March 25, 2024 • 46 mins
Catherine Read is the first woman and first George Mason University alum to be mayor of Fairfax City, Va., the university’s hometown, and she isn’t shy about touting an institution she says helped teach her how to think critically. Want to know why it’s good to “disrupt the system,” why it’s important to get more women into policy-making decisions, and why our educational system doesn’t reward bold ideas? Read tells you in this conversation with Mason President Gregory Washington. She also is adamant that “if we can’t maintain democracy, if we can’t preserve our country’s rule of law, then all of these other things make zero difference.”
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Narrator (00:04):
Trailblazers in research, innovators in technology and those who simply have a
good story. All make up the fabricthat is George Mason University,
where taking on the grand challenges thatface our students, graduates and higher
education is our mission and our passion.Hosted by Mason President Gregory
Washington, this is theAccess to Excellence podcast.
Gregory Washington (00:26):
George Mason University is a school for groundbreakers and
trailblazers. From globally impactfulresearch to creating lasting change
locally and beyond, Masonstudents, faculty, staff,
and alumni put their stamps ontheir communities every day.
With me today is one ofthose extraordinary alums.
(00:50):
Catherine Reed,
Class of 1984 with a bachelor's degreein government and politics, is the
first Mason graduate and thefirst woman to be mayor of
the city of Fairfax, Virginia,the university's hometown.
Catherine has dedicated herself toserving and supporting the city and its
people. She's a small business ownerwith a social media consultancy firm.
(01:14):
She is a long time host ofFairfax public access shows
inside Scoop, Your Need toKnow, and Making Change Radio.
She is also dedicated to bringing thecity of Fairfax and George Mason into a
closer partnership, and that Ican, so well, thank you for.
(01:35):
I am so pleased she could be here duringWomen's History Month of all months
to talk about the historyshe herself is making
Catherine Reed, welcome to the show.
Catherine Read (01:46):
Thank you so much for having me. It wasn't far to travel, actually,
from City Hall to this radiostation. Probably not even a mile.
Gregory Washington (01:54):
. Hey. And that's the whole
point, right? You are right here.
You're right here with us inthis community in George Mason.
Catherine Read (02:02):
Well, it's interesting because when I was here, when I arrived in 1981,
I moved into the first dormitory everbuilt. It opened on October 25th, 1981.
Prior to that, there were no dormitories.There were the old student apartments,
but there was no dormitories.
And so that was one of the reasonsI chose to come to George Mason.
That and the fact that it was in a suburbof Washington DC. I grew up in rural
(02:24):
southwest Virginia.
Gregory Washington (02:25):
Yeah, I know you took one of my questions. This is fantastic. Well, let me,
let's talk a little bit about things.You have a really interesting background.
You have said thatyou're not a politician,
and I can tell by your backgroundwhy you would say that,
but talk a little bit moreabout what you mean by that.
Catherine Read (02:42):
Well, being mayor was not really in my life plan. I mean,
I do have a degree ingovernment politics and,
and people have asked why I changedfrom being a theater major at Emerson
College to being a government andpolitics major at George Mason University.
I had an interest in both. I mean, Iwas very politically aware in
fifth grade during theNixon-McGovern race,
I asked my fifth grade teacher if Icould do a bulletin board about the
(03:05):
presidential race. And he was like,
as long as you cover bothcandidates equally. In fifth grade
I was politically aware. Iwatched the Watergate hearings,
the summer of the Watergate hearings. Ican remember most clearly as yesterday.
So even though I had a love for theaterand thought that's what I wanted to do
as a career, I've alwayshad an interest in politics.
But not necessarily as I got older,
(03:26):
seeing myself in a political role.
As I started out doingnonprofit advocacy work,
I became aware that we did nothave enough women in the rooms
where decisions were being made.
There were not enough women aroundthe table for good public policy.
A lot of the problems and the issuesthat exist and still exist are because
(03:49):
women are not in a positionto create policies around like
universal pre-K or affordablequality childcare
or paid family leave. There'snot even paid parental leave,
maternity leave, that doesn'texist in this country.
And you have to ask yourself, why?
And it's because women have not been atthe table to make policies that benefit
(04:11):
women and families.
And so I became an advocateworking with nonprofits,
but also electing morewomen to public office.
So I know a lot of women in this regionwho sit in positions of power like
Phyllis Randall out Loudoun County.
I knew Phyllis before she was runningfor the Loudoun County Board of
Supervisors. Katie Cristol.
She and I sat on panels before she wasever on the Arlington County Board.
(04:33):
All of these women that I've worked withfor over 15 years trying to figure out
how we get women in theroom where it happens.
So I always saw myself in thatrole, not in the elected role,
but being the person who helps womenwho see themselves in the elected role
get into those seats.
Gregory Washington (04:52):
Well,
we are dealing with a timein the U.S. House where,
what is it? I think it'sup to 29% women now.
So 128 out of the 440 members, which is,
it's remarkable. Which is, youknow, it's a high watermark,
but not where we need to be.
Catherine Read (05:11):
. No. In 2013,
I remember working forwomen candidates in 2013.
We were 47th in the United Statesfor the percentage of women in our
legislature. Virginia wasvery low. And that year,
24 women ran for officein the General Assembly.
Twelve were incumbents, including CharnieleHerring, who's also a Mason alumna.
(05:34):
Charnelwas an incumbent in 2013,
and there were 12 challengersand all 12 incumbents won,
and all 12 challengers lost. When youlook back and you think, well, 2013,
that's just 11 years ago.
Look how far we've come in 11 yearsfrom that to where we are now.
You look in the House, you lookin the Senate, you see women,
(05:54):
you see women with babies. You seewomen who have given birth in office.
You see women with school-aged children.
And that didn't exist adecade ago. It just didn't.
Gregory Washington (06:06):
So when you were elected in 2022, you became the first alum, as I said,
and first woman to be mayor of Fairfax.Did that dawn on you? Were you thinking,
look, I wanna be a trailblazer here?
Catherine Read (06:17):
You know, it was funny because somebody from the Washington Post said,
are you running on being thefirst woman mayor? And I'm like,
are you kidding me? Did you see how thatworked out for Hillary? No.,
No, I don't talk about it at allsbecause it's a double-edged sword, right?
People don't wanna hear about gender,even if it's a factual statement.
People don't wanna hear about gender.
They want you to make a case for why Ishould be elected based on my vision,
(06:40):
my commitment, my background, my skillset.
And same with being a George Masonalumna. I mean, I did not talk about that,
but I talk about it all thetime now that I'm in office.
Gregory Washington (06:51):
Yeah, look,
I see here what the city of FairfaxWomen's History Month proclamation stated
that there have been only 15 womenelected to Fairfax City Council
since 1961 and only two womenever elected to Virginia
statewide office in the Commonwealth's500 a year history. Right?
We have a history ofgovernment here longer than,
(07:14):
literally, longer than thecountry's age. By a wide margin.
I mean, it's not even close.And we still have not had, well.
Catherine Read (07:23):
So we don't, we haven't had a woman.
Gregory Washington (07:24):
Governor, two elected officers,
one of them is sitting in her seat right now.
Catherine Read (07:29):
Right now. So, so there was a long time between Mary Sue Terry,
who was attorney general in thelate 1980s, and Winsome Earle-Sears,
who's the current 42ndlieutenant governor.
Those are the only two in the 405-yearhistory. It's been five centuries.
We have the longest,
continuously operating legislativebody in the Western Hemisphere.
(07:49):
And the fact that we as the Commonwealthof Virginia have not been able to elect
a woman governor in five centuries,people should be asking themselves,
it's not about the candidates.There are plenty of qualified women.
So if it's not about the candidates,then we have to ask ourselves,
is it about the voters? So I had aninteresting conversation Oh, interesting.
At a political That's interest. I.
Had a political event. Okay, this isgetting really interesting. Let's go. At
(08:12):
a political event hostedby Jerry Connolly,
which he does every St Patrick'sDay, the holiest day of the year,
according to Congressman Connolly.And he has a big event where,
and it's all Democrats. And you know,
I was talking about apotential ticket in 2025
of candidate for governor, lieutenantgovernor, and Commonwealth's attorney,
(08:32):
and a longtime friend of mine, someonewho I just love and respect. She goes,
well, we can't do that. I'm like,why? She goes, well, it's three women.
I'm like, Judy, you did not just say that.
Did you just say the Commonwealthof Virginia could not, would not,
will not elect threewomen to the top offices?
'Cause that's what I just heardyou say. She goes, well, yeah,
I don't think that they could getelected. I'm like, wow, wow and wow.
(08:57):
This is 2024. Andyou're telling me, I said,
do you remember what Ruth Bader Ginsburgsaid when somebody asked how many women
Supreme Court justices will be enough?And she said, when there are nine,
because no one ever questioned the factthat we've had nine male Supreme Court
justices. Why should anyonequestion if there are nine women?
(09:17):
But I just had a long timefeminist activist woman say to me,
oh, three women on aticket. Oh, that won't work.
Gregory Washington (09:25):
You know, that's interesting that you bring that up.
Not only is it commonplacefor there to be only men on
the ticket, it is clear that even some,
I assume you're talking abouta Democratic ticket.
That even some of the Democratic partywould be uncomfortable with a ticket of
all women. We have a saying, I'man engineer. We have an old saying.
(09:48):
Every system is designedto get the results it gets.
If the system's givingyou a certain result,
that's because that's the way it wasdesigned. Those are those results
it was designed to give you. Well,this is a primary example of that.
This is exactly an outcome,
that's a part of a system of whichall of us are included that we
produce even when we'renot thinking about it.
(10:10):
Those kinds of things have to bedisrupted. They have to be changed.
It's people like you that change'em. So this is fantastic.
I did not think we were gonna go in thisdirection. These questions are,
these questionsare not on my card, so.
Catherine Read (10:23):
Well, that's okay. Because I under, I understand that you kind of a are freethinking
freewheeling, and I love that aboutyou. It's kind of like
go where the conversationtakes you.
And you're right about disruptingsystems. And it's kind of like,
how was I the first woman mayor in 2022?
Because it was the first time municipalelections were held in November instead
of May. Historically. And this ispart of the Virginia Constitution,
(10:46):
and it's part of the Byrd Machine.
Gregory Washington (10:47):
Preach. Teach on this one. Go ahead.
Catherine Read (10:48):
Right. So every other year in May,
20% of registered votersvoted, 20% of 100
percent chose the mayor and city council since 1961.
And I call that voter suppression.That's when I call it,
when you have a system, to yourpoint about what the system produces,
when you have a system that consistentlyproduces 20% or less over 60
(11:12):
years, then the system is working theway it was designed to work.
So we had 15 women who were electedto city council over that period of
60 years. And there were many,
many years where it was an allmale city council and a male mayor.
And that's what May elections produced.
