THE INDEPENDENT NEWS
Ed. — The following are responses to questions posed by The Independent News to candidates for the District 5 seat on Virginia Beach City Council. Answers to our questions in this series generally are not edited, aside from obvious punctuation issues, spacing and formatting, or for clarity. The Sunday, Sept. 22, voter guide edition is still available on some of our secondary racks until Election Day.
Only voters who live within District 5 vote in this election.
ROSEMARY WILSON
Residence: Oceanfront
Occupation: Realtor
Education: Bachelor of science, education, Old Dominion University, summa cum laude
Endorsements: Republican Party of Virginia Beach, Gov. Glenn Youngkin and Attorney General Jason Miyares
Website: rosemarywilson.org
Phone: (757) 619-2094
Email: rawilson31@gmail.com
Social Media: RosemaryWilsonVB on Facebook
What are your specific qualifications for this office? I offer leadership that delivers with results. As Vice-Mayor, I have been successful at delivering hundreds of millions of dollars in improvement projects including protecting Rudee Loop Park when special interests wanted hotels and apartments there. I also secured funding for dredging at Rudee Loop, Harbour Point Shadowlawn, Croatan Beach shoreline restoration, road improvements to Dam Neck and Winston-Salem, improvements on 17th Street and protecting Oceana from development.
Virginia Beach is home to our military and the future of NAS Oceana in Virginia Beach must be secure. I worked with our Congresswoman Jen Kiggans to send a unanimous resolution to Washington that future Navy aircraft be based here in Virginia Beach.
As Vice-Mayor, I am in a very strong position to deliver for constituents.
What is the most important issue facing the city and how will you address it in office? Citizens’ top issue is our quality of life. U.S. News and World Report ranked Virginia Beach #8 Best City in America to live, and we must protect that. We have the lowest real estate tax rate in the region, and we lowered it further this year. We are one of the safest cities our size in the nation, and I thank our police for their hard work and their endorsement of me for re-election. We also must protect our city from collective bargaining, which hands control of the city budget to union bosses and lawyers in Chicago or Detroit.
What are your three main policy priorities?
- I support our police. When others wanted to “reimagine” police and defund them, I stood up and increased funding and implemented a new pay plan eliminating pay compression and helped recruit and retain the best police in the nation. Our Police Chief Paul Neudigate has been a game changer with new technologies and leadership that has really made a difference.
- To offer tax relief to residents, we must continue bringing new businesses and jobs to Virginia Beach. Amazon and the major expansion of Stihl bring new jobs and investment that generate new revenues. We should increase business activity in Virginia Beach and continue our success.
- As a former teacher and School Board Vice-Chair, I have a lifelong commitment to education. I have always fully funded our teachers and schools and led the charge to expand full-day kindergarten and vocational skills education in the trades to create career opportunities for graduates.
Should city services such as water and sewer be extended south of Indian River Road to promote development of rural communities? I never have supported extending city services south of Indian River Road because I don’t want development destroying the rural character of southern Virginia Beach and I continue to oppose that. I was one of the earliest supporters of the ARP for this reason.
Do you support the agricultural reserve program, or ARP? Should its dedicated funding be maintained at a consistent level? I will continue my 100% voting record supporting the ARP and its funding. The ARP has been wildly successful at protecting our agricultural community and the economic engine that it brings.
Do you support maintaining the Green Line or should the city loosen constraints to allow more development? I don’t think things need to be changed or loosened. I do think the city should educate citizens more about the green line, blue line and transition area so everyone understands the importance of this strategy that prevents overdevelopment .
The new local voting system has seen challenges in court. Do you support maintaining the 10-district system? I’ve had many voters tell me they feel like their votes have been taken away in the 10-district system. They once voted for all 11 Councilmembers and in 2022, District 5 voters could vote in no Council races at all. Going from 11 votes to none is a pretty extreme result. I would be open to a compromise that has some at-large seats so voters have more of a say in who represents them on City Council. Voters should have more of a say on their city council elections.
