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By EMILY BATTLE
Steve Braun is in the communications business. So it's not surprising that in listening to him talk about his campaign
A 37-year-old regional field operations manager for Cingular Wireless, Braun admits he's new to a lot of the ins and outs of local government.
"I plan to learn voraciously when I get in office," he said.
He doesn't come to the race for the Ward 1 seat with major gripes about things in Fredericksburg that he wants to change. Rather, Braun emphasizes his positive ap-proach to problem-solving as something he hopes to bring to city government.
"I'm really, at my core, a positive person," he said. "I really just think that's something that our council could really use is working together for the future of our city."
Braun was born in Manassas and moved to Fredericksburg when he was a teenager. He graduated from Stafford High School, then earned a business degree from Ferrum College in 1989, and a master's degree in business administration from Strayer University in 2001.
Braun's family organized the Fredericksburg International Scottish Highland Games and Irish Festival in the city for several years, and he says he's always liked the city's charm.
Braun's job involves managing the various ways Cingular sells its wireless products throughout a region that stretches from the Outer Banks in North Carolina to central Kentucky. He said the work has taught him to break down processes and examine them, and that's part of what he thinks he'd bring to a council seat.
He said he wants to look at ways to streamline permitting processes for businesses, and make the Fredericksburg Regional Transit routes more user-friendly.
"Being a process-oriented person, I want to dive into those a little bit and see what the issues are," he said.
He thinks the city should partner with people who want to start businesses downtown, and use its new Sophia Street parking deck to help them meet their parking requirements.
The city recently completed a downtown parking study, and it has sparked some discussion among city officials as to whether parking requirements that the zoning ordinance sets for downtown businesses are hampering business development.
"One of the charms of our city is our tight downtown area. If you can't afford that parking, what are you going to do?" Braun said. "Are you going to raze the building and put parking there?"
Braun also wants to look into whether the traffic lights along State Route 3 are timed to move traffic efficiently. He thinks the city could get a better hearing from the state on its traffic needs if it pulled a Department of Transportation official aside to ride down Route 3 at rush hour.
"Let's bring the problem to them," he said.
But overall, Braun thinks city government could gain a lot just by promoting itself a little better.
"The biggest question I get is, 'What does a city councilman do?'" he said. "I think that if we could leverage the good things that are happening and just let people know, then people would walk a little straighter and have a good opinion of what the city is about."
He suggested a monthly newsletter to residents or even a survey to help gauge their wants and needs.
"That's one way to figure out directly from the source," he said. "Let's find a way to address those concerns and then respond back."
To reach EMILY BATTLE:
Email: ebattle@freelancestar.com
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Steve Braun Age: 37 Family: married Occupation: regional field operations manager for Cingular Wireless Community experience: producer and director for the Fredericksburg International Scottish Highland Games and Irish Festival; former assistant soccer coach at Mary Washington College |