It produced a consistent constituencywho decided that that is what they wanted
(11:34):
their government to look like. Soin 2022, when we moved to November,
59% of registered voters came out to vote,
which meant two-thirds of those votershad never voted for mayor and city council
before.
Gregory Washington (11:46):
And you got a different outcome.
Catherine Read (11:47):
Different electorate, different outcome.
Gregory Washington (11:49):
Exactly. A different system.
Catherine Read (11:52):
Different system..
Gregory Washington Amazing. Amazing. So when did youfeel as if you were making history?
You know, I didn't really. I do now,
because it matters to youngwomen who want representation.
Like you can't be what you can't see.
I have a Girl Scout troop that's comingto City Hall. This is interesting too,
(12:13):
because Deepak Madala, who I workedwith at Virginia Poverty Law Center,
and he just reached out to me and said,
my daughter's Girl Scout troop would liketo come to city council and meet with
you and take a tour of the city hall. AndI said, well, that would be wonderful.
And then it's occurred to me, I'venever seen Girl Scouts in City Hall.
Boy Scouts come to dothe Pledge of Allegiance.
We got lots of Boy Scout troops thatcome to the meetings and they have for
(12:34):
years. But to my memory, I've neverseen a Girl Scout troop in City Hall.
So I'm like, yes, absolutely.Bring them. And I said,
and I will ask the womenon staff to come down.
It's gonna be late in the afternoon tocome down so that these girls can see
the different kinds of people,
the different women who have jobs ingovernment besides the mayor.
(12:55):
We have a deputy city manager, the cityregistrar, uh, Asian American woman.
We have so many women. Andthese girls need to see.
Gregory Washington (13:03):
That's exactly right. That's how you change the vision of the future.
This is Women's History Month.Who are the women you look up to?
Catherine Read (13:11):
Greta Thunberg.
Gregory Washington (13:12):
That's interesting.
Catherine Read (13:13):
It is because I tell you,
young people at a certain point intheir lives don't understand that
things aren't possible.
Kids come into this world curiousand they learn all the time.
And they ask questions and they havebold ideas.
But a lot of times our educationalsystem doesn't always reward that.
(13:33):
And so as time goes on,
you start to realize that what getsrewarded is hitting benchmarks and
achievements and checking offboxes. That is what is rewarded.
And all your big bold ideassomehow are not something you start
to believe in. But Greta Thunbergdoes. Greta Thunberg is like,
I can change the world.
(13:53):
There are young women out therethat I think will go forward
boldly without considering the factthat they could fail or consider
the fact that it could bewasted effort, because it,
that's not what is driving them.
What is driving her and what is drivinga lot of young women is the fact that
they see a problem that needs tobe solved, like climate change.
(14:14):
They feel an urgency thatit needs to be solved now.
And they don't doubt their abilityto move the needle forward.
And a lot of times you take criticism,I look at Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez,
or even Nancy Pelosi, right? Two different generations.
And those two women are not onreally on the same page.
But each of them has taken theirfair share of criticism over
(14:37):
what they have committed themselves todo in moving the needle forward in a way
that they think serves the greater good.
Gregory Washington (14:45):
That's exactly right. And when time came to support one another, they did.
Do you get what I'm saying?
Catherine Read (14:51):
Yes, I do. And I think, and you know, and I heard Liz Cheney speak at the, uh,
Richmond Forum like, uh,
last month and listeningto Liz Cheney speak too,
she was on the Rachel Maddow Show.
That's another example of how two womenwho will tell you they don't agree on
most things.
And yet Liz Cheney was on Rachel Maddow'sshow because what they do agree on is
(15:12):
our country and our democracycomes first above partisanship,
above politics. Because ifwe can't maintain democracy,
if we can't preserve ourcountry's rule of law,
then all of these other thingsmake zero difference.
Gregory Washington (15:27):
Yeah, I really like Liz Cheney.
I saw her maybe about ayear ago when she came,
right before she was ousted.She came to DC to give a speech.
And I happened to be able to meether then. She's phenomenal.
Catherine Read (15:41):
She is. And again,
this is a woman who took a standand got kicked out of her own party.
But you have to admirewomen like that, right?
Gregory Washington (15:49):
She got kicked out of Congress.
Catherine Read (15:51):
True. She got kicked outta Congress.
Gregory Washington (15:54):
She got kicked outta Congress. I don't think she got kicked outta her party.
Catherine Read (15:57):
Well.
It'll be interesting to see what she does.
I don't know what apath forward is for her,
but she hasn't given up and she's usingher influence in her platform to speak
her truth.
Gregory Washington (16:07):
That's right. I love principled people who stand on right.
And fight for what they believe in.
Catherine Read (16:13):
Me too. Yeah.
Gregory Washington (16:14):
So you've been in this job now, how long?
Catherine Read (16:17):
15 Months. And I'm already running for reelection.
Gregory Washington (16:19):
Okay, well look, that's the nature of the beast, right?
Catherine Rad (16:22):
Every other year. Yes. That's right.
Gregory Washington (16:23):
So 15 months is the job what you thought it would be?
Catherine Read (16:27):
Some of it, but no. First of all, people are like, well, it's a part-time job.
I'm like, no, it's365 days a year, 24-7.
And a lot of that is because ofemail, social media and smartphones.
Sometimes I think aboutformer mayor John Mason,
who was the longest serving mayor from1990 to 2002. He recently passed away.
(16:48):
And I'm thinking John Mason probablygot up when he was mayor on a Sunday and
read The Washington Post.
I get up every single morning and lookat my work email.
I look at my smartphone and I see whattext messages and what emails have come
in. And ...
Gregory Washington (17:01):
From the night before.
Catherine Read (17:02):
From the night before and overnight.
Gregory Washington (17:04):
While you were sleeping.
Catherine Read (17:04):
Well, yeah. And I sit on regional committees too,
so I really didn'tunderstand that part of it.
I sit on the MetropolitanWashington Council of Governments,
which meets once a month. The national,
I mean the Northern VirginiaTransportation Commission,
the Northern VirginiaTransportation Authority,
and the Northern VirginiaRegional Commission.
That is four monthlymeetings a month, right?
(17:25):
But it's important because we area region
and I'm committed to doing that work.But again, there is so much to this,
it's not a part-time job. A podcastI really like a lot is Pod Virginia,
Michael Pope and Lauren Burke doa twice a week podcast. And they,
it is all Virginia politics.
But one of the things on Tuesday's episodethat they were talking about is what
(17:46):
the House of Delegates gets paid.
Gregory Washington (17:48):
Oh, that's ridiculous.
Catherine Read (17:49):
It, well, $18,000 A year. Yeah. But they're a part-time legislature. Only it's
really not part-time.Gregory Washington: Yeah. But it's not true.
It's not. And so they were talking about the fact that, again,
we were talking about is it thecandidate or is it the voters?
But in this particular case,
is it the fact that these people don'tdeserve to be paid a living wage or a
fair wage?
Or is it the fact that people just believethat this is some sort of volunteer
(18:11):
job and we're just honored todo it, but it's an equity issue.
I can do this job. I don't do, people arelike, do you have a day job? I'm like,
well, I used to do many thingsthat I don't do anymore.
I do the mayor job every day, everyweek. I'm on all the time.
And I said, so this is not a part-timejob, but it pays $13,000 a year.
(18:32):
So if I had to pay my mortgage withwhat I make as mayor, it wouldn't work.
Gregory Washington (18:36):
That's exactly right.
And that's why you have peopleof substantial means being the
ones that run for office, becausethey are the ones who can afford to.
Catherine Read (18:45):
And it's not representative government. So we need to care about that.
Gregory Washington (18:48):
We are
getting deep.
Catherine Read (18:49):
Well, we have to. You know, I got a great education. You know what?
I got a great education at George Mason University.
Gregory Washington (18:54):
You know what? I was about to say The same thing. Boy,
those George Mason professorshave indoctrinated you well.
Catherine Read (19:01):
They taught me to question everything and to look deeply into government.
But I do think.
Gregory Washington (19:05):
This is amazing. I gotta pitch myself a little bit.
So let me back up and see if Icould get us back on track here.
I was asking you about role models ishow we got on this one.
Let me ask you one more question in,in, in this segment and then move on.
If you could sit down with anywoman in history, any woman,
who would it be and whatwould you wanna know from her?
Catherine Read (19:25):
It would be Eleanor Roosevelt. It would be Eleanor Roosevelt. You know,
the more I learn about history,the more I admire that woman.
And just when you think youknow everything about somebody,
you find out something else.
Gregory Washington (19:38):
Nice.
Catherine Read (19:39):
Like the Golden 13,
I asked a American Legion full of veteransif they knew who the Golden 13 had
ever heard of the Golden13. And no one had.
It is the first 13 Black navalofficers that were trained during
World War II in 1943. And theywere called the Golden 13.
And they didn't even knowwhy they were selected.
(19:59):
They went through a three monthtraining program in 10 weeks.
They did so well that they were accusedof cheating and had to take some of
those tests over again, which they passed.
But this was because of Eleanor Roosevelt.
Eleanor Roosevelt is the one who pushedfor training Black naval officers.
The USS Mason, which is overthere fighting off Somali pirates.
When I heard somethingabout the USS Mason,
(20:21):
I remembered from the book the Golden 13,
that that ship was built in commissionedduring World War II because it was
going to have an all Black crew.
And they called the USS MasonEleanor's Folly. This is why,
no matter how much we thinkwe know about history,
there is so much more to know.
And I would love to know what Eleanorknew and all the things that she was
(20:45):
behind that no one knows.
Gregory Washington (20:47):
. Catherine, can I
ask you a question? Can I,
can I You are hittingme with zingers, man. Wow.
This is fantastic. Okay, look,
let's back up a little bit and talkabout your time as a student at Mason.
You said earlier from Southwest Virginiacame to Mason from Emerson College
where you were a theater major.So how do you make that flip?
(21:10):
How do you go from being a theatermajor in Boston to a government
and politics major atMason? That's a flip.
Catherine Read (21:18):
It is. It is. But like I said, I'd always had a deep interest in both.
And when I realized theaterwas probably not a good career choice.
And I have to tell you, I'd never beenoff the farm when I went to Emerson.
I went to Emerson Collegein 1980 on a Greyhound bus
with a steamer trunk andelectric typewriter and $20 in cash and a work study job
(21:39):
and a Pell Grant and a lot of scholarship. I had the International Thespian Society
Scholarship,
the Elizabeth Taylor Warner Scholarshipfor the Dramatic Arts had all this one
time money and a grant from theschool. But I'd never been to Boston.
I'd never seen the school. So I geton this Greyhound bus leaving Roanoke.
15 hours changedbuses at Port Authority in New York.
I loved every single second ofmy time in Boston. Loved it.
Gregory Washington (22:02):
Boston is a great university town.
Catherine Read (22:06):
It is. Oh, it is so many schools. We used go.
Gregory Washington (22:08):
Don't, don't let, don't let anybody fool you.
