By Olivia Anderson | oanderson@alextimes.com

Alexandria’s mayoral candidates gathered in a virtual forum on Saturday, kicking into high gear to get their message out ahead of the Nov. 2 general election.

Held by the League of Women Voters, the forum began with candidates presenting a two-minute introduction to explain their platform and priorities. Then, in a speed dating-style format, candidates moved into breakout rooms on Zoom where constituents could virtually engage with candidates separately, ask questions and leave as they pleased. There were eight rounds of breakout room sessions, each lasting 10 minutes.

To learn more about a separate City Council candidate forum held by the Seminary Ridge Civic Association, see “Council hopefuls address local issues” on page 12 for more information.

Constituents asked Catchings and Wilson several overlapping questions, predominantly surrounding a potential return to a ward-based election system and scooters.

When asked how strongly she feels about wards, Catchings, who lives in the Carlyle neighborhood, said that she is a “huge proponent” of them. Catchings said she discovered on her nine-month listening tour that lots of residents feel either their communities are underrepresented or not represented at all.

“Unfortunately there is tangible evidence of that,” Catchings said, pointing to certain neglected neighborhoods in the West End. “I feel that going back to wards and allowing people to choose their neighborhood representatives, councilmembers, [would] change the entire dynamic of City Council.”

Goodwin House, an elder care facility located in the city, submitted a question about how specifically Catchings would go about implementing councilors by ward, to which she said she has not “really looked that far along into it” but acknowledged that “the improvements it would bring and how it would change the city, give voice to the community, bringing it to city hall – that concept alone appeals to so many people.”

Wilson, conversely, said that while he’s not philosophically opposed to the idea, doing so requires a charter change and therefore could not happen for a long time. Thus, he said he’s “cautious” about making large-scale governmental changes unless it is absolutely the best way to reach a solution.

“I think there are pluses and minuses on the way we do it, and I think there are pluses and minuses of wards. I’d be concerned about some of the parochialism [and] in some cases wards can lead to a drowning out of localized opinions because the rest of the board just out-votes whoever represents the ward that might be concerned about something,” Wilson said.

Wilson also noted that one advantage of the current system is that every councilor must answer to everyone in the community and cannot simply ignore certain neighborhoods.

On the topic of e-scooters, Carlyle resident Ruth Cleveland called the many that are piling up “an eyesore.” In response, Wilson pointed out that the city is still in a pilot program and has a task force that will prepare recommendations later this month for a permanent program. He also said council is working on making scooter riding under the influence an illegal act as it is not currently against the law.

“We can’t actually ban them entirely under state law, so the question is how do we regulate them?” Wilson said, noting that council did ban scooters from sidewalks several years ago. “It’s one of those things where you’re either hot or cold on them and there’s a fair number of people that like them; the data shows that people are using them. … It’s a work in progress.”

Catchings generally agreed that e-scooters are appropriate “in the right areas of town,” but noted that they can be dangerous if placed in heavily congested areas.

“If I’m having to look at a car and making sure someone’s not opening their car door as I’m driving, and then you’ve got the bike lane and then you’ve got the crosswalk and then you throw in the element of a scooter – it’s crazy,” Catchings said, calling areas with narrow streets and inadequate garage parking less safe.

In Catchings’ room, resident Jeryl Payne asked Catchings to explain where education sits on her list of priorities.

Catchings, in response, said her campaign includes four pillars of performance: infrastructure, community safety, neighborhood representation and education.

In terms of education, Catchings said she supports school choice, including public school, private schools, charter schools, home schooling or any other learning environment families choose.

“Alexandria … has never applied for a charter school, and I think that would give parents more choice and it would improve the quality of education,” Catchings said.

Catchings also received questions about her stance on City Council’s decision to remove school resource officers from Alexandria City Public Schools, a situation she said is “so much broader” than many people realize. While she argued that SROs should be put back in schools, Catchings said the overarching point is that the city needs to up recruitment in its police department, increase pay and morale for officers and get body cameras.

“To me, it’s probably just as important as fixing the pipes. We’ve got to invest in our first responders, we’ve got to increase the pay and incentivize people to join our force here and we’ve got to improve the overall tone of our police department,” Catchings said.

In Wilson’s room, resident Lori Lataillade, who has lived in the city for 30 years, asked for Wilson’s comment on the future redevelopment of the now-defunct Landmark Mall site. The issue has been an ongoing topic for many years, with the city recently announcing plans for Inova Hospital to transition to the site in a $1 billion project.

“We’re finally there, which is really exciting. We’ve never been this far before,” Wilson said. “We’ve got an arrangement to build a new hospital there as well as a bunch of mixed-use development on the site, a new fire station, new affordable housing, new parks, so this is what we’ve been talking about for a long, long time.”

Wilson said that the change is an important opportunity for the city not only because the site will finally be redeveloped, but also because the modern new hospital, a large-scale employer, will bring in many jobs to the city and support the community. He anticipated construction will begin in approximately one and a half years.

“I’m excited, too; I just hope I don’t get disappointed,” Lataillade said in response.

Another resident asked about whether boards and commissions will continue meeting virtually, as the COVID-19 pandemic persists.

Wilson said council is trying to strike the right balance between acknowledging state law and honoring open government requirements. The Virginia Press Association, for instance, has been very outspoken about urging government bodies to return to in-person meetings, arguing that it provides more of an opportunity than virtual meetings for face-to-face accountability.

“There’s been a real tension around the state now around folks who are concerned about COVID and want some of these conditions to stay virtual, and open government advocates who feel like something is lost when you’re not meeting in person,” Wilson said, who pushed for moving meetings back to in-person earlier this year. He noted that some board members and commissioners expressed opposition to this because they wanted to remain virtual for safety and convenience reasons.

At one point while Wilson was absent from his room, voters talked among themselves while they awaited his return, expressing support of the virtual forum setup. “This is very helpful to me to see authentic responses in this kind of forum,” resident David Williams said.

There will be a formal mayoral debate on Oct. 19 at 7:30 p.m., hosted by the Seminary Ridge Civic Association.