Greensboro Primary '07: Joseph Rahenkamp Sr.

The following is City Council At-Large candidate Joseph Rahenkamp Sr.'s complete response to our survey. Click here for the list of questions.

Joseph Rahenkamp Sr.
• Date of birth: Aug. 13, 1935
• Professional background: retired, Greensboro Fire Department
• Previous political experience: None
• Highest level of education: high school graduate, People’s Bible College, High Point


1. I don’t know what to tell you. I’m not up on that. I wouldn’t even try to blow smoke at you. (22)
2. What I think they ought to do on this bus service is privatize it. The more you can get out from under the city of Greensboro and the taxpayers, the better. I think the roads are in good shape. Some places they got bicycle lanes in roads that aren’t wide enough. I think they’re doing a real good job. (60)
3. As far advanced [as Greensboro] is, I think we need to educate people here, so they can be on the administrative end of it instead of the manufacturing side of it. That’s why you have schools. Name of the game is, keep the ball rolling. (46)
4. I sure do. Just like the Wachovia building. I think that’s very wise…. Whether it’s residential or commercial, don’t charge them for a building permit. I would support all incentives requests — no building permits. (35)
5. Do not stay on top of them. Give them a chance to breathe. Just like downtown, [the] worse thing in the world is to charge people to park. (29)
6. No sir. You can take and put the minimum wage at a hundred dollars an hour. If you don’t want to work, you’re not going. You can pay someone 25 cents an hour, and if they want to work, they will. If you’re in business and you cannot make money off an employee you won’t work ’em. Some people working minimum wage are worth twice that. Some people aren’t worth half that. (73)
7. Let it flow all over the county. I am not for forcing someone to building in a particular area. That does away with your freedom of choice. (28)
8. I won’t see it. Eventually it’s all going to come together. High point doesn’t want any part of it. They want to be their own city. (27)
9. I knew David Wray. I think he was shafted. He was trying to straighten things out. We’ve got big problems in this city. A lot of gangs. I think the city manager messed it up. He should have called Wray into his office, and said, “I want to ease you out.” This is going to end up costing the city a bunch of money in lawsuits. (66)
10. I think it needs to be looked at in all angles…. There need to be cameras on those [police] cars when they pull a person over for speeding. See what a police officer is doing. See what the person is doing who is under arrest. It needs to be videoed while it’s in progress. The whole nine yards. That can protect the police officer, the city and the citizens. (69)