With less than two weeks until the April 21 special election, candidates for an open seat on Alexandria City Council made their pitches to civic association members yesterday (Wednesday) at a forum.
Democratic candidate Sandy Marks and independent candidates Alison O’Connell and Frank Fannon joined the forum, held during Alexandria Federation of Civic Associations’ monthly meeting. Candidates answered questions on topics the civic association leaders selected, along with a lightning round of policies they would support or oppose.
Marks is the former chair of the Alexandria Democratic Committee, Fannon is a former Republican City Council member from 2009 to 2012, and O’Connell is a founding member of Alexandria for Palestinian Human Rights. They are running for the seat vacated by former City Councilman R. Kirk McPike, who was elected to Virginia’s 5th House District.
The candidates participated in the AFCA forum in between speaking at an Old Town Civic Association meeting. They will join another forum, a virtual event from 1-3 p.m. Saturday hosted by the League of Women Voters of Alexandria and Arlington.
Carter Flemming, chair of the Alexandria Federation of Civic Associations, encouraged members to vote in the special election and encourage their neighbors to do to the same.
“Local elections have a very poor percentage of people who actually show up and vote, and with all that’s going on in the world where people are fighting to be able to vote, I think it’s a reminder to all of us that it’s a privilege to be able to vote no matter who you vote for,” Flemming said.
Opening Statements
Marks said she has experience in legislation and constituent services and decided to run to continue McPike’s work on City Council.
“This is a challenging moment in our country, in our state and in our city … We’re going to have to work together if we’re going to get through it,” Marks said. “And I want to be a person at that table, working with you and working with colleagues on City Council, city staff, at the state level, to help solve those problems and to make sure that you know there’s someone in the room working on your behalf to try to do the best they can to get you what you need to get through these times.”
O’Connell said she’s not a career politician and has been involved in community organizing over the last several years.
“I am running because I feel like the most vulnerable residents in our city don’t get enough of a seat at the table,” O’Connell said. “They are not heard enough, and when they come out to council and ask for help and support, they often don’t receive it and or they’re not treated with respect.”
Fannon decided to run when the string of special elections began with state Sen. Adam Ebbin’s resignation announcement in January.
“If I get elected by the citizens of Alexandria, I’ll be one of the senior voices on the city council with a lot of life experience,” Fannon said. “I’d be one of the oldest city council members, and I’d be able to bring a lot to the dias and to help our discussions here in the City Council, and continue to provide leadership for the City Council, like I’ve done over the past 30 years through civic engagement in Alexandria.”
The Role of Civic Associations
Candidates shared how much weight they give civic associations in representing the city’s residents.
Marks rejected the notion of favoring any special interest group over another.
“I do care very deeply about what our civic associations think. I also care about what our bike and pedestrian safety people think,” Marks said. “I also care about what the facts of the situation are, and I care about what the people in the room think. I also care about what the people who aren’t able to be in the room have to say.”
O’Connell said her bigger concern is that civic associations don’t include the views of renters.
“There’s a perception that if you are not a homeowner in the city, that you’re not invested in its long-term future and development,” O’Connell said. “And I don’t think that’s true. I’ve been a renter in the city for 10 years. I know many people who have lived here for decades and are renters. So that’s my bigger concern, people who are working class and poor, who live in the city and don’t own homes and may not be included in these associations, but the projects we’re talking about will most benefit them.”
Fannon said he wanted to run because of how City Council has made “one-size-fits-all” decisions that have impacts on different neighborhoods. He has pushed for the city to adopt a ward-based City Council system.
“One of the things that would be a great idea is if we divided the city into different sections and wards,” Fannon said. “So what happened is, when some of these decisions are being made, example, put in apartment buildings in single-family homes, there was no representative for that area of the single-family homes to defend it, and it just went through right like that, got pushed through by the City Council.”
Residential Tax Burden and the Budget
Candidates addressed the ongoing concern that residential property owners carry the greatest tax burden to fund the city’s budget.
Marks addressed her suggestion of establishing business improvement districts to boost commercial revenue, noting a disconnect between residents wanting more services while wanting to pay less. An effort to bring a BID to Old Town has failed several times.
“I think that is one of the least harmful and most advantageous things we can do in the city, because what it does is it brings business back into our city, back to our small businesses,” Marks said. “So yes, businesses and property owners in those districts do need to spend some funds, and really they get such a return on this investment. We all do. I think it’s very important that we start investing in our business corridors in this city, not just in Old Town, but across the city.”
Fannon said the decline of in-person offices since the COVID-19 pandemic has hurt the commercial market.
“What we need to do is we need to try to bring in more businesses, more good taxpaying businesses,” Fannon said. “We have opened a Metro station in Potomac Yard after many years. That can be a good economic driver, but put in business centers and business communities near our Metros, and that’s where if we’re going to do high-density development in the city.”
