City Council candidates in Richmond’s bellwether district want safer streets and better transit

Richmond’s 5th District lies at the heart of the city, both geographically and culturally, and the upcoming election for the City Council seat there is bringing urbanist issues like safer streets and better transit to the fore. Longtime Councilmember Parker Agelasto announced in April that he would resign after he moved out of the district, and now the seat may return to its status as Richmond’s bellwether.

Spanning the northern and southern banks of the James, the district encompasses some of the city’s most affluent areas such as Westwood Hills and Byrd Park, as well as low-income neighborhoods like Swansboro and Randolph. When former City Councilmember Chuck Richardson (who is running again this year) first won his seat over four decades ago, the 5th District shifted the balance of power away from Richmond’s entrenched white elites and towards the city’s black majority.

Today, the district’s patchwork of historically black and white neighborhoods are becoming increasingly multi-racial as Asians move into the areas surrounding Virginia Commonwealth University and Latinx populations grow along the Hull Street Corridor. Key votes are coming up soon on big issues such as the beleaguered Navy Hill Coliseum redevelopment, meaning the new representative will have to hit the ground running…for a year until the next round of regularly-scheduled council elections in 2020.

The potential to serve for an unusually short stint as a councilmember has drawn an unexpectedly long list of candidates. Among the contenders (in alphabetical order) are Nicholas Da Silva, head of Richmond’s Democratic Socialists of America chapter; Stephanie Lynch, a clinical social worker; Jer’MYkeal McCoy, a sports equipment salesperson; Robin Mines, an associate minister; Chuck Richardson, the former councilmember; Mamie Taylor, a former teacher and school board member; and Thad Williamson, a University of Richmond professor. Only Mines and Richardson did not respond to GGWash’s request for comment.

With so many choices in an off-off-year election when turnout typically remains low, no one knows who will take the 5th’s seat on City Council. While the media has tried to make the race into a referendum on the increasingly unpopular North of Broad redevelopment plans from Mayor Levar Stoney, the candidates are focused on the needs of their potential constituents.

After a tragic death, a focus on road safety

After a woman was struck and killed on October 8 after walking into a Pulse Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) lane, many Richmonders have been focused on road safety, and the city’s Vision Zero goals in particular.

“Last year, the number of pedestrians killed by drivers was more than doubled [sic] from 2017. That is unacceptable and we are clearly dropping the ball when it comes to protecting our neighbors and implementing the Vision Zero Action Plan,” McCoy said in an interview.

A recent tally by Streets Cred found 16 people have been killed by cars in Metro Richmond and another 242 have been severely injured. Although Richmond is a Vision Zero city, Taylor believes the problem lies with implementation. “The Vision Zero Action plan has nine components we have not fully followed through with,” said Taylor.

McCoy agrees that Richmond’s current approach to pedestrian safety is lacking. “Public awareness campaigns that urge pedestrians to make eye contact with drivers, wear shiny clothing, and avoid ‘distracted walking’ shift responsibility for tragic collisions from the drivers of automobiles to the helpless victims who are dying at higher rates than ever before.”

If elected, Lynch says she would begin to fix decades of neglect and poor planning with “more money in the budgeting process to invest in crosswalks, bike lanes, high visibility signage, and traffic calming measures such as curb bump outs and speed bumps” and advocate for “long term structural changes such as the city wide lowering of speed limits in residential areas.” In an interview Williamson pledged to “work with any neighborhood that wishes to become an enhanced penalty speed zone or to establish speed tables or other mechanisms to create safer streets.”

While all candidates agree on the solutions, only one is vocal about the source of the problem. “Since its arrival on our streets, cars have made life more dangerous for all other modes of transportation around them,” said Da Silva. “Reducing the number of cars on our streets will go a long way towards achieving zero fatalities on our roadways. In retrofitting our streets to be ‘complete streets’ and incentivizing residents to use bikes and public transportation by providing inexpensive or free and improved access through buses and ‘last mile’ transportation we can reduce transportation deaths.”

Concerns about the safety of Richmond’s streets reverberate in the 5th District. One might expect the heart of the city to hold those neighborhoods in which it is safest to walk and bike; however, many of the area’s surface streets operate as unofficial cross-town mini-highways. Main, Cary, Hull, and Belvidere Streets as well as Semmes Avenue regularly witness drivers exceed the speed limit by 15-20mph and boast some of the highest rates of injuries and fatalities in the city.

“We have a beautiful and vibrant 5th District, but unfortunately right now, a lot of people don’t have meaningful access to all it offers because of how difficult we make it to get around without a car. We have to change that,” said Lynch.

