Richard Dynes and Mary Katherine Greenlaw are running for mayor in Fredericksburg’s May 3, 2016, election.
Fredericksburg Today asked the two candidates to respond to a brief candidate questionnaire.
Candidate Mary Katherine Greenlaw’s responses are available Mayoral Candidate Questionnaire: Mary Katherine Greenlaw.
Candidate Richard Dynes’ unedited responses follow.
Why are your running for mayor?
Because I know we can achieve more. Every year the city spends money to study something it should be doing, like promoting our city and bringing more visitors to our artistic, recreational and historic amenities. Mayor Greenlaw and I share a strong commitment to preserving our past, but I offer a means and specific agenda to seize opportunity, forge our future and take Fredericksburg to that next level of success.
After 4 years many desires of the community that Mayor Greenlaw committed to meet remain unmet, such as the riverfront park or a performing arts center. What we have received instead is the city suing itself and the community still waiting for something good to happen at the 50-year vacant hydro power plant. We can do better. I will do better.
The role of mayor in our council/manager form of government is supposed to be one of leadership, and I will embrace that role as it has not been in recent years. When a candidate mayor has a specific action-oriented agenda endorsed by the public on Election Day, he or she has a far better chance of achieving goals and initiatives.
What do you believe are the five most pressing issues facing the city?
1) The lack of newly projected city revenues.
2) The adversarial impression too many local business interests get from our city government.
3) The frustrating propensity of City Council to commission studies instead of taking action.
4) The lack of progress on a downtown riverfront park and performing arts center (both which would bring more people to spend more money in our local restaurants and businesses). 5) The overall and growing dysfunction of our local government, egregious process failures and the repeated inability to get to yes and seize opportunity.
I have a 5 point agenda that tackles these issues head on as well as a specific course of action that will put Fredericksburg on a more rewarding path to success and progress. Please visit my website to learn more: makeFredbetter.com.
Please provide a brief biography (100 words maximum), to include your current or previous civic service, education, and occupation.
I am the vice-chairman of the Fredericksburg Planning Commission. I served as CTO for Kynen, a biometrics startup and was CEO of SilkSpeed, a small IT consulting company for 11 years. I am an electrical engineer working in the technology industry performing both systems engineering and software development. I have a BSEE from Johns Hopkins University and two daughters who will shortly be attending rival Virginia universities. Our century-old home in Fredericksburg is a restoration project in process (gasp). I am an avid kayaker, hiker and fan of Karen Jonas and Elby Brass.
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