PETERSBURG - Petersburg Mayor Brian Moore is facing a challenger - local architect Terry Ammons - in the contest for the 4th Ward City Council seat.
Terry Ammons
The 48-year-old Ammons says that it has been interesting to try and tell people quickly why he is qualified for council, feeling that it's something he's been working toward for quite some time "in terms of the nature of my work and the community service that's part of a lot of the work."
"I have a lot of experience working in the public sphere," Ammons added. "My work has really let me develop a lot of skills that I think are really relevant to what I could apply to serving the ward as a councilman."
Ammons said that he mulled over whether he would run in the current election and decided about a day or so before the June filing deadline that he would run. "I actually thought the deadline was in July and then I found out it was in June," Ammons said.
He said that he believes in the public process and that he also feels that citizens have been left out of the process.
"I can't do anymore as a business owner," Ammons said, adding that he's tried to effect positive change in the city and that he felt there was more he could do. "I knew this might be a step I would take on at a some point in time."
Ammons says he felt he's been in the city long enough and has built two businesses and renovated several buildings, something he describes as a record to show for what he has done here.
The candidate said that he has a list of priorities for the city if he wins, including economic development, youth and education, arts and culture and responsible government among other issues. "I think there's a lot of low-hanging fruit out there," Ammons said. "Our City Council has to make education a priority and I don't think that's just the school system."
The candidate also says that he feels the city hasn't been effectively utilizing its history. In his campaign materials, he says he wants to establish a partnership with the National Park Service to establish a visitor contact station at South Side Depot and that he wants a civil rights museum in the former Trailways bus station at the intersection of East Washington and North Adams streets. The city recently announced a grant from the Virginia Department of Transportation and The Civil War Trust which will be used to establish a Visitor Contact Station at South Side Depot. Additionally, a private nonprofit group has been working with the city on establishing a civil rights museum in the former Trailways station.
"Our history is the thing that crosses cultural lines," Ammons said. "We need to create a new narrative for this city."
As part of that new narrative, Ammons said he would push a "market-to-market" project that he says would eliminate a "competing situation" between "uptown and downtown." The project would connect the market square area in Old Towne and the Halifax Triangle. "We need to say these are our two market squares," Ammons said. He added that the history of the markets is not one of segregation only, but that people shopped at both markets.
One of the challenges that Ammons sees is a culture of distrust of organizations and government by residents of the city. "The city should really be deciding what the city leadership can do," Ammons said. "I don't think it's the council's job to make school policy, but you can say that education is one of the city's biggest problems," and direct resources to the issue.
Brian Moore
Moore, 49, has been a telecommunications consultant and contractor for the past 27 years.
"The hard work and effort I've put in the last eight plus years," Moore said, is one of his qualifications for being re-elected. "I've got the experience and knowledge to move projects forward. That's evident. Look around in the city and see what's going on."
That has been work not only on the project side, Moore says, but in working with city administration to hire more professional leadership on the city's staff. "We've seen a lot better customer service and people are more responsive."
Moore said that the city has also begun to take a different approach to projects, particularly with the new city manager in place by looking forward "we're looking three, five, 10 years down the road."
One example of that is a hotel-conference center plan, which the city has been working closely on with Virginia State University. Moore said it should be coming online in the next two to three years. "We're working to build the economic base to support the programs," Moore said. Moore said the hotel and conference center should be ready approximately six months before the VSU events center on campus. "The goal is to put the city in a position to use the revenue from the project to go into debt service. We've already got folks interested in the project. We've been getting multiple calls. We're building a lot of energy. We're building a lot of success as we move forward."
Moore said that the success of the project along with other projects in the downtown and Ward 4 affects all of the city.
Moore said that as more businesses and projects come to the city, it can benefit all residents. "Once we get the revenue coming in, people always want the real estate tax done, but first you have to build the value of the land book," Moore said. He said that many people make comparisons between the city's real estate taxes and neighbors, including Chesterfield. "That's not a fair comparison, because you have to look at the land book value."
