Issues – Richard West For Mayor

Public Safety

Chesapeake is a city of 245,000 citizens, and recently voted as the to 10 safest cities in America. Like all cities, we are not immune to growing violence and random acts of terrorism that have been all to prevalent in recent years. However, we can be confident that our men and women in Public Safety have outstanding training, proper equipment, and outstanding leadership standing ready and able to meet these challenges. As your Mayor, I will continue to place the safety of our citizens first. I will continue to work with Chesapeake’s Police and Fire leadership to ensure that we are proactive in crime prevention. I will also ensure that our City Council is well informed regarding the potential for domestic or foreign terrorism in our region. Under my leadership, Chesapeake’s City Council will engage with federal, state and local leaders to ensure that all citizens can have the peace of mind in knowing that we are doing everything possible to keep Chesapeake safe.

Schools

Chesapeake Public Schools has long been a driving force that attracts growth and vitality to our city. Our school system has an outstanding reputation for its dedicated teachers, innovative programs and outstanding leadership. Our school system, however, is not without its challenges. Many of our schools are aging, and a reduction in state funding has created additional challenges. Even though growth has occurred at a low to moderate rate, it has not occurred evenly throughout our city. This creates over-crowding in some areas and under-utilization in others. We cannot simply build new or expand existing schools to solve this problem. As Mayor, I will continue to foster strong cooperation between City Council, the Chesapeake School Board, and out parents so that everyone has a clear understanding of the situations at hand . Together, we can do better at identifying where we need new schools based on where we are forecasting growth.

Growth

Since our beginning in 1963, the rural nature of Norfolk County and the urban energy of South Norfolk have combined to characterize Chesapeake. As leaders, we must continue to work toward Balanced growth, including the preservation of both open space and agriculture. We know that both the Routh 168 and Route 17 corridors are prime for growth. With proper leadership, collaborative planning, and input from our citizens we can ensure that growth can occur while we preserve the rural nature of Southern Chesapeake. The most challenging aspect of growth is providing adequate, timely infrastructure. This requires investment on our part, investment that will yield benefits for generations to come.

Parks and Recreational Opportunities

Chesapeake is blessed with many natural resources, such as the Great Dismal Swamp, the Northwest River, the Intracoastal Waterway, and the historic site of the Battle of Great Bridge, which was America’s first land victory of the Revolutionary War. We must continue to exploit these resources to enhance the quality of life of our citizens, and to attract regional tourism. We must also improve recreational facilities such as our community centers. Many of our facilities are in need of maintenance, expansion, or update. As your Mayor, I will continue our efforts to combine school and city resources to provide better facilities for our citizens. This will require School Board and City Council to work together to examine our needs and create a plan for more regional facilities throughout our city. As always, I want our citizens to have a seat at the table so that we never suffer from communication break down on the issues that are important to all.

Leadership

We need leadership that will listen, learn, plan and act. My commitment to you is to provide just that