Four Candidates File Papers For Town Council Elections

Four candidates have filed election papers to run in the May 3 election for Vienna Town Council.

Incumbents Laurie DiRocco and Howard Springsteen along with new candidates Carey Sienicki and Hamid Barahmand will run for three open spots on the council, whose non-partisan, at-large members are elected on staggered two-year terms.

The county's filing deadline is 7 p.m. today, March 1.

Three council seats are open each May. The Mayor, the seventh council member, is elected in even-numbered years.

DiRocco and Springsteen are both nearing the end of their first term on the council. The third open seat was left vacant this fall with the departure of longtime council member George Lovelace ; Dan Dellinger, who was appointed to replace him in November, has said he will not run for the position.

Vienna Patch chatted briefly with each of the candidates about their background, goals and vision for the town.

Vienna Patch will follow candidates and the issues throughout the election season.

Professional Experience

• Contractor, Owner of Next Day Bath
• George Brown College, Toronto, Canada
• Iranian Army

The first thing people asked Barahmand while he collected signatures for his election paperwork was "So, who are you running against?"

"I'm not running against anyone -- they've all done a great job," he said. "We need new people, more people, to get involved in town issues; to tackle the same ideas in new, different ways."

Barahamand says development in Tysons and Merrifield is impacting the community's roads and resources, and rather than resist against that change, he'd like to find a way to work with it.

"When I got to Vienna, I said, 'This is a town I’m not going to move from.' My kids said, 'This is the hometown we're growing up in.' I'd like to keep it the way it is, but we can't stop [developers]. We can't put a wall around us, but we can and should cope with them and find ways to benefit from what they're bringing." 

One of the ways Barahmand said the town can maximize what nearby development brings is through more visible business, particularly along Route 123 and Maple Avenue.

"We should be using this traffic to our benefit," he said.

The traffic itself is another issue Barahmand says he'd like to tackle, through traffic studies, analysis and creative ways to use the roads.

"123 and Nutley do not appear to be adequate for what our community needs," he said. "The increased traffic at times makes it dangerous."

The third, and perhaps largest, goal is efficiency. Barahmand would like to make town spending and services more efficient -- minimizing taxpayer dollar contributions and maximizing benefit for the entire community.

He'd like to look at private sector strategies and apply them to entities like Parks and Recreation, whose programs attract citizens from as far as Burke and Germantown, he says.

"We can run it in a way that our town doesn’t have to pay to finance all of it," he said. "There are ways we can make services self-efficient and self-sustaining, which is better in the long term for both the town and the taxpayer."

Barahamand has lived in town for about 10 years with his 11-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son.

Government Experience

• Vienna Town Council, 2009 to present
• Chairperson, Planning Commission, 2008 to 2009
• Member, Planning Commission, 2005 to 2008
• Vice Chairperson, Transportation Safety Commission, 2005
• Member, Transportation Safety Commission, 2003 to 2005

Community Experience

• Marshall Road PTA, 2005 to 2007
• Chairperson, Camelot Hearing Association, 2001 to 2003
• Small Group Leader for high school girls, Vienna Presbyterian Church, 2005 to 2008

Professional Experience

• George Mason University, adjunct professor of finance
• Masters in Business Administration in Finance, George Washington University
• Bachelor of Science in Business,Virginia Tech

Approaching the race for her second term in office, DiRocco wants to refocus on the project that first inspired her want to run for council two years ago: The Maple Avenue Vision, a plan that helps shape what Vienna's downtown will look like in the years to come. DiRocco helped secure a $10,000 grant that was used by the town's engineering firm Wiley and Wilson to generate  renderings of the vision . Those should be presented to the council in the next two months.

She was a part of the Church Street vision that was created several years ago, part of which gave incentives to business owners that offered certain features.

"It's a different road, a different situation, but that same type of concept. I want to make sure that vision is completed," she said.

DiRocco hopes to continue to find ways for the town to use technology more effectively, especially when communicating with citizens. She pioneered the Vienna Community Alert, a notification system that uses e-mail and text messaging to communicate with residents. Residents self-select the information they'd like to receive, from town council agenda items, to public safety information and road closings. It was unveiled early this year.

