experience in policymaking

the adults were very, very creative around me,” Stoney said. Within his first year in office, Stoney has put a special emphasis on children and education.

Stoney proposed earlier this year to bump the meals tax at Richmond restaurants and catering businesses from 6 to 7.5-percent, starting July 1, 2018. On Feb. 12, City Council voted 7-2 in favor of the tax.

The higher meals tax would generate $9.1 million in new revenue, allowing the city to borrow $150 million to fund improvements to school facilities over the next five years.

“In the legislation we proposed, we created a special reserve fund where the people in the City of Richmond will see the dollars that go in and the dollars that go out,” Stoney said. “That reserve fund is dedicated solely for the construction of new schools in the city of Richmond … but I do believe there will be hell to pay if the money is moved.” Last fall, Stoney sat down with restaurant owners and explained the meals tax. Stoney said research showed 70 percent of Richmond residents would support an increase in the meals tax dedicated solely to construction of new schools in the city of Richmond.

According to Stoney’s press secretary Jim Nolan, research showed half of the people who will be paying the tax don’t reside in the city and 30 percent of them live 50 miles away.

“Some of these conditions in these schools are horrible and the mayor visited every school last year so he’s seen first hand the conditions of these schools,” Nolan said.

Stoney said one of the most memorable moments during his first year in office was creating a partnership with Richmond Public Schools and a couple nonprofits to ensure 20,000 kids will have access to vision screen- ings and receive glasses.

He said a young woman who attended the screening with her 7-year-old son found out her son had been blind in one eye for nearly seven years. That day he left with a pair glasses.

“I almost got emotional right there on the spot,” Stoney said. “That’s why we do what we do here, that’s why I got into public service — to ensure children like that get a fair shot. It was something as small as him not having a pair of glasses that was holding him back.”

“The kids can’t wait.”