Name: Tim Worst
Biography: Tim Worst is a Virginia Beach native. He is a former health and PE teacher at Chesapeake Bay Academy. He also worked as a resident hall coordinator and girl’s basketball coach in South Carolina, and as a sports photographer in Virginia Beach. He spent nearly 20 years working in auto insurance at Geico and USAA.
Website: Timworst.com
1. Why should residents elect you to City Council?
I am a born and raised local of Va Beach. I grew up in the Arrowhead neighborhood and went to Kempsville schools graduating in 1986. I know the area. After college I came back to Va Beach and lived in Pembroke/Bayside for 2 years and then back to Kempsville/Arrowhead. My wife Cathy and I are raising our 2 daughters in Lagomar off of Sandbridge Rd. I know the area. Unlike the current majority of City Council, I listen. I want to start fixing flooding now, I want to permanently fix the pay compression for our first responders, and get new infrastructure for these old roads and old pipes that are not able to keep up with our stormwater system. I do not have conflicts of interest, I am a true fresh face, and 4 decades is enough for one councilperson.
2. What is the most pressing issue facing your community, and how would you address that issue?
FLOODING *** #1 Get back on track of cleaning out our ditches, pipes and dredging. Why are we 12 years behind on this? We need to prioritize flooding all over Va Beach and not just prioritize the Oceanfront. #2 Stop developing on swap land, stop developing in wet lands, and stop developing where there is already a flooding issue. #3 Grow the grasses back in Back Bay. #4 Create a man made inlet/jetty in Back Bay that we used to have in the 1970’s and 1980’s.
3. Where do you stand on raising taxes to balance your locality’s budget?
No on raising taxes. We have a spending problem, not a revenue problem. We have $2 billion dollars in unfunded liabilities. I will never say “raise yours taxes to balance that.” What we can do is stop giving our tax money to Bruce Thompson and other builders and developers in Va Beach. Stop allowing the VBDA to circumvent our City Charter and spend hundreds of millions of dollars in crony deals with favored friends.
4. What’s your plan to reduce crime?
We’re 60-80 police officers short. What have we done to fix this? Recruit, raise pay, fix the pay compression, and treat our officers like we want to keep them. Our officers cannot always afford to live in Va Beach. The morale is bad for officers. VBPD will be at its best when pay compression is fixed once and for all, we get rid of our City Manager who does not value our officers, we get our officers the equipment they need, and we value them. Good pay, good morale, and we don’t lose our officers like we do now. Also, our Sheriff’s Dept needs help with mental health for detainees in the jail.
5. What are your community’s biggest infrastructure needs, and how do you plan to fulfill them?
Pipes and storm water infrastructure. We need updated infrastructure to handle the influx of flood waters and storm water drainage. What we don’t need are more skyscrapers at Town Center and hotels at the oceanfront. Stop using our borrowing power on favored developers at the oceanfront, and borrow money for true needs.
6. What businesses and industries would you try to attract to your community?
Since the Sports Center was approved we should be trying to fill it. Gymnastics, Track, Wrestling, Volleyball, Basketball, and other events. Seek the digital age and take advantage of our new high speed transoceanic cables. Lastly, listen to the people and companies that come to us on their own. Stop offering millions of dollars for companies to come here and let the area grow organically. Capitalism can work, get the government and regulations out of it.
