Fairfax City Candidates Share Views On Development, Traffic, Budget

FAIRFAX CITY, VA — Candidates running in the Fairfax City mayoral, city council, and school board races answered a variety of questions during Wednesday night's candidates forum at the Sherwood Center.

About 90 people turned out to watch the event that was hosted by the Cobbdale and Old Lee Hills civic associations. Amy Moir, a member of the League of Women Voters, served as moderator.

"We had this facility originally for two days, but then there was a scheduling conflict, so we could only do it one day," said Jana Tilinger, who is member of the Old Lee Hills Civic Association board. "It would've made it a lot easier. We would have just simply had more time with the candidates and more specific questions for each of them."

After each of the candidates in all three races had a chance to make their opening remarks, the focus shifted to the mayor and city council candidates, who answered questions submitted in writing by the audience.

"The point was to get the neighbors' questions together and pose the questions," Tilinger said. "There was not going be a conversation and not going to be people standing up in the audience and asking questions. This was going to be a formalized way of putting our questions to all the candidates."

Qualifications for the job ...

"Being an immigrant child who came to the United States at the age of 4 and didn't speak any English in the beginning was really hard. And it kind of helped me learn how to deal with people in the military too. Because when you're in the military, we deal with people from all over ... different backgrounds and cultures. I think that's what we need here. We have an incredible city here where almost 30 percent of people are actually foreign-born in our city. You look at the diversity and you even look at this council we have right now and the diversity there. You need to be able to work with a variety of people. My professional experience, whether it's in law, whether it's in policy, whether it's in government or in military leadership, I think all bodes really well for me to be able to handle the responsibilities and duties as our mayor."— Sang H. Yi, mayoral candidate

"I think the leadership qualities are creating an environment where people work together collaboratively, where there is a safe space for people to have discussions and be respected even when they dissent. I think it's important to be the voice of the city and be the person who can work between the council and the city staff and our city manager, and I think those are basic skill sets that I have developed over the last 50 years." — Catherine S. Read, mayoral candidate

"I've been involved in the City Fairfax for over 30 years, whether it was starting out on the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board, moving to serve as the vice chair of the 2020 Commission, then serving on the Economic Development Subcommittee and then eventually getting elected to the council. I've been off of council for the last four years, but I've continued to be involved, raising money for charities, helping to address child hunger here in the City of Fairfax. I think experience matters." — Jeffrey C. Greenfield, city council candidate

On future development ...

"The first thing I want to make sure to focus on in all development is engaging all the residents at the very beginning. So, when the developers first come to the city council and mayor, instead of having those discussions happen without your knowledge, make sure that residents are engaged. I want to prioritize neighboring residents and their concerns about the development and also environmental concerns. We have to start paying attention to the impact that we're having on the trees and green spaces and waterways and that really has to be a priority." — Kate Doyle Feingold, city council candidate

"We have to get to a place where we find ourselves being able to build destinations. Nineteen-seventies strip malls aren't going to get it done, folks. We have to figure out how to get people out of their houses and not clicking on Amazon.com in order to buy what it is that they want to buy. We do that by building a destination." — Joseph D. Harmon*, city council candidate

"First, if we are making the small area plan, I believe that we have to be more conscientious of what sort of a plan that we set in place. Once we set the plan in place, then the developers comes in and ask for what we have set in place. So, we make sure that when we are working on a small area of plan, we're more conscientious of density, height, walkability, and also environmentally safe, sustainable buildings, as well as what the neighbors want." — So P. Lim*, city council candidate

"We must find places for that economic growth to fit and allow for activity to go on in those areas, while at the same time protecting and sustaining our neighborhoods. We can do both. We have an opportunity now in the next few years to attract the kind of economic growth that will fuel our future, provide opportunities for our kids and our grandchildren. We must find that balance and we must engage our citizens in all those decisions we make." — D.T. "Tom" Ross*, city council candidate

On the city budget ...

"I'm grateful that we are funding our schools. I think we need to look at the funding and make sure that our schools and our teachers have enough for the coming years. As we're seeing more development pop up, we're going to have more students. ... The next council needs to think about how the schools are going to get funded with all these new developments, so we don't have overcrowding at our schools." — Anahita N. "Ana" Renner, city council candidate

"With regards to the police budget, it would be something I'd like to look at. I do think that would be something I'd look to increase. We do seem to have a growing city. We're going to need more police officers. They're going to need new equipment and then possibly even more officers just in different parts of enforcement." — Craig S. Salewski, city council candidate

"Number one, what keeps me up at night, healthcare costs. Right? We are the chair of the board of 400 people who have health care that we provide to them. That's a critical element and how we fix it as a nation impacts our budget and our bottom line. The second is mental health. ... I'm incredibly proud of the work we're doing for the crisis response task force now to think about that issue. 988 is for real. ... 988 deserves as much investment as 911 because mental health is health. Those are the areas that keep me up at night." — Jon R. Stehle Jr.*, city council candidate

On transportation ...

"We don't need to reinvent the wheel. We already have Falls Church and Arlington. They've made improvements that have worked for them and we need to look toward their examples. They prioritize walkability and transit-oriented development, and creating more of a grid of streets, where we don't see the massive bottlenecks that we have in Old Town Fairfax, massive blocks with no through streets where there should be through streets and we need to prioritize looking toward more CUE Bus service." — Billy Bates, city council candidate

Also see ...

• $210K In Campaign Contributions Reported In Fairfax City Mayor's Race
• Fairfax City 2022 General Election: Guide To Candidates, How To Vote
• Partisan Politics Emerge In 2022 Fairfax City Mayor's Race