About Me
Hi, I'm Stephen Rast and I'm running for Board of Supervisors of Henrico County in the Brookland district. I am a first time candidate so please bear with me as I finalize a more formal website. Below is a brief biography and a few issues I deeply care about here in Henrico County.
I'm a civil engineer with a specialization in land development, stormwater management, and roadway construction. I graduated from Virginia Tech in 2017 with a bachelors in Civil and Environmental Engineering, and have worked for both private and public entities. Currently I work at Henrico County Public Works in the Construction division.
I am a native Virginian; this is where I grew up, attended school, and worked. As such, I am heavily invested in the development of my community and state. I moved to Henrico in 2018 with my wife Natasha Rast and bought a home here soon after. My hobbies include cooking, watching Formula 1, and trying out local beers.
My primary reason for running for Board of Supervisors is the lack of sidewalks in Henrico County. On my way home from work I often see neighborhood kids walking along a ditch on the side of the road, because there is simply nowhere else to walk. This makes getting to and from school dangerous for students. I live within a quarter mile of two Henrico County Parks that are impossible to safely access without a car. This lack of pedestrian access also prevents kids from going outside in their free time. Providing walkable infrastructure to the county would promote safety and accessibility to both children and Henrico County citizens as a whole.
My secondary reason for running is to preserve and to improve our water supply infrastructure and to prevent environmental and health disasters. These have become wide scale problems across our country, with multiple recently in the news. Lead pipes poison tap-water and have lifelong negative effects for the people exposed. System failures can leave a whole community without clean water for weeks. It is our responsibility to ensure our children can grow up without the fear of being poisoned by their own community, and our responsibility to ensure all community members have equal access to clean and reliable water.
Thank you for taking the time to read through my website, please check back soon for updates and expansions.