O’Connell is supportive of continuing a guaranteed income pilot program for low-income residents despite budgetary pressures.
“A lot of times what people need is just money,” she said. “They need money without strings attached, and it allows them to participate in our city or wherever they’re living. It allows them to spend money at our businesses and to stay in our community.”
O’Connell was also vocal about seeking divestment from companies that contribute to human rights abuses.
“The current demand for ethical investment is about our pension funds and other city funds and contracts,” O’Connell said. “Will there be some impact on them? It’s certainly possible, but there are existing portfolios that are designed to not include weapons manufacturers or fossil fuel companies.”
Satisfaction with the School Division
Marks and Fannon were asked about the quality of Alexandria City Public Schools and what should improve.
Marks, whose children attend George Washington Middle School and Alexandria City High School, said she is satisfied with the schools but not with losing another superintendent. She said the city needs to fund the ACPS collective bargaining agreement.
“What I would like to see changed, I would like to see us fund our schools,” Marks said. “I would like to see our community treat our PTAs and our teachers and our administrators and our school staff and our bus drivers with support and kindness. I would like to see our children treated with the respect they deserve. I would like to see funding from the state now that we have a Democratic governor and a Democratic trifecta in Richmond, a government that believes in public education, that isn’t interested in cutting funding for public schools.”
Fannon called turnover of ACPS leadership a top concern, including the nearly year-long vacancy of a permanent high school principal. He also supports reducing the Alexandria City School Board from nine to five members.
“We need to improve our schools and have people come to Alexandria City for better public schools. And it’s a big job,” Fannon said. “We have the largest public high school in the Commonwealth of Virginia here at Alexandria City High School. And we just need to all work together to do everything we can to enhance the education and have some good, stable leadership in our school system.”
Sheriff’s Office Transfers to ICE
Candidates shared differing views on how Sheriff Sean Casey’s office has handled inmate transfers to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. City Council has faced pressure from activists who demand the sheriff’s office budget be withheld until transfers to ICE stop.
Marks believes Casey is “misinterpreting the law” on requirements to transfer inmates to ICE. She hopes Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones will soon issue a legal opinion to clarify.
“I would say the thing that’s brought to my attention most when I ask people what they’re concerned about in Alexandria is ICE, and ICE’s activity in Alexandria and in Virginia and in the United States in general,” Marks said. “And so I can tell you that it’s a concern of Alexandrians. It’s definitely a concern of mine, and I certainly have great difficulty recognizing ICE as a legitimate force in the United States, watching it scoop up violently American citizens, shooting and treating with real disrespect and violence, American citizens, non-violent undocumented people, people just living their lives.”
O’Connell agreed that “many legal experts think he is misinterpreting this law.”
It mostly hinges on the word may, which Attorney General Mark Herring also issued a letter about 10 years ago,” O’Connell said. “This is up to his discretion. I wish it weren’t. I wish the new law that was going up to Governor [Abigail] Spanberger’s desk included jail transfers, because we have this gap and he’s able to do this. This is his choice, and administrative warrants are not binding the way judicial warrants are.”
O’Connell also addressed other public safety stances in her campaign, which include cuts to police, removing school resource officers from schools and eliminating use of license plate readers.
“I think that we need to invest in housing. We need to invest in our schools, and that is where we will eventually yield more public safety,” O’Connell said. “We might not see those results immediately, but if we want our community to grow, the answer isn’t more police, which makes sections of our community feel very unsafe, it’s dealing with the underlying causes of poverty, which are what lead to crime.”
Fannon said he spoke with Casey to voice his support for the policy.
“As an elected official, education and public safety are arguably the two biggest roles that you do as a city, and we have a fairly safe city here in Alexandria,” Fannon said. “And what happens is Sheriff Casey is following the law, and when someone comes into custody, there’s questions that the sheriff has to legally ask, and if someone is in the country illegally and they’ve committed a crime and they need to be turned over to the federal authorities, and that’s the law, and that’s what Sheriff Casey is doing.”
Lightning Round
Candidates provided their stances on the Zoning for Housing decision, Duke Street in Motion plan, changes to the city’s appropriations to ACPS, Braddock Road changes, “Faith in Housing” state legislation and Housing 2040 plan.
Zoning for Housing
Marks: Yes
O’Connell: Yes
Fannon: Partially yes, but not the elimination of single-family zones
Duke Street in Motion plan
Marks: Yes
O’Connell: Yes
Fannon: No
ACPS reclassification of funding
Marks: No
O’Connell: Mixed opinion, but yes
Fannon: Yes
Redesign of Braddock Road between Russell Road and West Street
Marks: Yes
O’Connell: Yes, with an amendment to restore the handicap parking spaces
Fannon: No
“Faith in Housing” state legislation
Marks: Yes
O’Connell: Yes
Fannon: No
Alexandria 2040 Housing plan
Marks: Yes
O’Connell: Yes
Fannon: No
