Get to know your Ward 7 candidates: Arnold Westbrook and Elsie Jarmon
When Ward 7 Councilor John Hart had to resign short of the completion of his term, City Council tapped Arnold Westbrook Jr. to take his place last November.
“Now I’m trying to run to hold on to the seat to show people really who I am and what my vision is and where I would like to see 7th Ward continue to go in and be a major player with Petersburg,” said Westbrook.
Born and raised in Petersburg, Westbrook has been an English composition and literature professor at Virginia State University since 2004 and serves as the chairman on the board of Petersburg Social Services. He previously served on the board of the Appomattox Regional Water Authority.
Westbrook earned a master's degree in American and English Literature at VSU and a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management and Economics from Morehouse College.
The three major issues Westbrook is running on is education, economic development, and supporting the youth.
The importance of education
Being an educator himself and coming from a line of educators where his dad taught at VSU and his mom in Petersburg Public Schools for decades, Westbrook says that if he were elected to serve a full term on council, he would work together with the school board to ensure they have the resources they need. During the months he’s been on council, Westbrook has grown a deeper realization of his role—and even the limitations it carries.
“I have even learned that there's a difference between city council and school board,” he said. “Whereas I would like hopefully to see us work together more, I understand the school board has the right to make decisions on their own for the best of our of our youth...there's only so much that I know I can do because those are two entities.”
Where he can support the schools, he said, is when it comes to allocating money for the schools and working together with the school board to identify needs and funding those needs.
“So I have to know my role and my position and know that that is their lane,” said Westbrook. “For city council to fill in the need where we can, whether it is for after school programs, whether it is for making sure that Parks and Recs have their money and their funding and they're finding grants so that we can repurpose the playgrounds.”
Westbrook believes in working with the schools to improve literacy levels and looking for other opportunities outside of the Standards of Learning in school systems, which requires students to pass certain test-taking expectations.
Supporting the youth
Westbrook cares about making sure the youth have what they need to feel supported. One of his main concerns is the state of the playgrounds in the city. As a father, when he wants to take his three-year-old daughter to the park, he drives half an hour north to Richmond where parks have swings, monkey bars and slides galore.
“Are we really serving the youth so that they are empowered to stay off the streets?” he said.
He hears the complaints citizens have about Jefferson Street Park.
“I understand it,” he said. “But I have to now work with Marquis Allen, who's the director of Parks and Rec.”
Westbrook sees his role as supporting Parks and Recreation to improve the parks and playgrounds.
Westbrook points to the fact that the city council has earmarked money for Legends Park for it be revitalized, but now it will take time for that plan to come to fruition.
“I see the stages that things have to now go through,” he said.
Economic Development
Westbrook says that a “Petersburg West master plan” is being developed.
He points to the fact that when drivers get off exit 65 on Squirrel Level Rd on the 85 interstate, they won’t find what they need.
“But if I go one exit down to Dinwiddie, it looks more city where you have your Exxon, your Shell gas, your McDonald's, your Hardee's, your Taco Bell, your Waffle House, your Holiday Inn Express,” he said. “It's more commercialized. I get to exit 65 and it's like, what's going on right here? It doesn't look like a city."
Westbrook also mentions that if he wants to eat at a chain restaurant, watch a movie or go to the bowling alley, he has to go across the bridge to Colonial Heights.
“Where’s that...recycling in the city?” He said.
Westbrook believes that Petersburg is on the up and up.
“We're right there. We're about ready to score the next touchdown,” he said. “And I'm not even going to believe that that touchdown is the casino. I'm seeing the touchdown in the pharmaceutical cluster. I'm seeing a touchdown in poor Creek...I want to see Petersburg be the crown jewel of the Tri-Cities again.”
Hot topics: Government Transparency, Casino
Westbrook believes that city council is transparent.
"But it seems like people want it [information] immediately, instead of when it can be released,” he said.
