By now, most Richmonders have heard about the numerous people running for local office. More than 30 different people declared that they want to represent YOU either in the mayor's office, City Council or the School Board.
After taking a look at the potential mayors, Richmond.com wondered about each of the city's unique districts. Sliced up into nine diverse and oddly shaped pieces, each district has its own needs and concerns about what would make it and the city better.
Some districts cover a relatively homogenous group of people while others span areas so different you wonder how two people can possibly represent all those varying viewpoints.
So twice a month, between now and November, Richmond.com is taking a look at each district to tell you what it encompasses and what the priorities are for the people vying to look out for your interests at City Hall. Today we look at District 3/Northside.
District 3/Northside encompasses the northern most part of the city touching Henrico County. It includes the communities of Lakeside, Ginter Park, Bellevue, Azalea, Barton Heights, Rosedale and Battery Park, the latter of which still suffers from the effects of massive flooding from Hurricane Ernesto in 2006.
The Northside is also close to Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens, even if it is just outside the city limits, as well as the new Lakeside Farmer's Market.
There are six schools in the district plus two educational centers: Ginter Park, Holton and Stuart elementary; Chandler and Henderson middle; and Marshall High School as well as Richmond Technical Center and Richmond Career Education Center.
There are a handful of civic associations in the Northside, including the Battery Park Civic Association, the Lakeside Civic Association and the Ginter Park Residents' Association among others.
When looking at Richmond's growing community blog scene, the Northside seems to be limited in coverage to http://northrichmondnews.com/news/.
Though Carol A.O. Wolf has represented the district for the past six years on School Board, she won't be on the ballot this year after she failed to get enough qualified signatures. Shortly before the signature filing deadline, Wolf lost a stack of petitions.
The long-time vocal children's advocate said this week that she will decide Monday if she has the money to mount a write-in campaign against Norma Murdoch-Kitt, who ran an unsuccessful write-in campaign against Wolf in 2006.
Murdoch-Kitt, a 61-year-old clinical psychologist, is the only candidate on the ballot for the School Board's 3rd District, and she sees the same issues that affect schools as those that affect schools citywide.
Though the school system is doing an excellent job on most of the students, there's still half that are failing, she said.
"Those that don’t graduate continually fuel poverty and crime pipelines, and it's costing taxpayers huge amounts," she said. "So we need to do some creative things to reach part of the students for which traditional activities have not been working."
Even for those students who do graduate, she said, those that do aren't prepared with marketable skills or the academic background to succeed in college.
"What I'd like for us to do is to expand our capacity and increase our connection with (J. Sargent Reynolds) and perhaps build a biotech high school downtown," she said. "That way, they have marketable skills no matter whether they go to college."
Murdoch-Kitt said she'd also like to expand access to advance placement classes though an online program and start trying to empathize with students.
"That will help them emphasize their strong suits and match them up with career paths where, with hard work, they will be successful because the lack of hopefulness is linked to the dropout rate," she said.
"Many of our students are dropping out and going into the criminal justice system or premature parenthood. We need to have routes for getting that population back into schools. Even if they make mistakes, we need to have ways to get them back in."
Additionally, Murdoch-Kitt said it's crucial the board:
*spend its money very carefully;
*have a new chief financial officer and superintendent who have good money management and oversight skills;
*find and retain the best teachers and principals;
*buy the best textbooks and software; and
*repair or replace the old buildings.
"Certainly many buildings have needed to be repaired or replaced for a long time," she said. "We need to have plan in place and get on with it."
Taking wisdom from regular audits would also be high on Murdoch-Kitt's priority list, she said.
"We also need to combine certain departments with city departments where it will save money and makes sense. We don't need two departments to cut grass," she said.
"I think there's a lot of benefit there. We need to explore the possibility of combining functions with the surrounding counties. (For example), services for autistic kids. It's a challenge for all districts, but none have huge numbers of autistic children."
Along the same lines, working together on issues is the only way things will get done, she said. Even if Richmond residents don't have children or grandchildren in the system, they still need to pay attention to schools.
"The success of our education system is the cornerstone of our community that impacts everyone who lives here, from property values to crime rate to whether businesses choose to come here," she said.
"I think it's important for all voters to really try to pay attention to what the different candidates are saying and try to pick out the one they think will help move our system along."
