As a resident of the county of Albemarle who was raised in the city, I am ashamed to say that my home of 19 years is Charlottesville, Virginia.

I am ashamed that we have city council members failing to do the job that they were elected to do. When you are elected to the city council, the core of your job is to serve the people, not push a party agenda. Yet over the past several months, that is all that has happened. There are roads that are tearing up the bottoms of cars, there are homeless men and women just trying to find their next meal, there are mothers and fathers working every shift just to provide for their children, and there are veterans who cannot get the care they need nor have access to monuments dedicated to their service.

Yet for the past several months, you have centered your time, attention, and focus on Lee/Jackson Parks that one, have not been a problem for the decades that they have existed and two, allowed more of your energy to go toward a two-word name rather than the two-dollar meal for a mother who can barely provide for her child.

You should be embarrassed that this is what you have chosen to do with the position that so many others could have held. You are the ones that the people wanted to be in charge of the community that they call home. You are the ones that thousands of people trust to build their community up, not tear it down. And you are the ones that have made this city known for the issue built on negativity, not a growth built on positivity.

You had the chance to be the change and you blew it.

I find it nauseating that you think that spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to remove a statue and change a name of a park is worth the investment (of both money and time) considering all of the other issues that would be fixed with the same amount of time and money. The dollars you spend to change a name and a statue will never positively affect as many lives as the same dollars going to the families, veterans, and citizens that make up the city that you are ruining.

All of those zeros on that check truly are nothing because they are enabling an anti-change in the rest of the greater Charlottesville community.

You are servants of the people, by the people, and for the people. Although people may be happy with this change now, both sides of the aisle will be anything but happy when they have to pay the repair bill to fix the bottom of their car, or when you tell them that you can’t fix the sidewalks/playgrounds/(insert problem item here) because over a half a million dollars was spent to change two words and a piece of art.

You see the brokenness in the city and you blatantly ignore it. You are the problem because you are not fixing the visible issues. Instead, you are putting on blinders and having your words follow. You disregard those below you because you are not them. You see the struggles they are facing, the hours they spend on the corner begging for money just to eat a meal, and the veteran who may never be able to get the help he/she deserves because it does not affect you.

You were placed in the position you are in for a reason. You were elected because you showed your care and concern for the city of Charlottesville. You were chosen above so many others. Yet each day you allow this Lee Park/Jackson Park issue to distract you, you are not only failing this city but also those who got you where you are today. I ask that you remember that you are not in the position that you are in from your own doing. It was because someone cared enough for you. The smallest thing you could provide in return is to care for them too.