The three candidates who want to become mayor of Fredericksburg generally agree over what the issues are, but have different ideas on how to deal with them and run the city.
In their campaign statements, mailings and in public forums for the May 1 elections, council members Fred Howe III and Mary Katherine Greenlaw and political newcomer Matt Paxson have talked mostly about several issues: development of Riverfront Park, economic development, the cost of a new city courthouse and how the city communicates with residents.
The park along the Rappahannock River has been planned for decades. The city has been acquiring waterfront land along Sophia Street, including the Prince Hall Masonic Lodge 61 for $925,000.
A review of the current and long-range plans for the park are supposed to take place this year, and $200,000 has been put in the 2013 budget for the park and $2 million is planned for construction in 2017.
Howe has said he thinks the city needs to take additional steps first--such as dredging the river, among other things--before moving forward with plans to design the park.
Greenlaw has said she wants to see the project move forward.
Paxson has criticized the city for not taking enough action on the park. He said that he wants to make reclaiming the riverfront a priority and that he would build consensus, issue a request-for-proposal to develop and would pay for it through tax increment financing, or TIF. With that method, the city would issue revenue bonds to be repaid with future city income that is created through development.
The courthouse has long been an issue for Howe, who has sent out mailers alleging that the city will spend millions more than it has publicly discussed. The city council has approved a $32 million contract for the courthouse.
Howe said that he wants to "stop, redesign, scale it down, take care of the Renwick [the current circuit courthouse] and take care of those other court systems that need to be updated for the security portion of it only."
He's one of the three council members who continuously vote against the project.
Greenlaw is in full support of the new courthouse plan.
"It's not a matter of whether to build the courthouse or not, it's when," she said.
She has emphasized that the city took advantage of a good opportunity when it purchased the bonds last fall when interest rates were low.
"When we took a look at the city's future needs out to 2020, and determined that we could meet all of those needs and a courts facility and stay well within our very conservative debt limit, I thought it most advantageous to take advantage of the historically low interest rates that existed last fall," she said at the same forum.
Paxson has said he thinks the project needs to be scaled back and the new courthouse should not be downtown.
All three candidates have said they would like to see more economic development. They also said the city should do more marketing and promote tourism more.
Communication with city residents is something the three candidates would like to improve.
But they differ on whether the city should hire a public information officer. The position is in City Manager Beverly Cameron's proposed $78.6 million 2012-13 budget.
Greenlaw said that the city needs a communications plan and that a PIO is a legitimate position.
Howe isn't ready to support hiring someone full time, but would support hiring a contractor until the city decides exactly what the person's role would be.
Paxson said in one of the forums that he didn't think the city needed to fund the position and could find other more cost-effective ways to communicate with citizens, such as through social media.
Two of the candidates say they are consensus builders and will bring people together. Greenlaw says she does that as a real estate broker, putting together deals, and Paxson says he does the same, serving as associate pastor at Fairview Baptist Church.
Howe, a small business owner, advocates more transparency in city government so that residents can have more input in decision-making.
Last week, all three candidates weighed in on the petition presented by downtown merchants asking that Capital Ale House's Oktoberfest be moved from Caroline Street to the riverfront park. The council asked the city manager to explore that option. Both Greenlaw and Howe said they would support moving the event. Paxson said he would like to see it stay on Caroline Street.
All three candidates have experienced difficulty with social media in their campaigns. Paxson was the first to be attacked with fake followers on his Facebook and Twitter accounts. This week, both Howe and Greenlaw were forced to take their Facebook campaign pages down to get rid of the fake followers and secure their accounts.
Robyn Sidersky: 540/374-5413
Email: rsidersky@freelancestar.com
There will be a candidates forum at 7 p.m. Wednesday
The forum is cosponsored by the College Heights Civic Association, College Terrace Civic Association, College Hill Civic Association and the Maury Neighborhood Association.
Stephen J. Farnsworth, professor of political science and director of the center, will serve as moderator.
Candidates seeking the seat held by retiring Mayor Tom Tomzak include current council members Mary Katherine Greenlaw and Fred Howe, as well as newcomer Matt Paxson.
At-large council candidates are incumbent Councilwoman Kerry Devine, Planning Commissioner Roy McAfee, former City Councilman Matt Kelly and newcomer Paul Quinn.
--Robyn Sidersky