Nathaniel Richardson for Chesapeake Governor Event Columbus, Ohio.
Focus: Infrastructure / Technology
“Good Afternoon! My friends, my fellow Americans… I want to thank you all for joining me here today… For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Nathaniel Richardson, I’m a lifelong citizen of Chesapeake and I was born right here in Ohio. I grew up in a union household, grew up in the church, grew up while deployed overseas to Iraq and Afghanistan. And all those experiences shaped who I am today, taught me to be a grateful American who values community, family, and the God Given rights protected in Our Constitution. And I am running to be your governor.”
“Columbus is one of the fastest-growing cities in America, and with companies like Intel building the next generation of semiconductor manufacturing right here in central Ohio, you’re proving that the future of American industry can be built in the heartland. Columbus in so many ways represents the best of America, it shows us how to move forward…. Your motto is ‘Discover Columbus’, and when America looks at your great city it discovers how to grow and build, to welcome new families, workers, and ideas. But here in Columbus we also see the challenges which plague too many communities across Chesapeake and across the country. Columbus has seen growth but with the growth comes new pressures, new challenges, lack of housing, overburdened roads, rising cost of living. And we wont get anywhere unless we tackle these head on.”
“The housing crisis is a statewide problem, its a national problem, young people struggling to buy a home, prices rising faster than paychecks, the people who serve this community, the teachers, first responders, are no longer able to live in the communities they serve. And that my friends, is not just an inconvenience, it's a threat to the very basis of the American dream.”
“I want a Chesapeake where you don’t need to drive 2 hours just to go to work, I want young families to be able to buy homes in the communities they call home, and have those communities be safe places to raise children and with world class schools. And I want seniors who have lived in a community their whole lives to be able to spend their golden years there should they choose.”
“So today I am pledging the most ambitious homebuilding effort in generations, bringing together the state, local, and federal government to cut through outdated red tape, streamline the process, and incentivize building more homes. We are going to build workforce housing, for teachers, first responders and others who make our communities run. We are going to expand credits for and increase funding to affordable housing while renovating vacant properties, turning empty buildings into fresh starts for families.”
“But that doesn’t happen in a vacuum. We need a holistic approach, and lets be honest we do not have infrastructure which has met the moment, met our growth and a changing country. We have roads crumbling, bridges in need of repair, we have transit stretched to its limit. And when we have bad infrastructure that hurts every aspect of our life. How many wasted hours or gallons of gas have you spent in traffic because our infrastructure just isn't up to the task?”
“As your governor I will start a long term program to revitalize and modernize our infrastructure, not just roads and bridges but expanding transit in our fast growing metros like Columbus so that workers have options beyond sitting in traffic. And this will be smart infrastructure, taking advantage of new techniques and technologies which will reduce congestion, coordinate traffic flows and make our infrastructure more efficient.”
“Its a few more dollars at the pump, or a few more dollars shipping the groceries to the grocery store. Every hour stuck in traffic is another hour you could spend with your family, that hour lost in traffic is an hour you dont get to go to your kid’s play or hockey game, another hour you dont have to cook a good meal. ”
“Groceries, gas prices, Americans are being squeezed everywhere. Rent, utilities, childcare, all more expensive by the day while your paycheck doesnt keep up. Which begs the question, if the stock market is doing so well, if the richest in the country are richer than ever before, than why the heck doesn’t it feel that way for working Americans.”
“The truth is this, the political consensus for too long now resembles what it did in the 1920s, or the 1890s, that the economy is best served when it works for a small class of oligarchs at the very top. As FDR once said “We have always known that heedless self-interest was bad morals; we know now that it is bad economics.” The economy is meant to make corporate profits and CEO compensation sore while workers paychecks dont keep pace with inflation. But I believe in an economy which rewards work, not existing wealth.”
“We need to refurbish and bring into full effect our tools which break up trusts and increase competition, battle price gouging, and remove a broken incentive structure which makes it better for companies to not build or bring down costs, instead to incentivize investing in housing, energy, and advanced manufacturing right here in Chesapeake.”
“We need to invest in job training and apprenticeships, expand the child tax credit, and help people find real dignity in work without drowning in debt.”
“You know, there’s a passage in the book of Proverbs that says: “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” That verse reminds us that leadership requires looking ahead. It requires building for the future, it requires believing we can do better.”
“My friends, my fellow Americans, if you believe in building a stronger economy, that we can meet the challenges of this decade, that we can improve our infrastructure, build more housing, make everyone has a fair shot at the American Dream…. If you believe our best days our still ahead then please join me in this campaign.”
“Thank you, God bless you, and God bless the United States of America.”