However, recent major events related to a lack transparency are fresh on citizens’ minds—the firing of city manager Stuart Turille and the discovery that there has been a major lack of necessary fire equipment for the fire department. In both instances, the city has remained mum. The firing of Turille came as a shock to many, as he was only months in the job and was regarded favorably by many citizens.
“Unfortunately, I didn't have anything to do with the hiring of Mr. Stuart Turille,” said Westbrook. “But I quickly saw that it was not going in the right direction, unfortunately. That's why we had to let him go... the people in Petersburg are guarded. The people in their departments of Petersburg are even more guarded.”
Westbrook points to the siloing effects happening in other city departments and the lack of coordination within them to work efficiently, which affects the continued issues with billing and collections.
“Can't force your treasurer to do so much. He's an elected official. Can't force the commissioner revenue to do but so much, she's an elected official,” said Westbrook. “Who can I get on board and say that this is my team? Well, we have the city manager, the city attorney, city assessor and the clerk of the council. Those are the four that we can put there. They're directly under us. Everybody else, if they don't get on board and we don't have relationships, then things don't run efficiently.”
Westbrook is hoping that the newly appointed city manager March Altman will help steer Petersburg in the right direction.
“So that more people can get out of this stigma that we are just in such disarray, which I disagree with,” he said. “Because for everybody that wants to holler the negatives of Petersburg, I like to be the positive champion.”
He is a supporter of the casino. “Hopefully the casino comes. I am a casino proponent,” he said.
Elsie Jarmon is running for change
Elsie Jarmon brings a plethora of experience with risk management, administration, safety planning, and budgeting. Jarmon graduated with a Masters in Urban and Regional Planning from Virginia Commonwealth University in 1995, and moved to the city in 1986 with her husband.
She’s worked as a risk manager for the city for 10 years up until 2017, first under then-city manager B. David Canada, and then under the finance department, where she administered a $1.6 million operating budget.
Under a state grant, Jarmon worked with the police department as a safety planner, conducting research on ways to reduce crime in schools and public areas, including public housing, and implemented strategies such as beautifying public housing areas.
Jarmon has also served on the school board for eight years and the Planning Commission for seven years.
In 2014, Jarmon ran for council, but lost to John Hart.
Jarmon wants to be part of helping Petersburg to progress by investing in the youth, improving funding to the schools, looking after the seniors, supporting economic growth and creating more transparency in the government.
Jarmon sees crime, the lack of access to healthy food, and the inconsistency of trash pickup and water bills as some of the biggest challenges Ward 7 residents face, which extend to the city as a whole.
Empowering the youth and lifting up the seniors
As someone who has served on the school board for eight years, Jarmon says that one of her main concerns is that schools are not getting adequate funding. And though schools got an injection of money through Covid relief funds, that money is earmarked and can only be spent within certain limitations.
“And not just the funding of the schools," she said. "If you’re in the community, you’re going to see that there aren't adequate playgrounds. You're going to see that there’s no active community center, resources for the young people. We can’t continue that way.”
The reason why Jarmon chose to run for council in 2014 was because she felt she could be more effective in helping the youth by being on council instead of the school board, as council is the body that determines how to allocate funding.
To prioritize youth, Jarmon wants to put more funding into the schools and pull in resources to create a rec center. Jarmon also wants to implement more job training programs through partnerships with private organizations and with schools in the surrounding areas, like VSU and Richard Bland.
“Grants can be sought," Jarmon said. "But we need to be actively pursuing the funds, and through the budget." She says that Community Block Development Grants can be sought to fund things like the rec center.
Jarmon notes that there aren’t enough housing for seniors, who make up a large population in the city.
Economic Development
Jarmon believes in the need for economic development, but not just any development: “Economic development needs to benefit the citizens,” said Jarmon.
In terms of pursuing manufacturing and economic development in her ward itself, Jarmon says that a lot needs to be considered, as what would be good for one part of the ward might not be good for another part.
