Gray running for Dumfries District seat
Gray, a Democrat, announced Sunday that he would seek election to the Dumfries District of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors.
Gray said he was going to use his campaign to learning from the people in the Dumfries District.
“We’re going to go out there and make sure we’re talking to the people, listening to their concerns, learning what it is that they need done, not assuming, and then asking them what it is they want us to do,” said Gray, a lobbyist when he is not running for local elected office.
If he is elected, Gray said, he will work to create better transportation, improve education and increase quality the of the community.
“It comes as no surprise that right now we have some of the worst traffic and waiting times in the country,” said Gray who serves as a 1st. Lt. Transportation Company of the D.C. National Guard.
“We rank third right now next to San Francisco and Los Angeles,” he said.
“Consider this for a moment: 22 percent of the people who live in Prince William County travel 60 minutes or more per day. We’ve got to do something about that and it’s not just about widening roads,” Gray said.
“One of the things that I’m going to be talking about is trying to bring the Metro here in the long term basis,” Gray said.
Gray said there are plans to expand Metro in Prince William County by 2020, but the work to get it done must begin soon.
“As you know plans are just that. Plans. If they’re not funded they’re going to stay plans,” he said.
“We’ve got to start communicating to the folks out there. Finding out what it is they want. We deserve the Metro here,” Gray said.
Gray said another way to improve the quality of the community and ease transportation woes at the same time is to increase the size and number of commuter lots.
“We’ve got to increase our lots. We’ve got to make it easier for people to get back and forth to work so they can get home and be with their family,” he said.
“We need a supervisor that’s actually going to find out about that and actually go out and do something about it,” Gray said.
Gray acknowledged that every candidate in every race talks about improving education and he agrees with all of them.
“We do need more schools. We are building more schools. We are helping our teachers to make sure we keep the best and the brightest,” he said.
“What I want to make sure is that we’re building the minds of the pupils, our students who are trying everyday to get to the point where they can get a higher education,” Gray said.
Gray said during his campaign he will offer a plan where older students can tutor younger students who are struggling and earn scholarship money at the same time.
Gray said it’s time to reduce taxes.
“Everybody knows that the taxes are too high,” Gray said.
“We cannot continue to balance the books on the backs of our taxpayers,” he said.
“We also must make sure that we’re bringing the taxes down for the business community so they are able to stay,” he said.
Gray said no issue will be too small for his attention if he is elected to the board.
“We need people who are going to pay attention to those out there who need us the most, the most vulnerable as well as the average, everyday taxpayer,” Gray said.
“That’s what I’m here to do,” he said.