Another contender has declared his candidacy for the Williamsburg City Council.
Planning Commission member Sean Driscoll officially announced his candidacy for the Williamsburg City Council Tuesday.
“I grew up here, [and have] been active in the city … for the last 10 years,” Driscoll said in an interview Thursday. “I want to help shape and grow the city.”
Driscoll has served on the city’s planning commission for four years, and says he plans to work with the College if elected to the council.
“Unfortunately, some people view [town-gown relations] as strained,” he said. “I’d be willing to sit down with the College and figure out what needs to be done.”
In recent planning commission meetings, several commissioners have urged the city and the College to explore public-private projects as a way to improve the College’s housing situation.
“It would make sense to cluster students so they have access to certain services,” Driscoll said.
He added that he would like to see projects in the same vein as the apartment and retail complex being built by the College of William and Mary Real Estate Foundation near Wawa on Richmond Road
While on the planning commission, Driscoll voted against expanding the city’s occupancy limit to more than three unrelated individuals.
“We were for keeping the three-person rule,” Driscoll said. “My biggest thing is preserving certain neighborhoods. I’ve been in favor of supporting higher density, which works.”
Currently, the city prohibits more than 14 individuals from living on an acre of land. Increasing that density limit could potentially allow for the development of larger multi-family dwellings or apartment buildings.
According to the city’s voter registrar office, five people have begun filing the paperwork necessary to run for the council.
Driscoll is the second person to officially declare his candidacy, behind Scott Foster ’10. Dr. David Dafashy, a physician at the College’s Student Health Center, has said that he, too, plans on running for the council.
Council member Bobby Braxton said that he will be announcing whether or not he will run today. The registrar’s office did not identify the fifth individual to take out paperwork for filing candidacy.
The city council election will take place May 4.
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2 Comments
“It would make sense to
“It would make sense to cluster students so they have access to certain services,” Driscoll said.
Sounds like the textbook definition of a ghetto.
Sounds like what most
Sounds like what most students have been saying they are interested in having: housing close to college-oriented services and businesses. If a student ghetto evolves, the student residents have to take some responsibilty for the condition of the place. Sometimes, ghettos evolve because residents treat their community like crap. If the city does find student housing and encourages student-oriented business nearby (or vice-versa) and students approach it with an attitude of ‘here comes a ghetto’, that’s what you’ll get. Sounds like the city can’t do anything right, if they try to meet student’s needs, they are accused of creating ghettos. Maybe student attitudes are the real problem here?
If you build a 25-unit complex and the residents take good care of it and the property owner does a good job of maintenance, it’d be a nice place. Take that same unit and fill it with people who don’t give a damn about the place, lhave ownership do just enough to keep the place ‘above code’, and it’ll start looking like a ghetto. Witness the Tioga Motor Lodge that was a blight on Richmond Road. Toward the end, the place got so run down that the people who would rent there were of the mindset that they could leave trash everywhere, raise hell late night, and generally treated the place so poorly that the quality of the people who would rent got even worse, and they were even more likely to view the place negatively, then the owner starts backing off the maintenance, etc, etc. Death spiral. There are a few apartment complexes in town like that. Been to Detroit lately?
Rows of buildings in Portsmouth were razed after 25 years of occupancy because they had turned into a ‘ghetto’, really they were ‘projects’ in the worst sense of the word. The buildings were built by a company that also built a similar complex in Arlington, VA, following the same plans. The complexes were virtually identical. Once complex had to be razed, the other is vibrant, has a long waiting list, and looks great, so how do you account for that? It’s certainly not the building. I believe it was the attitude and thought process of the occupants that’s made the difference. One group focused on the negatives, took the place for granted, did no upkeep, while the other group took pride in their homes. Portsmouth isn’t to blame for the residents attitudes, nor does Arlington deserve credit for the resident’s attitudes.
So the city builds a multi-unit complex close to campus and Bloom, rezones the area to attract more student oriented businesses, what will be your complaint then? Paint color not to your liking?