Name: Guy Tower
Race: Virginia Beach City Council, Beach District
Website: Guy Tower for VB City Council
Biography: A native of Richmond and its area public schools, Guy Tower earned both a bachelors and a law degree from the University of Virginia.
His legal career has included roles as Chair of the Executive Committee at Kaufman & Canoles, P.C., in Norfolk and Virginia Beach; Chair of the Business Law Section of the Virginia State Bar; Executive Director of the Virginia Bar Association; adjunct faculty member at the College of William & Mary School of Law; a co-founder founder of the McCammon Group, the largest mediation firm in the state, with whom he still is associated. Guy’s past and current volunteer work has included leadership with the Virginia Beach Library Board and Foundation, Virginia Beach African American Cultural Center, WHRO Public Media, Governor’s School for the Arts, Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce, American Heart Association Tidewater Chapter, and ODU Business Advisory Council.
In April, Virginia Beach City Council unanimously appointed Guy Tower to fill the vacant seat representing the Beach Borough until the next election, which will be November 5th. Guy is a father of four, grandfather of seven and the husband of a retired Virginia Beach juvenile and domestic relations judge.
Why should residents elect you to City Council?
Virginia Beach is at a crossroads with significant challenges ahead, including hiring a new city manager, rebuilding a sense of safety and security among our employees and citizens after the May 31 tragedy, dealing with ongoing threats to our homes, businesses and public buildings from sea level rise and recurrent flooding, keeping taxes and fees low, promoting affordable housing and bringing the Dome site project to fruition. As an attorney and experienced mediator, I will help build consensus for the tough decisions ahead. I believe that Virginia Beach’s governing body needs my skill set.
What is the most pressing issue facing your community, and how will you address the issue?
While a city council’s principal job is setting policy for the operation of the city and approving a budget each year, its most important single task is probably hiring a city manager. It’s the manager’s job in Virginia Beach to recommend and implement a more than $2 billion annual budget. We must provide a national search firm clear direction on the type of person we want. That individual must have strong management experience and judgment the Council, our employees and our citizens can trust.
What are your community’s biggest infrastructure needs, and how do you plan to fulfill them?
The biggest challenge we have right now regarding infrastructure is investment to mitigate rising sea level and recurrent flooding. We have not done enough in the past to repair, replace and upgrade aging and undersized stormwater systems. We must protect our fragile environment and the investments of our home and business owners. Transportation infrastructure is also important. In the Beach District, we are about to finally rid ourselves of dangerous “feeder roads” paralleling Laskin Road, and we should surely devote attention and funding to the 17th Street gateway to the resort area that is so badly in need of rehabilitation.
Do you believe there are any policy, legislative, or community changes that should be made to prevent tragedies like the mass shooting at the Virginia Beach Municipal Center?
As this is being written, City Council awaits the outcome of internal and external investigations into the May 31 tragedy. I will resist making any specific recommendations or changes until those outcomes can be known and digested. But I do believe that our employees and visitors to our public buildings deserve to feel safe. They rely on City Council to adopt policies to make that happen. And we should devote whatever funds are necessary to make this a priority, including the most up-to-date technology-based solutions available.
Guy sat down with WAVY News 10’s Kara Dixon for a live Q&A on Facebook on Oct. 4. If you missed it, you can watch a replay here.
