Office sought: Braddock District Supervisor
Party Affiliation: Democrat
Previous offices held; please include dates:
Incumbents: when elected to this position: 1987
Occupation: Full time elected official
Current employment (include name and address of employers): N/A
Previous employment Office Manager, Electronics Firm
Education: (please list schools attended, degrees and dates) Associates Degree Business Management, Northern Virginia Community College, attended evening classes UVA.
Community ties: Central Fairfax Chamber of Commerce, Annandale Rotary, Former Chair of Clean Air Partners
List a few current endorsements you are most proud of: Fairfax Education Association
1. What is your top public-service accomplishment?
Incumbents: Describe the top accomplishment of your last term. Why shouldn't voters blame you for current problems in your district?
Top accomplishment last term: Working with the community to ensure compatibility with the surrounding residential neighborhoods, completed design and construction of the Roberts Parkway Railroad Overpass in Burke - a major safety improvement that resolves severe congestion in the area surrounding the Burke Centre VRE Station. This is one a number of transportation improvements that have been completed in the Braddock District during my years in office. I was a founding member of the VRE Operations Board, bringing a new mass transit option to the Northern Virginia area.
2. What are the top five problems facing your constituents and what approaches will you use to solve them? Describe one challenge (or more) in your district that is different than other parts of the county.
Aging Schools in need of refurbishment/renovation. I will continue to work with my community to make sure that education continues to be a major priority for funding, and in particular to have sufficient debt service and debt capacity to make sure the needs of our older schools are not disadvantaged as we build new facilities in the western part of the County.
Aging communities. During my last term, I worked with the Danbury Forest townhome community to find ways to encourage modernization and upgrades. I also hosted a Community Challenges Task Force to explore ways to address overcrowding issues and the attendant proliferation of cars on residential streets.
Traffic and speeding on residential streets. Much of my time is spent facilitating meetings with communities to resolve these issues through the installation of stop signs, traffic "calming" devices, and ensuring targeted police presence in problem areas. The biggest solution to this issue, however, is improving the flow of traffic on the main corridors in the Braddock District so that motorists will not use neighborhood streets. I have improved a number of roads in Braddock, brought VRE service to my constituents, and have been working with Supervisor Gerry Connolly to make improvements to Rt. 236.
Public safety and gang activities, especially in the eastern part of my district. This winter, my office will be convening a community task force to work with the police, the business community, the schools and park officials to focus on public safety issues in the Heritage/Annandale area of my district.
Not a problem, but a challenge, is building a sense of community in a county as large as Fairfax. In Braddock District, I communicate regularly via my Braddock Byline newsletter, three town meetings a year, numerous community task forces and community meetings. I consider my most successful community-building program my Braddock Nights concert series. The free concerts are held every Friday night throughout the summer and make us feel like we live in a "small town".
3. What qualities, qualifications and characteristics will you bring to this office?
Solid, responsive, experienced, patient, thoughtful leadership.
4. How will voters best distinguish between you and your opponent(s)?
I am unopposed.
5. What specific solutions will you propose for the transportation dilemma? Please address funding, prioritization, air quality, bus service and other non-rail public transportation solutions, expansion of rail service, and any other possible approach.
6. Fairfax County now dedicates more than 50 percent of its budget to the public school system. How will you measure the effectiveness of this expenditure? What do you see as the biggest challenges? Is this sort of expenditure sustainable given that fewer than 25 percent of households have children in the schools?
Excellent schools create the framework for our community. In Fairfax County, a well educated, highly trained community attracts clean industry that provides well paying jobs. Our children don't have to move away to find employment. Our higher salaries help sustain an excellent quality of life with recreational and cultural opportunities. It is, however, a constant struggle to balance the costs and the needs for education and other services with keeping those services cost effective and affordable.
Sorry! At this point I'm going to have to quit. All of these questions require and deserve more time than I can give them!!! Hopefully, I'll be able to talk a bit more in depth at my interview.
7. Many parts of Northern Virginia are approaching buildout, and the current economic climate favors residential over commercial construction. Do local governments have the tools they need to control and guide growth? How will state and local governments cope with the additional demand for services that comes with additional residential construction? What are the important features of "smart growth," and can more emphasis on smart growth help offset some of the effects of suburban development?
8. What are your top environmental priorities? Please address air quality, water quality, open space, etc.
9. Are residents safe enough? How do public safety officials balance new demands of "homeland security" with other safety and quality of life issues?
10. Do you have any concerns about civil liberties and public access to information in the wake of the Patriot Act and other responses to Sept. 11?
11. Working poor families in Northern Virginia face a daunting cost of living, with little in the way of affordable housing, health care, child care and transportation. Are low-wage workers important to the local economy? What do you propose to address the needs of these families?
12. Should counties have the taxing authority of cities? Yes!
13. What proposals do you have for mitigating the effects of soaring property values and related taxes? Do you endorse the 5 percent cap on property tax increases? If you support a cap on property tax increases, please name at least one service provided by county government that you currently use that you would be prepared to live without.
14. Fairfax County has more than 10,000 full-time employees. How should the Board of Supervisors guide such a large bureaucracy? How do you measure the effectiveness of such a work force? We've heard stories of departments that resist change and are unresponsive to both citizens and elected officials. How would you address these concerns? Please give specific examples.
15. What campaign finance reform do you support? How should the county avoid conflict of interest, or even the appearance of conflict, given the Board's role in approving development and zoning changes and contributions by development interests?