In mayor’s race, Harrison Roday’s turnaround plan for Richmond focuses on ‘listening’

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) – Harrison Roday believes public service starts with “listening” and that Richmond City Hall needs to do it more.

Listening more and getting people working collectively is part of Roday’s plan to address issues in City Hall if he’s elected as Richmond’s next mayor, but it’s also what he says is the best path forward for the city.

“I really believe that listening is the start of public service. I spent many years in manufacturing, which I love because people come together with a common purpose to get things done,” Roday said in a Zoom interview. “We need more of that in City Hall and across our community.”

For Roday , a 33-year-old who grew up in Henrico County, investing in city employees “who do the jobs every day” is his top priority, telling 8News that working to fix problems across city departments and concerning transparency will require engaging with these frontline employees.

Roday said he plans to craft “a sustainable turnaround plan” if elected, working “hand in glove” with city employees to see if Richmond lacks the tools, resources, training systems and leadership it needs in the future.

“I know it can be done,” he said. “I know we can make progress in reforming City Hall if we partner with the folks who are in the building doing the work.”

He touted his endorsements from SEIU Virginia 512 and 32BJ and Teamsters Local 322 — unions representing city employees — telling 8News that Richmond needs to work with what it has and not “out-of-town consultants that don’t have a vested interest in the future of the city or add more people to the top of the organizational chart that get paid hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

Richmond should be a “city that works for everyone,” Roday told 8News, adding that his first run for office has taught him that residents are generally looking for the same things.

“They want affordable housing. They want good public schools. They want neighborhoods that are safe and well invested in,” Roday told 8News. “They want resources to be put towards mitigating gun violence and sidewalks and streetlights. Folks care deeply about access to abortion.”

Roday said no one moment drove him to run for mayor, telling 8News while getting coffee in Shockoe Slip that he considered his qualifications and desire to serve when making the decision.

The first-time candidate said he feels confident in the campaign work he’s done, saying that they have knocked on tens of thousands of doors across the city. In talks with voters, Roday said he regularly finds people who aren’t tuned into the mayoral race or have made up their minds.

When asked about the need to win majorities in five city districts, Roday said he doesn’t know who it potentially favors and called it an “unpredictable” aspect of the election.

Roday founded a Richmond-based non-profit called Bridging Virginia which his campaign site says, “provides access to capital for Black, women, and minority-owned small businesses” and he also co-founded Third South Capital, a software company.

Per his campaign site , Roday went to William & Mary and is the grandson of immigrants who fled Nazi Germany.

A former aide for Democratic U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine (Va.) and White House intern in the Obama administration, Roday previously worked for Morgan Stanley before being a partner at the private equity firm American Industrial Partners, which focuses on industrial businesses.

In the conversation over coffee, Roday called Kaine and Anne Holton, a state board of education member, Virginia’s former education secretary and Kaine’s wife, the most influential people in his life apart from his parents.

If elected, Roday said he plans to lead an audit of every city department for performance and have a forensic financial audit. He said getting City Hall out of the news headlines will allow Richmond to focus on long-term priorities like economic development, affordable housing, schools or jobs.

Roday said he plans to ensure his administration would be transparent with its goals and achievements.

“Well, this is going to take years and one of the most important parts of change management is setting clear goals and then being held accountable for those goals,” Roday told 8News. “So as a leader, I will set goals for what we want to accomplish in every quarter next year, report those goals to the public and then share where we’ve made those goals or where we’ve missed them and what we need to do to make progress.”

One of the most important roles for Richmond’s mayor is writing the city’s budget. Roday said he believes a mayor needs to be clear in asserting what the priorities are for a budget, telling 8News that he’s been clear that addressing the affordable housing crisis is vital.

“Housing needs to be driving the creation of housing that is genuinely affordable,” Roday said. “If we partner with developers, those need to be good developers. We need to protect our renters and keep the cost of rent under control. We need to do more to hold landlords accountable that are not providing safe living conditions.”

Roday said he doesn’t think it makes sense to have a citywide real estate tax cut to address the issue, saying he believes it would “disproportionately benefit people who own homes worth over $1,000,000” and jeopardize funding for key city services.

Roday’s plan includes a proposal to invest $100 million in housing over the next four years, per his campaign site , with the money going towards eviction prevention and incentives for new homes “that are genuinely affordable” to be built.

On the relationship between police and the city’s residents, Roday said efforts to mend distrust start with law enforcement “being in a strong partnership with our communities and listening to the folks who they engage with every day.”

While he hasn’t raised as much as Danny Avula in the five-person mayoral race, Roday is not far off. Per the Virginia Public Access Project, which tracks money in politics, he has raised more than $916,000.

Roday has come out in support of campaign finance reform and politics shouldn’t be about money but acknowledges the reality of the role of money in campaigns.

“I don’t think our politics should be about money, and it’s very unfortunate that people running for office have to spend the time focused on raising money that they do,” he told 8News. “We should want our leaders to be focused on engaging with the public as much as possible.”

Roday said his campaign is fighting for the future of Richmond and to make it a city that works for all of its residents.

“We can make that happen, and I look forward to earning people’s support,” Roday said.

8News also asked the candidates about their favorite places and things to do in Richmond. Here are Roday’s answers:

Do you have a favorite place in the city? If yes, where and why?

I love hanging out at the James River to clear my mind, particularly in the early morning.

We need to protect it by investing in Combined Sewer Overflow so that the river is fishable and swimmable every day of the year and ensure the Pipeline Trail and Texas Beach get back to normal access.

Do you have a favorite or a few favorite spots in Richmond to eat? Where and why?

Penny’s Wine Shop in Jackson Ward is my favorite spot. Bridging Virginia, the non-profit I founded, helps Black and women-owned businesses get access to capital, and Penny’s was one of the businesses we supported. Penny’s has an amazing food menu and great wines to choose from.

Beaucoup is a really fun new bar serving food, wine, and oysters. It’s a great spot on Robinson and is part of the Grisette and Jardin group of restaurants.

What about to get a coffee/tea/etc.? Where and why?

Afterglow is my favorite spot, as their coffee is phenomenal and they are a worker-owned business. I live closer to Blanchard’s on Broad Street so I am often there as well.

What’s your favorite thing to do outdoors in the city?

I love walking and riding my bike around Richmond. Richmond has distinct neighborhoods with a lot of character.

Walking and cycling enables you to experience the communities in a more intimate way, seeing all they have to offer, but also seeing firsthand where the disparities are, from sidewalks and green space to housing and economic development.

How do you spend a typical Sunday in the city?

For the last few months, most weekends, I’ve been in our community spending time with folks hearing about their concerns and hopes for the city and their families.

In non-campaign years, you can generally find me sitting on the couch watching football on Sunday afternoons and catching dinner with my parents or friends.

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