On the City Council side, four-year incumbent Chris Hilbert faces a challenge from Jonathan Davis, a 48-year-old teacher at J.T. Mastin High School Annex in the Bon Air Juvenile Correctional Center.
Hilbert, 47, is a senior community housing officer with the Virginia Housing Development Authority.
Both men spoke of the importance of improving education and further reducing crime both in the Northside and the city as a whole.
"Open air drug markets and prostitution continue to be a problem in parts of the district," Davis said. "Churches, businesses, organizations and city government can work together to create outreach and re-entry programs that assist incarcerate youth, adults and prostitutes transitioning back into society.
"Too often these persons re-enter the community without the tools in place to help them succeed; therefore, they enter the life of crime or convenience that is familiar to them."
Hilbert said that's why council has funded 100 new police officers since he's come on board as well as why he's sponsored anti-prostitution legislation and targeted enforcement zones banning those individuals with prior convictions.
Stationing a police precinct on Chamberlayne Avenue was also a positive change to curb crime, Hilbert said.
"Having a precinct there in the center ... as well has having one on Chamberlayne will make an appreciable difference and be a visible reminder that police are out there watching and patrolling," he said.
Hilbert said the other top issues facing his district are improving education and maintaining constituent services.
Though it may have been seen as a School Board responsibility, Hilbert said he put the money into the budget to start the International Baccalaureate program at Henderson Middle School after hearing from parents. There's already such a program at the Southside Lucille Brown School.
"There are 115 students are eligible citywide yet only 50 slots at Lucille Brown. These were my efforts to bring one north of river. I heard from parents whose kids have to get up before 6 a.m. to get to Brown and (the fact that) they're not even meeting half of the demand for eligible students is very troubling for me," he said.
"I do feel City Council is held accountable for schools so in my role as chairman of the health, education and human services committee, I tried to take a leadership role in that effort with my push to do that."
As far as constituent services, Hilbert said he has tried to be a supporter for everyone, especially those affected by the flooding in Battery Park.
"I really tried to be an advocate for the people who were affected by the flood so much so that the mayor felt it necessary to put out a press release that I was more of a hindrance than a help," he said.
"I will continue to be a strong advocate for them as well as all my constituents. Confrontation is not my default mode but I'm here to work on their behalf, and I know who sent me to city hall--the people in my district. If I upset a few people at 900 E. Broad St., that's just part of the day's work."
In addition to crime reduction, Davis cites a need for youth and senior services as well as community revitalization as his top priorities for the Northside.
"I have long believed that Barton Heights needs a community center. An opportunity exists to develop the Norrell Elementary School building into a center that meets the needs of our youth, families and seniors," Davis said. "The Norrell School … is the ideal location for a community center.
Davis said the Providence Park Boys and Girls Club also needs to be expanded to provides services for youth and seniors, and that corporate partnerships could help fund an expansion of these facilities.
Where Davis saw the need to improve blighted properties in the district, Hilbert mentioned that issue as one of his citywide priorities.
"Owners of blighted properties must be held accountable," Davis said. "Better lighting throughout district is imperative. We must also complete the revitalization of our business corridors with a plan agreeable to all business owners and residents.
"Streetscaping along our main streets and business corridors will greatly enhance our entire district."
Davis said he's also like to explore the possibilities of economic empowerment zones.
Citywide, Davis said his priorities were building a strong, first-class school system; reducing high taxes and high city spending and improving economic development.
"We need to be moving toward a debt-free municipality," he said. "Taxes are a part of life, but when tax increases are unpredictable and excessive, something is wrong. Common sense money management needs to be stressed."
In addition to improving infrastructure and reducing blight, Hilbert, too, said that fiscal accountability was important.
"I've tired to be a big advocate for that, and have been very critical of some dollars wasted through the attempted school administration eviction and the million dollars wasted there. Not only that but also the $500,000 that came out of Battery Park and, despite the administration's protestations to the contrary, Battery Park is not all well and good.
"It's not repaired, yet the administration thought it was OK without a budget allocation to spend monies allocated for it. I have been very vocal about that and will continue to be. That matter is not over yet. I think that it's not up to us, the legislature. It's up to the judicial branch now to take up that matter. To me, the legalities of that are going to be worked out. But it's morally wrong to take money out of Battery Park to throw the schools out of City Hall."
Meet the Other Districts:
