To the editor:

Alexandria’s voting system allows us to vote for up to six at-large City Council members on the Nov. 5 ballot. Residents should think hard about how to make their voices really heard.

You do not have to vote for six candidates. If you adopt a “bullet voting” strategy, you only vote for the one or two Council candidates that you strongly support, while not voting for anyone else. You should only vote for a Council candidate if you truly believe in them and their positions.

If you want a change in our city government with smart development – well-planned commercial development with residents’ input, one that reduces the residential tax burden and rents – and if you want to move beyond the Council incumbents who seem determined to take your car and parking away, then withhold your votes for incumbents and newcomers who signal they will continue to ignore residents’ wishes.

The entrenched power structure in Alexandria would like you to believe that you need to vote for its favored six candidates. But that list includes some incumbents who prefer lecturing residents over listening to them and whose repetitious 7-0 votes for an overzealous urbanization-at-all-cost agenda have taken Alexandria on a wrong-headed course.

So, the only way to change course and take back Alexandria from the entrenched incumbents and their outside interests is to not vote for them, and instead only vote for the one or two candidates who have not likewise failed Alexandria. Your bullet ballot strategy might include a vote for John Chapman, the one Democrat incumbent who seems to listen and not lecture, and Independent candidates Roy Byrd and Mason Butler, who pledge a change in tone and promise respectful interaction with residents.

Leave the rest of your ballot blank so your vote improves the chances that we get a City Council that works for us, values our input and listens to what we have to say about our great city. Remember early voting begins Friday. Make sure your vote counts!

-Tom Foley, Alexandria