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EXCLUSIVE REPORT

On June 17th, voters will choose either Sally Duncan or Dave Shreve to succeed Diantha McKeel as the Democratic nominee for Supervisor of the Jack Jouett magisterial district.

Every single vote matters:  the last time Albemarle County held a local primary race, the winner was determined by a mere 139 total votes (Bea LaPisto Kirtley defeated Jerrod Smith for the Rivanna district Supervisor seat in 2019).

Crozet United sat down with both candidates to learn more about their backgrounds, platforms, and perspectives on important local issues.

Dave Shreve

Tell me a little about yourself.

“I am a civil rights activist, educator, husband, and father of two adult daughters.”  Dave Shreve is energetic, especially when it comes to reducing inequality with tax policy reform, protecting the County’s rural area and natural resources, and supporting public school teachers.

Since earning his doctorate from LSU, Dave has been secondary school teacher, a professor of history, an advocate for fair tax policy, and held leadership roles at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center of Public Affairs.

Dave has gained significant experience in local government since moving to Albemarle County 26 years ago. He has served as a Director of the County’s Economic Development Authority, member of the regional Transportation Advisory Committee, and District Chair of the Albemarle Democratic Party.

In my discussion with Dave, he demonstrated deep understanding of complex local issues, clearly explained the reasons they persist, and presented bold ideas for solving them.

Why isn’t Albemarle County’s affordable housing program working? What would you do differently to create more affordable housing?

“I can tell you this, the solution isn’t to build even more houses.  Many have tried that already and prices keep going up because of excess demand from homebuyers who migrate from more expensive regions, such as  to Charlottesville from Northern Virginia.”

In Dave’s view, the affordable housing crisis is partly due to ill-conceived tax policies that increase inequity within Albemarle rather than reduce it.  “Inequality itself,” Dave asserted, “is likely the biggest factor in our lopsided housing markets.” While acknowledging that the Dillon Rule is a limiting factor, Dave believes there are still many tools we can use to make housing more affordable including efforts to help local landlords maintain the affordable rents that still exist, but which are increasingly difficult to preserve.

Should we expand the development areas (like Crozet and Hollymead) and build more residential housing in the rural areas?

“No. With the usual combination of effects both obvious (traffic congestion, crowded school classrooms) and hidden (degradation of environmental capacity and resilience; lagged social and physical infrastructure maintenance; and the increased per capita cost of governance, which only rises with such expansion), this is most decidedly not an answer to any of our pressing economic problems, including housing affordability.”

Are we doing enough to protect the environment?

“No. While we in the county are blessed with a natural endowment superior to most communities around the nation, we are also blind to the ways in which we all depend on it, to the ways in which its quiet degradation brings us closer to perilous tipping points, and to its outsized significance in a nation and a world that has already vastly overstepped the essential biological capacity of our lands.”

Dave believes Albemarle County should play a bigger leadership role in protecting our natural resources. “It is always incumbent upon wealthier communities such as ours to do more, to give breathing space to others unable to act as completely or effectively.”

To avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest, do Supervisors have an ethical obligation to disclose meetings they have with developers and other private parties?

“Yes, absolutely.”  Dave is also quick to explain that Supervisors need to meet with everyone they can.  “All of our neighbors need to be heard, including those who might be partisan opponents.”

On this, he can’t resist weaving in a quick history lesson.  “When LBJ was working to pass the Civil Rights act, his colleagues were concerned about meetings he was having with Senator Harry Byrd, a segregationist and well-known racist.  Johnson, a masterful politician, reminded them that Byrd was also the Chair of the Senate Finance Committee and that civil rights advances depended on his economic policy and War on Poverty, too, both of which Byrd could easily derail.”

On an hourly basis, a good Supervisor earns less than the minimum wage.  Why did you decide to run, and what personal strengths would you bring to the role?

“In the words of Tip O’Neill, ‘all politics is local’ and I feel a calling to help Albemarle County work better for everyone”.   Dave is prepared to challenge the status quo, bring people together, and explore new ideas to solve stubborn problems. “I’m not someone who will accept poor outcomes and resist making necessary changes just because we’ve always done it in a certain way.”

You can learn more about Dave Shreve at his website, https://www.daveshreveforsupervisor.org/

To read our companion interview with his primary opponent Sally Duncan, click here.