May 12, 2008
2 highly experienced
Article tools
E-mail
Print
Reprints- Post comment
- Text size:
Part 3: The two incumbents
Were it not for the third incumbent dropping out, the other two might not have to worry about the City Council election since few challengers would have stepped up.
Clyde Haulman“is no sound-bite, bumper-sticker, single-issue candidate,” in the words of the esteemed historian Cary Carson. “He is a grown-up.” That epitomizes the vice mayor, whose actions over the years reflect a measured response to the controversy du jour.
In no other election have the candidates played so vigorously to the college crowd, and he has the bona fides. Economics professor, dean of Undergraduate Studies, assistant to the president, winner of the Thomas Jefferson Award as top teacher. He points to W&M block parties, welcome back receptions, consulting student leaders and the SHARP program of agency volunteerism as “incredible outreach to students” by the city.
Clyde resisted Stop 22 and was instrumental in reaching a compromise at 14. “The question is, How much density is too much? I think 22 got way beyond what the community was ready for.”
He’s opposed to repealing the three-person rule “because I don’t want to see block after block of rundown, dangerous housing that students are living in.” He would make an exception on three persons for a “handful” of larger houses that might handle it. “But I want something back in exchange, a quid pro quo.” He said the problem is worse today because thousands live off-campus now instead of hundreds. “The college has a responsibility to do more on-campusfor housing.”
Clyde concedes the city “missed the boat” by not requiring affordable housing at High Street. He thinks a new ordinance is needed to force inclusionary housing in small infill spots, and he likes transferable development rights as one way to build affordables off-site. Both are novel ideas worthy of consideration by the Chamber Alliance task force.
He thinks the $2 WADMC surtax is a big boost for tourism, but he laments that the state does so little to promote Williamsburg. He’s looking for another blockbuster, like sending the Godspeed up the East Coast. Aren’t we all.
His community service is devoted and well-rounded. A mean letter denouncing him for a Redevelopment & Housing matter drew a calm rebuttal that explained why the authority took up the rehab and resale of a house on Harrison Avenue.
Clyde sees the big picture and views the city as a regional leader. That’s a crucial distinction because the Historic Triangle is sometimes marginalized in Hampton Roads as small, elite and remote. He sits on three regional committees in search of collaboration, and he feels the three-way Comp Plan of 2010 “should show places where we really can make a difference coordinating together,” especially on transportation.
He’s the only elected official to publicly criticize the school superintendent about alt-ed, redistricting poor kids, redistricting the “Jamestown 40,” magnet school manipulation, and generally blowing off the city side of the joint school contract. As no small result, the School Board is now chaired by a city rep and there is reduced drama. He has backed off on seceding from James City. “But I think periodically the city needs to step back and ask if our students are getting what they need.”
Paul Freiling bills himself as “thoughtful and analytical,” which no one disputes. He has the fine quality of talking directly but diplomatically, and he can respectfully disagree over an issue without having to prevail in the argument.
On tourism, he cites Virginia Beach as a model of collaboration and feels our city “has an obligation to participate in cooperation.” Ironically, his own Colonial Williamsburg is among the players that hold back on sharing data, but he demurs because he works in fundraising, not marketing. That strikes me as a dodge.
He voted to deny WADMC an extra $900,000 to extend the summer ad campaign for motels because WADMC itself was curiously agnostic. He said it’s also hard to come by in a tough budget year. But arguably the extended ad buy would do the very thing Virginia Beach does: build market share.
He’s big on the Regional Issues Committee and looks forward to 2010 when all three municipalities will do their Comp Plan revisions simultaneously. He sees affordable housing and workforce issues as percolating up to those Comp Plans, but not for years. Sounds pretty bureaucratic to me.
More to the point on housing, he likes the “affordable dwelling unit” concept that would set aside a small percentage of new apartments as closer to the median rent. He was surprised by the city’s high rents in the Virginia Tech housing study and hopes High Street rentals will take pressure off elsewhere around town.
Like everyone, he considers sites near the new School of Ed as a good source for growing college-oriented retail, and he points to rezoning up on Richmond Road as encouraging that. He would promote grants for small web-based businesses. But he seems to rely more on the economic development staff when he and others should be pushingrather than acquiescing.
While Williamsburg has no project in the controversial transportation mix, Paul feels strongly that our tourism depends on visitors getting here comfortably. He’s a champion of trains and regrets that the community is passing up millions in 70% rail subsidy offered by the state.
He’s deeply worried about a recession and the effect it would have on tourism, which comprises half the city’s tax revenue. He’s realistic enough to be thinking about services that might have to be cut, in which people might have to take their trash to the curb. Bigger cuts may have to be made.
He’s hesitant to criticize any excesses of school spending. But he did concede the need “for a better explanation of the priority-setting process” of what could be cut if the economy continues to decline.
He’s up on all the minutiae of zoning and density, settling for 14 acres in the Stop 22 controversy. He’s open to density challenges “because then the developer has to go through the special use permit process, which generally comes out better than by-right development.”
Back to his proclivity for analysis, “I can look at the details and understand how some of those details can have a significant impact on an end result, but at the same time not get too tied up in the details as to miss the bigger picture of what’s going on.”
He seems to have no hidden agenda for Colonial Williamsburg and has been careful to recuse himself on conflict-of-interest issues such as the controversial Executive Health Center, which seems massively out of scale. He considers it no worse than the Goodwin Building up the street, “but I am a little concerned about the way that’s coming along.”
The incumbents have the experience and collected wisdom of overseeing a compact, lovely city. All six have a lot to offer, except easy choices to vote for.
Copyright © 2008, The Virginia Gazette
