CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – City Council had an agenda item first with a a public hearing on City Manager Sam Sanders’ tax increase request. The Council chambers were packed, but not with those who wanted to speak about that. The seats were filled with people who wanted to speak about an item City Councilor Michael Payne proposed in the “other business” portion of the meeting, which is done after the scheduled agenda is finished. Payne proposed a resolution “calling for an immediate ceasefire and end to violence in Israel and Palestine”. Payne said while Charlottesville is only a small voice, it’s important for the city to speak up about an issue that, as a refugee haven, affects many people living in our community. The resolution points out 65 U.S. cities, including Harrisonburg, have adopted similar resolutions.

The measure failed on a 3-2 vote with Mayor JuanDiego Wade, Vice Mayor Brain Pinkston, and Councilor Lloyd Snook voting against, and Payne along with Councilor Natalie Oschrin voting “yes”.

In speaking against the resolution, Snook took heat when he waded into the assertion that Unite the Right for many was focused on anti-semitism.

“I don’t know that anybody on Market Street on August 12 was thinking about Muslims, and I doubt there were very many thinking about Jews.”

At a retort from an audience memory questioning “are you out of your mind”, Snook continued, “What I’m saying is the people who were there, the people who were fighting, were for the most part fighting about black and white issues… they were fighting about Confederate statues.”

Another audience member said a chant was “Jews will not replace us”, to which Snook replied that he found himself in the middle of a lot of “strife and pushback” from people who said “it was always about the statues” and others who said “it was always anti-semitism”, as well.

“The one thing I learned was in Charlottesville at that time, I think it’s still true today, if there are 50,000 people in Charlottesville, there are at least 45,000 different views of what actually happened and what was actually important”.

Snook said he’s generally against resolutions that do not affect direct city actions around national and international events, even when he might agree with what a resolution says.

While there was not a large appetite to speak about the tax proposals Monday night, Sanders reminded the public there’s a community budget forum 6pm Thursday at City Space, which is your chance to directly address Councilors on matters proposed before approval of a 2025 budget April 9.