TOM VANCE
Website - www.tomvance.com
e-mail - tom@tomvance.com

1. What kind of change would you bring to the 1st District?

I would like to make more First District residents aware of the rest of the City. Part of this process will include making the issues most critical to our City's success equally as critical in the minds of First District residents. Awareness is part of the problem. Our District's issues are not on the front page of the RTD on a daily basis, we might want to get a little better acquainted with more than what we see driving between our District, the Fan, and Downtown. 

2. Richmond has some serious infrastructure problems and the bills to repair them are mounting. How can council and the administration move to address - and more importantly - pay for these improvements?

These infrastructure issues must be addressed before we spend one dime on nice-to-haves in our City. The 2005 Efficiency and Effictiveness Study presented to the Mayor last year outlines item after item of clearly identified waste. Not sure if any members of Council have read it - certainly haven't seen them address it if they have. It's not bad reading and identifies dept after dept with comparisons to similar size cities. This is not rocket science - for instance: why do we have a Dept of Public Works and a Dept of Public Utilities? And why do they each have separate contracts with different vendors to perform similar tasks? Sadly, this required a special committee to compile - these should be commonsense questions.

 www.ci.richmond.va.us/citizen/city_gov/mayor/docs/E&EReport.pdf  


Until you have a Councilman who has worked in an organization as large as our City's govt and who has faced the same kind of budget questions...you can't expect things to change. 

 

Finally, Battery Park needs immediate attention. The Army Corps of Engineers must be salivating at the chance to save the day. I mean this with no disrespect to our City Engineer - this problem took 60 years to develop and we cannot expect to have the immediate expertise to fix it. This is when you say "know what know and know what you don't know". When you don't have the right players in the game or on the bench - hire them. 

3.  Mary Munford is one of the city's best schools and sadly an exception in the system rather than the rule. What can you do on council to help the other schools in the city reach the level of success we see at Mary Munford?

Council's responsibility to City schools stops at the budget process. We have a duly elected School Board that must be held accountable for their role in the process. City Council's responsibility is to ensure that monies misspent in other areas find their way to areas of most immediate need - schools, safety, etc. We continue to attack symptoms of mismanagement. Eliminate waste in other areas and you suddenly have money to satisfy the demands of our educational system. Of course, when you have Council voting to spend $30k on a back to school parade what do you expect? That $30k would have purchased 30-35 laptop computers, an actual tangible educational asset - here again, this isn't rocket science. 

We want to build new schools, that's like putting a new body on my 10 year old car - same engine, same issues. I have suggested that we redistrict our schools into 5 democratically elected districts. Since several of our districts our currently running unopposed we're not really electing anyone - we're settling. In addition to the 5 districts we would appoint 4 members. There are people in our City who could contribute immeasurably to the process but who have no desire to go thru what a candidate has to do to get elected. Let's bring skillsets to the School Board that aren't always available on the ballot. Example: a teacher retires after 30 years of successful teaching, has a wealth of knowledge, and good organizational skills - yet has no desire to go door-to-door. Let's tap this great resource. Same thing for the retired CFO who came thru the public school system, we could use the help. 

4. The school system receives more than 20% of the city budget and the results are less than encouraging. What can you do on council to bring about a better use of those tax dollars and would you support a charter school program in the city?

Probably covered most of this in my last answer. I absolutely support a charter school program and would like to see the School Board promote this. Again, let's see the School Board work on this. Not likely since the NEA rails against charter schools. I think charter schools would be beneficial, particularly in other districts. One of the beauties of charter schools is the opportunity for parental interaction. By promoting this opportunity for those parents who want to engage you allow teachers in other schools to focus on those children who are not so fortunate. 

A good opportunity exists out of Longwood Univ. They have a program called "Call Me Mister", it promotes black men as school teachers. Brilliant! Since 90% of our public housing consists of single-parent female heads of household, the one thing consistenly missing in children's lives is a male role model. How about the REA promoting the hiring of black men as teachers. Better yet, let's work with VCU/UR/JUCO's on a program that would foster this type of hiring. 