"I hope that continues to grow," she said.

She said a strong relationship with nearby governments and other stakeholders will be crucial to keeping Vienna's needs a part of Tysons Corner conversations.

"Tysons redevelopment is not something that's going to happen tomorrow but certainly planning decisions are being made now," DiRocco said. "I want to keep the dialogue open to make sure that we have a seat at the table ... so we can continue to function as this great town," she said.

She said she'd like to support more interaction with the county, , to accomplish those goals.

DiRocco has lived in town for about 15 years with her husband and two daughters, one in high school and the other in middle school.

"This is a great town to be in, but we can always make improvements. There's always something you can look at," she said. 

Government Experience:

• Vienna Town Council, 2009 to present
• Town of Vienna Transportation Safety Commission 2001 to 2009

Community Experience:

• Vienna Volunteer Fire Department, President, 2001 to 2009, member since 1988
• Madison High Crew Booster Club Executive VP,
• PTA Member, Madison High and Louise Archer
• Boy Scout Troop Leader

Professional Experience:

• Logistics Manager, Fairfax County Department of Vehicle Services
• Masters in Public Administration, New York University
• Bachelor of Arts, Farleigh Dickinson University
• Peace Corps Volunteer, Liberia, West Africa

Springsteen says he likes solving problems -- and it's the ability to take residents concerns and get tangible results that keeps him coming back.

One of the most effective ways he's done that, he said, is fostering a good relationship with Fairfax County Supervisors, who represent the citizens along Vienna's boundaries and who many times have intersts in similar challenges and projects. As president of Vienna's Volunteer Fire Department, he worked with Supervisor Cathy Hudgins to bring in grants to renovate the fire station. And this fall, the completion of marked another partnership between the town and the county.

"Some mothers have told me that now, they let their children walk to school because of that project," he said. "I love that."

The list for sidewalk projects is "miles long,"  Springsteen said. He hopes to continue to make dents into that list.

Looking ahead to the next two years, the "biggest gorilla" in the room is how to handle the town's water system. Vienna got out of the sewer business years ago, he said, and it's time to take a hard look at the town's water system.

"Does it make sense for Vienna to still be in the water business? That's something we're going to have to figure out," he said.

The 15-year Vienna resident, who lives in town with his wife, son and daughter, also wants to focus on keeping packages for town employees competitive with other jurisdictions -- particularly for the Vienna Police Department.

"We don't want good employees going somewhere else," he said.

What Tysons means for Maple Avenue is another challenge the town will have to face in the coming years.

"Tysons development won't reach its peak for another 30 years," he said. "But we can start planning now.

Government Experience:

• Windover Heights Board of Review, 2003 to 2009
• Town of Vienna Planning Commission, 2009 to present

Professional Experience

• Bachelor of Science, Architecture, Georgia Tech
• Bachelor of Architecture, Temple University
• Licensed Architect in the State of Florida

Community Experience:

• Girl Scout Leader
• Cub Scout Leader
• Member of school PTAs

Sienicki has lived in town for more than 10 years, and has been involved in town politics for nearly as long.

She was appointed in 2003 to serve on the Windover Heights Board of Review. A licensed architect in the state of Florida, Sienicki joined the Planning Commission in June 2009, where she's focused on revising the town's building height code and other land use issues.

Several other council members -- including DiRocco -- served on the commission before running for council.

"People suggested I run; they told me they thought I'd be a good fit," she said.

A big issue for Sienicki looking ahead is Tysons Corner development, which will have a large impact on how Vienna grows as well, she said.

"There's going to be growth, but there has to be some smart growth," she said. "We can't grow in a way where we grow too fast. I want to make sure the town of Vienna stays the community we all moved here to enjoy."

Sienicki, who lives in town with her husband and teenage children Nicholas and Ashley, also wants to focus on "things that encourage a pedestrian-friendly atmosphere within the community."