Why I’m Running

Dear Fellow Alexandrian:

I am pleased to tell you that I filed to run for the City Council on Tuesday as an Independent. I look forward to coming to know you better over the coming months and sharing with you who I am and what I believe. More importantly, I look forward to hearing your thoughts and ideas on what we can do to make government work better for you.

As Alexandria continues to face unprecedented difficult challenges, I am convinced that we need leadership with a wider range of diverse expertise to keep all anchors in our sail moving in the right direction, and with all deliberate speed that is required. Further, we need a government that makes its business transparent and gives an open ear to all points of view. That requires having a voice at the table to represent those differing viewpoints. We do not have that now, but if you elect me as a member of City Council, I submit to you that I will be that strong and independent, but inclusive voice coming to the table with a new dimension of expertise, encouraging open dialogue and giving a voice to unheard viewpoints. This, in essence, is why I’m running for City Council.

We are at a near unprecedented time in our history. The City of Alexandria has a remarkable and telling history – a strong legacy. Today, we stand on the backs of so many who’ve come before us to build it. They, like us, had many voices but yet, a common purpose – the best interest of Alexandria. Unfortunately, many who helped to build great Alexandria can no longer afford to live here. And as these anchors leave us, so too does a part of our rich history that may never be fully reclaimed. While our historic buildings stand and even as our communities change and expand, it is our people who weave the fabric of our existence and those who’ve worked so hard to build this great place are needed here to continue to tell our story. To make matters worse, many people who love our city and work here cannot afford to live here. I strongly believe that those who have built Alexandria and who work today to ensure our comfortable living deserve to live here.

And to boot, we have lost more than 10,000 affordable housing units over the past five years but have a projected population growth of more than 20,000 over the next ten years. And this all comes amidst staggering highs in the unemployment rate.

I come to you more than to elucidate issues prevalent in the City we love. I come to you with a skill set that includes a background in land use, which includes an understanding of legal standards applied when making decisions about the best way to safeguard municipal interests. I come to you with a background of advocating for the development of stronger communities fashioned around smart growth and affordable housing. I come to you as a former educator currently involved in mentoring and literacy in our City. And I come to you with a background in public policy at the local and federal level. I want to put these skills to work to represent you on our City Council.

The issues I’ve raised are not rich or poor issues, Black or White issues, West End or Del Ray issues, Republican or Democratic issues. They are Alexandria’s issues, because from our many parts, we form one. Ours is not a monolithic city. While we have a common goal of living in a community that we can all be proud of, I understand that we have differing views on how to reach this goal. I hope that as we continue to dialogue, we will reach consensus on solutions to move us closer to solving these issues in a manner most effective to us en masse. I am grateful for the privilege to run for elected office in such a fine City. I remain hopeful that we may be in touch and send my

Warm regards,
Alicia Hughes
Candidate for Alexandria City Council

Transportation, Housing and Development

I support community development concentrated around the concept of smart growth, with an affordable housing component and ready access to public transportation.

Budget

I am a strong believer in balancing the budget, and oppose tax increases, generally. My opposition is more stalwart in trying economic times such as those we face currently. While I am grateful to the many City departments and non-profits that provide us with social and other essential services, I do not support the perfunctory award of resources to the same groups year after year, unless proven deserved. Rather, I believe that we should continually, within reason of course, assess the effectiveness of our programs and the efficiency with which they function to meet the needs of Alexandrians. In essence, I advocate public accountability for public dollars. As Americans tighten their spending, so too should government.

Healthcare

Currently, there are approximately 14,000 uninsured Alexandrians and thousands more work everyday, but are underinsured. As a former co-chair of the Congressional Universal Healthcare Task Force Working Group, I am a huge advocate of universal access to affordable health care, and I think we should do our part at the local level to support it in a manner that is most conducive to our government structure.

Education

The roles of City government of paramount importance are: educating our children and providing the best quality of life for our citizens in a fair and fiscally responsible manner.

Early Childhood Education
I am a major supporter of early childhood education and am pleased to serve as a member of the City’s Early Childhood Commission and as a weekly volunteer at the Hopkins House Early Childhood Center. My volunteer work enables me to better understand the policy needs of these little citizens. We must continue to work to set universal benchmarks to determine school readiness amongst our pre-school aged population. This is imperative to ensuring that the mass of our children present to kindergarten ready to learn on day one. School readiness has been linked, in a number of instances, to reducing the special needs population in our schools which in turn, is the difference between public education costing approximately $20,000 per student per year (the average student) versus $100,000 per student per year (the special needs student).

Grade School and Secondary Public Education
As a former secondary public school teacher, a current member of the Alexandria City Public Schools Budget Advisory Committee, and the chair of a literacy program housed in City’s Department of Recreation, I am a huge supporter of education. Further, I believe that our City is only as good as our public education system. As a member of City Council, I look forward to working with Dr. Sherman and members of our school board, within the confines of my jurisdiction, to support the progress of the Alexandria City Public Schools. I strongly support keeping classroom sizes small, with the smallest student-teacher ratios in the earliest stages of education. I believe that Alexandria teachers should be among the most well-compensated in Northern Virginia to ensure that we continue to attract the best teachers and a diverse field as well. I also look forward to supporting initiatives of the School Board to address the minority achievement gap, which I consider one of our greatest challenges.

Importantly, I do not believe we solve the dilemmas posed to our public education system by dousing it with more money. Instead, we must continue to examine the most efficient ways to utilize the dollars that we have. And further, we must continue to seek ways to educate parents about the most effective ways to reinforce what is being taught in our schools at home and to collaborate with them to determine the best ways to meet the needs of each individual child.

Four-Year College Education Tuition Waivers for Foster Care Seniors
I am a major proponent of tuition waivers for qualifying high school seniors in foster care in any Virginia jurisdiction to attend a 4-year public institution of higher learning in the Commonwealth. I have been pleased to work on this initiative with other members of the City’s Social Services Advisory Board over the course of this past year and as a member of City Council, would look to continue work championing this cause from our locality to those in state government for two reasons. First, it is the right thing to do. The public serves as parents to our foster children and therefore, we should ensure their education. Second, making provision for college education for qualified foster children is the fiscally responsible thing to do. A tuition waiver is not a budget outlay, and the same ensures that our foster children will be poised to add to the tax base rather than require continual government assistance well into adulthood.