Free Enterprise Forum

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The Free Enterprise Forum is a non-profit organization that analyzes local government policy and monitors more than 100 boards and commissions in Central Virginia. They cover Albemarle, Fluvanna, Greene and Nelson Counties, as well as the City of Charlottesville.

History

Launched in 1998, the Free Enterprise Forum was previously known as the Charlottesville Area Legislative Action Coalition (CALAC), a coalition of the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce, the Blue Ridge Home Builders Association, and the Charlottesville Area Association of Realtors.

The organization's goal is to providing clear positive balance to the discussions of important issues of the day. This balance is geared to counter what is often a vocal minority in the community.

The Free Enterprise Forum:

  • Promotes dialogue with local government
  • Sets a positive tone and pro business agenda with local government
  • Encourages government policies that support our free enterprise system
  • Provides critical information and analysis of issues of the day
  • Tracks more than 100 appointed commissions and boards
  • Researches issues to evaluate the situation and find potential solutions
  • Alerts businesses to issues that will impact their sphere of endeavor
  • Mobilizes businesses and citizens affected by government action
  • Offers expertise to monitor and analyze city, county, and state public policy and its impact on the business community

Officers & Directors

Staff

Local Elections

The Free Enterprise Forum hosted non-partisan candidate forums for the 2005 Albemarle County Board of Supervisors elections in 2005.

In the 2007 and 2009 local elections, the Free Enterprise Forum co-sponsored with Charlottesville Tomorrow non-partisan candidate forums for elections to the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors and the Charlottevsille City Council.

Issues

One of the first issues researched by the organization when it was called CALAC was the county's outdoor lighting provision in 1998. [1]

  • Spring 2013: Forum releases white paper calling cash proffers a "welcome stranger" tax[2]
  • July 2020 – Free Enterprise Forum releases report showing that tourism activity was down 58 percent in the second quarter [3] [4]

Events

2009 Presentation by Jim Bacon <vimeo>5529017</vimeo>

External Links

Charlottesville Tomorrow coverage

References

  1. Web. County of Albemarle, Albemarle County Board of Supervisors Minutes, Albemarle County Board of Supervisors, Albemarle County, June 10, 1998, retrieved November 12, 2019.
  2. Web. Free Enterprise Forum seeks changes to cash proffer policy, Sean Tubbs, Charlottesville Tomorrow, May 5, 2013, retrieved May 6, 2013.
  3. Web. July 17, 2020: 1,002 new cases, $1.25 in business funding and a 58 percent decline in tax revenue, Sean Tubbs, Charlottesville Community Engagement, Town Crier Productions, July 17, 2020, retrieved September 12, 2020.
  4. Web. Local Tourism Down 58%, Neil Williamson, Free Enterprise Forum, July 14, 2020, retrieved September 12, 2020.