VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — The November election is less than two months away, and from the national stage to the local level, candidates are advertising their platforms.
That includes the five candidates for Virginia Beach Mayor: incumbent Mayor Bobby Dyer, City Councilwoman Sabrina Wooten, City Councilman Chris Taylor, former City Councilman John Moss and businessman Richard "RK" Kowalewitch.
Wooten, Kowalewitch and Moss attended a candidate forum Wednesday night, hosted by environmental organization Lynnhaven River NOW. They discussed a variety of topics; read below to see where the candidates stood on key issues.
Offshore Wind
Candidates were first asked about their concerns with offshore wind efforts and if those efforts can be mitigated to provide a future for the power source.
Kowalewitch answered first, saying, "I have talked to several people in Croatan, and they're not happy. I'm deeply concerned, and I want to see numbers that show this is going to reduce pricing for taxpayers."
"There are positives," Moss said. " We should be looking more, in my opinion, to nuclear power, more sustainable. But we have to make what we have work. We have to make sure the people who do it compensate the people who feel the impacts of it."
Wooten answered third. "We do need to add another arm to this economy," she explained. "Some of the concerns include the noise and how it's going to impact the community during construction. Although I know there is a significant benefit for offshore wind, the concerns of the citizens must be addressed."
Public Transportation
Attendees asked the candidates about their goals for public transportation, including whether or not they would support a city light rail. In a 2016 referendum, citizens turned down the idea of implementing a light rail system.
"The public's already spoken about light rail, we have to respect the public's decision, so we're now talking about bus. Let’s try the routes that are heavily used," said Moss. "Let’s pay the price to get 15-minute service. Let’s see what the usage is, [but] these buses run around for the most part empty."
Wooten added, "Connectivity is important. There are certain locations where placing services in certain areas just makes sense. It's also incumbent on us to work with other cities because that's where we can have some cost savings."
"Public transportation is expensive, no matter how you cut it," said Kowalewitch. "Efficiency on our buses, whether they should be smaller or more frequent, those are things we should look at. We need to make it more accessible; I will look into if we can afford it and do it."
Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center
Candidates fielded a question on how they will handle the ongoing conversations between the city and the Virginia Aquarium, and how they plan to fund it if the facility remains a city entity.
"There were some folks who made some decisions that the full body did not agree to," Wooten explained. "And I am one of the people who did not agree. [I've] always advocated that the foundation, their perspective be included. We need to have have transparent conversations to move forward with how to best address this issue."
Kowalewitch said, "The city should not let someone else buy the aquarium. How does this get this far out of whack? Is it the same way storm water got out of whack? Is it mismanagement? It will be on the top of my radar to fix it."
Moss explained, "It's an asset. We chose to have this asset, it’s a responsibility, but we shouldn’t be adding liabilities, new parks, new big investments, until we can take care of the things we already own."
