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THANK YOU for your interest in my campaign to be re-elected to Alexandria's City Council. Here's a quick overview of some of the reasons this job is so important to me.

At the top of priority list are Alexandria’s kids.  As the father of three teenage daughters (yes, it is exciting!), Isabella, Kathleen, and Ava, all of them students in the Alexandria public schools, “our children are our future” is not a cliché to me.  I worry a lot about what kind of world, and what kind of community, we are leaving for our kids.  On Council, I know I can make a difference to make those prospects a little better. 

As a member of Council, I have:

• Fought against deep proposed cuts in the budget for Alexandria’s schools
• Helped develop and shepherd the City’s Children and Youth Master Plan through to adoption
• Fought for more investment in “safe routes to schools” through new crosswalks and sidewalks and more crossing guards, as well as lower speed limits near our schools
  
• Secured funding for new synthetic-surface playing fields
  
• Fought against child abuse as a Board Member of Stop Child Abuse Now of Northern Virginia

I am also proud to be a cheerleader for my wife, Beth’s, work as Executive Director of the Scholarship Fund of Alexandria!

As you may know, I also have a passion for transportation!  I do transportation policy for a living and I have thoroughly enjoyed using my transportation expertise as a Member of Council.  

Through my day job, I serve as:

• Chair of the Washington Area Transit Industry Representatives Task Force
• Chair of the Public Ferry Coalition
• Vice-Chair and Chair-elect of the Coalition for America’s Gateways and Trade Corridors

As a member of Council, I have served as a resource to City staff on federal programs and I have served on the City’s Transportation Commission ever since it was created (?). Perhaps most importantly, I serve as Alexandria’s representative on the Transportation Planning Board for the National Capital Region.  I currently serve as its Vice-Chair and, if I am re-elected, next year I will serve as its Chair!

I lead the Board’s efforts to grant millions of dollars annually to local non-profit agencies and governments to provide transportation services for seniors and people with disabilities.  I have been a leading voice for promoting transit-oriented development, faster response to traffic accidents, and for a coordinated regional effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.  I am really looking forward to what I can accomplish when I have that gavel and bully pulpit!

The most important work City Council does is to prepare an annual budget.  I take that job very seriously.  As a former Chair of the City’s Budget and Fiscal Affairs Advisory Committee, I know my way around the budget and I am constantly looking for more efficient ways to carry out the City’s business.  The Alexandria Times said I was a member of the “Green Eyeshade Caucus” and I embrace that!

We have been going through tough budget times because of the Great Recession, federal cutbacks and a soft real estate market.  Revenues are not keeping up with our spending needs.  Council therefore needs to make tough choices and explain those choices to our citizens.  I have always accepted that challenge and I will continue to do so. 

We also need to generate new revenue through high-quality economic development.  I am so proud that we convinced the National Science Foundation to move their headquarters to Alexandria!  I am very excited about the first-class commercial development that will be generated by the new Potomac Yard Metro Station!  We need to keep that momentum going, focusing that development around our Metro stations so it doesn’t generate a lot of traffic but does make our City more walkable and bikeable. 

I could go on and on about many other issues from affordable housing to environmental issues to historic preservation and seniors issues.  Please know that I am always available to talk to you, and learn from you, on the issues you most care about.