Charlottesville City Council unanimously passed a resolution last night to apologize for the destruction of the primarily black Vinegar Hill neighborhood in the name of urban renewal in the 1960s.
Vinegar Hill was the center of the black community in Charlottesville before a City-led urban renewal project destroyed the neighborhood.
The proposal was first introduced at an Oct. 17 Council meeting. The only change to the resolution from its last reading was an increase in the strength of the resolution's language, City Mayor Dave Norris said.
The original resolution read in part: "We do hereby apologize for the City government's role in the destruction of the Vinegar Hill Neighborhood, and hope that the lessons learned from the City's actions will be remembered."
The new resolution changed the word "hope" to "affirm."
"We did change the language in the last paragraph from the draft version to make it clear that ... we are not hoping to do things differently, we are committing to doing things differently in the future," Norris said prior to the meeting.
Council member Kristin Szakos had requested this change at the October meeting.
"That wording was at my request, and I feel better about it now," Szakos said. "I think we need to figure out how to make this community better for everyone."
Vice Mayor Holly Edwards spearheaded the effort to create this resolution.
Edwards said she approved of the resolution "even though it's long overdue. It's certain we can plant seeds for a better future."
Some members of the community, such as 70-year resident Alicia Lugo, felt the black community is still overlooked in the City government's decision-making process.
"We're not consulted, we're not asked for our opinions," Lugo said. "When honors are being passed down in this community, there are a lot of people left out [who are in the black community]."
Lugo also noted local leadership did not reflect the values and concerns of the black community in Charlottesville.
"For the first time in my memory, we don't have any black leadership on our school board," Lugo said. "Black people continue to be economically, academically, electorally disenfranchised [in the community]."
Council member David Brown agreed with Lugo on the need to focus on the broader issues of race relations and urban development issues.
"I'd like to thank Alicia Lugo," Brown said. "I think it's really important that people not get the misconception that [Vinegar Hill is] where the problems of our community got started"
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