Assistant professor of English Dr. Karen Beardslee Kwasny felt compelled to run in the election to be a member of the City Council for the City of Virginia Beach. Kwasny has been a faculty member at Saint Leo University for over 10 years, and she currently is faculty at the South Hampton Road Education Center (SHREC) in Virginia.
Kwasny is running to be the Princess Anne District Representative on Virginia Beach’s City Council. She explained the structure and logistics of the city council in Virginia Beach, and she touched on the requirements and general responsibilities of the role as a member of the city council.
“Virginia Beach operates under the Council-Manager form of government. The 11-member City Council is the city’s legislative body. The city manager is appointed by the Council and acts as the chief executive officer. Through his staff, the City Manager implements policies established by Council,” said Kwasny. “Members of Council serve four-year terms and are elected on a staggered basis. Three Council members and the mayor serve “at large” with no district residency requirement. All others are required to live in the districts they represent and to input to [the]council on the needs of their district members and issues concerning the district. As all council members make decisions on all city issues, council members are also active in and concerned about all areas of the city.”
She has lived in the Princess Anne District of Virginia Beach for 16 years, and this is Kwasny’s first time running as a member of the city council. She entered the race in April of this year, and she is running against three other candidates in the race to be the Princess Anne District Representative. She has been campaigning, and it has taken up a lot of her time. However, she has the fall semester off, and this helps her to take on the stresses of campaigning.
“Campaigning today is a full-time job, and I am grateful for a wonderful, supportive family and campaign team. We are working daily to get my name out there — as Virginia Beach is the largest city in the state and it’s a challenge to be known in all areas of the city. We will be canvassing neighborhoods in the coming weeks. We have been presenting at forums and debates, meeting with business leaders and organizations, and holding our own fundraisers and meet-and-greets. It’s been an interesting, enriching and exhausting six months,” said Kwasny.
Kwasny has been interested in local and national politics, but she finds local politics more enriching because the work is a matter of her everyday life and what she does to make a positive difference affects the world outside her front door. Credit: Dr. Karen Kwasny
She mentioned that she found it more difficult to run in the midst of climate set by the current administration due to the national political climate being divisiveness, pettiness and personal attacks. She added that during her campaigning, she unexpectedly experienced some personal attacks, which she described as “misinformed, uninformed and fallacious.”
Despite the struggles of campaigning, she believes that she is prepared. She credited a defining moment in her college career as an experience that pushed her and prepared her to run for this position. The college experience she mentioned was being elected as president of her sorority after her sisters believed that she was a good fit for the role.
“I credit the direction my life has taken this year to my sorority sisters, many of whom are still among my closest friends. In 1987, after just one year in the sorority, they elected me President of Shippensburg University’s chapter of Alpha Omicron Pi, an international sisterhood. During my tenure as president, I learned a great deal about myself and my abilities and what it meant to be a good and fair leader of many with many differing views. Still, it was my sisters’ faith in me that has given me faith in my abilities to bring about positive change in others,” said Kwasny.
Also, she is prepared for the position due to her many years of serving in the community. Kwasny has been an active member of her community and an engaged volunteer for the city. She served three City Council appointed volunteer committees: The Transition Area Interfacility Traffic Area Citizens Advisory Committee, The Virginia Beach 2040 Committee and The Planning Commission as the Princess Anne District Representative. After these volunteer experiences, she became determined to run for the position.
“After seven years of volunteer work in the city, four as a certified Planning Commissioner making land use recommendations to City Council, I determined to run because I felt I was ready to be in a position of actual decision making,” stated Kwasny. “I determined to run because members of my community asked me to consider it. They felt they were not being adequately or fairly represented by the incumbent and their experiences working with me as a Planning Commissioner were quite different. I offered them a fresh perspective and broad representation, and they appreciated that.”
Kwasny is also determined to make changes in the community. She noticed problems faced by the city and is driven to help address and solve these issues.
“I saw that the city had real challenges requiring energy and drive to address and solve. I also noticed that negative politics and special interests were getting in the way of forward momentum,” stated Kwasny. “Virginia Beach has been slow to grow after the last few years; we need to rethink our direction and make significant changes in how we perceive ourselves and what we offer residents and visitors alike if we want a thriving, vibrant future for the next generation.”
Kwasny is excited to implement numerous changes in her community, and this is what drove her to run in the election.
Kwasny has lived in the district she is running in for more than a decade, and her husband is a native of the area, with the majority of his large family still living in the area as well. Credit: Dr. Karen Kwasny
“I have a passion for preserving the city’s past, to enhance the present and shape the future. We have significant environmental challenges to face as a coastal city. As well, our infrastructure is much in need of repair and upgrade. I want to be a part of affecting change in these areas. I am also excited about moving this city into the future via new industry, diverse tourism markets, and an emphasis on the value of our agricultural industry,” said Kwasny.
She also commented on how she is anticipating balancing responsibilities of being both a full-time faculty at the South Hampton Roads Education Center (SHREC) and a member on the Virginia Beach City Council if elected as the representative for her district.
“It will be a challenge because I don’t do anything halfway. However, Virginia Beach City Council members are paid a stipend, not a salary, and they are expected to hold full-time jobs. Their duties as council members are time-consuming, true, but it is not full-time work – or it isn’t meant to be,” said Kwasny.
She added that this role would give her the ability to help the surrounding community and the Saint Leo University community as a whole.
“The work I have done as a volunteer for the past seven years has taught me a great deal about the city, the region and the state. The information I have gained is crucial to the success of South Hampton Roads Centers. I have my finger on the pulse of the city and the region, and I can assist SLU, SHREC in flourishing via anticipation of demographic and economic shifts that will affect us as a university serving the area,” said Kwasny.
She also touched on how Saint Leo and its core values helped in shaping her. She added that faculty members have been a great support system as well.
“Saint Leo is my sanctuary away from the politics of my work with the city, and that is a blessing I didn’t expect. As well, Saint Leo’s core values are key to the work I do and the person I am. I frequently refer to them in my discussions as they are the foundation of my work both for Saint Leo and for the city of Virginia Beach,” said Kwasny. “I am grateful to SLU for shaping me in such fine ways. The people I work with here at SHREC and on University Campus are some of the finest people I know. They are my second family, and I could not do this without their support and love.”
Dr. Kwasny’s Priorities
Below are Kwasny’s main objectives to accomplish if she is elected as her district’s representative on the city council.
We must prioritize funding for stormwater maintenance and repairing and upgrading inadequate stormwater infrastructure.
I am also prepared to engage a regional plan that involves forging partnerships with other localities to leverage relationships for state and federal funding that will assist us in addressing these issues.
My 2ndpriority is sustainability:
To be a sustainable city for the future, we must:
1. Reconnect and diversify our agriculture and tourism industries; and using earmarked funding for initiatives that will grow these industries.
2. Address our military dependency by seeking out NEW industry, such as biomedical, technology, and environmental stewardship.
