Petersburg mayor faces political newcomer in race to be Ward 3's councilor

PETERSBURG — Mayor Sam Parham wants a third term on City Council, but standing in the way between him and that goal is first-time candidate Michael Moore-Storrs. They are the two candidates on the ballot for the city's Ward 3, which encompasses southern Petersburg from the center of town to the city line.

Parham, director of operations for a family-run cleaning company in Petersburg, has been on council since 2014, was named vice mayor in his first term, and then mayor in 2017. Only two others have been on council longer — Ward 5's Howard Myers, who also is seeking re-election this November, and Ward 1's Treska Wilson-Smith, who is retiring at the end of the year.

Moore-Storrs is a clinician and social worker at Poplar Springs Hospital in Petersburg. He said he decided to make a run for local office because there is no transparency between City Council and Petersburg citizens. So many in Petersburg, he said, believe that the decisions made by council are either made in advance of meetings or are driven by agendas from folks like Parham.

"I've seen how Petersburg is not excelling as fast as other cities in Virginia," he said. "You can do one of two things. You can sit on the sidelines and complain, or you can take action. And the best way to take action is to run."

And running he is, mostly from door-to-door in Ward 3 after he gets off work. In his words, Ward 3 has "great people who deserve better."

One to keep an eye on

The race is one of the most closely watched ones this election cycle. As mayor and the ceremonial "face of Petersburg," Parham has come under fire on social media for, among other things, cozying up to Gov. Glenn Youngkin in trying to curry economic and political favor from a Republican governor for a largely Democratic city. Of the criticism, Parham said the posts on social media are "half truth, half lies," and the lies "become magnified about everything that's wrong," but he also knows that is part of being in politics.

"You get basically lashed for being on City Council, even though you're the best bargain in the city," he said. "You're the cheapest employee that the city of Petersburg has, but you get all the blame when things are bad and none of the credit when things are good."

Some citizens have used words such as "corrupt" in blasting City Council over the years, but Moore-Storrs is not one of them. He prefers to use "distrust," citing several closed sessions council has had this year where they came out and basically took no action. To him, that drapes a very opaque curtain between the councilors and the people who elected them. In his mind, council needs to be more open with their discussions.

"They have a blatant disregard for closed meetings," he said.

Fiery words over Petersburg Fire

If you look at recent events in the city, there is no shortage of issues on which to run for office. From the ongoing demolition of the former Ramada Inn at Interstate 95, to the city's growing homicide rate, to the fact that Petersburg has been the unhealthiest city in Virginia over the last 12 years (according to a University of Wisconsin biennial study), there has been and will be a lot to talk about.

Perhaps none has generated as much public attention as the recent spat between the city fire department and the local firefighters' union over the general safety of the fleet of firefighting vehicles and health issues caused by problems with exhaust systems at some of the stations. Not surprisingly, Parham and Moore-Storrs disagree on how the issue has played out.

More:Fire chief: Union has shown me ‘abundance of disrespect, hostility’ over department direction

"When I got here in 2015, they were riding around in 1988 and 89 [equipment], and being on the brink of bankruptcy, we had to leverage City Hall to get three new fire trucks, and we bought them three 2017 fire trucks," the mayor said. "That shows our commitment to a fire department that, even in the midst of financial chaos, we still came up with a way to get them some much-needed supplies because they didn't have anything."

What so many in the city are sore about, though, is what they feel is the city dodging questions about why the department's only ladder truck was off the road for several months and the fire department having to borrow equipment and relying on assistance from neighboring localities to safely carry out their duties.

Moore-Storrs calls the whole fire debate a "debacle."

"It's a necessary service," he said of the fire department. "They're putting a Band-Aid on something that needs a tourniquet."

Petersburg, in Moore-Storrs' opinion, needs to channel "any funds we have available" toward fixing the problems in the fire department, even if that were to require possibly raising city taxes to help fund the department needs.

"Everything is in secrecy," he said. "What's going on with our finances?"

The mayor's 'babies'

Two projects in which Parham has been particularly active in getting are Petersburg's burgeoning pharmaceutical industry and trying to land a casino just across Interstate 95 from where the industry is being developed. Moore-Storrs calls them Parham's "babies."

