By Herve Aitken, Alexandria (File photo)

To the editor:
I am writing in response to the letter written by Dennis Auld in your October 1 edition (“Wood and Van Fleet would be obstructionists on council”), which is subjective, illogical, partially untruthful and indirectly praises the candidacies of Republicans Townsend “Van” Van Fleet and Bob Wood.

It is subjective because Auld — and his wife, Lynn Hampton — are organizers of Mayor Bill Euille’s write-in campaign. At a minimum, his opinion is to be examined with wary eyes.

It is illogical because Mr. Auld prescinds from the particular to the generic when he states, “…their stance against the waterfront plan alone is enough for me to not vote for…[them].”

It is untruthful when Auld says, “Wood and Van Fleet do not appear to be very concerned about the city as a whole, but place their desires for the development of Alexandria’s waterfront into their parochial view.”

Bob Wood is a native of this city and graduated from T.C. Williams in 1968. He cares about the entire city and has freely given his time to make Alexandria a better place for all of us to live.

Van Fleet has been a civic association president and a 15-year member of the Federation of Civic Associations, which represents 15 to 25 civic associations across the city. It is the conscience of Alexandria’s local government. Stating that Van Fleet and Wood “…do not appear to be very concerned about the city as a whole…” is a misguided attempt to steer voters to not vote for Van Fleet and Wood.

The entire context of the letter actually praises Van Fleet and Wood because it shows them as leading candidates for city council. It also mischaracterizes Wood and Van Fleet as obstructionists. In my opinion, Van Fleet and Wood are obstructionists to poor budgeting ($530 million in debt), weak infrastructure (from underperforming schools to pot holes), underpaid police and firefighters and incompatible development in the form of New York warehouse buildings.

For these reasons, I support Van Fleet, Wood, Monique Miles and Fernando Torrez for city council and Allison Silberberg for mayor. Together, they will rescue Alexandria from debt and a collapse into mediocrity.

Remember, we need to elect at least four of these candidates to gain control from current council and their friendly developers.