“It’s got to be a well thought out plan, and not haphazard,” she says. The environmental consequences must be considered as well, she says, like how certain developments might impact the surrounding neighborhoods’ air, soil and water quality. Ultimately, she believes that the vision from Ward 7 needs to come from what the people want.
Jarmon believes there needs to be more markets and grocery stores and housing developments, especially for the seniors, and sees that as part of economic development.
“Here’s the key: Leave nobody behind,” she said.
Government accountability
Jarmon believes in creating more transparency and accountability in the government for it to be able to serve citizens more appropriately.
“The citizens don’t trust our local government,” said Jarmon. “We are not going to change the outcomes of the city until you pull the citizens into the process. They don’t feel valued, and they feel left behind... and that’s got to change.”
To create more transparency in the government, Jarmon believes in doing things from answering FOIA requests and making information more publicly available, to being open about the deals the city is making, to giving citizens factual and enough information to understand what is happening, to conducting an audit of the city’s finances to see where money is being spent where it shouldn’t be, and where it can be better appropriated.
“An audit provides exposure,” said Jarmon.
Jarmon also believes in putting time limits on city council meetings.
“One thing I want to make sure," said Jarmon, "that meetings are conducted in a manner that our citizens would want to be a part of."
Jarmon believes that city council members should “get up out of city hall” and make contact with the people in the community. She believes that Petersburg will progress and that people are stepping up to be part of the solution. Leaders “just need to keep the door open, to do everything we can to encourage and to assist that,” she said.
Jarmon believes that things like the inconsistency of trash pickup and the faulty water and billing system need to be fixed. Though it may seem like a minor issue to some, Jarmon says that these are the things that could prevent someone from living in Petersburg.
In order to fix some of the billing and trash pickup issues, Jarmon believes there needs to first be an audit to see how city resources are being used.
“There needs to be a clear understanding of how the billing is done, as far as the money collected, what each portion of the money is being used for. We don’t a clear understanding of that. And why is it inconsistent?” she said.
“In order for us to make Petersburg a better place, we’ve got to start making it a better place for the citizens right here. If we want the city to progress, then we’ve got to make that change to make it a better place for the citizens.”
Hot Topics: Casino and homelessness
In terms of the casino, Jarmon says that she believes it should be up to the citizens of Petersburg to decide, and not left up to the decision of the seven people who sit on the council. She believes in holding a city-wide vote like Richmond did.
Her response to people who are homeless and those who are struggling to make ends meet? “We can do better than that,” said Jarmon.
“There was a mindset that we needed to not make our city a place where homeless people could come and get shelter,” said Jarmon. “But when you look at the rent increasing...and the median income, when you look at the fact that we don’t have jobs; what are we doing but creating the population of homelessness? And now we don’t have a shelter for them.”
Jarmon sees councilwoman Treska Wilson-Smith's bill to support the unhoused by turning the Southside Virginia Training Center to housing units as a comprehensive solution. Jarmon believes that it’s not only important to provide them with shelter, but to “teach them how to fish” by giving opportunities for work.
Remember this:
Election Day is Nov. 8, 2022.
In-person early voting for the election begins Sept. 23 and continues until Nov. 5, three days before the election.
The deadline to register to vote or to update an existing registration is Oct. 17. Anyone who registers after that date will be able to vote using a provisional ballot.
The deadline to apply for a mail-in ballot is Oct. 28.
You can register to vote or apply for an absentee ballot online through the Virginia Department of Elections' citizen portal.
More: Get to know Marlow Jones: Petersburg's Ward 1 candidate
More: Petersburg mayor faces political newcomer in race to be Ward 3's councilor
Joyce Chu, an award-winning investigative journalist, is the Social Justice Watchdog Reporter for The Progress Index. Contact her with comments, concerns, or story-tips at Jchu1@gannett.com or on Twitter @joyce_speaks.
This article originally appeared on The Progress-Index: Elsie Jarmon is running against Arnold Westbrook for Ward 7 seat
