What Can We Make Fredericksburg?

Fredericksburg is a city in desperate need of leadership.  Let me provide you with some startling statistics:

- unemployment is at 9.2%, which is nearly double the two surrounding counties

- taxable sales have decreased dramatically 

- home values have dropped by 15% in the last year

- during Q3 of '11 Fredericksburg only added 44 jobs; during the same time Spotsy added 835 jobs, Stafford 761, King George 313

- downtown has become the epitome of unmet potential

How long are we going to let this continue?  There is a growing discontent among Fredericksburg residents asking where the family sustaining wages have gone and among business leaders who want to increase our city's fiscal competitiveness.  Citizens want to know why restoration and redevelopment is underway all across America but not here in Fredericksburg.  That's why I am running for Mayor.

We have a passive City Council that has lacked aggressiveness in pursuing new business, new tourists and new opportunities to enhance and nourish our city.  My two City Council opponents are both good people who I respect and admire, but with whom I differ markedly in terms of how our city needs to be led.  We can't afford to sit and watch the above statistics get worse; we won't progress by commissioning more studies; and we're not going to reach our city's grand potential without taking more initiative, working harder and following through.

As Mayor, I will lead.  I will make changing our present reality my mission and the mission of City Council.  I am prepared; I worked to earn a Master's Degree in Public Policy so I would know how to succeed in this kind of mission.  I am offering a detailed and innovative agenda that will provide solutions to the problems facing our city and enable us to seize the opportunities that surround us.  The future of our city lies in economic development and tourism, which have represented failings of City Council for years, including during the terms of my two opponents.  It's time for new leadership in Fredericksburg.  So, as your Mayor, I will commit to the following:

- reclaiming our downtown riverfront and redeveloping the Sophia St. corridor

- investing in and utilizing our city's under appreciated artistic talent 

- creating more significant job and economic development opportunities

- protecting our history by following through on the Historic Preservation Plan passed but never implemented by City Council

- dramatically increasing the promotion and marketing of Fredericksburg and our historic, recreational and cultural attractions

I am the only candidate for Mayor who has specifically outlined the steps we will take to ensure these objectives are met and where the money will come from.  It's all spelled out in detail and available for public review on my website:  paxsonformayor.com.  I need your help to make all this happen; I'm asking for your support during this campaign and for your vote on May 1st, 2012. Let's help Fredericksburg realize it's grand potential!