Constituent Issues
Traffic
Residential Development
Schools
Zoning
Taxes
Development
Speeding
Taxis
Misc - Not Yet Answered
Traffic
Red Light Synchonization
Citizens: When will we have Red Light synchonization down Duke Street?
Rich: I agree. We should sync all major thoroughfares including Duke, King, Quaker, Van Dorn, all of Highway 1, and Washington Streets. When I am on the council, this will be my top traffic priority.
No Through Traffic
Yale Street Citizen: There are speeders constantly going through my neighborhood who are cutting through to avoid other traffic roads. What can we do?
Rich: Where feasible, we should enact No Through Streets. We can reduce the speed by continuing the Speed Calming areas throughout the city, and make sure that fire routes are available, while still giving neighborhoods some control over their streets.
Residential Development
Condos
West Street Citizen: There are too many new condos!
Rich: While I am not against redevelopment of areas of our city that are underused, I do not feel that unfettered development of every single nook and cranny of our city into condos or new townhouses is the answer. We need to diversify our tax base to include more commercial real estate, so we can keep real estate taxes lower.
Schools
Certified
Yale Street Citizen: I am concerned that Jefferson-Houston School has failed English and Math for No Child Left Behind. I intend on moving out of this neighborhood when my child is ready for Kindergarten so he can attend a better school somewhere else.
Rich: Wow, I certainly understand your frustration. We need to determine what can be done to improve the schools where they are underperforming. I know the teachers and administrators are working hard every day to make the schools better. I propose more tutoring programs, and more interaction with parents in order to foster a stronger homework-oriented ethic. Performance is more successful with higher parent involvement.
Waple Citizen: The school Information Technology (IT) staff is being cut! How can we protect these positions?
School Lunch Quality
Mason Citizen: The school lunches are not cooked properly, they rely too much on canned products, and are not healthy.
Rich: We need to make sure that our lunches are healthy for the city's children. I will look into this and make sure this is the case.
Zoning
"Adult Shop" in Old Town
Yale Street Citizen: That adult store in Old Town needs to move.
Rich: In order to preserve the character of Old Town, I am surprised there was no zoning to keep that type of store out of historic areas. I think the owner can help himself by making the store as modest as possible, blacking out the windows as possible, and by being a good corporate citizen with his neighbors. It is also important that children are not subjected to these types of mature themes just by walking down the street.
Parking
Commercial Parking in Residential Zones
Mason Citizen: Businesses are using street parking in front of my house for their business!
Rich: We need to make sure we properly enforce and have businesses cooperation in not using parking in front of residences for commercial use. The city should meet with these businesses and determine the correct use of the parking.
Taxes
Amount of Taxes
Cliff Street Citizen: Taxes are too high, and spending needs to stay low!
Rich: Well, I think we as a city need to determine our needs as a city and then collect the appropriate taxes in a way that is most fair, where citizens pay for services they pay.
Mason Street Citizen: There needs to be a public criteria for how assessments are made!
Rich: I agree. I believe that transparency in government is critical. I will make sure that I will push the council to set assessments according to open standards.
Development
Greenspace
Mason Citizen: We need more greenspace and not as much development that reduces it.
Rich: Well, I agree to a certain extent. We need smart development. Smart means that we have neighborhoods making sure that development doesn't change their quality of life without their approval. We also need to make sure that development of new locations includes a percentage of greenspace.
Speeding
Mt Vernon Speeding
Neighborhood Citizen: There is a lot of speeding on Mt Vernon. What can we do to reduce this? The city says we can't put in speed bumps because it is used by fire trucks.
Rich: I recommended speed cameras. We need to install them and use them instead of expensive police overtime. This will reduce speeding and has been shown to reduce speeding.
Taxis
Cameron Street: There are not enough people iin Alexandria using taxi cabs to stay in business! There aren't enough taxi stands.
Misc Not Yet Answered
The new recreation center in old town is going to cost too much! We need more recreational spaces in the west end anyway! What can we do?
I like that there is an adult shop in Alexandria, and I don't want to see it go. What protections do you suggest?
The schools need more funding! Some of the parents have to send their kids to the NEXT closest school. How do we get more funding for the schools and fix the districting problem?
There is not enough city planning before action!
Where are our tax dollars going?
There are so many people without homes who sleep around the bridge and bushes by CVS. Is there a shelter available to them?
There is one express bus during rush hour within every mile. What do you think of this?
The city council needs to look at the budget and severely trim overhead spending. How would you do this?
We need better restaurants! What do you suggest?
This corrupted city acts like a small club! What will you do to change it?
If the industry was here already, then they should never have zoned for Cameron Station. How can you keep this from happening in the future?
We don't have an equal voice for our part of the city! Your idea for a ward system sounds really great! Can you further explain this?
Nobody remembers that the city election is May 5th. I would rather see it on November 3rd. What do you think?
The water is next to Virginia Paving, and there is a pile of asphalt next to the school. Also, the trains are still pumping out diesel. How can we clean up the area?
We need a recordkeeping oversight committee to keep track of decisions made and appropriate building locations considered. How can you make this happen?
My child's teachers don't work to specifically fix issues that can restore necessary skills such as writing. There needs to be a teacher intervention of some sort. What do you think?
The alley behind mason street is horribly dirty! What can we do to clean it up?
The Audi employees are parking on the street, and we have no place to park. What can we do?
There is too much development and not enough green space. What can we do?
The city employees are not properly qualified to do a sufficient job. What do you suggest?
The Mount Vernon schools have rats! How do we fix this?
The schools need better lunches for this children! Nothing much is cooked; it is canned! How can we bring back real lunches?
We need to keep the spending low and the taxes low! What do you have to say about this?
We need a higher percentage of free lunches in schools available for children of low income families. Also, a lot of areas don't have preschools. What can we do?
There is so much speeding on Mt. Vernon! How can we slow them down?
There is a severe lack of focus on pedestrian issues. How can we get things working properly for the pedestrians?
The Potomac Yard planning is going well. The city needs to look at Alexandria as a whole now and see what it should feel like. What do you think?
The new metro station at Potomac Yard still seems to not be making progress. What do you think about this?
We need to close the Mirant plant! What can be done?
We have to pay the city to "apron" off the driveway when repairing the roads. What can we do to protect our interests as well?
The sidewalks and roads are blocked by hanging trees. How can we fix this?
The street is opening at Highway 1, and all of that traffic will come through. What can we do? TC Williams is already at capacity, but they're still developing! What do you think of this?
Recently I saw that different churches in Alexandria are being charged different rates for electricity, and not all people can afford this. How can we talk to the Alexandria Housing Association to equalize electricity prices for churches throughout all of Alexandria?
We need to make sure there is transparency with the budget. How can we do this?
Fire station 202 needs more funds for renovation to be compliant. We also need more abulances and patient care services in the city so that we don't have to rely on mutual aid from other cities. There also are not enough funds to train specialty emergency teams. Patient care can't wait. What can we do?
We need to push taxes back down. Taxes went up even though home values went down. How can we stabilize this?
We need to improve the educational system in Alexandria. The teachers' salary step system is not being honored. How can we fix this?
Instead of fully outsourcing school custodians, we need to phase in outsourcing companies to keep job security for the current custodians. How do we make this happen?