"He's not harvesting the fullest potential for them," Moore-Storrs said about the pharma cluster. "We're letting them have the land ... but what are we going to do to get the people of Petersburg working there?"

Recently, the coalition that is building up pharmaceutical manufacturing in Petersburg and pharmaceutical research in Richmond received a $52.9 million award from the federal government, part of which will go to build an education platform that will give potential workers the ability to work in the industry. Virginia State and Virginia Commonwealth universities are developing a pharma-based degree program, and Brightpoint and J. Sargeant Reynolds community colleges are putting together, through a community workforce alliance, a program to teach skilled laborers and others what is needed to be gainfully employed by pharma.

More:White House awards $52.9M to pharma initiative that includes Petersburg manufacturers

Parham said he took development of the pharmaceutical industry in Petersburg personally because the year before he got on council, Boehringer Ingelheim Chemicals, Inc. had just waved goodbye to the city and the 240 employees who worked there. He recalled his first meeting as mayor with AMPAC Fine Chemicals, who was considering locating to the old BI plant. It was held "in a little taco shop up in Richmond" amid the uncertainty of Petersburg's fiscal and political picture, he said.

"I had to really reassure them that we have some chaos right now that's going on, but things were going to be OK on the other side, and we're gonna work through it," Parham said. "It is a missing ingredient. You can't have a strong city without manufacturing something."

On the casino issue, Parham joined state Sen. Joe Morrissey as the biggest cheerleaders for bringing a business to Petersburg that had just been rejected by voters in Richmond. The city is awaiting General Assembly action next year on whether it will be allowed to be one of the five cities hosting casinos in Virginia, but in the interim, Petersburg has been courting several giants in the gambling business about coming here.

One caveat of the Petersburg casino is that whoever is the successful vendor must agree to spending in advance up to $50 million as a good-faith investment in Petersburg's future. Parham said that money would go a long way toward upgrading city infrastructure, including the building of new schools in the city — something that has not happened in almost five decades.

"People think we're just talking about water and sewer, but we're talking about the courts, we're talking about the schools, we're talking about fire apparatus and fire trucks," he said.

Moore-Storrs admits he is "50-50" on the Petersburg casino. The Richmond native admitted he was "110% on board" with Urban One building a $565 million hotel and casino on the city's southside because he believed Richmond had done all the necessary due-diligence on the One Hotel and Casino prior to putting it before the citizens, whi ultimately rejected it. He said he does not think that is the case in Petersburg. Proponents are flaunting the idea of having a big casino come in and be a financial savior, but they have not addressed how they would deal with the cons of a casino, such as increasing crime and gambling addiction

"Petersburg has not done its homework on it," Moore-Storrs said.

Kids and violence

As everyone knows, Petersburg has the highest per-capita murder rate in Virginia. Critics point to a lack of recreation centers and organized afterschool activities for kids, claiming that draws them to the streets where they often get into trouble.

Moore-Storrs said Petersburg needs to utilize what it already has to offset the lack of rec centers. He proposed opening up the city schools to host afterschool programs where the kids can do homework or participate in organized activities. As for the question of how they would get to and from their homes, he suggested that Petersburg Area Transit expand its community-service mission to help out.

"Use the trolleys," he said. "Use the PAT buses."

While Parham said he supports the concept of afterschool organized activities, in his words, "a rec center is not a cure-all." He pointed to a recent high-profile homicide in the city as an example — the July 2 shooting death of a young woman who was caught in crossfire among three people, all of whom are now in police custody.

"She got killed by teenagers from Hopewell," Parham said. "Over there, they have the whole fancy rec center, and ‘The Well' and all that stuff, but that did not deter them from coming to Petersburg to kill somebody."

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.

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Bill Atkinson (he/him/his) is an award-winning journalist who covers breaking news, government and politics. Reach him at batkinson@progress-index.com or on Twitter at @BAtkinson_PI.

This article originally appeared on The Progress-Index: Petersburg mayor challenged in re-election bid by first-time candidate