October 18, 2006
the candidates speak at UHCA meeting
The Union Hill Civic Association met this evening at Cedar Street Baptist Church. The 7th district candidates for school board and city council took questions.
City Council
UHCA President Lora Toothman presided over the meeting of about 30 people. First up where the 2 city council candidates, Delores McQuinn and Reggie Malone. The UHCA had prepared 3 questions for the candidates.
The candidates were asked to describe the performance of city council under the strong mayor system, rate the efficiency of the city government on a scale of 1-10, and speak to the demolition of vacant houses in Union Hill.
Delores McQuinn spoke directly to the questions. She said, paraphrased, that the council has worked diligently and cohesively. She said that there are some glitches in system to address, like the fact that the council serves 2-year terms and that the mayor serves a 4-year term. She said that she feels that the council has held their own in an unbalanced environment. She described the budget as a big issue, described the system over-all as “a work in progress”.
McQuinn rated the efficiency of th government “a 7, maybe 7.5″. She acknowledged that there are areas that can be improved, saying that more attention needs to be paid to neighborhoods to address neighborhood concerns. She specified the need to find ways to reduce real estate taxes, to provide tax relief. She said that we must not stray from funding schools.
Speaking to the demolition of houses in Union Hill, McQuinn said that she is working to put into place a ‘demolition resolution’. She said that we “need to be sure that we are protecting the integrity of the community”.
Reggie Malone, animated, followed with more of a politicking response. Speaking on the role of the council under the strong mayor system, he said that the council has not understood their role, have not understood they are not mini-mayors, and that the “arrogance… is phenomenal”. He went on to say that “there are very few people on city council who are computer literate, and this is terrible in this day and time”. He then went on to state that a leader needs “vision and force”, while the community has been telling him that “we have no representation”.
Mr.Malone says that the city efficiency is at a 5. He cites the park service in the area as having been dismal. He went on to say that the parks weren’t just messed up when the storms hit, that they’ve been this way for years. Mallone predicts that the 7th District is ripe for a disaster like in Battery Park — “you can’t build a new city on old infrastructure”.
Speaking to the demolition of vacant houses in Union Hill, Malone says that a resolution is “fluff”, that “we need ordinances”.
School Board
The four candidates for school board — Ronald Bond, Delores Murray, Keith West, and Donald Coleman — then took the stage to answer the 2 questions put them as a group. This section will be more ragged because I was tired by then and am more tired now…
Question one was something like “Neighborhood schools have long been an unrealized public asset. The city is considering a move to consolidation. Respond.” The 2nd question was something like “What can we do to attract and keep middle class families in the public school system?”.
In response to the first question:
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Ronald Bond: no research, but improvement is long overdue, location something something, people like nice schools in a nice location.
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Delores Murray: cited her experience as a paraprofessional, cited research in favor.
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Keith West: Noted that many of the elementary schools in the district are very close to each other, said the the district is small enough to have fewer schools and still have them be neighborhood schools.
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Don Coleman: k-8 schools connect the students that much more with the school and teachers. Cited research that middle schools are the issue in urban areas all over the country — Baltimore, New Orleans, others. Concistency helps the students.
In response to the 2nd question:
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Ronald Bond: Nobody wants to send their children to inefficient schools, unsafe schools.
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Delores Murray: We have great teachers. various programs that are good: foreign languages, fine arts, preschool. Richmond has so much to offer to offer already.
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Keith West: This is crucial. There is no gimmick. We have to make these quality schools — no 50% drop-out rate, no graduates with average of 8th grade reading level. Fix this and we’ll attract more families. Gave props to the teachers and funding. Cited nned to give principles more control, the need to remove discipline problems.
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Don Coleman: Sees this as an issue. Cites families moving kids out of district for *nursery school*. Says that the economic future of the city is attached to the success of our schools. “We need to be able to market ourselves as a city with good schools.”
