“I take my duty to be a clown extremely seriously.”

Reed Bradenstone — 2024

Richmond, VA — 5th District


Yes,

in my back yard!

This place could be so nice.

YIMBY FOR RICHMOND’S FIFTH DISTRICT

YIMBY 01. A 24/7 FULL-SERVICE HOMELESS SHELTER.

24/7 shelter, quality hot meals, free clothing, medical/dental/mental, rehab, a family shelter, a day-camp for childcare, employment training, a thrift store… if a bunch of Bible-thumpers in Appalachia can do it, why can’t the capitol of the Commonwealth?

YIMBY 02. A TROLLEY. NOT ANOTHER BUS LINE. A TROLLEY.

How many more people are going to die, how many more speed bumps will be idiotically placed after the crosswalk, how much more hostile does your environment have to be before someone seriously talks about removing cars from pedestrian spaces?

YIMBY 03. ANTI-NIMBY ZONING FOR THE 21ST CENTURY.

What is entitling these HOA-wannabe NextDoor busybodies to rally against an independent neighborhood childcare center? // Our skyline is made up of empty offices we no longer need. Those could be homes. The age of corporate real estate is dead. Let’s bury it.

Howdy!

My name is Reed Bradenstone. I live proudly & queerly with my wife Vyvian in Oregon Hill.

Let me absolutely clear about my intentions:

• I will work breathlessly with the community to build a functioning, compassionate, taxpayer-funded campus in an accessible area of the city for our unhoused and needy neighbors: a 24/7 emergency shelter; addiction recovery programs; medical, mental, and dental healthcare; vocational education and job placement programs; three hot and healthy meals a day; and volunteer programs, second-hand retail, and fundraising drives to fund the whole venture beyond the taxpayer’s contribution. // We have a deep responsibility to care for our community.

• Transgender & Queer people, especially children, must be protected, supported, and given every opportunity to thrive. It is the job of our elected officials to stand in the way of bigotry, to offer concrete protection to our most vulnerable citizens, and to demonstrate to the rising tide of White Christian Nationalists that they are absolutely unwelcome in Richmond and will be indefatigably opposed. // I will work with the School Board to prevent Richmond from becoming a book-banning laughingstock like Hanover County.

• Black, Brown, & Indigenous voices must have a permanent place at the center of our public discourse. White people, such as myself, need to amplify the voices of non-white speakers when it is appropriate to do so, and need to shut the fuck up when it is not. // White people also have a responsibility to shut down other White people when they get all… White-peopley.

• The police in Richmond, VA have been bloated with funding for far too long, and I will always use the full force of whatever power I am granted to oppose further police funding and to drain their existing funding into programs that build up and empower local communities. I believe in the abolition of policing and incarceration, and every step in the direction of reinforcing the community is a step in the direction of abolition. Change will be incremental, but it should never regress from this goal and it should never be built on flawed compromise. // Forever toward abolition we march.

• Richmond needs to be accessible to everyone; including people with mobility issues, neurodivergent people, and people without income. To transport us into the future the GRTC needs drastic changes from its current route, including permanently free fare and the installation of light rail, and this must be accompanied by pedestrian-only zones throughout the city. // As it stands, our busses suck, our sidewalks break ankles, and our streets are public abattoirs.

We will demand better spaces in which to raise our families.

We should all be very pissed off with what we were given.

Hi! I’m Reed.


Read Reed’s Screeds

(more to come closer to 2024)


Why on Earth would you post a clear-background PNG to your campaign website?

A BLATANT SMEAR AGAINST THE INCUMBENT:

When Stephanie Lynch was running for her current position as Richmond’s 5th District Councilperson, she struck a car while driving. She drove home, slept it off, and then reported herself for the hit-and-run the next morning. I can’t legally say she was drunk, but I can’t fathom anything other than a D.U.I. that she’d so happily take a hit-and-run over. Anyhoo, I may also be a drunk, but I take the bus.


CARS OUT!

Richmond’s local retail areas like Carytown and East Grace Street (among others) are car-centric hell-holes— the worst of both worlds: a parking lot and a speedway. Our streets are designed for cars to rifle through them like bullets, and we aim them right through spaces that otherwise could have been livable. Bikers and pedestrians frequently die because City Council won’t act.

The beta version of Adobe’s A.I. generative software made a better Carytown than our City Council.

We could have this easily, but Richmond seems to prefer roadside memorials.

Get rid of the cars on cary so I can drink in the street!

P.S. Levar Stoney doesn’t tip his waitstaff.

Richmond Real parody logo designed to look like a tangle of poorly-designed stroads, with the words: "Richmond, VA can't make traffic circles worth shit."