Richmond 6th District City Council Race - 2024

We must do the rollback. We live in a city where we have allowed City Council, in just one year, to triple the budget. The City Council walked into a budget session with a deficit, and I don't recall seeing many of you in those rooms when those decisions were being made. (Note: The city budget in 2020 was $1.86 billion, which has increased annually to the $2.9 billion budget that was approved in May.)

And so we want you guys to be educated. We want you to know that we need to do a major analysis of that budget, and that when that budget, that balanced budget, comes to City Council, the council will have the opportunity to review that budget and have ample communication with the community - that the mayor does not walk in 30 minutes before his press conference and delivers a budget to the City Council. We have to look at how we can move monies around, and we have to change our priorities in the city to match the priorities of the city of Richmond and who we are now. 

And we must look at the region, and we must not bear the burden for this entire region. The city of Richmond pays the cost for GRTC when other municipalities take advantage of it. The city of Richmond also pays the homeless bill for the unsheltered, and the other municipalities don't participate. So we have to come together and say that enough is enough, and that we must think smart, and we must do this the right way.

We need tax reform in the city. We pay the highest taxes in the city, and we have the worst services in this region. Something has to change.

Four years ago, when I ran for City Council, I advocated for split-rate taxation, which has also been called land-value tax, and I'm still advocating for that today. That is the tax that will put more emphasis on the property itself, easing the burden on the actual renters and making the wealthiest neighborhoods pay their portion.

This has been studied by urbanists, and they will agree, that is the best way to actually increase revenue without hurting the most vulnerable of us. It's on the books; no one in City Council wants to use it. We need to implement it now.

The cost of living in the city of Richmond has gone through the roof for many of us, and most of that is directly attributed to the increase in the assessment values.

I support ways to look at reducing the burden and the cost of taxation in the city of Richmond by addressing those families that are at a certain level of income. We do not have that advantage at the present time, but this is something that we are aggressively working on, and hopefully the General Assembly will make that a priority for us this year. (Note: State law requires the same tax rate be applied to all properties and residents in a city.)

In addition to that, we do need a regional fund that provides revenues to fund the essential services that the city provides for the entire region. That includes housing, transportation, money for our infrastructure. And so there are ways that we need to expand our source of revenue to not be solely dependent on property real estate taxes.

I guess a surprise for me is just how poor the city of Richmond has been for so long, and how that has left people in a position to feel hopeless. They feel helpless. They don't feel like that they have a way out, and essentially, they've really given up on the city of Richmond, because they feel like their voice doesn't matter and they don't have a seat at the table. 

And because of that, I have garnered so much support from people who have paid allegiance to the incumbent for so long, who have said that we are in a cycle now where change is going to happen, because it's going to be forced to happen. Because you can only do people the way that people have been done in this city but for so long, and we have to turn the ship, and we have to do the right thing by people.

So having the support of so many people that know I am the next representative for this district, because I bring a skillset and I bring a perspective and a vision to this district that will move the needle forward and move this district forward, and essentially that will move this city forward.

I don't know if I would say a surprise or that it's more so confirmation, that the thousands of people I talk to don't know who their representative is. This is what they say. This is not what I say. This is what it's being told to me.

They don't know their representative; their representative is not responsive. They have issues within City Hall, and they don't know who to turn to, and that is across Manchester, Highland Park, Bellmeade, Downtown. The majority of this district says the same thing: They're not being heard because they don't even know who the person is that will hear them is.

The consistent request is affordable housing, and what can we do to make it affordable for all people to have an opportunity to live in the city of Richmond?

Secondly, I get a lot of requests as it relates to programming and services for the youth and ways to expand upon educational opportunities. Those things, as well as jobs for the average person in our workforce. They are consistently asking for us to attract workforce jobs within the city of Richmond. Affordability is the greatest challenge citizens are facing. And they are looking for opportunities where they can afford a quality life.