INTERVIEW: Tavares Floyd is running for 6th District City Council

Shockoe Slip-area resident Tavares Floyd is a candidate for the 6th District City Council seat.

The 6th District is a long skinny district that stretches from Ladies Mile in Northside, picks up part of the East End around Mosby, includes downtown from 2nd Street to 14th Street, then across the river to Manchester, part of Oak Grove, and on down to Bellemeade Road.

A Tennessee native, Floyd is 33-years-old, with an undergraduate degree in history, political science and pre-law, masters in public policy and public administration, and a law degree. He has spent time in NOVA and Louisiana, and has lived in Richmond for 7 years. He is also a small business owner, with some connection to the funeral business.

Floyd’s full-time job for the past 4 1/2 years has been as the liaison to Ellen Robertson, the long-term City Council 6th District representative who is running for re-election this cycle.

We sat down with Tavares Floyd at Urban Farmhouse in Shockoe Slip a few Thursdays ago. This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.

Q: I’d heard that there was a originally a deal with you and Ellen Robertson that she would step down and support your candidacy. Is that true?

“She was supposed to retire. She was going to retire and she walked that back.[…] There’s more of a disappointment than anything. To the degree that when a person tells you that they’re going to do it again because developers are pulling their coattails to do it again. And in the same breath, that’s the same person who said to me that, you know, God told her that I was next, and the community had overwhelmingly asked for me to be next, and that she would have wanted to come out a couple of cycles ago, election cycles ago, but she just didn’t feel comfortable that there was anybody that she could pass the baton on to.”

Q: Addressing violence in the city seems to be one of your key concerns. On of your instagram posts you said that you have a blueprint for action – can you talk about that?

“I won’t give you specifics because it seems to be when I give specifics about my plans, there are people who like to take my plan and run away with it.

But we know what the problem is in the city concerning our violence. I mean, the root cause of this is just mindset, number one. The only way that we’ll ever be able to uproot this major violence and crimes is we have to change people’s mindsets.

And we have to give people proper education and provide resources to make them whole. We’re experiencing a phenomenon that’s not really anything surprising because Richmond has been a city of poverty for so long. And the very system that’s supposed to work in favor of people is the same system in this place that’s worked completely against it. And so when you drive people into poverty, severely into poverty, then that subjects them to a whole lot of things.

They’re vulnerable to do anything, and so when they don’t feel like they have a support system or people have their backs or the people who represent them are looking out for them or have their best interests, which is what they’re supposed to do being elected to represent people, then people come up with their own systems to survive. And so this is just what we’re saying is survival. And so You know, there are a number of things that we have to do.

Police is not just about policing. But police is about having proper rapport with communities. It’s about interfacing the right way. It’s about having officers in neighborhoods who know the culture and the environment and who want to be there and who don’t mind talking to people. It’s about having officers in place that don’t abuse their power.

It’s about having leadership in place that will recognize the issues that we face and that will come up with stuff to plans to address those things. And so we cannot afford to just keep saying that we have problems in the city and then there’s nothing on the other end of that to solve those things. So we have to have policy changes.”

Q: How can fix our neighborhoods without giving them over to gentrification?

“The challenge with this city is that Richmond local government is usually reactive instead of proactive. The city is usually behind the curve with most things.

The damage is done when the city responds, and it’s too late at that point. And so change is inevitable, and we want change to happen. But there are measures that we can take to expect those changes that will happen, which is not something that people in the city have done a good job with. And so there are legacy protective measures. There are measures that we can do policy wise that will ensure that as change happens, there are resources in place that protect people who live in places for a long time. There are resources in place that we can set aside for people who we may expect that will have some challenges because their neighborhoods are changing. We want mixed neighborhoods. We want diverse neighborhoods. We want diversity.

It plays out that way because people don’t take those measures in precautions. And so it’s just those precautionary measures that we have to take. And that’s just about having leaders in place who know proper policy and those things are put in place. So we need to come up with some kind of an extensive plan.”

Q: There’s a difference in voice between your main website and your social media. Your Instagram is more combative, kind of spicy.

“I’m real. Let me tell you something, this is simple. When you have the livelihood of people in the palm of your hands and people are slipping between the cracks every second, listen, I don’t have time for BS. This is important stuff. People are suffering. This city needs change. […] The fact of the matter is that we just have to have people that are the strong voices for people, people that will pound the pavement for them and people that will understand where they are and will do things to make change happen. And that’s just where I am. It’s a passion for me, it’s just me being passionate. The fact of the matter is people actually want people now that will be vocal for them. They want people who will stand up for them. And they want people who will call it for what it is. And we can’t sugarcoat things. A lot of us know what’s going on. We see it every day in the news. We hear from people every day, all day. So I’m just being the people’s champion.”

Q: You’ve raised an incredible amount of money, like running for mayor level of money. A good chunk is from Tennessee, and Willie Wilson from Chicago donated $20,000. How’d that come about?

“I’ve just had relationships with a whole lot of people over the years. I’ve served on a whole lot of boards where people, I’ve connected with people.One thing I value is relationships.

When your script is already written, things will always happen the way that they’re supposed to happen. And so I’ve never been in a space that I never wasn’t supposed to be in. And therefore I’ve been able to manifest things in life because I knew what I was supposed to be and it’s no different now.

You know, you just create rapport with people. And one of the things that I’ve always valued in life is you can have as much money as you want, you can have as many degrees as you want, you can have as much material things in life as you want, whatever the case may be. It’s those relationships that matter the most. And when you need people, you can count on them. And so that’s what the majority of my life has kind of centered around.”

Q: Anything else to add?

“I just want people to know that I am running because I am them. When you see the people, you see me. And I like to consider this to be pretty simple. It’s as if the residents are my family.

As in most families, you have someone who leads the family. And so I just feel blessed that I am that person. And what I’ve come to do is just change the trajectory of people’s lives and change the trajectory of this city. Richmond has for a long time tried to make moves, but we are not where we need to be. And we are a changed city.

And we ought to have leaders in place reflect that. We need to have leaders in place who identify with the Richmond of now. We need to have leaders in place who recognize the priorities of the residents that live in this city now. And so it’s not that we are ungrateful for works that have been done in the past by people, we respect that. And we’re thankful for those things, but change has to happen. And so change is here.”

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