Catherine Read (22:10):
It was fantastic. $1 movies, fantastic.
University at MIT had$1 movies and we prayed
they didn't check student IDs.
So we would go over there andwatch first run movies at MIT.
But I realized that thekids who were there,
it was a small school because ithad about 1500 undergraduates.
And George Mason was the same size.
Gregory Washington (22:26):
We're not the same size now.
Catherine Read (22:27):
Not anymore, right?. And so in 1980,
Mason literally had the numberone debate team in the nation.
Their forensics team justknocked everyone out.
And I had never heard of George Mason,
even though I lived in Virginia my entirelife. I'd never heard of this school.
And so when I decided I couldn't affordto stay at Emerson and that theater was
not a good career choice by whichto have an independent life,
(22:49):
I started looking at George Mason strictlybecause of my interaction with the
Mason forensics team. Andso I ended up applying.
Gregory Washington (22:57):
Did Did you tell them that? That is something that they should know,
by the way. Catherine Read (23:00):
Yes, absolutely. Gregory Washington
Catherine Read (23:02):
Yeah. I mean, I was on the forensics team in high school,
but the funny thing is, once Igot here, I had a work study job.
I had a series of work study jobs hereon campus and I ended up not joining the
forensics team. Like Ididn't do forensics at Mason,
even though that's what brought me here.
But I did get a great educationworking my on campus jobs.
And I will tell you this,
I learned as much working jobs atMason as I did in the classroom.
Gregory Washington (23:27):
Really?
Catherine Read (23:29):
Absolutely, I mean, you interact with staff and faculty in a different way.
I was doing data entry for the chairof the American Studies Department,
and we are still friendsall this time later
Hans Bergman and I are still friends,still talk to each other over LinkedIn.
And I worked in the copy center atThompson Hall binding reports and hot
gluing things. And that wasone of my work study jobs.
I was a a desk receptionist at the dorm.That was one of my work study jobs.
(23:53):
And you know, I workedmy way through school.
And I will tell you Mason at thattime was attractive for a lot of
reasons. But I could afford to go here.
I could afford to work my waythrough school. I had student loans,
but it didn't take me 20 yearsto pay off my student loans.
It took me probably five yearsto pay off my student loans.
And I think the cost of publiceducation is so prohibitive now.
(24:16):
Young people are discouraged from evenconsidering a four year college degree
because they don't want tostart out life with a degree and
$20,000,
$40,000 in student loans and no guaranteethat that degree is gonna get them a
job to even pay off their loans. You know,
young people really havevery tough choices to make.
But Mason is still a schooland it's got many accolades.
(24:40):
It's a research school,it's world renowned,
but it's still a school wheremore students can afford to go
and get a world class education, notfor world class tuition. That is the legacy.
Gregory Washington (24:52):
That's my tagline right there. I'm gonna take it.
I'm going, I am goingto use it. That is fantastic.
That's exactly what we are and who weare. And not only that, we find you,
no matter where you are, we'rethat place of opportunity.
We are that place of access.
We are that place where ifyou want to become a success,
(25:13):
we'll provide a pathway for you. Wewill work with you to figure it out.
And that is probably the mostattractive thing about this place.
So at some point in time, somethinghad to flip in your mind to say,
I wanna do politics, right?
Catherine Read (25:28):
Well, okay, I'll tell you what that was.
I reinvent myself every sevenyears. Okay. So I had a career.
Gregory Washington (25:32):
Is this on purpose or it just happens every seven years? It's like it happens.
It like an thing?
Catherine Read (25:37):
It's an itch thing. So my first job out of George Mason was actually,
I got a job as a software tester on aNavy payroll personnel project for the
Navy through a government contractor.
And it's 'cause I had computer experience.
Computers were very newin the early eighties.
And so if you had computerexperience, you could get a job.
It wasn't in my major, but it, itwas a job that paid decent money.
(25:58):
I worked in the data processing industryand then I decided to take a job in
human resources.
So I was in human resource for seven anda half years for Long and Foster local
real estate company.
And then I was a small businessowner with my second husband.
We opened a fax companyback. Remember fax machines?
There's some kids who couldn't eventell you what one does, but yeah,
(26:20):
it was back with.
Gregory Washington (26:20):
No you, you still see them around on desk desk and many offices around here.
When they come on, people are like,well, well what is that?
Catherine Read (26:27):
But it, but back when, when fax was new
and law firms andhospitals relied on fax machines.
That was a going business. So FaxWorld was a business I co-owned.
I did the bookkeeping,I ran the service techs,
I did all the things in a smallbusiness.
And then I ran a program called HomeService Connections for Long and Foster.
(26:47):
And that was in the early two thousands.
And then I had a businessmentor who suggested to me in
2007 that these 18,000 realestate agents didn't know how to
market themselves online.So think about 2005, 2006,
there was no social media. It wascalled online marketing.
Social mediawasn't even a term.
(27:08):
And so you've got 18,000 independentcontractors who still use business cards
and telephone to market themselves.And so he suggested to me, he goes,
you should start your ownbusiness teaching professional people how to use these
online tools. And so I did, in 2007,
I started Creative Read and I startedteaching people how to use Facebook and
Twitter. Which, you know, people arelike, and this is political people too.
(27:31):
This is one of the, how,
one of the doorways I walked intopolitics and I know so many people in
politics. I got Mark Keam onTwitter. He's like, Katherine.
Gregory Washington (27:39):
Mark Keam?
Catherine Read (27:39):
Mark Keem. He, I got him on Twitter. He's like, Catherine, it's so stupid.
I'm like, Mark, you have to be wherethe people are having a conversation.
They're trying to talk to you andthey're definitely talking about you.
And so got Mark Keam on Twitterback when he first ran in 2009.
So I started teaching people how to usesocial media, how to use online tools.
(28:00):
I was doing that as my ownbusiness starting in 2007.
But then that led me to nonprofits.Then all of a sudden, word of mouth,
the Virginia Autism project,
how can we use social media toget autism insurance reform?
Then I got Virginians forAlternatives to the Death Penalty.
How can we social media to abolishthe death penalty in Virginia?
Gregory Washington (28:19):
Okay. I see what's happening.
Catherine Read (28:20):
So this is how I pivoted to that. So this every seven years thing is just,
this is just where life led me, Iguess. I see opportunity and I'm like,
there's an opportunitythere. And I take it.
Gregory Washington (28:31):
Ain't nothing wrong with that. So one of your goals,
one of your major goals since takingoffice has been to expand the partnership
between Fairfax andGeorgia Mason University.
And one thing you've done to do that,
to personify that, is hosting thefirst ever Fairfax Pride event,
(28:51):
which was a collaboration,
which is a collaboration betweenyour office and Mason's LGBTQ+
Resource Center.
And so can you talk a little bit aboutwhat was your vision for that event?
How it got started?
Catherine Read (29:03):
So Josh Kinchen invited me to the Mason Pride event, which I came to last April.
And I'm coming to on Marchthe 30th this year is,
is the pride event here. Andthey were very generous. I mean,
they introduced me not only as the firstwoman mayor of Fairfax City and the
fact that I was a Mason alumni.Lots of applause, lots of applause.
But the night of my election,we had our thank you party.
(29:25):
I didn't call it a victory party 'causeI didn't know if I was gonna win, Right?
But we had it at what was then the Earp'sOrdinary Popup on the plaza in Fairfax
City. It's now McKenzie's Tonicsand Toons. And I said to Josh,
I'd like to have all of my volunteers andmy campaign workers come for an event.
And he goes, well, whattime would that be
because we have a drag show that'sgonna be Tuesday night.
(29:48):
. And I'm like, really?What time's the drag show starting?
And he goes, it starts aboutnine. And I said, well,
I'd still like to have my event.
Is there any way that we can just stayfor the drag show? And he goes, well,
there's a cover charge. And I said, well,can I cover the cover charge? He goes,
well, lemme talk to Alan.So long story short,
not only am I the first woman mayor,first Mason alumni, first mayor
who's never served on city council.
(30:09):
I'm the first mayor who had a dragshow at my election night party, okay?
So I think that pretty muchsays it all. So all this is.
Gregory Washington (30:15):
You trail blazin'.
So this was relayed at the Prideevent last year at Mason.
And so recognizing, andagain, I was on the,
the Board of Equality Virginiafor seven years too.
Recognizing we have tocelebrate, recognize, celebrate, uplift,
support, protect every singleperson in our community.
And that means the LGBTQ community too.
(30:37):
Without question, without question.
So you clearly know howto build partnerships.
You've been doing it your wholecareer, you've done it with us.
What are some ways in which studentscan get involved with the city can help
the city can engage the city?
Catherine Read (30:52):
Your, your students are already there. A lot of them are already there.
The women's basketball team and themen's baseball team are volunteers at our
Providence Elementary School.
And I think we have athletes who volunteerat Daniels Run elementary school.
There's a lot of students, Masonstudents who live in the city.
They live in the city and notjust at the Flats at University.
They rent houses that are in ourneighborhoods. And so they're very much a,
(31:14):
a part of the fabric of the city. Butwe have park cleanups that they come to.
We have all kinds of eventsdowntown, like the Fall Festival.
And I just wanna mention this too,
about partnerships Fall for the Book isa super important partnership that we
have with George Mason University.Ollie,
the OSHA Lifelong LearningInstitute, which is in the city.
(31:34):
Very much a partnership and,um, Spotlight on the Arts, uh,
a partnership between thecity and the university.
These are longstanding partnershipsthat bring our residents together with
students, faculty,
and bring visitors in fromoutside of the city to take
advantage of these things that we producetogether as a collaboration. But, uh,
as far as students, we have reachedout to the climate center, which is,
(31:59):
we are very excited that the VirginiaClimate Center is located here. You know,
we have environmental issues inthe city. Kate Doyle Feingold,
who sits on our city council,her dissertation advisor,
Kate contacted her and she's workingwith our police department to help us to
analyze data, publicsafety data. Um,
I've just reached out to Dean Perryof your College of Public Health.
Gregory Washington (32:21):
She's fantastic.
Catherine Read (32:22):
Well, I, because we have a homelessness task force.
Gregory Washington (32:24):
She is fantastic.
Catherine Read (32:26):
And one of the things we have not included is part of our homelessness task force is public
health issues and how weaddress public health issues as
part of what we're trying to do forpeople who are unhoused in the city.
So I just reached out to Dean Perryto see, you know, how can we work?
So there are so many opportunitiesfor students to get involved.
Using our city is basically away to get clinical experience.
(32:50):
Again, I'll bring up Mason'sCommunity Mental Health Center,
which is also in the citybehavioral health Center.
You've got students getting theirclinical hours right here in our city
providing mental health services to ourresidents. And the school of business.
I can't even, how could I forget?The Costello Business School is,
we've got one of your faculty membersthat sits on the Economic Development
Authority for the city ofFairfax, Patrick Soleymani.
(33:12):
And we are glad to have him.
