Matalavage seeks D4 supervisor seat

To the editor,
For those of you that do not yet know me, my name is Ronald T. Matalavage. Please call me Ron. I am 51 years old and have been self-employed most of my life. My wife of almost 30 years, Debbie and I have three children. All three were born and raised in Orange, and attended Orange County Public Schools. Jack, the youngest, will be attending ninth grade at Orange High School this fall. Our older two, Christy (26) and Thomas (23) moved to Richmond after high school. Orange is my home, my neighbors are my friends, for this reason I am running for office. I care and I believe you do too.
First I wish to thank everyone who took the time to participate in the candidate certification process. This one step shows you care to be a part of your governmental system. No matter whom you helped certify, I thank you. If you don't participate in your government, please do, register to vote!
Every citizen of Orange is curious about where their candidates stand on so many issues; I will touch on a few.
If elected as District 4 Supervisor, my first and foremost duty will be to represent the constituency of District 4, not special interest, or the interests of the other districts. I feel it would be my job to negotiate with the other board members to achieve the goals of District 4 citizens. Each district has geographical and social differences and policies should reflect those.
I absolutely would like to see Walmart be approved. It is necessary for more reasons than can be listed here. Yes, preservation is important, but it cannot be our only purpose, forsaking all others.
Land rights should be restored in a responsible manner. Small but powerful groups shoved the recent zoning changes through based on exploiting emotion not on fact. This country's whole existence is based on property and personal rights. We cannot afford attacks on either.
I support moderate growth. No growth is as equally damaging as fast growth. The property division scare was brought about by a few who used the system to excess. There are ways to control that abuse without damaging every farmer and land owners' rights and property values.
I believe there are many inequities in our personal property tax program. Some of these policies are in need of strong review and restructuring. Some of this burden has been created by past anti-business, anti-anything policies. All avenues of agricultural, commercial, and retail business should be encouraged in a positive and sustainable manner. This will help broaden our tax base. There is absolutely no logical reason to continue spending our tax revenue dollars in all the surrounding counties and not our own.
In closing, we all have a beautiful place here, let's stop the infighting and work together in a proactive way to make it even better. If elected I will work diligently without bias to represent the citizens of district 4, Orange County, Virginia. I hope to talk with many of you in the coming months to discuss these and other issues of concern.
Ronald T. Matalavage
Rhoadesville