Identifying Problems

The citizens of Whaleyville haven't had a true advocate for their concerns on Suffolk City Council.

Fiscal Responsiblity

Did you know that property tax is the largest source of state and local municipality revenue in the United States?

Did you know that property taxes are supposed to be used to fund schools, roads, police, and other services like water, sewer, gas, and trash removal?

Did you further know that in 2022 www.smartasset.com ranked the city of Suffolk 120 out of 134 of municipalities in Virginia where property tax dollars are being spent most effectively?

Did you know that in the short 2 years since 2022 the property tax rates in Suffolk have increased from $1.00 to $1.09 per $100 assessed value and property assessments have increased each year during that time as well?

Would it surprise you to know that our neighboring municipalities like the cities of Virginia Beach and Chesapeake have lower property tax rates than us? Virginia Beach remains at $0.99 per $100 assessed value and Chesapeake just decreased their rates from $1.05 per $100 to $1.01 per $100 assessed value.

Individual Rights

Did you know that the ACLU believes that the use of red light camera systems should be halted or delayed until the due process and privacy issues they raise have been properly settled?

The Sixth Amendment’s Confrontation Clause gives the accused the right to be confronted by witnesses against them. With cameras, the driver is never confronted by a police officer ticketing him. The accused are not being provided with the opportunity to cross-examine or subpoena all camera equipment operators along with anyone who handled the evidence or the officer who issued the citation. They are not being provided with the opportunity to examine the design and operation of the equipment itself.

Would you be suprised to know Suffolk has issued over 132,000 citations from the new photo enforced speed and redlight cameras since they iniated the program generating over $10.9 million in new revenue for the city?

Did you know that the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety says, the registered owner is the driver only 72% of the time when issuing red light citations? Meaning, over 1 in 4 tickets are issued to the wrong person!

Did you know that Suffolk does not issue a summons for these violations as they are required to do? Furthermore, Suffolk uses a third-party, out-of-state company to collect these fines, and that company (Altumint) has collected over $2.8 million for generating the revenue?

Infrastructure

The Suffolk 2045 Comprehensive plan has been a hot topic over the past year.

Did you read that the 2045 Comprehensive Plan states that Suffolk should focus growth in areas that are already developed and supported by infrastructure while strategically identifying locations for new growth?

However, when you read through the plan you find that it adds 24% new growth area. That is almost double the projected growth over the previous two comprehensive plans combined. Most of this is focused on converting the agricultural farmland in western Suffolk to heavy suburban housing and industrial zoning.

Did you know that for every inch of rain that falls on an acre of land, 27,000 gallons of water is soaked up by farm land?

Did you know that for every acre of farmland that is developed into high density housing or massive warehouses our ditches and sewers have to direct 27,000 gallons of runoff water away from our streets and homes?

Flooding is a real concern and it will continue to intensify if we allow unchecked development to continue without first upgrading the surrounding infrastructure.

Do you know that Suffolk already has 13,325 new homes and apartments approved to be developed and 6,509 new homes and apartments that have been completed this year?

Suffolk Public School has 14,500 students this year. Almost all 21 schools are currently at or above capacity. Where will all these new students go to school?

Suffolk Fire & Rescue department currently has only 9 stations to respond to >19,000 calls for service annually. How will they keep up?

Solving Problems

Elect Jason Wooldridge to represent you, the citizens of Whaleyville, on Suffolk City Council

Cut property taxes

Cutting property taxes means taking a hard look at what we spend our budget on. Suffolk should not have higher property taxes than our more develpoed neighbors. We need to make better decisions on how the money is spent here in the city of Suffolk.

Examine salaries starting with the highest paid positions and assess if those expendatures are excessive, undervalued, or appropriate.
Invest in existing communities.
- Promote small business development
- Stimulate revitalization of declining areas. Redevelopment of existing infrastructure is cheaper than expanding into areas with no existing infrastructure.
- Proactively reduce property taxes in rural areas that do not benefit from infrastructure that exists in more developed areas of the city.

Get rid of red light cameras

"Red light cameras are for public safety" is a false statement. There is more evidence that greater public safety actually depends on the timing of yellow and red lights. Longer yellow and all-way red times have been shown to significantly reduce accidents.

Bad drivers are present in all intersections
- Do not assume that bad driving behavior can be cured with the threat of tickets received.
Intersections with higher accident rates should be studied to find the root causes and corrected with proper traffic engineering.
- adding signs
- making signs clearer and more visible
- changing road striping and indicators
- adjusting light timing, and increasing visibility.

Until an engineering study is done, it is impossible to understand the underlying factors and thus impossible to objectively evaluate possible solutions.

Preserve our resources

Farm land loss is farm land lost forever.

Incentivise re-development of declining areas over new development of current agricultural land.

Team with Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS) to promote the economic growth and development of Suffolk's farmland and encourage environmental stewardship.

Codify by City Ordinance Purchase of Development Rights (PDR) Program for Suffolk
- PDR programs are designed to compensate landowners who voluntarily place an agricultural conservation easement on their property. A conservation deed restriction designed to protect a specific conservation purpose.
The Office of Farmland Preservation (OFP) has $875,000 in funding available for the 2023 allocation fund.

Embrace small-town culture

Smal business is the backbone of our Commonwealth and it's economy. We need to help small businesses thrive in Suffolk.

Team with Virginia Department of Small Business and Supplier Diversity
- Business Development and Outreach
- Link small businesses with financing needed for economic growth
Team with Virginia's Small Business Development Center
- Link our small businesses to funding resources
- Link our local entrepeneurs with programs to advise, train, and guide them to sucess

Expand Infrustructure

Simply stated, Suffolk needs

More Schools
More Fire departments
More Police
Improved Water Supply
Improved Water Treatment
Improved Connectivity/Internet
Improve Road Systems

Solar Power is Not Always the Answer

As an electrical engineer I can tell you that solar farms contain problems and challenges we do not yet fully understand.

Photovoltiac cells only work when the sun is out. Therefore, to make solar farms useful battery stations will become required and they will start showing up as "grid reliability facilities. Massive lithium ion battery facilities used to store the energy produced during the day to be used later. While dealing with lithium ion batteries are an entirely separate conversation and it isn't pleasant or cheap.

Photovoltiac cells are only 10-15% efficent. Meaning they only produce electricity equivalent to 10-15% of the light that hits them. The remaining energy is reflected into the surrounding atmosphere warming the adjacent area by 5.4-7.2°F (3-4°C). This is known as a "heat island effect". This can produce large up drafts of hot air on summer days leading to intensified storm activity. Yes, solar farms can affect the weather patterns as well as contribute to increased temperatures.

Solar panels are constructed such that it is cost prohibitive to recycle them and as a result when they reach end of useful life or are damaged by the environment, they are simply thrown into landfills.

Migratory birds are attracted to the shininess of solar panels, which often look like moving water when flying above. Some birds mistake panels for bodies of water and try to dive into the “water,” which hurts or kills them.

Paid for and authorized by Jason Wooldridge for Suffolk, VA