Improve mobility with better roads and more bikeshare

To help improve mobility and transportation infrastructure in the 5th District, the candidates offer a wide variety of solutions ranging from car-centric fixes to truly multimodal policy prescriptions. Taylor’s solutions may be the most traditional in the bunch, but that doesn’t mean they won’t resonate with voters.

“Potholes are the most common complaint that I hear from constituents. People are frustrated by the amount of damage potholes can do their vehicles. Potholes are also a burden for bicyclists, as it is a safety hazard that could cause great damage as well as force them into closer proximity to ongoing traffic,” said Taylor.

Potholes aside, Lynch believes bikes could play a larger role in how residents of the 5th District get around if only the infrastructure were there. Out of the 18 bikeshare stations in Richmond, not a single one is south of the James. “I would like to see further implementation of the RVA Bike Share program south of the river. Further expansion of the RVA Bike Share would mean increased low cost transit access for families, students, and workers, as well as potentially more commerce and foot traffic in less affluent neighborhoods.”

To get more people to see biking as an affordable option, Lynch plans to focus on the equity issues behind bikeshare’s current setup. “The concept behind a robust bikeshare system in Richmond has to based upon equitable access in residential communities across Richmond, not just in wealthier neighborhoods and downtown.”

In her estimation such a city program needs to be both geographically and financially accessible for 5th District residents. “We have to make more affordable annual passes available, as well as partner with private interests in the city to sponsor the expansion of stations, in order to make this a reality.”

McCoy believes the biggest hurdle to getting more Richmonders on a bike is safety. If elected, he plans to expand protected bike lanes across Richmond in accordance with the City’s Bicycle Master Plan. “Many prospective cyclists rightly feel endangered in many parts of the city. We must build on the successes of recent years and fill in the gaps of our bike-related infrastructure so that everyone, including the one in five Richmonders with no car in their household, can navigate the city safely and successfully.”

Candidates plead (for better transit in) the Fifth

What all candidates agree on is the need for more frequent and reliable transit. Their plans for how to improve mobility in the 5th District fall into three broad areas of focus: more funding to support the Greater Richmond Transit Corporation’s bus network, better north-south connectivity, and expanded bus stop amenities.

Williamson highlighted the lack of quality transit as one of Richmond’s top challenges in the mayor’s Anti-Poverty Commission Report he authored. “Regional transportation is essential to better connect all residents to job opportunities. Richmond currently ranks near the bottom of the Top 100 metropolitan areas in job accessibility via transit, and the development of such a regional system would be transformative for the 5th District and the entire city.”

Echoing a line from community members opposing Navy Hill, Lynch believes if Greater Richmond wants a regional amenity such as a quality transit system, then the whole region ought to help pay for it. “We have to look at increased funding for GRTC from the Richmond budget, but we also need to engage our regional partners in Chesterfield and Henrico to ensure that they’re paying their fair share.”

McCoy couldn’t agree more: “Funding for GRTC improvements and expansions should come partially from the counties, particularly Chesterfield which has equal ownership of GRTC with the City of Richmond.”

To help more residents access what transit service already exists, candidates want to make ensuring that all bus stops in the city have shelter and seating a top priority going forward. McCoy sees “no excuse for seniors, differently-abled, and school children being excluded from using transit because of insufficient infrastructure.”

Williamson stated his support for increased City General Fund investment in GRTC or even dedicated revenue sources to support potential improvements as long as such investments were “coupled with more detailed explanation by GRTC of their annual budget request to the City as well as greater accountability by GRTC for funds used.”

Funding and amenities aside, nearly every candidate emphasized the need for a north-south bus rapid transit line to complement the east-west Pulse line. “You should be able to get from the north end of Richmond to the south end without getting ever getting in a car within a reasonable amount of time. More buses and increased access would further increase public transit usage,” said Da Silva.

So far only one of the five promised bus rapid transit lines from RVA’s Transit Vision Plan have been installed. The addition of a strongly pro-BRT voice to City Council may provide the needed impetus to finally add planned lines that would pass through the 5th District and on to Westchester and Brandermill in Chesterfield County.

One of Williamson’s top transit priorities would be to see that GRTC has the funding it needs to create direct connections to the Pulse from Randolph, Maymont, and Byrd Park. Lynch, perhaps reflecting her residence south of the James, sees a greater need for northbound access on Richmond’s Southside, especially in those areas annexed from Chesterfield that still lack vital infrastructure like drainage and sidewalks.

Residents will choose a candidate in Virginia’s election on November 5.