When Steven Peterson heard that Mayor Justin Wilson was not running for mayor again, he started thinking about what it takes to be a leader.
A former president of the real estate development firm Peterson Companies, Peterson says that leadership is ultimately about identifying problems and finding solutions.
“To me, it comes down to commonsense leadership, and trust occurs through transparency,” Peterson said. “I've been around a lot of boardrooms, and I knowhow to get consensus and transparency.”
A core feature of Peterson’s campaign was opposing the Potomac Yard arenadeal. From the time he announced his campaign, he was adamantly against this deal, citing concerns about traffic congestion, lack of parking, and the fact that the deal doesn’t adequately address the real needs of Alexandrians.
"From a first blush economic prospective, the arena deal presented some intriguing possibilities,” Peterson wrote in an email following the deal’s demise. “But after further reviewing the deal, there was very little transparency and citizen input prior to and after the Monument Group/Governor Youngkin/Mayor Wilson press conference [in December].
"However, now that the deal has been rejected, there are other key issues that Peterson believes are important.
“A new anchor will emerge eventually, just not a sports arena," Peterson wrote."The arena deal caught the most attention, but it's not necessarily the most important issue facing our city."For Peterson, other key issues include affordable housing, safety, and education.
He says his first day in office would mean meeting with all the division heads, who he considers to be experts on the front lines of their individual areas.
And while staying connected with these people is important, he says that good leadership is also about knowing when to step back and let experts do what they do best.
“If you’re micromanaging, you’re not trusting the people,” Peterson said. “They are better at what they do collectively than what you do. So, get out of their way.”
Peterson has lived in Alexandria for 30 years, raising seven children. Referencing the development that has transformed the waterfront, he is wary of the risks posed by growth. Not all growth is good growth, Peterson said, and any decision must be measured not just by who benefits, but who is affected negatively.
“What I don't want to see is that the city becomes a victim of its own success,”Peterson said.
When asked about how he would approach mayoral leadership, Peterson talks about the leadership style he learned from watching his father, who always made a point to hear every perspective in the room. No leadership position, Peterson said, gives you the right to not listen to the people you work with.
“I would operate from the bottom up,with transparency, not operate from the top down,” Peterson said.
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Each candidate for Mayor received the same questions from Alexandria Living Magazine, with the same answer-length guidelines and deadline. Here are the answers we received from Peterson. Read the other Q&As here.
1. Have the current efforts to improve affordable housing been sufficient, and how do you measure whether they are working?
Affordable Housing: The solution to affordable housing is not necessarily rent subsidies and ADU mandates. The solution is more about housing and regulatory entitlement relief. The city needs to create a housing model that facilitates a range of housing price points that meet the needs of our thriving yet diverse community.
Single Family rezoning’s: There are better ways to deal with affordable housing, but mandating "no future single family housing,” is not the solution.
Elderly Housing: “ Benchmark Alexandria” is an elderly assistance grant program that currently affects 12 elderly sites throughout the city and lowers the average monthly rental rates from over
$6,000n per month, to under $2,000 per month. This successful program needs to be expanded to at least 25-30 facilities over the next three years.
2. What can be done to make sure the increasing population density in Alexandria doesn’t hurt quality of life?
Long-Term, Smart Growth- 20 years ago, residential tax rates funded 50% of the city's overall budget. Today, residential taxes fund over 80% of the $850m annual budget.
These increasing waves are not sustainable and clearly not smart growth and part of responsible government mandates.
Long Term Smarth Growth- Inappropriate land use decisions such as the 30-north Fairfax and Queen St rezonings are harming the responsible growth initiatives.
3. How can the city make public transportation a more viable and attractive option for residents?
I feel that the most important aspects to making public transportation more viable and attractive to residents is making sure that the system is:
- Safe
- Reliable
- The most affordable option in the city
- Accessible to all with relative ease and proximate to the metro system.
4. What do you think is the most important factor in making the roads safer and more efficient for everyone?
- Bike Lanes-Improving already congested streets, with minimal horizontal expansion capacity is placing future bikes lane expansion in then cross hairs. The existing bike lanes at: King St., North Van Dorn, Pegramn and Seminary Rd. continue to conjure heated debate, and there is no easy solution, because cars clearly outnumber bike usage in the city.
5. What are the biggest challenges facing Alexandria’s smallest businesses and how can the city better support them?
The biggest challenges to small businesses are usually:
- Inflation, as it hits the bottom line most directly, and harder to overcome versus larger businesses, as higher costs in small businesses are harder to pass on to consumers.
- Access to credit that allows the business to maintain uninterrupted buying power. This challenge to accessing credit is usually tied to rising interest rates.
The BID proposal, which is tied to raising taxes, is not the answer in helping small businesses.
The city could do more to advertise “shopping local” could help
Encourage to buying pf gift cards, which directly benefits small business bottom lines.
Encourage local media sources to write good reviews
6. What is something you don’t like about Alexandria that you want to change?
Affordable Daycare/After school services: With so many dual working families, this will be an ongoing issue, but one that is keeping parents out of the workforce because of affordability, and needs to be addressed now.
The existing school system is not working. Future educational success is about preparing our students for life and empowering the future generation by demanding that education is on then right path by fostering excellence in every classroom.
This is not happening. How are successful cities around the country dealing with this massive issue? Find out the successful programs and Mind Share. (And, these Mind Share solutions are usually not just about budgetary/funding needs.)
7. Do you think the current city staff is able to effectively serve all the development that is happening or do you think we need to hire more people?
As mayor, my job is to hire the right people and get the heck out of their way and allow them to do their job.
Don't micromanage because if you do, you don’t trust the people
If they feel that they are understaffed, they will tell you, and then you can address the issue.
It's not my place to prejudge what departments have adequate or inadequate staffing, without proper input.
8. What would you tell a resident who doesn’t feel safe living in Alexandria?
Safety First- After conducting a $30,000 polling study on various issues that involve the city, I was surprised that the issue of Crime was not higher on people’s agenda.
There was somewhat of a feeling as though, “well, if my car wasn’t stolen or I wasn’t personally robbed, it's not high on my agenda.”
Well, I can assure you that the fact overall crime was up 30% in 2023 and car thefts were up 58%, will be a major mandate on my agenda.
If citizens do not feel safe in their community, then they have an over quality of life issue that will always resonate while I am mayor.
9. Briefly, please describe your views on the Potomac Yard arena and what your concerns are.
Note: Peterson did not directly answer this question, but has been opposed to the arena since it was announced. His campaign website states: "As a former real estate developer, Steven Peterson recognized the flaws in the arena deal instantly—prioritizing Alexandria's interests over insider profits. While his opponents later paraded on stage, endorsing a shortsighted vision, Peterson was already in the trenches, defending our city’s future with his informed opposition. He foresaw the burden on our streets, the strain on our services, the loss of our community’s character."
10. If you had to convince someone to vote for you in one sentence, what would that sentence be?
My job is to make the citizen’s quality of life better in three years than is today: our city, your voice, our future.