Thanks John. While I have no dog in either of these fights, Don Coleman seems to come off as the best candidate in an increasingly, politically irrelevant School Board (this city needs a good tenor on the school board). The other three seem a bit too unpolished and underprepared. Mr Bond and Mr West, while nice enough, dont seem quite ready for public office. All spit (literally) and no polish (does Mr West have a change of clothes?). As far as the council seat, this seems like a draw. Not sure if today’s nod to Mr. Malone by the Mayor will help or hurt him in the 7th. I sense that there is a creeping feeling of ambivilance about the Mayor throughout the city. That 80% sheen is starting is in full dulling mode. Rev. McQuinn, who is engaging in person, tends to come off as invisible in council chambers. And Reggie is on to something about her accessibility and responsiveness: it has not been stellar. That said, he did explain why he took a school board trip last year on a potential client’s dime with this beauty: he claimed that he never received ethics training and thus did not know it was improper. My answer would have been: “ever been to Sacramento? Clearly no pleasure was involved.” And since we have no charter shools as yet, no quid pro quo neither. As they both have winning smiles: flip a coin (if you have any left after paying your RE taxes).
That sound you just heard was the nail being hit directly on the head.
Don Coleman has my vote for sure, but I keep going back and forth on the council seat.
The white gentrifiers of Church Hill (love’em or hate’em) will not decide the 7th district council race. It will be the black churches and pockets of influential and unmoveable political stallwarts that McQuinn has surrounded herself with for years. That’s why she’s unresponsive to you. It is only when her political machine breaks down that she will be knocked off of her pedistal of self-interest. Although she fosters “local pride” in her public appearances, she has none. She cares least about the state of the 7th and most about “what you gonna do for me?” Malone needs lots of help to up his campaign over the top. Through him, we might expect a more fair balance of competing interests.
Just411ice -
I’m not going to get into a discussion of the candiates, but the “gentrifiers” will, in fact, determine who wins.
The district has changed tremendously in the last few years and the folks who have moved in and fixed things up actually vote. The churches, while you don’t want to ignore them, have less and less political influence in the 7th district simply because their membership is dying off or moving elsewhere.
Well McQuinn has my vote.
All I know is that McQuinn lied (for all practical purposes) straight to my face when I asked her whether the council had met with the developers of the proposed baseball stadium in the Bottom. Only when I asked the question another way did she acknowledge that they had. (Turns out, they had met either individually or in small groups, but not together as an entity.) Ponder that for a moment. It tells me all I need to know about Rev. McQuinn.
I don’t know a darn thing about her opponent, but I’m not sure it matters.
White gentrifiers huh? The true Gentry in this city live on estates out in the West End or Goochland my man. Neighborhood composition is an inherently dymnamic process in the US. And your use of unneccesarily coarse demographic generalizations detracts from your analysis that followed. Just like the black electorate, there is a wide diversity of substantive policy opinion within this supposed monolith. More overlap than difference on most all issues. Besides, within the next 3-4 future council elections, I predict that shifting demographics (a combination of continued restoration and construction and the planned depopulating of the RRHA poverty concentrations) and multiple black candidates will result in one of these pale-gentry sorts being on council. Ironically, only then will the poorer sections of the district actually get some attention and service. Indeed, to get re-elected every two years, that person would be forced to make some real hay in these communities. The current machine needs only to ply symbolic tactics (uhh, the label “white gentrifiers” would be one of these) and the occasional dirty trick. In a dynamic environment, this is not politically sustainable (just ask all the outgoing republican US congress persons in a few weeks). In a dynamic environment, it probably helps to be the champion for a larger set of human values (quality of life, diversity, inclusiveness, equity, security, effectiveness, transparency and truth are a few that come to mind) and deliver on these themes consistently. Or, you can take your chances with re-zoning a few condos, wearing a dashiki, and calling it a day.
Hey,hey….
Ho, ho….
The time is now….
For McQuinn to go….
Hey, hey…
Ho, ho….
Dear Sabato’s intern: Hi. I have it on good authority that Keith has now acquired a suit and will be wearing it out and about more often. He got into the habit of wearing knit shirts and khakis because he’s usually around two little boys who are very active. I think the knit shirts & khakis also make him more approachable. But, as to your overall point, I got it. Thanks. I love your alias by the way.
I do agree hey hey, ho ho, IT IS TIME FOR MCQUINN TO GO!!!
I look forward to working with Councilman Malone!!
I think Keith dresses just fine!