Gregory Washington (33:14):
He's a good guy.
Catherine Read (33:15):
We've got students who are working on a,
a retail assessment for a parcelof land that's being redeveloped in
the city.
And we've got students who are workingon what that could look like through the
business school.
We welcome partnerships like that wherestudents get real experience and we
benefit from the facultymembers in the programs and the
(33:36):
disciplines here at the university.
Gregory Washington (33:38):
So for 10 years before you became mayor,
your focus was on legislativeadvocacy work. If you,
you just highlighted mostly withnonprofits and you had some big victories,
right?
The Virginia Autism projectlobby for autism insurance
reform that when it passed in 2011,
required insurance companies to providemedically necessary behavioral therapy.
(34:02):
They, they were not doing it before then.
You also helped the Virginia Alliancefor Breastfeeding law successfully
push for a new 2015 lawthat allows mothers to
breastfeed their children anywhere
the mother is lawfully present.
So talk to us a little bit aboutfocusing your efforts on Fairfax
(34:25):
relative to focusing your effortson the larger picture items.
Catherine Read (34:29):
Yeah, well, you know, there's a lot of crossover.
I think one of the things we're waitingfor right now is when you talk about
advocacy and how state issuescan impact local issues,
we have to renovate our schoolssoon. It's been 20 years.
And so we're gonna have a bondreferendum on our ballot in November.
But there's a 1% sales taxthat both chambers passed that
(34:51):
would allow locality,
every locality to have a 1% sales taxspecifically for education.
But will the governor sign it?
Gregory Washington (34:59):
Is it, is it K 12?
Catherine Read (35:00):
It's K-12. I know I would, I wish it was for you too.
I wish it was for you two, but it's a 1%sales for K through 12, and
but we don't know if thegovernor's gonna sign it.
But those are the kinds ofthings where it matters.
And we advocate as a localgovernment. As a municipal government.
And a lot of that advocacy is donethrough the Virginia Municipal League too.
Because getting that ability to have a1% tax in addition to a bond referendum,
(35:23):
to fund this major school innovationreally makes a difference for us.
And again, we're a Dillon Rule state,and people don't understand that too.
There's a lot of things we can't do as alocality without asking permission from
the General Assembly. Wecan't change our charter.
Almost everything we do is a locality.
It has to be approved by the GeneralAssembly and then signed off on by the
governor because we're a Dillon Rule state,and not every state operates that way.
(35:46):
A lot of states havehome rule, and we don't.
Gregory Washington (35:49):
I'm gonna have to look up this Dillon Rule.
Catherine Read (35:50):
Well, I tell you, I got a good education, Mason. Did I mention that?
Gregory Washington (35:53):
You got a great education.
Catherine Read (35:54):
I learned all the things.
Gregory Washington (35:55):
And we are seeing the evidence right now. Among the many roles that
you've had. You've hostedthis Fairfax Public Access,
these shows, Inside Scoop, Your NeedTo Know and Making Change Radio.
What's the genesis for these shows?
Catherine Read (36:11):
So I fell into it as somebody else had been hosting inside Scoop,
and she had family issues. Her sisterand mother were ill in upstate New York.
And so I started filling in for her.
And I didn't have anybroadcast experience. I might've been a theater major,
but no broadcast journalismexperience whatsoever.
And this is live television. This wasa one hour live television show. Yeah,
I'm in the host seat and I'm justlearning as I go. I will tell you this,
(36:34):
I am good at learning as I go. LikeI learn on the job and it's fine.
So I started being in the host seat.
And what I found is that peoplewere trying to do important things,
policy-wise, like decoding dyslexia,
parents who were trying to get resourcesfor their dyslexic children in the
public school system. I mean,at that time, back in 2015,
(36:54):
Fairfax County didn't even have a readingspecialist in an administrative role
to test kids for dyslexia.
A lot of parents felt like they weresetting kids up to fail before they got
help.
So having a show where you could getthese parents on air to talk about
what the challenges were,what they were asking for,
it presented it in a different way.
And not only were the shows broadcast ontelevision, but they go out on YouTube.
Gregory Washington (37:18):
mm-hmm..
Which means that all of these groupscould send it out by email. Right.
Catherine Read (37:22):
They could embed it on their website and it would present what they were trying
to do in a different way. So for me,
the shows were just an extensionof this nonprofit advocacy work.
How do we help people understand theproblems you're trying to solve with your
nonprofit? And doing it in ainterview format was just helpful.
It's better than tryingto read an assessment.
(37:43):
It's like somebody hand you a brochureor a one pager about what they're doing.
It's not the same thing as talking tosomebody who has some basis of knowledge
and who's really interestedin what you're doing.
So people would say to me, I've neverbeen on television before. I'm so nervous.
I'm like, all you have to do is lookat me. We are having a conversation.
And the reason these shows work isbecause I am interested and you are
(38:04):
passionate.
Gregory Washington (38:05):
You talked a little bit about the new voter turnout, Right,
and how that new voter turnoutchanged the election in your case.
I surmise for years of just 20% ofthe population showing up for these
elections,
there were probably some things thatwere undone or some opportunities missed.
Really core kinds of thingsthat we were not able to do
(38:30):
as a community.
Have you thought about what happensto a community when constituents
really don't take partin elections
because we had that overa period of time.
Catherine Read (38:40):
Well, this is sort of my assessment of the 20%,
the 20% who tend to turn outwere a demographic, older,
educated white property owners.
Gregory Washington (38:51):
Okay. And I know what the outcome of that was.
Catherine Read (38:54):
Right. And so you have a government that reflects the electorate,
but you also have a government thenwho recognizes that the constituency
to whom you feel you are answerableare the 20% who come out reliably
every other May. So whenpeople look at Fairfax City,
and we are a bit on the conservativeside to be in such a progressive
(39:18):
region, and our citizenstend to be progressive.
I have a member on my city council rightnow, Jeff Greenfield, and I forget,
but he served for 22 years.He took four years off,
but he's been on there for22 years on the city council.
And so there was basicallya lot of consistency.
There was not a lot ofturnover. Generally,
you stayed in your seat and got reelectedevery time until you decided to step
(39:40):
down or retire.
And that might have led to some stabilityin the government, which is good.
But it also led to sort of thismindset about what the community
valued. And so I was in a meetingwith Fairfax County not too long ago,
and somebody said, I'm a 2012graduate of George Mason University,
and I lived on the campus. And he said,
(40:02):
and I didn't feel like the cityreally welcomed us being there.
And I said, well, that isnot your imagination. I said,
one of my good friends pointedout that until recently,
there were not streetlights onthe sidewalk from the downtown
to the campus, right?
So subtle things thatmake you feel not welcome.
Gregory Washington (40:25):
You know,
every system is perfectly designedto get the results it gets.
And so you don't want those folk inyour establishments and in the downtown
you develop systems to keep those kindof things from happening. You,
you develop covenants so that you canonly have a certain number of people in
(40:46):
an apartment, right?
That would discourage students fromgetting apartments together, right?
You have all of these kinds of things.
Catherine Read (40:54):
I like your systems thinking. If you think about the,
the fact the university is like 52years old and the city gave land
to the state for the university,but it was a commuter school.
So people were like, we should have auniversity. A university is a good idea.
Yeah. A university that would be agood idea. But then suddenly it's like,
but we don't wanna be a college town. Wedon't wanna be Charlottesville.
(41:16):
Like, that'snot what we had in mind.
So you go do your university overhere, but we want Mayberry over here.
And Mayberry did nothave college students in it.
We're at an inflection point. I'm adifferent kind of mayor, you know,
I have a different vision. I do.
And I think that the relationships betweenthe university and the city benefit
(41:37):
both.
And it's not like we don't have a sayin how that looks or how it feels.
We can build parameters.
I don't necessarily want a hundredtipsy college students in the middle
of downtown on a Tuesday night.But, but honestly,
we don't have that. And I don't evensee that that will ever be a thing.
When the Flats at Universitywas proposed, people just,
(41:58):
it's gonna be like a frat house.
People really believed it was just gonnabe noise and kids and cars and you know
something, none of that has happened.
Gregory Washington (42:07):
Right.
Catherine Read (42:08):
They brought energy feet on the street.
It is great to be in thedowntown with people.
Gregory Washington (42:13):
nd it's helping business.
Catherine Read (42:14):
A hundred percent.
Gregory Washington (42:15):
And businesses are now coming back and that helps the tax base.
Which helps the resource base, whichprovides more amenities, right?
It's a virtuous cycle.
Catherine Read (42:25):
It Is. It is.
And I love it.
Gregory Washington (42:27):
You hit the nail right on the head and we're seeing some pushback from some
members about cricket.
And I believe it's the same thing aboutour cricket baseball stadium, right?
No one pushes back againstthe baseball side of that,
but the cricket side of that, whatdoes cricket, what does it mean?
It's gonna bring a whole newcommunity of people to this area
(42:50):
and the ultimate beneficiarywill be the city of Fairfax.
Catherine Read (42:54):
I agree. You know, and I think people don't understand cricket.
And even though people are like, no,that's not it. That's not it. I'm like,
but it is it, it's kind of like ifit, there's nothing in it for you.
You can see yourself going toa baseball game at Mason.
But it's like cricket, what is it? Whoplays it? I don't know anything about it.
So why would I go there?And so when there was a
Gregory Washington (43:14):
Until you actually wind up going and saying, huh, this is
interesting, right. It's actually prettycool.
Catherine Read (43:21):
And it's family friendly And I think that's the other thing that the owner of the Washington Freedom,
he did a good job on the town hall meetingexplaining the fact that it's a
family friendly game.
They've modified it so it doesn't takethree days to play a match anymore.
, it's a T 20, three to four hour model.And it's early in the evening. Right?
Yeah. It's not, it's early in theevening, the afternoon. So it,
it doesn't go till 11 or 12 o'clock atnight like a Nationals baseball game.
Gregory Washington (43:42):
Exactly.
Catherine Read (43:43):
Again,
people just don't like change and theydon't like things that are unfamiliar.
But to me,
the cricket stadium is a reflection ofthe diversity of this university in this
region. I know so many people who playcricket and when you travel the world,
you run into people. Whenwe were Warsaw, Poland,
which is where our grandchildrenare.
There was an Uber driver who's marriedto a Polish national, he's from India,
(44:04):
and he was showing us pictures on hisphone of the cricket pitches in Warsaw,
Poland.
This is a beloved international sportand we have an opportunity and I think
it's an amazing opportunity here.
Gregory Washington (44:16):
Well, you know what, I really appreciate it.
'cause hearing this is energizing interms of what we've been dealing with
today with Cricket. So it's reallyinteresting. This is fantastic.
You have, you haveput it down, and I really,
really appreciate you for it. And sowe're gonna have to leave it there.
(44:36):
Mayor Catherine Read,
thank you for your time and mostimportantly for your leadership.