The mayor said that over the past four years he's seen not only a change inside the city, but the perception of the city by outsiders.
"When we go places now. People take Petersburg seriously," Moore said. "It's a great city. I love this city. It's a great place to be."
Some of the growth over the past four years includes market driven, market rate loft style apartments, including the Perry Street Lofts, Courthouse View and the Oddfellows Building. Additionally, he said that the city was able to sell the landfill - which had been owned by the city and would have been closed, costing taxpayers millions of dollars. Instead, the City Council sold the landfill to Container First Services. The business now pays the city $1 per ton of trash per day up to $1,000 a day for $365,000 a year in revenue.
Moore said that he's running for re-election because he wants to continue the hard work that he's already put in and see several projects finished to completion - including work to establish a visitor contact station at South Side Station and an effort to transform the former Trailways bus station into a civil rights museum - and to continue to work with the current City Council.
He added that the work isn't done yet, and the city must continue to develop its economic development engine. "We have to look at new ways of collaborative efforts and regionalism," Moore said.
- F.M. Wiggins may be reached at 804-732-3456, ext. 3254 or fwiggins@progress-index.com. Terry Ammons
Age: 48
Education: degree in architecture Virginia Tech
Career: architect, owner, Studio Ammons
Civic Involvement: Wilcox Watershed Conservancy; Virginia LISC; Downtown Petersburg Inc.; Cockade City Initiative; Petersburg Downtown Harbor Initiative; Leadership Southside Program; Preservation Alliance of Virginia; Battersea Technical Advisory Board; Historic Petersburg Foundation; Petersburg Film Task Force and Advisory Board; past member Petersburg Architectural Review Board, chairman five years; American Association for State and Local History; King and Queen Historical Society; Preservation Virginia; Virginia Association of Museums; American Association of Museums; Southeast Association of Museums; Virginia Historical Society; Virginia Downtown Development Association; National Trust for Historic Preservation; Bath County Historical Society; Historic Fairfax City Inc.
Family: One son, age 20.
Brian Moore
Age: 49
Education: Bachelors degree Hampden Sydney College, Project Management Certificate from University of Richmond.
Career: 27 years as a telecommunications consultant.
Civic Involvement: Amtrak National Mayor's Advisory Council; member United States Conference of Mayors; member Public Education Task Force United States Conference of Mayors; chairman of policy committee Tri-Cities Area Metropolitan Planning Organization; chairman Petersburg Interpersonal Violence Advisory Council; chairman of general laws sub-committee, Virginia Municipal League; commissioner, Crater Planning District Commission; member, executive committee Joint Land Use Study Taskforce, Tri-Cities Area Metropolitan Planning Organization; subcommittee member, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Commission, Commonwealth of Virginia; member board of directors, Virginians for High Speed Rail; member Virginia Municipal League; member, National League of Cities; member Virginia Gateway Region, Global Growth, Global Future Initiative; member, board of directors, Crater Development Company; member, board of directors, Tri-Cities Area Metropolitan Planning Organization; member, International City/County Management Association; alternate member, Metropolitan Richmond Air Quality Committee, Virginia Department of Environmental Quality; chairman, Petersburg Democratic Committee; member, 4th Congressional District Central Committee, Democratic Party of Virginia; member, resolutions committee, Democratic Party of Virginia; member, Sons of the American Legion, Post #2; Chairman Emeritus, Petersburg Public Library Foundation, Inc.; past advisor, Army Community Heritage Partnership; past member, physical and visual linkages committee, Army Community Heritage Partnership; past member, board of directors, Junior Achievement of Central Virginia; past president McKesson Farms Neighborhood Association; past member, Building Industry Consulting Services International; past member Society of Logistic Engineers; past member, board of directors McKesson Farms Neighborhood Association; former vice-president Walnut Hill Parent Teachers Association; former co-chair, principal's advisory council, Vernon Johns Middle School.
Family: Three daughters - Alicia, 20; Gina, 18; Dawn, 16.
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