Letter to the Editor: Alexandrians for a Livable City Congratulates Silberberg

To the Editor:

On behalf of Alexandrians for a Livable City, I congratulate Allison Silberberg for her successful campaign for a Democratic Party nomination to run for City Council in November.

Allison attracted a wide array of voters with her message of reasonable discourse and compromise as a part of public policy. I expect her conduct of her office (if she is elected in November) to be gracious and inclusive toward voters. I predict that she will emulate the Hon. Patsy Ticer in her public demeanor.  It is also worth mentioning that in running for Council as a first time candidate, she ran near the top in the order of finish, ahead of two incumbent Council members.

We also congratulate our other candidates, Victoria Menjivar, Sammie Moshenberg, Arthur Peabody and Boyd Walker for running thoughtful issue-oriented campaigns.

Speaking as an individual, I have to say that except for Boyd Walker, I did not know any of the candidates well at the time we endorsed them. They were chosen based solely on their positions on issues. It has been a great personal pleasure for me to get to know Allison, Victoria, Sammie and Arthur as we met at campaign events. I hope these new friends will continue to be part of my life.

Mrs. Menjivar and Mrs. Moshenberg did a great public service by highlighting the destruction of affordable housing in this city over at least the last decade. This period of considerable development added little to our housing stock for working families. We hope that their impressive campaigns as new comers to citywide issues will encourage both of them to continue to educate Alexandrians on the important and difficult issues of affordable housing.

All of us as Alexandrians and caring individuals need to be active in fighting for the preservation of affordable housing in this city throughout the year, not just during political campaigns. 

Finally, I want to comment on my friend of several years, Boyd Walker. Boyd was the victim of a disgraceful smear campaign, carefully launched at the very end of the campaign so that the facts, and not the embroidered versions or out right lies, could become known. Everything we know now suggests that persons working in the Sean Holihan campaign perpetrated this smear. As is usual with these last minute smear attacks, it devastated Boyd in parts of the city where he was less well known, and did nothing to improve the electoral chances of Holihan. 

It was not very long ago that former Councilmember David Speck called Holihan a “promising new comer” when endorsing him on behalf of Securing Alexandria’s Future. I sincerely hope that Mr. Holihan and his style of politics are not part of the future of Alexandria.

Katy Cannady, Rosemont