I will tell you right now todaythat you, George Mason degree,
has never been worth morethan it is today.
Catherine Read (44:52):
Amen, to that,
Gregory Washington (44:55):
I am Mason President Gregory Washington saying, until next time,
stay safe, Mason Nation.
Narrator (45:04):
If you like what you heard on this podcast,
go to podcast.gmu.edu formore of Gregory Washington's
conversations with thethought leaders, experts,
and educators who take onthe grand challenges facing our students, graduates and
higher education. That's podcast.gmu.edu.
Trailblazers in research, innovators in technology and those who simply have a
good story. All make up the fabricthat is George Mason University,
where taking on the grand challenges thatface our students, graduates and higher
education is our mission and our passion.Hosted by Mason President Gregory
Washington, this is theAccess to Excellence podcast.
Gregory Washington (00:26):
George Mason University is a school for groundbreakers and
trailblazers. From globally impactfulresearch to creating lasting change
locally and beyond, Masonstudents, faculty, staff,
and alumni put their stamps ontheir communities every day.
With me today is one ofthose extraordinary alums.
(00:50):
Catherine Reed,
Class of 1984 with a bachelor's degreein government and politics, is the
first Mason graduate and thefirst woman to be mayor of
the city of Fairfax, Virginia,the university's hometown.
Catherine has dedicated herself toserving and supporting the city and its
people. She's a small business ownerwith a social media consultancy firm.
(01:14):
She is a long time host ofFairfax public access shows
inside Scoop, Your Need toKnow, and Making Change Radio.
She is also dedicated to bringing thecity of Fairfax and George Mason into a
closer partnership, and that Ican, so well, thank you for.
(01:35):
I am so pleased she could be here duringWomen's History Month of all months
to talk about the historyshe herself is making
Catherine Reed, welcome to the show.
Catherine Read (01:46):
Thank you so much for having me. It wasn't far to travel, actually,
from City Hall to this radiostation. Probably not even a mile.
Gregory Washington (01:54):
You're right here with us inthis community in George Mason.
Catherine Read (02:02):
Well, it's interesting because when I was here, when I arrived in 1981,
I moved into the first dormitory everbuilt. It opened on October 25th, 1981.
Prior to that, there were no dormitories.There were the old student apartments,
but there was no dormitories.
And so that was one of the reasonsI chose to come to George Mason.
That and the fact that it was in a suburbof Washington DC. I grew up in rural
(02:24):
southwest Virginia.
Gregory Washington (02:25):
Yeah, I know you took one of my questions. This is fantastic. Well, let me,
let's talk a little bit about things.You have a really interesting background.
You have said thatyou're not a politician,
and I can tell by your backgroundwhy you would say that,
but talk a little bit moreabout what you mean by that.
Catherine Read (02:42):
Well, being mayor was not really in my life plan. I mean,
I do have a degree ingovernment politics and,
and people have asked why I changedfrom being a theater major at Emerson
College to being a government andpolitics major at George Mason University.
I had an interest in both. I mean, Iwas very politically aware in
fifth grade during theNixon-McGovern race,
I asked my fifth grade teacher if Icould do a bulletin board about the
(03:05):
presidential race. And he was like,
as long as you cover bothcandidates equally. In fifth grade
I was politically aware. Iwatched the Watergate hearings,
the summer of the Watergate hearings. Ican remember most clearly as yesterday.
So even though I had a love for theaterand thought that's what I wanted to do
as a career, I've alwayshad an interest in politics.
But not necessarily as I got older,
(03:26):
seeing myself in a political role.
As I started out doingnonprofit advocacy work,
I became aware that we did nothave enough women in the rooms
where decisions were being made.
There were not enough women aroundthe table for good public policy.
A lot of the problems and the issuesthat exist and still exist are because
(03:49):
women are not in a positionto create policies around like
universal pre-K or affordablequality childcare
or paid family leave. There'snot even paid parental leave,
maternity leave, that doesn'texist in this country.
And you have to ask yourself, why?
And it's because women have not been atthe table to make policies that benefit
(04:11):
women and families.
And so I became an advocateworking with nonprofits,
but also electing morewomen to public office.
So I know a lot of women in this regionwho sit in positions of power like
Phyllis Randall out Loudoun County.
I knew Phyllis before she was runningfor the Loudoun County Board of
Supervisors. Katie Cristol.
She and I sat on panels before she wasever on the Arlington County Board.
(04:33):
All of these women that I've worked withfor over 15 years trying to figure out
how we get women in theroom where it happens.
So I always saw myself in thatrole, not in the elected role,
but being the person who helps womenwho see themselves in the elected role
get into those seats.
Gregory Washington (04:52):
Well,
we are dealing with a timein the U.S. House where,
what is it? I think it'sup to 29% women now.
So 128 out of the 440 members, which is,
it's remarkable. Which is, youknow, it's a high watermark,
but not where we need to be.
Catherine Read (05:11):
I remember working forwomen candidates in 2013.
We were 47th in the United Statesfor the percentage of women in our
legislature. Virginia wasvery low. And that year,
24 women ran for officein the General Assembly.
Twelve were incumbents, including CharnieleHerring, who's also a Mason alumna.
(05:34):
Charnelwas an incumbent in 2013,
and there were 12 challengersand all 12 incumbents won,
and all 12 challengers lost. When youlook back and you think, well, 2013,
that's just 11 years ago.
Look how far we've come in 11 yearsfrom that to where we are now.
You look in the House, you lookin the Senate, you see women,
(05:54):
you see women with babies. You seewomen who have given birth in office.
You see women with school-aged children.
And that didn't exist adecade ago. It just didn't.
Gregory Washington (06:06):
So when you were elected in 2022, you became the first alum, as I said,
and first woman to be mayor of Fairfax.Did that dawn on you? Were you thinking,
look, I wanna be a trailblazer here?
Catherine Read (06:17):
You know, it was funny because somebody from the Washington Post said,
are you running on being thefirst woman mayor? And I'm like,
are you kidding me? Did you see how thatworked out for Hillary? No.
No, I don't talk about it at allsbecause it's a double-edged sword, right?
People don't wanna hear about gender,even if it's a factual statement.
People don't wanna hear about gender.
They want you to make a case for why Ishould be elected based on my vision,
(06:40):
my commitment, my background, my skillset.
And same with being a George Masonalumna. I mean, I did not talk about that,
but I talk about it all thetime now that I'm in office.
Gregory Washington (06:51):
Yeah, look,
I see here what the city of FairfaxWomen's History Month proclamation stated
that there have been only 15 womenelected to Fairfax City Council
since 1961 and only two womenever elected to Virginia
statewide office in the Commonwealth's500 a year history. Right?
We have a history ofgovernment here longer than,
(07:14):
literally, longer than thecountry's age. By a wide margin.
I mean, it's not even close.And we still have not had, well.
Catherine Read (07:23):
So we don't, we haven't had a woman.
Gregory Washington (07:24):
Governor, two elected officers,
one of them is sitting in her seat right now.
Catherine Read (07:29):
Right now. So, so there was a long time between Mary Sue Terry,
who was attorney general in thelate 1980s, and Winsome Earle-Sears,
who's the current 42ndlieutenant governor.
Those are the only two in the 405-yearhistory. It's been five centuries.
We have the longest,
continuously operating legislativebody in the Western Hemisphere.
(07:49):
And the fact that we as the Commonwealthof Virginia have not been able to elect
a woman governor in five centuries,people should be asking themselves,
it's not about the candidates.There are plenty of qualified women.
So if it's not about the candidates,then we have to ask ourselves,
is it about the voters? So I had aninteresting conversation Oh, interesting.
At a political That's interest. I.
Had a political event. Okay, this isgetting really interesting. Let's go. At
(08:12):
a political event hostedby Jerry Connolly,
which he does every St Patrick'sDay, the holiest day of the year,
according to Congressman Connolly.And he has a big event where,
and it's all Democrats. And you know,
I was talking about apotential ticket in 2025
of candidate for governor, lieutenantgovernor, and Commonwealth's attorney,
(08:32):
and a longtime friend of mine, someonewho I just love and respect. She goes,
well, we can't do that. I'm like,why? She goes, well, it's three women.
I'm like, Judy, you did not just say that.
Did you just say the Commonwealthof Virginia could not, would not,
will not elect threewomen to the top offices?
'Cause that's what I just heardyou say. She goes, well, yeah,
I don't think that they could getelected. I'm like, wow, wow and wow.
(08:57):
This is 2024. Andyou're telling me, I said,
do you remember what Ruth Bader Ginsburgsaid when somebody asked how many women
Supreme Court justices will be enough?And she said, when there are nine,
because no one ever questioned the factthat we've had nine male Supreme Court
justices. Why should anyonequestion if there are nine women?
(09:17):
But I just had a long timefeminist activist woman say to me,
oh, three women on aticket. Oh, that won't work.
Gregory Washington (09:25):
You know, that's interesting that you bring that up.
Not only is it commonplacefor there to be only men on
the ticket, it is clear that even some,
I assume you're talking abouta Democratic ticket.
That even some of the Democratic partywould be uncomfortable with a ticket of
all women. We have a saying, I'man engineer. We have an old saying.
(09:48):
Every system is designedto get the results it gets.
If the system's givingyou a certain result,
that's because that's the way it wasdesigned. Those are those results
it was designed to give you. Well,this is a primary example of that.
This is exactly an outcome,
that's a part of a system of whichall of us are included that we
produce even when we'renot thinking about it.
(10:10):
Those kinds of things have to bedisrupted. They have to be changed.
It's people like you that change'em. So this is fantastic.
I did not think we were gonna go in thisdirection. These questions are,
these questionsare not on my card, so.
Catherine Read (10:23):
Well, that's okay. Because I under, I understand that you kind of a are freethinking
freewheeling, and I love that aboutyou. It's kind of like
go where the conversationtakes you.
And you're right about disruptingsystems. And it's kind of like,
how was I the first woman mayor in 2022?
Because it was the first time municipalelections were held in November instead
of May. Historically. And this ispart of the Virginia Constitution,
(10:46):
and it's part of the Byrd Machine.
Gregory Washington (10:47):
Preach. Teach on this one. Go ahead.
Catherine Read (10:48):
Right. So every other year in May,
20% of registered votersvoted, 20% of 100
percent chose the mayor and city council since 1961.
And I call that voter suppression.That's when I call it,
when you have a system, to yourpoint about what the system produces,
when you have a system that consistentlyproduces 20% or less over 60
(11:12):
years, then the system is working theway it was designed to work.
So we had 15 women who were electedto city council over that period of
60 years. And there were many,
many years where it was an allmale city council and a male mayor.
And that's what May elections produced.
It produced a consistent constituencywho decided that that is what they wanted
(11:34):
their government to look like. Soin 2022, when we moved to November,
59% of registered voters came out to vote,
which meant two-thirds of those votershad never voted for mayor and city council
before.
Gregory Washington (11:46):
And you got a different outcome.
