The Shadow
“I just want my chance to make Covington even greater” was her opening statement, but when meeting with District 5 challenger Susan
Crowder you can’t help but see her commitment in every comment she makes. Her excitement and genuine positive attitude towards the things she sees as possible is contagious. She’s informed about how things work on the city council, but humble enough to understand that government is very complex and ever evolving. She’s very dedicated to the community whether it’s attending city council meetings or updating the Facebook page she started (concerned citizens for a better Covington Alleghany Highlands VA) bettering Covington is always her goal.
One major theme in the way she plans to approach all issues and situations is communication. She believes the community should play a big part in local government and for that to happen changes need to be made in the way that government interacts and informs the communities they serve. Crowder plans to better inform and interact with the public by bringing back district meetings. She feels like they were an important tool representatives could use to gain a better understanding of how the community felt on issues because they allow for more open discussion in a one-on-one type of atmosphere.
Crowder believes that the current city council has overall done a really good job achieving great things for the city. She admits there’s things that she would have done differently, but understands that it can be a difficult job. One thing she feels very strongly about is that there isn’t enough transparency, and citizens don’t feel like their voices are being heard. Crowder feels the people aren’t being given enough information to understand what’s being done to the point it can sometimes come off as dishonest even though it isn’t. She also thinks there should be more accountability from council members, that if you make a mistake, you should just own it so you can move on and fix it.
Crowder appreciates and applauds all the projects being done throughout the city like the sidewalks and street work that’s been accomplished. She does want to see more of it though. It “breaks my heart” is the words used when she talked about empty buildings throughout downtown that continue to sit unoccupied. If elected, she wants the council to discuss measures that can be taken to attract new money and businesses back to the area.
Few things in life are more important to Crowder than family and Covington. She grew up on the East side of the city and went to school here. As she likes to put it “I truly bleed blue and gold.”
She’s familiar with the government in Covington as her father, Harrison Scott, served on the council for many years. She, along with her husband raised children here and is now trying to make Covington a better place to help raise her four grandchildren.
She has fond childhood memories of the community coming together to achieve great things for one other and she wants to return some of that to the city. She plans to bring back a time when the council members made every attempt to communicate with its citizens and made them feel important and involved. Crowder promises to work hard with and for the people of Covington and has already qualified for a spot on the ballot to challenge for the district five seat.
