2022 Candidate Profile: Pradip Dhakal For Herndon Town Council

HERNDON, VA — Pradip Dhakal is an IT project manager who lives in Herndon with his wife Sushma Dhakal and three children. He's also on the ballot for the Nov. 8 general election.

Dhakal is running against fellow incumbents Cesar del Aguila, Naila Alam, and Signe V. Friedrichs, as well as challengers Clark A. Hedrick, Keven J. Leblanc Jr., Stevan M. Porter, Donielle M. Scherff, and Roland B. Taylor for the six seats on the Herndon Town Council.

Patch asked each of the candidates in the Herndon Town Council race to fill out the following questionnaire.

Name

Pradip Dhakal

Campaign Website

Pradip4Herndon

Names, ages and any pertinent detail you wish to share.

Sushma Dhakal (wife) and 3 kids

Does anyone in your family work in politics or government? This includes any relatives who work in the government you're running for.

No

Education

Master’s Degree

Occupation - Please include years of experience

IT project Manager, 10 years in IT

Previous or Current Elected or Appointed Office

Herndon Town Councilman, Chair of Herndon Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee (HDEIC), Herndon town representative for Fairfax County Economic Advisory Commission (FCEAC), Member of BOD of Dulles Area Transportation Association (DATA)

Why are you seeking elective office?

To ensure the good work we have started gets the continuity. We need to continue examining and updating so many old town codes related to Zoning, Traffic and Parking. There is so much work to be done in traffic calming and pedestrian safety and making the town more bike-able and walkable.

The single most pressing issue facing the Town of Herndon is _______, and this is what I intend to do about it.

Traffic Calming and Pedestrian Safety. I will plan to create a short term fix to the traffic and speeding issue (including pedestrian safety) by ensuring we have stop signs in residential streets, by having properly marked cross-walks, by ensuring school areas have speed cameras, by reducing speed limits from 25 to 15 as appropriate based on the finding of traffic study, by ensuring additional fines on speeding on residential streets etc. We may have to adopt multiple measures to change drivers’ behaviors. Medium term plan is to conduct traffic analysis and reduce/divert cut-through traffic by reclassifying some of the residential streets. The medium/long term fix is to make sure we have side-walks which are ADA compliant. It may also require land acquisition by eminent domain at places and may take some time to get that completely implemented.

What are the critical differences between you and the other candidates seeking this post?

Focus on the prevalent and relevant issues.

What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job?

Initiated and adopted Herndon Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committee to work on the broader issue of equity and inclusion. Updated HDRB guidelines as appropriate that actually has reduced the number of applications we receive related to HDRB review. Eliminated Special Exceptions requirement for internal or attached and detached accessory dwelling units (ADUs) in Single Family Structures. Updated town chapter related to traffic and parking to ensure large commercial vehicles are not parked in the residential streets to stay consistent with neighboring jurisdictions.

The best advice ever shared with me was:

Always reach out and listen to your constituents. They not only tell you/show you the issues, but they also offer solutions/recommendations.

What else would you like voters to know about yourself and your positions?

I come from information technology, business/data analysis and project management background. I am a data driven and analytical person who strives for continuous and relentless improvement, even in the local government. I strive for continuous change and improvement the way we deliver service to our tax payers.

Related:

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• 2022 Candidate Profile: Roland B. Taylor Runs For Herndon Town Council
• 2022 Candidate Profile: Clark Hedrick Runs For Herndon Town Council
• Herndon 2022 General Election: Guide To Candidates, How To Vote
• 2022 Candidate Profile: Naila Alam Runs For Herndon Town Council
• 2022 Candidate Profile: Donielle M. Scherff For Herndon Town Council
• 2022 Candidate Profile: Stevan M. Porter Runs For Herndon Town Council
• 2022 Candidate Profile: Signe Friedrichs Runs For Herndon Town Council
• 2022 Candidate Profile: Keven J. LeBlanc Jr. For Herndon Town Council
• 2022 Candidate Profile: Cesar del Aguila Runs For Herndon Town Council
• General Election 2022: Key Dates To Know In Herndon