The Virginian-Pilot
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VIRGINIA BEACH
John Moss, a frequent critic of the city’s spending priorities, will be joining the City Council after he bested two other candidates, including one backed by the mayor.
Moss, 57, a resource manager for the U.S. Navy, beat incumbent Prescott Sherrod and Dennis Free, the city’s undersheriff.
Moss, who raised the least in campaign contributions, had 37 percent of the vote, according to unofficial results.
Free trailed him with 33 percent of the vote, and Sherrod, who had the largest war chest with $80,500 and Mayor Will Sessoms’ support, lagged behind both with about 26 percent of the vote.
A fourth candidate, Mike P. Makela, appeared on the ballot though he had dropped out of the race. Makela captured more than 3 percent of votes.
Moss, who served on the City Council for seven years between 1986 and 1995, said the victory was no mandate.
“Clearly, you have to be careful not to suffer from hubris,” Moss said. “But it does say there is a significant voice that’s being underrepresented on City Council.” Moss vowed to try to control city spending and to bring neighborhood issues to the forefront.
Councilman Bill DeSteph, who is often an outsider on the 11-member board, said he looked forward to having an ally.
“I’ve got a new seatmate and I’m happy,” DeSteph said.
It is unclear how much of a change Moss will usher into the City Council dynamic. The council remains a largely business-friendly board that supports public-private partnerships for large projects, such as Town Center.
Sessoms said he doesn’t expect a big shift.
“I look forward to working with him,” Sessoms said. “We respect each other. We do have different philosophies.”
Sessoms had advocated for Sherrod and wrote him a $10,000 campaign check. Sessoms has said that the city needs a council that reflects its diversity. Sherrod, a business owner and former member of the city’s development authority, is black.
He was appointed by the City Council last summer to temporarily fill the vacant at-large seat until the election.
Sherrod failed to gain traction among a large number of voters, and the local NAACP chapter had backed another African American for the City Council appointment.
Deirdre Fernandes, (757) 222-5121, deirdre.fernandes@pilotonline.com
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Congratulations Mr.Moss! You
Congratulations Mr.Moss! You are a welcome addition to the Council. SCORE ONE FOR THE WORKING FAMILIES WHO UNDERSTAND WHO'S MONEY IT IS.
800 LB light rail elephant
What has not really been talked about is the effect of the light rail issue in this election. By far it is not the only issue weighing on Va Beach residents but it IS one of them. I will go as far as saying light rail in Va Beach has now been placed on the back shelf.
To his credit, Moss did not
To his credit, Moss did not say he was against light rail. He said he would not support the extension of light rail to the Beach unless it was approved at referendum. I and others will hold him to his word. When approved at referendum he must vote to approve it. Frankly, I can live with that.
How
kind of you to accept the will of the people. In spite of your vicious attacks on Mr. Moss he is a man of his word and integrity and to be honest your inference is a tad insulting. But aren't you on record opposing a referendum?
Personnally, I prefer that
Personnally, I prefer that members of Council fulfill their role as elected officials and make decisions based on reason, analysis, and public input. If Council feels they would like an advisory referendum to gauge public opinion, I understand that as well. However, to me, they should do what is in the public interest, not necessarily what is popular or unpopular at a particular point in time.
Total rip off
Then council should table light rail for good because it isn't in the public interest. The taxpayer has to subsidize 95% of its construction, operation, and maintenance. We cannot afford going into debt for it, it is unsustainable and it's a waste of precious taxpayer dollars. It's that simple.
If only it were that simple
Moss's approach of building more roads is even less of a solution to traffic problems. You may not realize but we subsidize roads to the tune of 45-55% for just maintenance and construction already. Nearly every study shows that building more roads actually makes traffic problems worse as traffic grows exponentially to fill the added capacity. Light rail is not a 95% subsidy as you must include the exact same economic benefits in your calculation that are being used in the roads calculation. You also must add soft costs which are inherent in roads but not in light rail - foreign energy, local air pollution, health issues, lost productivity, increased stress, loss of family time, lost land, the list goes on. More Roads? No.
We can't build the roads
We can't build the roads anyway, because the allocated money to build them keeps getting seized for Laskin Road Gateways. Beside, the roads we subsidize benefit a lot more people, where light rail benefits only a few at massive costs. The taxpayer WILL subsidize 95% of the cost, operation, and maintenance of light rail.
Now that we have Moss
we can finally close Town Center, the Sandler Center, the schools, the pesky rec centers, and cut back on the police that are always getting in the way!! Oh, and road projects! Cant wait for traffic to get worse, we can always take light rail...oh wait, he is against that too....
It takes 6 votes to pass something ...
Council has 11 representatives.
After this election is has 2 that represent taxpayers, 8 that represent developers/bankers/certain law firms, and 1 that does whatever he feels will not upset the city workforce/union.
However, to force a motion requires a second. For far too long Councilman DeSteph has been unable to help the non-special interest citizens of our city because the other 10 council members would often not second his motions.
Now he has help fighting the good fight.
Mr. Moss has studied the details of the city's budget, its policies, its tax structure, its debt, its relationship with the VBDA and City Manager, the true performance of the PPVs/TIFs, and light rail.
Help has arrived for Bill Desteph and Beach taxpayers.