Do you support collective bargaining? I voted against collective bargaining because that means national unions control our local budget process. I am more comfortable working with our local employees and addressing their needs without the legal expense of national unions, dues taken from employees and large administrative expenses that don’t increase workers’ salaries.
I am a strong supporter of teachers and employees, as a former teacher and school board member, and supported funding higher salaries. Three years ago, we spent $36 million to implement a step plan that employees requested. 80% of our employees went on the step plan and it eliminated salary compression.
Please give one idea you would implement to provide more affordable housing in Virginia Beach. Mixed-use design for new projects can help and converting large commercial land into residential has potential in some parts of the city, but we won’t approve development below the blue line in Southern Virginia Beach. More housing should be focused in the strategic growth areas along 264. We should also work to make sure government doesn’t over-regulate housing to the point of making it unaffordable.
L.G. SHAW III
Residence: Birdneck Lake
Age: 42
Occupation: President of Wave Riding Vehicles (WRV)
Education: First Colonial High School graduate
Endorsements: Virginia Beach Education Association-PACE and Virginia Beach Democratic Committee
Website: lgshawforvb.com
Phone: (703) 677-6320, Mike Williams, Campaign Manager
Email: lgshawforvb@gmail.com
Social Media: @LGShawForVB
What are your specific qualifications for this office? I was born and raised in what is now District 5, the district has always been my home and community.
I also head a family business (Wave Riding Vehicles- WRV) that serves both locals and tourists which provides tremendous insight into Virginia Beach locals as well as the city’s economic needs.
What is the most important issue facing the city and how will you address it in office? Storm water flooding is a major issue for our city. We’re investing many millions of dollars, passed by public referendum, to address this issue we need to make sure that these projects are done in a responsible fashion and that any future development does not add to our stormwater flooding problems.
What are your three main policy priorities?
- Public safety is a priority, nothing is more important than the safety of our citizens. I’m concerned our public safety pay has fallen to the lower end of the region, and I will make that a priority as a council member.
- As a parent with two young children, education is very important to me. I will commit to funding and supporting good schools in our city and would like to see our vocational opportunities expanded. If we teach our young people a skilled trade, then we have given them a tool they can use for their lives.
- We need to make living within our means and decisions with the way we spend our money recognizing that our citizens have a finite capacity to fund our government, and I will be respectful of that.
Should city services such as water and sewer be extended south of Indian River Road to promote development of rural communities? No, the southern part of our city is a treasure, and we must preserve this. It is part of what makes Virginia Beach the most unique city in America
Do you support the agricultural reserve program, or ARP? Should its dedicated funding be maintained at a consistent level? Yes, the ARP has given landowners an option to keep their properties in the southern part of the city while being able to derive income. It has been a very successful program with over 20,000 acres in the ARP program in our city.
Do you support maintaining the Green Line or should the city loosen constraints to allow more development? Yes, I think we have opportunities for development in the city strategic growth areas along the 264 corridor and redevelopment opportunities in the northern part of the city. That’s where we should focus our development opportunities.
The new local voting system has seen challenges in court. Do you support maintaining the 10-district system? It is the system we are under now and I maintain optimism that after this voting cycle, when District 5 and others vote for the first time to elect their Council Member, that more positive results can be produced. I know this has now gone to the courts and time will tell what will come of the district system, I will abide by whatever the courts determine our system to be.
Do you support collective bargaining? Unfortunately, my opponent has allowed city employees to fall to the bottom of Hampton Roads in terms of pay, benefits and working conditions. This is unacceptable. Since filing for office, I have committed to the city worker groups I have met that I will be a leader for them. Our first responders and city employees must return to the top of class in pay for our region. VB has the highest cost of living in addition to the highest quality of life.
The people that help maintain Virginia Beach’s quality of life must be retained and treated with respect.
Please give one idea you would implement to provide more affordable housing in Virginia Beach? We must engage the private sector to stay focused on opportunities as affordable housing is critical to both our local and our tourism-based economies. We have seen success in the ViBe district at places like Seaside Harbor, we can replicate them with willing parties around the city.
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