Catherine Read (11:47):
Different electorate, different outcome.
Gregory Washington (11:49):
Exactly. A different system.
Catherine Read (11:52):
Different system.
Gregory Washington
You know, I didn't really. I do now,
because it matters to youngwomen who want representation.
Like you can't be what you can't see.
I have a Girl Scout troop that's comingto City Hall. This is interesting too,
(12:13):
because Deepak Madala, who I workedwith at Virginia Poverty Law Center,
and he just reached out to me and said,
my daughter's Girl Scout troop would liketo come to city council and meet with
you and take a tour of the city hall. AndI said, well, that would be wonderful.
And then it's occurred to me, I'venever seen Girl Scouts in City Hall.
Boy Scouts come to dothe Pledge of Allegiance.
We got lots of Boy Scout troops thatcome to the meetings and they have for
(12:34):
years. But to my memory, I've neverseen a Girl Scout troop in City Hall.
So I'm like, yes, absolutely.Bring them. And I said,
and I will ask the womenon staff to come down.
It's gonna be late in the afternoon tocome down so that these girls can see
the different kinds of people,
the different women who have jobs ingovernment besides the mayor.
(12:55):
We have a deputy city manager, the cityregistrar, uh, Asian American woman.
We have so many women. Andthese girls need to see.
Gregory Washington (13:03):
That's exactly right. That's how you change the vision of the future.
This is Women's History Month.Who are the women you look up to?
Catherine Read (13:11):
Greta Thunberg.
Gregory Washington (13:12):
That's interesting.
Catherine Read (13:13):
It is because I tell you,
young people at a certain point intheir lives don't understand that
things aren't possible.
Kids come into this world curiousand they learn all the time.
And they ask questions and they havebold ideas.
But a lot of times our educationalsystem doesn't always reward that.
(13:33):
And so as time goes on,
you start to realize that what getsrewarded is hitting benchmarks and
achievements and checking offboxes. That is what is rewarded.
And all your big bold ideassomehow are not something you start
to believe in. But Greta Thunbergdoes. Greta Thunberg is like,
I can change the world.
(13:53):
There are young women out therethat I think will go forward
boldly without considering the factthat they could fail or consider
the fact that it could bewasted effort, because it,
that's not what is driving them.
What is driving her and what is drivinga lot of young women is the fact that
they see a problem that needs tobe solved, like climate change.
(14:14):
They feel an urgency thatit needs to be solved now.
And they don't doubt their abilityto move the needle forward.
And a lot of times you take criticism,I look at Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez,
or even Nancy Pelosi, right? Two different generations.
And those two women are not onreally on the same page.
But each of them has taken theirfair share of criticism over
(14:37):
what they have committed themselves todo in moving the needle forward in a way
that they think serves the greater good.
Gregory Washington (14:45):
That's exactly right. And when time came to support one another, they did.
Do you get what I'm saying?
Catherine Read (14:51):
Yes, I do. And I think, and you know, and I heard Liz Cheney speak at the, uh,
Richmond Forum like, uh,
last month and listeningto Liz Cheney speak too,
she was on the Rachel Maddow Show.
That's another example of how two womenwho will tell you they don't agree on
most things.
And yet Liz Cheney was on Rachel Maddow'sshow because what they do agree on is
(15:12):
our country and our democracycomes first above partisanship,
above politics. Because ifwe can't maintain democracy,
if we can't preserve ourcountry's rule of law,
then all of these other thingsmake zero difference.
Gregory Washington (15:27):
Yeah, I really like Liz Cheney.
I saw her maybe about ayear ago when she came,
right before she was ousted.She came to DC to give a speech.
And I happened to be able to meether then. She's phenomenal.
Catherine Read (15:41):
She is. And again,
this is a woman who took a standand got kicked out of her own party.
But you have to admirewomen like that, right?
Gregory Washington (15:49):
She got kicked out of Congress.
Catherine Read (15:51):
True. She got kicked outta Congress.
Gregory Washington (15:54):
She got kicked outta Congress. I don't think she got kicked outta her party.
Catherine Read (15:57):
Well.
It'll be interesting to see what she does.
I don't know what apath forward is for her,
but she hasn't given up and she's usingher influence in her platform to speak
her truth.
Gregory Washington (16:07):
That's right. I love principled people who stand on right.
And fight for what they believe in.
Catherine Read (16:13):
Me too. Yeah.
Gregory Washington (16:14):
So you've been in this job now, how long?
Catherine Read (16:17):
15 Months. And I'm already running for reelection.
Gregory Washington (16:19):
Okay, well look, that's the nature of the beast, right?
Catherine Rad (16:22):
Every other year. Yes. That's right.
Gregory Washington (16:23):
So 15 months is the job what you thought it would be?
Catherine Read (16:27):
Some of it, but no. First of all, people are like, well, it's a part-time job.
I'm like, no, it's365 days a year, 24-7.
And a lot of that is because ofemail, social media and smartphones.
Sometimes I think aboutformer mayor John Mason,
who was the longest serving mayor from1990 to 2002. He recently passed away.
(16:48):
And I'm thinking John Mason probablygot up when he was mayor on a Sunday and
read The Washington Post.
I get up every single morning and lookat my work email.
I look at my smartphone and I see whattext messages and what emails have come
in. And ...
Gregory Washington (17:01):
From the night before.
Catherine Read (17:02):
From the night before and overnight.
Gregory Washington (17:04):
While you were sleeping.
Catherine Read (17:04):
Well, yeah. And I sit on regional committees too,
so I really didn'tunderstand that part of it.
I sit on the MetropolitanWashington Council of Governments,
which meets once a month. The national,
I mean the Northern VirginiaTransportation Commission,
the Northern VirginiaTransportation Authority,
and the Northern VirginiaRegional Commission.
That is four monthlymeetings a month, right?
(17:25):
But it's important because we area region
and I'm committed to doing that work.But again, there is so much to this,
it's not a part-time job. A podcastI really like a lot is Pod Virginia,
Michael Pope and Lauren Burke doa twice a week podcast. And they,
it is all Virginia politics.
But one of the things on Tuesday's episodethat they were talking about is what
(17:46):
the House of Delegates gets paid.
Gregory Washington (17:48):
Oh, that's ridiculous.
Catherine Read (17:49):
It, well, $18,000 A year. Yeah. But they're a part-time legislature. Only it's
really not part-time.Gregory Washington: Yeah. But it's not true.
It's not. And so they were talking about the fact that, again,
we were talking about is it thecandidate or is it the voters?
But in this particular case,
is it the fact that these people don'tdeserve to be paid a living wage or a
fair wage?
Or is it the fact that people just believethat this is some sort of volunteer
(18:11):
job and we're just honored todo it, but it's an equity issue.
I can do this job. I don't do, people arelike, do you have a day job? I'm like,
well, I used to do many thingsthat I don't do anymore.
I do the mayor job every day, everyweek. I'm on all the time.
And I said, so this is not a part-timejob, but it pays $13,000 a year.
(18:32):
So if I had to pay my mortgage withwhat I make as mayor, it wouldn't work.
Gregory Washington (18:36):
That's exactly right.
And that's why you have peopleof substantial means being the
ones that run for office, becausethey are the ones who can afford to.
Catherine Read (18:45):
And it's not representative government. So we need to care about that.
Gregory Washington (18:48):
We are
getting deep.
Catherine Read (18:49):
Well, we have to. You know, I got a great education. You know what?
I got a great education at George Mason University.
Gregory Washington (18:54):
You know what? I was about to say The same thing. Boy,
those George Mason professorshave indoctrinated you well.
Catherine Read (19:01):
They taught me to question everything and to look deeply into government.
But I do think.
Gregory Washington (19:05):
This is amazing. I gotta pitch myself a little bit.
So let me back up and see if Icould get us back on track here.
I was asking you about role models ishow we got on this one.
Let me ask you one more question in,in, in this segment and then move on.
If you could sit down with anywoman in history, any woman,
who would it be and whatwould you wanna know from her?
Catherine Read (19:25):
It would be Eleanor Roosevelt. It would be Eleanor Roosevelt. You know,
the more I learn about history,the more I admire that woman.
And just when you think youknow everything about somebody,
you find out something else.
Gregory Washington (19:38):
Nice.
Catherine Read (19:39):
Like the Golden 13,
I asked a American Legion full of veteransif they knew who the Golden 13 had
ever heard of the Golden13. And no one had.
It is the first 13 Black navalofficers that were trained during
World War II in 1943. And theywere called the Golden 13.
And they didn't even knowwhy they were selected.
(19:59):
They went through a three monthtraining program in 10 weeks.
They did so well that they were accusedof cheating and had to take some of
those tests over again, which they passed.
But this was because of Eleanor Roosevelt.
Eleanor Roosevelt is the one who pushedfor training Black naval officers.
The USS Mason, which is overthere fighting off Somali pirates.
When I heard somethingabout the USS Mason,
(20:21):
I remembered from the book the Golden 13,
that that ship was built in commissionedduring World War II because it was
going to have an all Black crew.
And they called the USS MasonEleanor's Folly. This is why,
no matter how much we thinkwe know about history,
there is so much more to know.
And I would love to know what Eleanorknew and all the things that she was
(20:45):
behind that no one knows.
Gregory Washington (20:47):
can I
This is fantastic. Okay, look,
let's back up a little bit and talkabout your time as a student at Mason.
You said earlier from Southwest Virginiacame to Mason from Emerson College
where you were a theater major.So how do you make that flip?
(21:10):
How do you go from being a theatermajor in Boston to a government
and politics major atMason? That's a flip.
Catherine Read (21:18):
It is. It is. But like I said, I'd always had a deep interest in both.
And when I realized theaterwas probably not a good career choice.
And I have to tell you, I'd never beenoff the farm when I went to Emerson.
I went to Emerson Collegein 1980 on a Greyhound bus
with a steamer trunk andelectric typewriter and $20 in cash and a work study job
(21:39):
and a Pell Grant and a lot of scholarship. I had the International Thespian Society
Scholarship,
the Elizabeth Taylor Warner Scholarshipfor the Dramatic Arts had all this one
time money and a grant from theschool. But I'd never been to Boston.
I'd never seen the school. So I geton this Greyhound bus leaving Roanoke.
15 hours changedbuses at Port Authority in New York.
I loved every single second ofmy time in Boston. Loved it.
Gregory Washington (22:02):
Boston is a great university town.
Catherine Read (22:06):
It is. Oh, it is so many schools. We used go.
Gregory Washington (22:08):
Don't, don't let, don't let anybody fool you.
Catherine Read (22:10):
It was fantastic. $1 movies, fantastic.
University at MIT had$1 movies and we prayed
they didn't check student IDs.
So we would go over there andwatch first run movies at MIT.
But I realized that thekids who were there,
it was a small school because ithad about 1500 undergraduates.
And George Mason was the same size.
Gregory Washington (22:26):
We're not the same size now.
