A Brighter Future for Alexandria

Kirk works every day to ensure that the people who are a part of Alexandria today can still call our city home in the future.

Kirk supported the approval of hundreds of affordable homes across our City, helped lead the charge to cut red tape to make it easier to build new and better housing, and worked with his colleagues on Council to direct increased funding/investment to Alexandria’s affordable housing fund and create new code enforcement positions to maintain health and safety standards.

Kirk supported new policies to create good-paying union jobs through City-funded construction projects, voted in favor of three collective bargaining agreements covering Alexandria’s first responders and City staff, and has worked with labor in their efforts to increase the number of union jobs in Alexandria. That’s why he’s been endorsed by the NOVA Labor Federation.

In his second term, Kirk will continue to fight for good jobs and housing affordability in Alexandria. He will look for ways to improve the recently-passed laws to encourage housing production, work with his colleagues to expand funding for affordable housing, and partner with labor to improve pay and working conditions in Alexandria.

Kirk will also continue to work to establish an affordable assisted living facility in Alexandria so that senior residents can remain in the city they love.

Kirk has been a strong advocate for our public schools and first responders as a member of the City Council.

Kirk supported Alexandria’s historic investments in new school construction to address classroom crowding and provide a better learning environment for Alexandria’s students. Kirk worked to strengthen ties between the Council and School Board by staying in close contact with several School Board members on issues including funding, student safety, and facilities needs.

Kirk supported larger raises for first responders and investments in new technology to help address the forced overtime and staff shortages that were impacting morale for Alexandria’s firefighters, fire marshals, paramedics, and police officers. Kirk supported the historic collective bargaining agreements with Alexandria’s Fire Department and Alexandria Police Department.

In his next term, Kirk will continue to work to ensure that our schools have the resources they need to provide every young Alexandrian with a strong foundation for a successful future. He will work with the new Police and Fire chiefs to identify ways to improve first responder services, because every Alexandrian should be safe in our community.

When Kirk first moved to Alexandria from Texas, he knew that he had found a home that reflected his liberal values. As a member of Council, Kirk has led his colleagues in pushing back against attacks on values of inclusion, dignity, and respect.

Kirk authored the resolution to protect Alexandria’s abortion clinics and to make it easier to open new ones in the wake of Dobbs decision. Over recent decades, many conservative localities had used zoning changes and administrative rules to limit access to abortion, but Kirk worked with his colleagues to do the opposite. Under the adopted resolution, Alexandria eased zoning requirements on reproductive health clinics, and made information about such services more readily available on the City website.

As the only openly gay member of Council, Kirk spoke out against Governor Youngkin’s attacks on young trans Virginians and supported the Alexandria School Board as it stood strong against proposed policies that would endanger LGBTQ students. Kirk will never be silent when members of the LGBTQ community are targeted for discrimination by their government.

When residents and members of the Human Rights Commission brought to Kirk their desire to have a rainbow crosswalk in Alexandria to reflect our City’s embrace of the LGBTQ community, Kirk took that proposal to the Council and won support for the project.

In his second term, Kirk will always be a voice for the values that define our City. He will continue to work to put into effect the All Alexandria Resolution, to ensure that people of all backgrounds find a welcoming home in our community. He will always stand up when bullies, even those in elected offices, target vulnerable Virginians for persecution, and against efforts to chip away at our essential rights and freedoms.

Kirk came to the City Council after years of serving on Alexandria’s Boards & Commissions, and was able to hit the ground running on some of the largest and most intractable issues facing our City.

Kirk supported continued investments to address flooding challenges and voted to make the Ad Hoc Stormwater Advisory Committee a permanent panel through which the Council can receive reports and updates on infrastructure projects.

Kirk supported the creation of the Office of Climate Change to strengthen environmental policies,bring together all of the City’s climate-related programs so that they can function more efficiently, and raise awareness for the steps we can all take to mitigate the impact of climate change.

Kirk recognizes the long term challenges facing Alexandria’s budget and on Council has advocated for increased cash capital contributions to lower future borrowing levels, and for investments to help small businesses, as well as expanded support for the Alexandria Economic Development Partnership, Visit Alexandria and other efforts to bring more business revenues to the City. As a former member of the commission on the City budget, Kirk understands the City’s financial struggles and the need to reduce our reliance on residential property taxes.

Kirk was also proud to support the approvals needed to bring Internet provider choice to Alexandria, a priority of his from 2021 that is becoming a reality today as fiber rolls out across the City.

In a second term, Kirk will continue to focus on major, long term challenges, including those related to Alexandria’s budget. He will work with the City’s legislative staff and Alexandria’s delegation to Richmond to advocate for more flexible revenue tools and greater Commonwealth support of our schools and other hybrid city/state agencies including our Sheriff’s Department. He will work with Alexandria Economic Development Partnership to find new ways to bring businesses to Alexandria, and supports holding an economic summit. Kirk will also support improving Alexandria’s green building policies, and will focus on reducing carbon emissions from our already-built infrastructure, as those remain large sources of pollution that exacerbates climate change.

Kirk believes that transparency and communication are essential to democratic governance. As a member of the City Council, Kirk has sought to improve communication between the city and its residents — to give citizens on all sides of complicated issues the opportunity to be heard earlier in the policymaking process.

Kirk created a series of City Council Town Halls, which are now held quarterly. These give residents the opportunity to put questions directly before their representatives on City Council and to receive a response. Through the town halls Kirk started, Council has answered hundreds of questions from residents about issues ranging from economic development, to housing, to crime, to schools, and everything in between.

Kirk secured funding for Community Cookouts with first responders, which provide residents with the opportunity to connect with Alexandria’s police department, fire department, and social service agencies. These events help ensure that residents are receiving the support they need, and also improve public safety by fostering positive relationships between residents and law enforcement before times of crisis.

Kirk also supported budget amendments by his colleagues to expand Alexandria’s outreach to residents whose primary language is other than English, or who are not easy to reach through the City’s normal means of communication.

In a second term, Kirk will continue to work on improving the connection between residents and their City. Kirk would like to create more ways for residents whose voices often aren’t heard at Council Public Hearings to engage with the City’s policy making process. He would like to increase the frequency of Council Town Halls and hold them in more places across the City, including virtually. Kirk will never stop working to improve the transparency and clarity of the City’s communication with residents.