5. The First District is Richmond's wealthiest. What can you do as a member of Council do to help bring the First District's success to the entire city? 

How about working cooperatively with other members of Council, take a leadership role in helping them with their District's issues. Since I started this campaign I have very clearly stated that what is best for Richmond as a whole is what ultimately benefits the First District. In the perfect world every District would have the great neighborhoods that we have and the tax base for Richmond would be equally distributed, this would result in a tax reduction for the First District - but it all starts with helping the rest of Richmond get well. 

6. As a member of Council, would you vote to appropriate the $23 million in promised public funds for the arts center project if the city does not regain ownership of the land? Should the city request a detailed itemization of the costs for the Carpenter Center before allocating the funds?

No, I wouldn't. I like the idea of the City owning it then leasing it to the VAPAF. I haven't seen anything to give me a warm feeling about how the VAPAF spends its money. Not that they can't, just that they haven't. Now on the other hand I have been very impressed with Dr. Trani's work in developing and revitalizing VCU's surrounding area. I have suggested that Richmond consider giving the Landmark Theater to VCU - think about it - in the RTD 2 weeks ago there was a great rendering of the Monroe Park area and VCU's plans - and there in the background is the Landmark with its sad marquis. VCU is here for the long haul and certainly seems up for helping Richmond, let's see if they're up for one more project. 

A detailed itemization and timeline for completion is requisite to funding any project, not just the Carpenter Center. Those in leadeship on the VAPAF certainly wouldn't run their businesses (or those in which they invest) without one. 

7. What would you do to make all satellite committees and public-private ventures that determine and weigh in on public policy -- like the education and performing arts committees, and the Broad Street CDA -- more open to public input and taxpayer scrutiny to ensure the city does not get caught in a bad and/or financially draining deal?

Holding scheduled forums at reasonable times of the day would be a good start, or at least with some advance notice - perhaps more than a couple of days. Next, anytime you have an investment in something you would expect to have an accounting of it. I would expect that if, for example, Richmond instituted a special purpose tax it would then have required quarterly expenditure reports against any funds generated and allocated to the beneficiary. Any contract - I am assuming here that you would have a contracct with the recipient - would include the right to audit. Finally, a capital outlay of >$5M might also be accompanied with an actual accountant who would be embedded in that organization to monitor progress. 

8. Do you support the Mayor's City of the Future plan in general? Which part of the plan, in your opinion, is most important/needed and which part can wait?

I support the fact that Richmond actually has A PLAN! I also recognize that every plan changes, and we are naive to think that the plan as written will fully come to fruition. Right now the whole plan has to wait. Battery Park needs immediate attention, let's make that a priority. The funding for the plan is largely based on a revenue stream from ~3000 expiring tax abatements. That will happen whether we build any new schools or not. Let's start addressing some of our the problems in the City of Today. Finally, I haven't found 1 parent who supports a K-8 school. Yes, it does work in private schools - but let's be honest - private schools have about a 110% parent participation rate and students come to school prepared or with a support system that allows them time to prepare for success. Don't get me wrong - there are students in public schools who have all of that and more, but far too many do not. 

9.  What do you love doing in the 1st District?

Just walking around. This campaign has allowed me to see so much of the District, to appreciate its architecture - contrary to popular belief we're not all brick, center-hall colonials! I typically watch the road when I'm driving, it was nice to get to really focus on the houses. 

We're not overflowing with restaurants or theaters - friends houses provide most of the entertainment here in "the bubble". Lunch at Phil's on a Saturday afternoon is always good, follow up with the Westhampton Theater. You didn't ask, but I would like to see a Lafayette Street renaissance - it would make a great neighborhood better. 

10. If you were not in this race and had to choose among the remaining four candidates, for whom would you vote?

I would have say Mr. Wilkins - a retired Brigadier General with a good financial background who seems genuinely altruisic has to top my list. No baggage and no hidden agendas, proven leadership ability.