Catherine Read (22:27):
Not anymore, right?. And so in 1980,
Mason literally had the numberone debate team in the nation.
Their forensics team justknocked everyone out.
And I had never heard of George Mason,
even though I lived in Virginia my entirelife. I'd never heard of this school.
And so when I decided I couldn't affordto stay at Emerson and that theater was
not a good career choice by whichto have an independent life,
(22:49):
I started looking at George Mason strictlybecause of my interaction with the
Mason forensics team. Andso I ended up applying.
Gregory Washington (22:57):
Did Did you tell them that? That is something that they should know,
by the way. Catherine Read (23:00):
Yes, absolutely. Gregory Washington
Catherine Read (23:02):
Yeah. I mean, I was on the forensics team in high school,
but the funny thing is, once Igot here, I had a work study job.
I had a series of work study jobs hereon campus and I ended up not joining the
forensics team. Like Ididn't do forensics at Mason,
even though that's what brought me here.
But I did get a great educationworking my on campus jobs.
And I will tell you this,
I learned as much working jobs atMason as I did in the classroom.
Gregory Washington (23:27):
Really?
Catherine Read (23:29):
Absolutely, I mean, you interact with staff and faculty in a different way.
I was doing data entry for the chairof the American Studies Department,
and we are still friendsall this time later
Hans Bergman and I are still friends,still talk to each other over LinkedIn.
And I worked in the copy center atThompson Hall binding reports and hot
gluing things. And that wasone of my work study jobs.
I was a a desk receptionist at the dorm.That was one of my work study jobs.
(23:53):
And you know, I workedmy way through school.
And I will tell you Mason at thattime was attractive for a lot of
reasons. But I could afford to go here.
I could afford to work my waythrough school. I had student loans,
but it didn't take me 20 yearsto pay off my student loans.
It took me probably five yearsto pay off my student loans.
And I think the cost of publiceducation is so prohibitive now.
(24:16):
Young people are discouraged from evenconsidering a four year college degree
because they don't want tostart out life with a degree and
$20,000,
$40,000 in student loans and no guaranteethat that degree is gonna get them a
job to even pay off their loans. You know,
young people really havevery tough choices to make.
But Mason is still a schooland it's got many accolades.
(24:40):
It's a research school,it's world renowned,
but it's still a school wheremore students can afford to go
and get a world class education, notfor world class tuition. That is the legacy.
Gregory Washington (24:52):
That's my tagline right there. I'm gonna take it.
I'm going, I am goingto use it. That is fantastic.
That's exactly what we are and who weare. And not only that, we find you,
no matter where you are, we'rethat place of opportunity.
We are that place of access.
We are that place where ifyou want to become a success,
(25:13):
we'll provide a pathway for you. Wewill work with you to figure it out.
And that is probably the mostattractive thing about this place.
So at some point in time, somethinghad to flip in your mind to say,
I wanna do politics, right?
Catherine Read (25:28):
Well, okay, I'll tell you what that was.
I reinvent myself every sevenyears. Okay. So I had a career.
Gregory Washington (25:32):
Is this on purpose or it just happens every seven years? It's like it happens.
It like an thing?
Catherine Read (25:37):
It's an itch thing. So my first job out of George Mason was actually,
I got a job as a software tester on aNavy payroll personnel project for the
Navy through a government contractor.
And it's 'cause I had computer experience.
Computers were very newin the early eighties.
And so if you had computerexperience, you could get a job.
It wasn't in my major, but it, itwas a job that paid decent money.
(25:58):
I worked in the data processing industryand then I decided to take a job in
human resources.
So I was in human resource for seven anda half years for Long and Foster local
real estate company.
And then I was a small businessowner with my second husband.
We opened a fax companyback. Remember fax machines?
There's some kids who couldn't eventell you what one does, but yeah,
(26:20):
it was back with.
Gregory Washington (26:20):
No you, you still see them around on desk desk and many offices around here.
When they come on, people are like,well, well what is that?
Catherine Read (26:27):
But it, but back when, when fax was new
and law firms andhospitals relied on fax machines.
That was a going business. So FaxWorld was a business I co-owned.
I did the bookkeeping,I ran the service techs,
I did all the things in a smallbusiness.
And then I ran a program called HomeService Connections for Long and Foster.
(26:47):
And that was in the early two thousands.
And then I had a businessmentor who suggested to me in
2007 that these 18,000 realestate agents didn't know how to
market themselves online.So think about 2005, 2006,
there was no social media. It wascalled online marketing.
Social mediawasn't even a term.
(27:08):
And so you've got 18,000 independentcontractors who still use business cards
and telephone to market themselves.And so he suggested to me, he goes,
you should start your ownbusiness teaching professional people how to use these
online tools. And so I did, in 2007,
I started Creative Read and I startedteaching people how to use Facebook and
Twitter. Which, you know, people arelike, and this is political people too.
(27:31):
This is one of the, how,
one of the doorways I walked intopolitics and I know so many people in
politics. I got Mark Keam onTwitter. He's like, Katherine.
Gregory Washington (27:39):
Mark Keam?
Catherine Read (27:39):
Mark Keem. He, I got him on Twitter. He's like, Catherine, it's so stupid.
I'm like, Mark, you have to be wherethe people are having a conversation.
They're trying to talk to you andthey're definitely talking about you.
And so got Mark Keam on Twitterback when he first ran in 2009.
So I started teaching people how to usesocial media, how to use online tools.
(28:00):
I was doing that as my ownbusiness starting in 2007.
But then that led me to nonprofits.Then all of a sudden, word of mouth,
the Virginia Autism project,
how can we use social media toget autism insurance reform?
Then I got Virginians forAlternatives to the Death Penalty.
How can we social media to abolishthe death penalty in Virginia?
Gregory Washington (28:19):
Okay. I see what's happening.
Catherine Read (28:20):
So this is how I pivoted to that. So this every seven years thing is just,
this is just where life led me, Iguess. I see opportunity and I'm like,
there's an opportunitythere. And I take it.
Gregory Washington (28:31):
Ain't nothing wrong with that. So one of your goals,
one of your major goals since takingoffice has been to expand the partnership
between Fairfax andGeorgia Mason University.
And one thing you've done to do that,
to personify that, is hosting thefirst ever Fairfax Pride event,
(28:51):
which was a collaboration,
which is a collaboration betweenyour office and Mason's LGBTQ+
Resource Center.
And so can you talk a little bit aboutwhat was your vision for that event?
How it got started?
Catherine Read (29:03):
So Josh Kinchen invited me to the Mason Pride event, which I came to last April.
And I'm coming to on Marchthe 30th this year is,
is the pride event here. Andthey were very generous. I mean,
they introduced me not only as the firstwoman mayor of Fairfax City and the
fact that I was a Mason alumni.Lots of applause, lots of applause.
But the night of my election,we had our thank you party.
(29:25):
I didn't call it a victory party 'causeI didn't know if I was gonna win, Right?
But we had it at what was then the Earp'sOrdinary Popup on the plaza in Fairfax
City. It's now McKenzie's Tonicsand Toons. And I said to Josh,
I'd like to have all of my volunteers andmy campaign workers come for an event.
And he goes, well, whattime would that be
because we have a drag show that'sgonna be Tuesday night.
(29:48):
And he goes, it starts aboutnine. And I said, well,
I'd still like to have my event.
Is there any way that we can just stayfor the drag show? And he goes, well,
there's a cover charge. And I said, well,can I cover the cover charge? He goes,
well, lemme talk to Alan.So long story short,
not only am I the first woman mayor,first Mason alumni, first mayor
who's never served on city council.
(30:09):
I'm the first mayor who had a dragshow at my election night party, okay?
So I think that pretty muchsays it all. So all this is.
Gregory Washington (30:15):
You trail blazin'.
So this was relayed at the Prideevent last year at Mason.
And so recognizing, andagain, I was on the,
the Board of Equality Virginiafor seven years too.
Recognizing we have tocelebrate, recognize, celebrate, uplift,
support, protect every singleperson in our community.
And that means the LGBTQ community too.
(30:37):
Without question, without question.
So you clearly know howto build partnerships.
You've been doing it your wholecareer, you've done it with us.
What are some ways in which studentscan get involved with the city can help
the city can engage the city?
Catherine Read (30:52):
Your, your students are already there. A lot of them are already there.
The women's basketball team and themen's baseball team are volunteers at our
Providence Elementary School.
And I think we have athletes who volunteerat Daniels Run elementary school.
There's a lot of students, Masonstudents who live in the city.
They live in the city and notjust at the Flats at University.
They rent houses that are in ourneighborhoods. And so they're very much a,
(31:14):
a part of the fabric of the city. Butwe have park cleanups that they come to.
We have all kinds of eventsdowntown, like the Fall Festival.
And I just wanna mention this too,
about partnerships Fall for the Book isa super important partnership that we
have with George Mason University.Ollie,
the OSHA Lifelong LearningInstitute, which is in the city.
(31:34):
Very much a partnership and,um, Spotlight on the Arts, uh,
a partnership between thecity and the university.
These are longstanding partnershipsthat bring our residents together with
students, faculty,
and bring visitors in fromoutside of the city to take
advantage of these things that we producetogether as a collaboration. But, uh,
as far as students, we have reachedout to the climate center, which is,
(31:59):
we are very excited that the VirginiaClimate Center is located here. You know,
we have environmental issues inthe city. Kate Doyle Feingold,
who sits on our city council,her dissertation advisor,
Kate contacted her and she's workingwith our police department to help us to
analyze data, publicsafety data. Um,
I've just reached out to Dean Perryof your College of Public Health.
Gregory Washington (32:21):
She's fantastic.
Catherine Read (32:22):
Well, I, because we have a homelessness task force.
Gregory Washington (32:24):
She is fantastic.
Catherine Read (32:26):
And one of the things we have not included is part of our homelessness task force is public
health issues and how weaddress public health issues as
part of what we're trying to do forpeople who are unhoused in the city.
So I just reached out to Dean Perryto see, you know, how can we work?
So there are so many opportunitiesfor students to get involved.
Using our city is basically away to get clinical experience.
(32:50):
Again, I'll bring up Mason'sCommunity Mental Health Center,
which is also in the citybehavioral health Center.
You've got students getting theirclinical hours right here in our city
providing mental health services to ourresidents. And the school of business.
I can't even, how could I forget?The Costello Business School is,
we've got one of your faculty membersthat sits on the Economic Development
Authority for the city ofFairfax, Patrick Soleymani.
(33:12):
And we are glad to have him.
Gregory Washington (33:14):
He's a good guy.
Catherine Read (33:15):
We've got students who are working on a,
a retail assessment for a parcelof land that's being redeveloped in
the city.
And we've got students who are workingon what that could look like through the
business school.
We welcome partnerships like that wherestudents get real experience and we
benefit from the facultymembers in the programs and the
(33:36):
disciplines here at the university.
