Tuesday, Nov. 5, marks national Election Day in the United States, with local elections in Williamsburg taking place on the same date. This fall, three candidates will be chosen to the Williamsburg City Council.
Of the five council seats, the spots currently held by Vice Mayor Pat Dent, Barbara Ramsey ’75 and Caleb Rogers ’20 are up for re-election.
Current council members Ramsey and Dent are running for another term, while first timers Fraser Hudgins ’84, Ayanna Williams ’26 and College of William and Mary adjunct lecturer Lindsay Barna have recently begun campaign efforts.
Williamsburg residents will each be able to pitch in three votes for their choice of city council members with the deadline to apply Oct. 15, 2024 for voter registration.
Williams and Barna continue a long legacy of current College students and faculty running for city council. However, Hudgins, Ramsey and Dent also added their additional support for student voices and other issues while pitching their campaigns this election season.
Transparency
Hudgins, a former attorney and high school English teacher, specifically emphasized the importance of increasing transparency and communication between students, citizens and city council.
“The relationship I would like to have is an open door relationship, one where people felt like they could come and talk to me, and that I was honestly listening to them and trying to find solutions to the problem,” Hudgins said.
To Hudgins, making students feel like true citizens of Williamsburg rather than an external group is an important part of his campaign and belief system. To him, student voices are also citizen voices.
Similarly, Dent mentioned that, as former fire chief of the Williamsburg City Fire Department, he also maintains a commitment to transparency within public service.
“I certainly don’t have anything to gain from not being transparent,” Dent said. “I built all these relationships in the community as fire chief, and that really carried over into city council.”
Dent also discussed the importance for students to know that they’re a part of the community.
“Even from my time as fire chief, the relationship between students and the city has improved,” Dent said.
Communication between students, residents and city council is an important issue to all three candidates, with Ramsey expressing her deep involvement with the College community. She believes that town-gown relationships have been steadily improving every year, but she hopes to create more places for students and residents to collaborate.
During her current term, Ramsey has often attended student events, invited student organizations to her home for her self-titled “Break Bread with Barb” dinners and is in the process of creating a mini-internship for students working on her campaign.
Housing
One of Hudgins’s major platform points involves focus on development projects, an issue that has often been discussed amongst both the College’s student body and the greater Williamsburg community.
Various projects in Williamsburg were the original inspiration behind Hudgins’s campaign, as he believes in the need for compatible expansion around Colonial Williamsburg that integrates community voices.
As the founder of the organization Citizens for Responsible and Sustainable Development, Hudgins is dedicated to ensuring that all community members are well-informed about local development projects and proposals.
“From an ethical standpoint, we have to remain objective,” Hudgins said. “We keep major players, whether it be developers or Colonial Williamsburg or the College of William and Mary at arms length as they’re navigating transactions with the city — I think we owe that to the citizens.”
On housing, Hudgins acknowledged the tension between students and residents as many citizens have become frustrated with the amount of rental properties in their neighborhoods. He also mentioned student frustration with the College’s Housing and Dining Comprehensive Facilities Plan, which will not increase the number of beds on-campus.
In an ideal world, Hudgins would like to see the College plan to be able to house 80% of its undergraduate students on-campus. As an alumni, he expressed disheartenment hearing about student experiences, often involving housing or police presence, that have made them feel unwelcome.
“One of the reasons I came to William and Mary was that it was the one place that I felt like it was family. That family needs to cross the brick walls,” Hudgins said.
Dent, who has been on council while projects were proposed for developments, said that while growth was important in Williamsburg, the proposed residential housing developments were not compatible with student and resident needs.
Dent specifically mentioned the 2023 development proposal by Cale Development LLC was withdrawn in May after environmental and traffic concerns were expressed by students, College faculty and residents. Dent’s current goal is to make sure that new proposals address affordable housing concerns as well as viable growth in the community.
Ramsey said that her main goal in terms of student housing is to ensure that all people have safe, clean, modern housing in Williamsburg. During her current term, she voted for new housing in Midtown Row and on High Street and was a member of the council’s Affordable Housing Workgroup.
She hopes to continue working toward productive housing solutions.
“I want to ensure that students are safe and that they are not taken advantage of and provided the essentials of housing,” Ramsey said. “I want students to realize that they have rights and that the city is here to help them.”
Safety
Ramsey, Hudgins and Dent all briefly addressed their support for increased pedestrian safety in Williamsburg, especially as traffic due to tourism, the College and various expansion projects in the city increase.
Ramsey specifically voiced her support for multi-use bike routes on Monticello Avenue and active pedestrian crossings with sensors. She said that the council is currently working on an initiative to use thermoplastic paint on crosswalks that would create higher reflectivity on roads.
Williamsburg-JCC School System
Hudgins offered his opinion on the proposed Williamsburg-James City County school system split. Adamantly against the proposal, Hudgins expressed that it would put disadvantaged students in an increasingly volatile position.
He worries that a school split would deprive Williamsburg children of attending a top ten school system with more resources and funding for athletics, academics and arts.
While city council has undergone an Independent School System Feasibility Study costing $135,000 in tax dollars, Hudgins commented that he thought it unnecessary to spend tax money on studies when the downsides of the split were seemingly apparent based on statistics.
Ramsey did not express a definitive opinion on the split, however, she has been involved with the issue as a current member of city council.
“We are taking a very thorough, deliberate approach to how we move forward. Our goal and obligation is to provide the best education for all students, but we particularly want to ensure that Williamsburg City students reach their full potential,” Ramsey said.
Other
Other topics of interest on the candidate’s platforms include focus on cultural and artistic venues, lowering taxes and fostering community. Ramsey discussed her desire to create a performing arts venue near the Williamsburg Visitor’s Center, to complete the African American Heritage Trail and to work on rebuilding and renovating the Williamsburg Regional Library.
Dent emphasized his commitment to ensuring the city’s strong financial position, especially as new developments such as the new fire station and library appear as big ticket items.
“I’m a community servant at heart and I don’t think you’ll find anybody more dedicated to doing the work as I am,” Dent said. “I owe the community for entrusting me to be a part of this team.”
Hudgins hopes that both residents and students understand that he is available and willing to listen to their comments and concerns. Overall, he wants to see a blended community that welcomes everyone and takes time to address problems.
“I’m running for city council to leave Williamsburg a better place tomorrow than it is today,” Hudgins said.
