We’re now into 2026 but there are still some stories that need to be uploaded to the archive of Charlottesville Community Engagement.
Brian Pinkston’s first term as an elected official is at an end. In June, Pinkston placed third in the Democratic primary for two seats on the City Council.
On December 15, Pinkston sat behind the dais in City Council Chambers for the final time, a fact acknowledged by his running mate, Mayor Juandiego Wade.
“We’re still going to be friends and engaged, but I’m going to miss your input on Council, my dear friend,” Wade said. “We appreciate your four years on Council.”
Wade said Pinkston played a role in Council’s decision to move forward with the renovation of Buford Middle School into Charlottesville Middle School and also served on multiple committees.
Pinkston was ready with departing gifts for staff with a rubber mallet for Deputy City Manager James Freas for him to be able to nudge things into action. City Manager Sam Sanders was given a compass.
“People say that we need a plan,” Pinkston said. We have a really good plan and a strategic plan, and not that you need that because you’ve already got a really strong North Star.”
Pinkston gave a remote control to City Councilor Lloyd Snook to help him with turning off his audio. Wade got a handful of one of his favorite candies.
“I’ve never known a person who lives out the second commandment to love your neighbor as yourself the way that you do,” Pinkston said.
Pinkston gave a bike horn to Councilor Natalie Oschrin.
“I just want to thank you for helping me to see new things,” Pinkston said. “The importance every time I’m near a bicycle lane, I’m always like, what would Natalie do?”
Councilor Michael Payne got a neck tie in the University of Virginia’s colors of orange and blue.
“You’ve been a real partner,” Pinkton said. “I’m really grateful for you helping me to always, like even earlier tonight, focus on the poor and the people that are marginalized.”
Pinkston also thanked City Council Clerk Kyna Thomas and Deputy Clerk Maxicelia Robinson for their work to make logistics work out for meetings.
Discussions of reconfiguring Charlottesville City Schools lingered for over a dozen years before resurfacing shortly before Pinkston’s election in November 2021. Snook credited Pinkston’s election for pushing Council to finally act.
“Four years ago, we had no plan for how we were going to build Buford, how we were going to remake Buford into Charlottesville Middle School,” Snook said. “Brian, in the budget season in early 2022, basically, at the beginning of his term, he jumps in and he says, okay, here’s how we’re going to do it. We’re going to cut this, we’re going to move this to the next year.”
Snook said this is an example of how government sometimes needs fresh ideas to identify solutions that may have been missed.
Payne noted the contrast between his own identification as a Democratic Socialist and Pinkston’s moderate stance.
“You’ve changed my perspective on things, you’ve helped me see things a different way,” Payne said “I think one of the things, you know, I always clearly saw is that every decision you made, whether agree or disagree with it, it wasn’t rooted in a personal grievance or some calculation… At the end of the day, it was rooted in what you believed was right.”
Councilor Natalie Oschrin, elected in 2023, served with Pinkston on two regional transportation bodies including the Metropolitan Planning Organization Policy Board and thanked him for helping her become acquainted.
“I walked into that kind of feeling a little lost,” Oschrin said. “And it was good to know I had somebody on our team to kind of guide me through that right at the beginning.”
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