Gregory Washington (33:38):
So for 10 years before you became mayor,
your focus was on legislativeadvocacy work. If you,
you just highlighted mostly withnonprofits and you had some big victories,
right?
The Virginia Autism projectlobby for autism insurance
reform that when it passed in 2011,
required insurance companies to providemedically necessary behavioral therapy.
(34:02):
They, they were not doing it before then.
You also helped the Virginia Alliancefor Breastfeeding law successfully
push for a new 2015 lawthat allows mothers to
breastfeed their children anywhere
the mother is lawfully present.
So talk to us a little bit aboutfocusing your efforts on Fairfax
(34:25):
relative to focusing your effortson the larger picture items.
Catherine Read (34:29):
Yeah, well, you know, there's a lot of crossover.
I think one of the things we're waitingfor right now is when you talk about
advocacy and how state issuescan impact local issues,
we have to renovate our schoolssoon. It's been 20 years.
And so we're gonna have a bondreferendum on our ballot in November.
But there's a 1% sales taxthat both chambers passed that
(34:51):
would allow locality,
every locality to have a 1% sales taxspecifically for education.
But will the governor sign it?
Gregory Washington (34:59):
Is it, is it K 12?
Catherine Read (35:00):
It's K-12. I know I would, I wish it was for you too.
I wish it was for you two, but it's a 1%sales for K through 12, and
but we don't know if thegovernor's gonna sign it.
But those are the kinds ofthings where it matters.
And we advocate as a localgovernment. As a municipal government.
And a lot of that advocacy is donethrough the Virginia Municipal League too.
Because getting that ability to have a1% tax in addition to a bond referendum,
(35:23):
to fund this major school innovationreally makes a difference for us.
And again, we're a Dillon Rule state,and people don't understand that too.
There's a lot of things we can't do as alocality without asking permission from
the General Assembly. Wecan't change our charter.
Almost everything we do is a locality.
It has to be approved by the GeneralAssembly and then signed off on by the
governor because we're a Dillon Rule state,and not every state operates that way.
(35:46):
A lot of states havehome rule, and we don't.
Gregory Washington (35:49):
I'm gonna have to look up this Dillon Rule.
Catherine Read (35:50):
Well, I tell you, I got a good education, Mason. Did I mention that?
Gregory Washington (35:53):
You got a great education.
Catherine Read (35:54):
I learned all the things.
Gregory Washington (35:55):
And we are seeing the evidence right now. Among the many roles that
you've had. You've hostedthis Fairfax Public Access,
these shows, Inside Scoop, Your NeedTo Know and Making Change Radio.
What's the genesis for these shows?
Catherine Read (36:11):
So I fell into it as somebody else had been hosting inside Scoop,
and she had family issues. Her sisterand mother were ill in upstate New York.
And so I started filling in for her.
And I didn't have anybroadcast experience. I might've been a theater major,
but no broadcast journalismexperience whatsoever.
And this is live television. This wasa one hour live television show. Yeah,
I'm in the host seat and I'm justlearning as I go. I will tell you this,
(36:34):
I am good at learning as I go. LikeI learn on the job and it's fine.
So I started being in the host seat.
And what I found is that peoplewere trying to do important things,
policy-wise, like decoding dyslexia,
parents who were trying to get resourcesfor their dyslexic children in the
public school system. I mean,at that time, back in 2015,
(36:54):
Fairfax County didn't even have a readingspecialist in an administrative role
to test kids for dyslexia.
A lot of parents felt like they weresetting kids up to fail before they got
help.
So having a show where you could getthese parents on air to talk about
what the challenges were,what they were asking for,
it presented it in a different way.
And not only were the shows broadcast ontelevision, but they go out on YouTube.
Gregory Washington (37:18):
mm-hmm.
Which means that all of these groupscould send it out by email. Right.
Catherine Read (37:22):
They could embed it on their website and it would present what they were trying
to do in a different way. So for me,
the shows were just an extensionof this nonprofit advocacy work.
How do we help people understand theproblems you're trying to solve with your
nonprofit? And doing it in ainterview format was just helpful.
It's better than tryingto read an assessment.
(37:43):
It's like somebody hand you a brochureor a one pager about what they're doing.
It's not the same thing as talking tosomebody who has some basis of knowledge
and who's really interestedin what you're doing.
So people would say to me, I've neverbeen on television before. I'm so nervous.
I'm like, all you have to do is lookat me. We are having a conversation.
And the reason these shows work isbecause I am interested and you are
(38:04):
passionate.
Gregory Washington (38:05):
You talked a little bit about the new voter turnout, Right,
and how that new voter turnoutchanged the election in your case.
I surmise for years of just 20% ofthe population showing up for these
elections,
there were probably some things thatwere undone or some opportunities missed.
Really core kinds of thingsthat we were not able to do
(38:30):
as a community.
Have you thought about what happensto a community when constituents
really don't take partin elections
because we had that overa period of time.
Catherine Read (38:40):
Well, this is sort of my assessment of the 20%,
the 20% who tend to turn outwere a demographic, older,
educated white property owners.
Gregory Washington (38:51):
Okay. And I know what the outcome of that was.
Catherine Read (38:54):
Right. And so you have a government that reflects the electorate,
but you also have a government thenwho recognizes that the constituency
to whom you feel you are answerableare the 20% who come out reliably
every other May. So whenpeople look at Fairfax City,
and we are a bit on the conservativeside to be in such a progressive
(39:18):
region, and our citizenstend to be progressive.
I have a member on my city council rightnow, Jeff Greenfield, and I forget,
but he served for 22 years.He took four years off,
but he's been on there for22 years on the city council.
And so there was basicallya lot of consistency.
There was not a lot ofturnover. Generally,
you stayed in your seat and got reelectedevery time until you decided to step
(39:40):
down or retire.
And that might have led to some stabilityin the government, which is good.
But it also led to sort of thismindset about what the community
valued. And so I was in a meetingwith Fairfax County not too long ago,
and somebody said, I'm a 2012graduate of George Mason University,
and I lived on the campus. And he said,
(40:02):
and I didn't feel like the cityreally welcomed us being there.
And I said, well, that isnot your imagination. I said,
one of my good friends pointedout that until recently,
there were not streetlights onthe sidewalk from the downtown
to the campus, right?
So subtle things thatmake you feel not welcome.
Gregory Washington (40:25):
You know,
every system is perfectly designedto get the results it gets.
And so you don't want those folk inyour establishments and in the downtown
you develop systems to keep those kindof things from happening. You,
you develop covenants so that you canonly have a certain number of people in
(40:46):
an apartment, right?
That would discourage students fromgetting apartments together, right?
You have all of these kinds of things.
Catherine Read (40:54):
I like your systems thinking. If you think about the,
the fact the university is like 52years old and the city gave land
to the state for the university,but it was a commuter school.
So people were like, we should have auniversity. A university is a good idea.
Yeah. A university that would be agood idea. But then suddenly it's like,
but we don't wanna be a college town. Wedon't wanna be Charlottesville.
(41:16):
Like, that'snot what we had in mind.
So you go do your university overhere, but we want Mayberry over here.
And Mayberry did nothave college students in it.
We're at an inflection point. I'm adifferent kind of mayor, you know,
I have a different vision. I do.
And I think that the relationships betweenthe university and the city benefit
(41:37):
both.
And it's not like we don't have a sayin how that looks or how it feels.
We can build parameters.
I don't necessarily want a hundredtipsy college students in the middle
of downtown on a Tuesday night.But, but honestly,
we don't have that. And I don't evensee that that will ever be a thing.
When the Flats at Universitywas proposed, people just,
(41:58):
it's gonna be like a frat house.
People really believed it was just gonnabe noise and kids and cars and you know
something, none of that has happened.
Gregory Washington (42:07):
Right.
Catherine Read (42:08):
They brought energy feet on the street.
It is great to be in thedowntown with people.
Gregory Washington (42:13):
nd it's helping business.
Catherine Read (42:14):
A hundred percent.
Gregory Washington (42:15):
And businesses are now coming back and that helps the tax base.
Which helps the resource base, whichprovides more amenities, right?
It's a virtuous cycle.
Catherine Read (42:25):
It Is. It is.
And I love it.
Gregory Washington (42:27):
You hit the nail right on the head and we're seeing some pushback from some
members about cricket.
And I believe it's the same thing aboutour cricket baseball stadium, right?
No one pushes back againstthe baseball side of that,
but the cricket side of that, whatdoes cricket, what does it mean?
It's gonna bring a whole newcommunity of people to this area
(42:50):
and the ultimate beneficiarywill be the city of Fairfax.
Catherine Read (42:54):
I agree. You know, and I think people don't understand cricket.
And even though people are like, no,that's not it. That's not it. I'm like,
but it is it, it's kind of like ifit, there's nothing in it for you.
You can see yourself going toa baseball game at Mason.
But it's like cricket, what is it? Whoplays it? I don't know anything about it.
So why would I go there?And so when there was a
Gregory Washington (43:14):
Until you actually wind up going and saying, huh, this is
interesting, right. It's actually prettycool.
Catherine Read (43:21):
And it's family friendly And I think that's the other thing that the owner of the Washington Freedom,
he did a good job on the town hall meetingexplaining the fact that it's a
family friendly game.
They've modified it so it doesn't takethree days to play a match anymore.
Yeah. It's not, it's early in theevening, the afternoon. So it,
it doesn't go till 11 or 12 o'clock atnight like a Nationals baseball game.
Gregory Washington (43:42):
Exactly.
Catherine Read (43:43):
Again,
people just don't like change and theydon't like things that are unfamiliar.
But to me,
the cricket stadium is a reflection ofthe diversity of this university in this
region. I know so many people who playcricket and when you travel the world,
you run into people. Whenwe were Warsaw, Poland,
which is where our grandchildrenare.
There was an Uber driver who's marriedto a Polish national, he's from India,
(44:04):
and he was showing us pictures on hisphone of the cricket pitches in Warsaw,
Poland.
This is a beloved international sportand we have an opportunity and I think
it's an amazing opportunity here.
Gregory Washington (44:16):
Well, you know what, I really appreciate it.
'cause hearing this is energizing interms of what we've been dealing with
today with Cricket. So it's reallyinteresting. This is fantastic.
You have
really appreciate you for it. And sowe're gonna have to leave it there.
(44:36):
Mayor Catherine Read,
thank you for your time and mostimportantly for your leadership.
I will tell you right now todaythat you, George Mason degree,
has never been worth morethan it is today.
Catherine Read (44:52):
Amen, to that
Gregory Washington (44:55):
I am Mason President Gregory Washington saying, until next time,
stay safe, Mason Nation.
Narrator (45:04):
If you like what you heard on this podcast,
go to podcast.gmu.edu formore of Gregory Washington's
conversations with thethought leaders, experts,
and educators who take onthe grand challenges facing our students, graduates and
higher education. That's podcast.gmu.edu.
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