By Roger J. Sullivan, Alexandria
To the editor:
On September 19, I attended a city-sponsored meeting at the Nannie J. Lee Memorial Recreation Center concerning potential new aquatic facilities in Alexandria. Only a handful of residents showed up, but Independent mayoral candidate Andrew Macdonald was there. Initially I thought he was just there to campaign, but no, he stayed for the whole meeting.
He and I sat side-by-side for two hours and worked together to think up new ideas for city pools, and he made many good contributions. I had a chance to chat with him quite a bit, and he seemed extremely sensible to me.
Following this positive experience, I attended a fundraiser for Macdonald on October 6. In his remarks to the group, Macdonald made it clear that he is not an ideologue. Rather, he emphasized that he strongly wants to get the community much more involved in city decision-making, instead of just presenting residents with one fait accompli after another.
Macdonald is a Ph.D. geologist who has presented lectures all over the world. He was on Alexandria City Council from 2003 to 2007 and was vice mayor in ’06 and ’07. He is extremely intelligent, hard working and sensible. I am convinced that Andrew Macdonald as mayor would be a great improvement for Alexandria.