SAFE
NEIGHBORHOODS

Everyone Deserves Investment in their Neighborhood

Our city will only be successful when every neighborhood is safe and thriving. My administration will partner with neighborhood associations, schools, non-profits, and public safety officials to pursue community-centric policies, including those to reduce gun violence.

Together we can:

  • Establish an Office for Gun Violence Prevention within the Mayor’s Office. This office will be responsible for coordinating community and government efforts to reduce gun violence by focusing on the root causes, collecting and sharing data, and working across various city agencies and nonprofits. Locating this initiative within the Mayor’s Office will provide direct oversight and attention to addressing this critical public safety issue.
     
  • Increase Richmond’s investment in the prevention and intervention efforts that we know work, including Richmond Community Mediators. We will make the largest investment in Community-based Violence Intervention (CVI) programs in Richmond’s history. These programs empower community members to engage those most likely to be involved in gun violence and provide them wraparound services to address the root causes of violence. By intervening in violence before it occurs and stopping cycles of trauma and retaliation, CVI programs in Richmond, and across the country, have been proven to work.

  • Ensure Richmond Police Department (RPD) is working hand and glove with the community and create community policing that supports neighborhoods with what they need.

  • Advocate for laws requiring safe storage of firearms and other common sense gun violence prevention policies in the General Assembly which Governor Youngkin vetoed. I will work tirelessly in support of legislation and state laws that keep our communities safe from gun violence and will work with City Council to ensure that Richmond is taking full advantage of the tools and funding opportunities available to do so.

  • Bring the country’s most effective school-based gun violence prevention programs to Richmond. The root causes driving youth gun violence are complex and we need to empower local leaders to address them head on. School-based programs that combine trauma-informed therapy with wraparound supports can do exactly that. A study of Chicago’s Becoming a Man (BAM) program found it reduced violent arrests by 45% and increased on-time high school graduation rates by 19%. There are other BAM’s out there, and we should bring them to Richmond.

  • Create a Richmond Community Shooting Review. Every time a Richmonder is shot and killed, it’s a policy failure that demands a response. We must empower community members to shape new policies and bring all stakeholders to the table when a resident is killed. Together, community leaders, Richmond Public Schools, Richmond Social Services, the public defender’s office, and the police department will assess what went wrong and identify policy fixes.

  • Support Richmond youth by allocating resources to get more kids in Pre-K programs and working with Richmond Public Schools (RPS) to ensure students have access to appropriate wraparound services to meet their needs.

  • Partner with the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority to ensure all our community members have access to safe and affordable housing.

Neighborhood safety is only one part of a thriving community. We need to fix neglected infrastructure like sidewalks, street lights, roads, bike lanes, transit shelters, and our combined sewer overflow, and tackle environmental challenges facing our communities. 

Together, we can:

  • Fix our streets and potholes on a predictable maintenance schedule. Increase investments in public transit to improve access for all Richmonders. We will ensure that public transit remains zero fare, work with neighboring localities to increase GRTC funding, expand public transit routes throughout the city, and fully fund the essential transit infrastructure plan to support benches or shelters at 75% of bus stops. 

  • Invest in multimodal transit infrastructure to improve both safety and availability for all road users and pedestrians alike. We will mandate road diet audits each time a road is repaved in order to ensure that roadways are meeting the safety and transportation needs of every pedestrian and road user. Streets need to be designed in ways that combat speeding as well as protect pedestrians, incorporating—as needed—additional raised crossings and speed tables, more noticeable pedestrian crossing signage, and curb extensions. We also must continue to extend and improve our bicycle route network with safe, buffered and protected bicycle lanes throughout the city.

  • Take meaningful steps to advance Richmond’s sustainability efforts and reach the RVAgreen 2050 Climate Equity Action Plan’s goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 45% by 2030. This includes dedicating resources to further electrification efforts, phasing out fossil fuel use in city government facilities and services, patching leaking Richmond Gas Works infrastructure, and increasing the City and Richmonders’ ability to access clean energy resources, such as expanding solar energy development.

  • Increase the amount of green space throughout Richmond, prioritizing the neighborhoods and areas with disproportionately low tree cover. Greater tree cover and green spaces improve public health by improving air quality and moderating temperatures. Additionally, we will look for opportunities to increase the number of rain gardens, vegetated swales and other green solutions to assist with the treatment of stormwater runoff.

  • Fully fund Richmond’s portion of the Fall Line Trail and feeder trails to low income communities.

Prospering neighborhoods also means access to resources, like healthy food.  As someone who helped lead a non-profit dedicated to sustainable agriculture, I know the importance of access to quality, healthy food – and I know that we can work together to address challenges around food insecurity. For example, we can support urban agriculture and community gardens across the city. Richmond’s community gardens provide public green spaces as well as support access to locally grown, healthy foods. As we work to grow these spaces, we must make sure that they are available in all neighborhoods in Richmond, particularly those that have been historically underinvested in. As Mayor, I will work to promote and expand these public spaces.

Harrison Roday is a non-profit and business leader running to be the next Mayor of Richmond. Election Day is Tuesday, November 5, 2024. Support Harrison’s campaign by making a donation online or signing up to volunteer. 

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Roday for Richmond
P.O. Box 14532
Richmond, VA 23221

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