Mark’s Views on Issues
STRENGTHENING OUR ECONOMY
Thankfully, Fairfax County has not been affected as badly as other regions in the current recession. But we do have our share of unemployment and job losses, and our home values have declined as well. Many of our neighbors have suffered significant pension and investment losses.
We all hope the economy will turn around soon. As your Delegate, it will be my highest priority to strengthen our economy by providing private sector incentives and public sector fiscal responsibility. I will bring all of my skills and years of experiences to the task.
As a former counsel at the Small Business Administration, I understand that small business is the engine of our economy that creates over two thirds of all new jobs. In these difficult times, it is the local mom and pop stores along Maple Avenue and Chain Bridge Road, on Route 50, and other places in Vienna, Oakton, Fairfax, and Dunn Loring that suffer the most. They need sufficient credit to keep their sales up and their employees working.
As your Delegate, I will be a champion of small businesses and start-up entities, and I will work to help build a stronger future for them and for our local communities. I will work on a plan to let small business employers and employees pool together to bargain for cheaper health insurance. I will look for ways to help ease burdensome regulatory requirements that unfairly target small businesses over big companies.
Having worked in and around the high-tech industry for many years, I also know that our region is an ideal home for innovative companies.
Virginia was named the “best state for business” in the nation by Forbes.com and CNBC. Governing magazine named us the “best managed state” in the nation. We have also maintained “AAA Bond” rating by all three major bonding agencies. And according to the Fairfax County government, we have a great pool of workers with the right skills for “creative occupations” such as information technology, professional services, and education. These are all important factors that companies look for in investing resources to expand their business.
As your Delegate, I will promote policy initiatives that will further encourage local investment. I strongly support investment in research and development that will lead to innovative goods and services for the 21st century, and to attract more tech jobs to Fairfax County.
I also support efforts to find alternative sources of energy and to transform our society away from oil-dependency. As citizens, you and I can take small steps to help with this transition, and to be more energy efficient. But as a state government, we can bring a lot more change faster.
We should start by making adjustments to government buildings throughout the Commonwealth to ensure compliance with the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards. Construction and renovation with LEED standard will result in buildings that save money in the long run while conserving energy and producing less waste. And our finest colleges and universities should be at the front end of the national trend toward green technology research.
REDUCING TRAFFIC CONGESTION
You and I know that driving in Northern Virginia continues to be a painful experience. The massive traffic congestions seem to get worse each year. It’s time to attack this issue head on and take concrete and practical steps.
One way to reduce traffic congestion is to keep more commuters off our roads and onto public mass transportation. Now that the Metro line extension to Dulles airport is becoming a reality, we need to ensure that the project is completed on time and on budget.
The residents in our 35th House District will be directly affected by this project for years to come. Oakton, Vienna and Dunn Loring are bordered by the Dulles toll road, the Beltway, I-66, and Route 50, with Hunter Mill and Chain Bridge Roads passing right through our neighborhood. As your Delegate, I will work with local, state and federal officials and with all the stakeholders to ensure the Metro expansion plan is successfully implemented with the least impact on our district.
As we look to improving the I-66 corridor, further Metro expansion – Orange line westward – should be considered to avoid the current rush of commuters coming to and from the Vienna Metro station. We should consider light rail, rapid buses, exclusive bus lanes on arterials, and even bike lanes, to provide as many practical non-auto options for commuters.
Currently, we face a major fiscal crisis where 100% of our transportation funds will be used for maintenance only, and there will be no funds left for new projects. We need public private partnerships and new stable funding sources that will not be raided by the General Assembly for non-transportation purposes.
And I will fight for our fair share of state funding for Northern Virginia.
We also need to encourage telecommuting and flexible work hours to keep more people from having to commute to work everyday. A lot of employers, including my wife Alex’s, already give workers this option. That is why Alex is able to send off our kids to school in the morning and greet them from the school bus in the afternoon, and still put in a full day’s work. She is also able to care for her ailing father instead of being stuck in commuter traffic during a crucial moment when she might be needed.
Wouldn’t it be great if more employers could adopt similar family-friendly policies? With advances in technology and increasing availability of broadband in Northern Virginia, we should be able to find smart, common sense solutions to keep worker productivity high and reduce congestion at the same time. I will bring my tech policy expertise to my service as Delegate and seek new ideas to solve old problems.
MAINTAINING QUALITY EDUCATION
We are blessed to have great public schools in Fairfax County. Education Week proclaimed that children born in Virginia have the best chance of succeeding in life compared to children born anywhere else in the nation. In 2008, four Fairfax County high schools made Newsweek’s top 100 high schools list, including Thomas Jefferson at number one.
As the product of public schools and as a father of two children currently attending Fairfax County public schools, I will fight to keep our schools the best in the nation.
We need to maintain strong investment in K-12 education, and to reverse the trend of Virginia’s average teacher salary dropping below those of other states. I will also focus on college affordability so that your children and mine will have a chance to continue their education. For high school graduates not attending college, I want to make sure they also have opportunities to gain further education and lifelong learning to help them secure good jobs.
Growing up overseas, neither I nor my wife received pre-kindergarten education. But our children were fortunate to attend an excellent Montessori Pre-K program in Fairfax City, which helped ease their transition to Marshall Road Elementary.
Studies have shown that four year old children who attend preschool do much better than those who miss out on that early opportunity. Every child in our region should have a fair shot in life, no matter what their economic circumstance might be. That is why I support Governor Kaine’s “Start Strong Initiative” to help lower-income children have similar opportunities.
