1. Why should residents re-elect you to City Council?  

As the current Vice Mayor, four-term City Councilman, former police officer and current business owner, I am running for re-election to the Lynnhaven District City Council seat.  A strong believer in lifelong education, I recently earned a Master’s Degree in History, thirty years after earning a Bachelor’s Degree.  I’ve really become a passionate reader of history and pursued a Master’s Degree online, which was a great experience.  I am a commissioner and Chairman of the Transportation District Commission of Hampton Roads and Council Liaison to the Audit Committee, Hampton Roads Transit, the Volunteer Council, Town Center, Sister Cities, the Technology Committee and the Bayfront Advisory Committee.  I am committed to Virginia Beach and appreciate the opportunity to serve all of Virginia Beach.  I have been endorsed by the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce, the Virginia Beach Education Association, the Fraternal Order of Police, the Hampton Roads Realtors Association, the Virginia Beach Police Benevolent Association and the Virginia Beach Professional Firefighters.

2. What is the most pressing issue facing your community, and how would you address that issue?  

Our most pressing issue is confronting our stormwater infrastructure, which we’ve already started addressing as a significant part of the city budget.  I was appointed by the Virginia Senate to the Joint Subcommittee to Address Recurrent Flooding. Virginia Beach is among the top cities in the nations at risk for recurrent flooding due to stormwater impacts, and the City needs to leverage local, state and federal funding for mitigation efforts on the impacts of flooding, and we need to proceed along a path shown by engineering modeling and studies so we can solve problems in an orderly fashion that minimizes cost, maximizes effectiveness and limits the shifting of flooding to other neighborhoods.

3. Where do you stand on raising taxes to balance your locality’s budget? 

We are required to balance our city budget.  Recently the School Board requested additional revenue for expanding to full-day Kindergarten and I voted to support it.  Throughout my career, I have supported education, infrastructure and public safety and worked to fund them appropriately.

4. What’s your plan to reduce crime? 

Public safety is an investment in our quality of life, and I have been a leader in making sure our resort and our entire city stays on the forefront of safety in a world where the threats are numerous and unpredictable.  Our law enforcement professionals are among the best trained and equipped police in the nation, and I have long supported the funding to make this possible.  Virginia Beach’s crime rate is at 1960s levels and I think we have kept Virginia Beach a safe city.

5. What are your community’s biggest infrastructure needs, and how do you plan to fulfill them?  

Our biggest infrastructure need is replacing and improving our stormwater capacity, which we’ve already begun funding.  As sea level rise impacts become stronger, we will need to engage state and federal agencies for additional funding to mitigate flooding in our vulnerable communities.

6. What businesses and industries would you try to attract to your community?  

We have worked to attract innovative companies in the health care and bio-tech industries through creating a biomedical corporate park and are attracting technology firms due to the trans-Atlantic broadband internet cables that will link Virginia Beach with Europe and South America.  These are all growth industries in the future and will expand the job base in Virginia Beach.