciation for his support, especially on co-sponsoring the racial profiling bill. Delegate Johnson agreed to contact the Superintendent of State Police to make sure that a correction was made in the report about their records kept on racial profiling. Delegate Johnson expressed the need for more time to review the Tax Reform information, until after the November general election, before he could make a judgment on VOP’s position.

For additional information, please contact Barry Butler at bbutler@virginia-organizing.org or (540) 989-1419.

Amherst VOP Chapter members get some ink and look into the school cafeterias

Members of the Amherst VOP Chapter (VOP House District 24 Chapter) submitted a letter to the editor praising Del. Ben Cline for his vote not to kill the racial profiling legislation.

“We thank Del. Cline for taking time to meet with us and addressing the concerns of all his constituents,” they wrote. The letter appeared in the Lynchburg News and Advance and the Amherst New Era-Progress.

Also, the members have been looking at the issue of nutrition in the school system. With poor lunch choices, too many vending machines in the schools and a decrease in physical education, members are concerned about the health of the children. Members have researched the programs of surrounding school systems as a possible local issue.

For additional information, please contact Tavia Ware at (804) 377-0335 or oware@virginia-organizing.org.

Organizational meeting planned for Roanoke Valley chapter

After many phone calls, meetings, and one-to-one conversations over the last several months, VOP members and potential members in the Roanoke Valley area held their organizational meeting in June to form a Chapter. While three House Districts cover the Roanoke Valley area, the consensus has been to form a regional Chapter in order to maximize and focus organizing efforts.

During the winter, VOP supporters in the Roanoke Valley got a head start by meeting with Delegate William Fralin (R-HD17) and Delegate Onzlee Ware (D-HD11). Efforts to set up a meeting with Republican Majority Leader, Delegate Morgan Griffith (R-HD8), were unsuccessful. Delegate Ware was supportive of VOP’s agenda across the board. Delegate Fralin expressed his interest in VOP’s agenda but asked for more time to study the information VOP supporters presented to him on the data collection bill for the Racial Profiling issue as well as the Tax Reform campaign.

The challenge in the Roanoke Valley will not be in selecting a local campaign issue, but to focus on one at a time. From a housing market that is almost too hot to touch and on the verge of pricing the average homebuyer out of the market, to concerns about law enforcement in Roanoke City, VOP will have many opportunities to work with the communities of the Roanoke Valley to address these issues and many others to come.

For additional information, please contact Barry Butler at bbutler@virginia-organizing.org or (540) 989-1419.

Williamsburg works on inclusive housing

“Imagine if everyone who worked in this community could afford to live in this community.” That’s the slogan that the Williamsburg VOP Chapter is using to promote its new Inclusive Housing Campaign. They will work over the next year to move the James City County Board of Supervisors to mandate that for each new housing development built within the county, 15 percent of the houses must be affordable. With this ordinance, they hope to reverse the rapid trend of county housing toward more and more expensive, high-end mansions, leaving everyday working people to commute from Newport News or New Kent County.

Currently, only Fairfax County uses such an ordinance within Virginia, although many urban and suburban areas experience the same bubbling housing market seen in Williamsburg and James City County.

“Housing prices are skyrocketing here and it’s creating a disparate availability of houses in this community for people who aren’t wealthy,” says Kate McCord, one of the Williamsburg chapter members. “It’s all about social justice. People who work here should be able to live here.”

To get involved with the Williamsburg area chapter, contact Ben Thacker-Gwaltney at (757) 229-3770 or ben@virginia-organizing.org.

VSU students speak with school administration

On April 26, a group of Virginia State University students held a meeting with Cortez Dial, Chief of Staff, and Chief Jimmy Wilson, Campus Police, about the issue of racial profiling. The students presented experiences of fellow classmates who had been racially profiled by local police departments, photos from their press conference, and VOP’s racial profiling legislation.

The response from administration was supportive and allowed for further dialogue. Administrators agreed that racial profiling is wrong and acknowledged that students have been profiled in the area. While both Dial and Wilson expressed concerns about the validity of data collection, they did suggest other research resources the students could follow up on.

The meeting was so exciting and I feel good that I went,” said Tranice Tonge, a VSU student.

For additional information, please contact Tavia Ware at (804) 377-0335 or oware@virginia-organizing.org.

Pecan Acres Resident Council reorganizes

Residents of the Pecan Acres, a Petersburg Redevelopment and Housing Authority property, met on April 18 to discuss ways to re-activate the Pecan Acres Resident Council. Once a thriving support network, the council has been struggling to find a focus and remain relevant in the lives of the residents.

“We just really need to get organized and get to work,” said Alice Reese, a resident of Pecan Acres.

Over the past couple of months, residents have been talking with their neighbors about the needs of the community. Conducting a survey, resident council members have heard complaints ranging from slow property maintenance response to loud music from passing cars. The council plans to continue to do neighborhood 1-to-1 meetings to focus on specific neighborhood issues and plan a strategy.

Talking to people in the community has been helpful in recruiting new members to the council. Beginning with a handful of residents, the group has more than nine members attending and supporting the programs. The council held a neighborhood picnic on June 18 to talk to more residents about neighborhood issues and recruit more members.

For additional information, please contact Tavia Ware at (804) 377-0335 or oware@virginia-organizing.org.

Fredericksburg VOP delegation meets with House Speaker William Howell

As VOP’s strategy to address Virginia’s unfair, out-dated, and inadequate tax system unfolded in 2003, residents of the quiet historic town of Fredericksburg and surrounding rural counties located halfway between Richmond and Washington, D.C., became increasingly important. Delegate William Howell, Speaker of the House, represents the Fredericksburg area, and the Chair of the Senate Finance Committee, Senator John Chichester, represents parts of the area as well. These two key legislators are important leaders on most public policy issues, including tax reform, addressed in the Virginia General Assembly.

VOP contacted people in Fredericksburg, Stafford, Spotsylvania, and Caroline counties about tax reform, and gradually found people from all walks of life who were interested in the broad range of issues VOP raises, as well as interested in possibly forming a VOP chapter. Two meetings took place in 2004, at which access to health care was identified as a top concern. At that time, due to a rate dispute, the emergency room physicians at the regional hospital had stopped accepting Anthem (Blue Cross/Blue Shield) insurance, the insurer for all public employees in the area. (Anthem also insures about 70 percent of the people in Virginia who have health insurance.)

On April 23, VOP sponsored a forum on access to health care at which community members got to interact with statewide representatives from the Virginia Medical Society, the Virginia Nurses Association, and the United Food and Commercial Workers. A scheduled speaker from the Virginia Hospital and Health Care Association had to cancel due to a family emergency.

As an outcome of the forum, a VOP delegation made up of doctors, nurses, teachers, and retail workers met with Speaker William Howell at his office in Falmouth on (May 6). In that meeting, the Speaker acknowledged that there is a health care crisis in Virginia. He acknowledged that health care will be a bigger issue in the years to come. He said that he is open to several approaches to provide better access to health care in Virginia, and looks forward to working with VOP to find solutions.

For additional information, please contact Frank Blechman at (703) 239-2616 or fblechma@aol.com.