A City for All of Us

I am announcing today my candidacy for the Third District Council in the City of Richmond.

I moved to Richmond after graduating from college and knew this would be my home. Today, I’m a single working mother who has supported two children through Richmond Public Schools. I was elected to serve on the school board in 2017. Richmond is not just my home, it has made me who I want to be. My life has been transformed by teachers and workers who advocate to make our school system and our city stronger. I wouldn’t be happier anywhere else.

Our city is defined by contrast. Grit, art, and civil disobedience sit shoulder to shoulder with the legacies of the plantation south and the consolidation of money and power. We are told there are two Richmonds, divided between entrenched poverty and generational wealth.

Despite the unquestionable truth that resources and opportunities are unequally distributed, Richmonders want the same thing. Richmond can provide opportunities for all of us when our leaders have priorities that align with ours: priorities that ensure that we put those with the highest vulnerability first. At our core, Richmonders want every community to be safe and to thrive. We know what we need, and we have been caring for each other this whole time to the best of our ability in spite of a deep lack of resources.

We’re also united around another truth — our city’s government is not working for us because politicians, beholden to their ultra-rich donors, spend our resources to ensure those donors stay rich. Elected leaders waste time chasing failed economic development deals. Our school buildings continue to deteriorate while the city hands out tax breaks to developers to build unaffordable, high rise apartments. Rents and property taxes have sky-rocketed with no substantive plan for relief.

We have a budget of over a billion dollars, but basic services are not working for us. The story of two Richmonds and the very real inequalities in our city are not an accident. This divide is exploited to the benefit of those who do not want to see economic justice for all — pitting neighbor against neighbor. For too long, our city has been governed by the ultra-rich and the elected officials they chose through campaign contributions. Together they have hoarded wealth and power, leaving the rest of us to fend for ourselves.

It doesn’t have to be this way. Richmonders have the power to win for ourselves and our neighbors. Part of what makes Richmond special is that we find ways to overcome, despite all odds.

Both Richmond Public Schools and City workers have won unions that will transform our public-sector workforce from the racist legacies of union-busting to dignified, sustainable jobs. It was the greatest honor of my tenure on the board to introduce their resolutions establishing their right to bargain. Across the city, Starbucks workers have led the nation in union victories in their local shops.

I was proud to work alongside public school teachers and public housing residents to defeat a proposal to divert hundreds of millions of dollars in public funds for private profit in order to redevelop the area around the coliseum in 2020. Twice, citizen mobilization has defeated a controversial proposal that would hold casinos as our only path to economic justice.

Every day, Richmonders are fighting and winning.

Together, I believe Richmonders can go on the offense, winning bigger and more sustainable changes that reimagine what our city can become.

As I launch my campaign, these are my core commitments:

• Accessible Democracy
  All of our city decision-making should be transparent, participatory, and accessible to all of us. Our democratic infrastructure, including city offices and services, should be functional and timely. Our city planning must prioritize stable, bottom-up growth — not high-profile and high-risk projects that benefit those already in power. Our city leadership has abandoned us to the whims of the market and the ultra-wealthy. We have to take back control because we know what we need to thrive.
• People-First Spending
  City spending should align with our values — putting students, families, workers, and small businesses first. That means our elected leadership must end handouts to our largest centers of wealth, particularly corporate donors. It also means our city procurement processes should be accessible and accountable to all of us, without privileging those with the most access. As your councilmember, I will continue to fiercely support the expansion and improvement of public services. We must fund libraries, schools, parks, housing, health services, social programs, small business development, buses, road paving, and trash services that work for us.
• Economic Justice
  Our city should be accessible to all who want to live here, whether they are renters or current and prospective homeowners. City policies should work to ensure accessible housing for all of us. Richmond workers have led the nation in new union organizing, and a just city with good jobs means a city with unions for all. We can expand opportunities by ensuring that employers pay fair wages and by funding much needed public sector jobs. We have known since the turn of the century that union jobs and government investments are the only way to grow the economy for all. We know that trickle-down economics does not work; we know that only makes the richest richer and leaves us with less. We must chart a new path.

We know that community safety is created when everyone has a dignified and stable place to live; when residents can provide for themselves and their families; when students attain an enriching public education; when we have fully-funded libraries that inspire us; when we have social services that can help us rebuild if we stumble; and when we have public spaces and transportation that bring us into community with our neighbors. These things build a thriving community. These things stop violence before they start.

The problems facing our city are not inevitable as we are led to believe. They are the result of decades of policy choices on all levels of government. We have the power to change them.

We have a right to our city, but we must claim it.

Join us.

#ACityForAllOfUs