Mary Holliman

• Age: 78
• Occupation: Owner of Pocahontas Press, a small Blacksburg publishing company
• Community roots: Has lived in Blacksburg for 46 years
• Affiliations: Blacksburg Town Councilwoman since 2006, Mount Tabor Ruritan Club, Valley Interfaith Childcare Center, Montgomery County League of Women Voters, Blacksburg Planning Commission
• Education: Bechelor’s degree from Howard College, master’s degree from the University of Miami

Election index

• Other candidates in the NRV answer your questions

Mary Holliman: Because I’m the oldest candidate. You should be nice to an old lady. [laughs] People should vote for me because they realize that I care about the community. I’ve got ideas. I’m going to listen to all their ideas, and I’m going to follow through. And I’m not going to be concerned about who gets the credit. There are things we need to do. And I’m working on a couple of things now. If I don’t get elected, I’m still going to be working on them. I think my long experience living in town and seeing the changes and knowing some of the history of some of our problems, like creeks flowing through downtown, … a bit of that, I think is important.

Jeanne Roper, founding member of the Valley Interfaith Childcare Center, asks: If elected, what could you do about the rapidly decreasing options for childcare in the town and the New River Valley?

MH: The town … with CDGB [Community Development Block Grant] funds is helping to fund a major part of the VIC program … The town, as long as I’m a part of it, I’m going to do my best to see that that funding continues. There is a terrible need, and at the same time you don’t want to just have another child-care center. You’ve got to have trained people, you need to pay them a fair wage. After all, we are trusting our future to these people. We shouldn’t be cutting corners on their salaries and their working conditions. There are no easy answers … funding is a part of the problem, but staffing is another part of the problem. If people can make more money as a secretary or a sales clerk, why should they get the extra training and stress of taking care of other people’s children? We just have to find the funding, and then we have to find sites. I think government can be involved. I think maybe with support for programs that are already under way, or expansion of programs that are already under way, or development of new centers in communities.

Bijaya and Hara Misra, residents of the Harding Avenue area, say they are concerned that an idea to build, with some federal funds, a 130-home affordable housing project near them could cause problems. They ask: Should council bring a high-density, low-income development to this area where the roads are already burdened with traffic from apartment complexes?

MH: We will be extending the bus routes to that. That’s in the plans. We already have a bus route out to Windsor Hills. Affordable housing does not mean cheap housing. … What we’re trying to do in the town is develop good housing where people want to live and want to raise up their families. And it’s also a wealth building program. If we can encourage people to invest in property that grows in value, then when they finish grad school or get a better job, they have developed some equity. We’re talking about quality, about environmentally upscale houses. … I think the idea that some of the neighbors at the top of Harding are concerned about this. … I think they haven’t heard all the facts. … Once we get to the point of the project is far enough along where we can have a neighborhood meeting and explain what the plan is and get their informed input, I think that they will be in favor of it. I hope so anyway.

Toms Creek basin resident Mary Houska asks: “What is your vision for the Toms Creek basin?”

MH: I wouldn’t mind it staying just about the same way it is. Toms creek itself needs to be protected and preserved. … We need open space. We can’t stop development. … Everybody wants to be the last person that comes here, and we all love the place. And we don’t want it to change. And it can’t help but change … but we need to be thinking about some alternative ways of providing housing and grocery stores and all of that. … I would like to see that particular area stay as close to as is as we possibly can.

Retired Virginia Tech Vice President for Multicultural Affairs Ben Dixon asks: As a council member, what will you do to encourage equity, access and inclusion of people from other countries, people living on lower incomes and other minorities?

MH: That’s a good question, and it’s hard to answer. I think that ever since I’ve been in town, the social life for minority groups, minority peoples, has been less than ideal. … But the more people that come, the better the social life will be. And how do we attract them here? One way is developing some of this affordable housing.

Not that minority groups necessarily are poor … but people that are starting a career probably can’t buy a $500,000, $600,000 house anyway. We need affordable housing so we attract people that are beginning their careers, and we are working on that. This council, that’s one of our focuses. I believe everybody on the council is attuned to that need in town. We’re also attuned to the need for a variety of activities. And I think our arts initiative and all the things we’re trying to do to promote the arts center downtown are going to bring people here that might not consider it if it were just another college town. I’d like to see a community where all cultures are respected, and I think Blacksburg is better than many communities in that way.