The following is a transcript of District 1 candidate Charles Dayton Coffey’s answers at a Guilford County Unity Effort forum on Sept. 8:
Introductory statement
Hello. My name is Charles Coffey. I’m a candidate for District 1. This election presents you with a choice about who can bring the most to District 1. District 1 desperately needs the creation of jobs through business development and enhancement of our existing businesses. As president of the Lee Street Merchants Association, my ultimate strength is working in our community. I’ve learned a lot about what it will take to get District 1 moving in the right direction. Not only am I willing, but you know that I’m also capable of achieving this for District 1.
Economic growth and development has not occurred in east Greensboro to the same extent as in other areas of the city. If elected, what would you do to ensure that there is balanced economic growth and development across the various quadrants of the city?
I’m a business owner myself, of Coffey of GSO LLC. It’s a rental property business. And what I’m finding is a lot of small businesses are struggling right now. And we should be encouraged to help small businesses because if you look at the job creation and the amount of jobs increased it’s largely due to the creation and the existence of small businesses. There are several things that we should look at as far as trying to keep taxes down and to help promote businesses and try to encourage them. Also, the city of Greensboro has a loan pool that has a very low-interest loan rate so that people that wish to start their own business can get a very affordable loan to be able to help them create this business. Or enhance the loan they have.
Because of drug activity and crime in their neighborhoods many of the city’s elderly in east Greensboro fear for their safety and do not come out in the evening or move around their neighborhoods during the day as freely as they would like to. What would you do to increase the elderly’s sense of public safety?
Well, one of the reasons I formed the Lee Street Merchants Association was because I saw Lee Street — the West Lee Street area — deteriorating, and it was getting worse and worse. Crime was rampant, particularly burglaries and a few armed robberies in the area. Since that time, four years later, we’ve got that crime issue greatly reduced. Also, I want everyone to understand that we have a serious drug problem in Greensboro. Crack cocaine is at epidemic stages. This is fueling a lot of your criminal activity. And I see Mr. [Guilford County Commission Chairman Skip] Alston out there. And I want to applaud you on your efforts to get a rehab program. I graduated first-class from the Guilford Center of Substance Abuse Recovery Advocates because I felt that this is what’s needed. This is one thing we need to do to reduce some of the crime and issues in Greensboro because, quite simply, what I’ve found through working with the police department is that a lot of the car break-ins, your garage being broke into, your house being broke into, is simply drug related. And that has a lot to do with it. Also, community watch programs. I got involved with a six-story building off Randleman Road in Greensboro. The building was overran. Drug dealers....
Do you favor maintaining funding for the Greensboro Police Department’s gang enforcement unit? Why or why not?
I’ve had an opportunity to sit down with Capt. Wolfe, the commander of the gang unit, and have some frank conversations through the Lee Street Merchants Association. And what he told me is there’s about 200 actually very violent gang people in Greensboro. There’s a lot of people that wear the clothing and are wannabes, but there’s actually 200 that are actually — and these folks control the drug trade in Greensboro. And that’s their business. They don’t want to be seen. They’re undercover. They don’t go around flashing these gang signs a lot of times because they want to come and conduct their business. They look at the drug trade simply as a business. And that’s what needs to be monitored. That’s what needs to be closely looked at. The Greensboro Police Department has started training to look at being able to tell the difference between kids that just want to impress their girlfriend or actual gang people. And we must make sure that their training is adequate. Thank you.
One of the questions in a candidate survey sent out by the Triad Real Estate & Building Industries Coalition is, Do you think that sprawl is a problem in Greensboro? How did you answer this question, and what are your reasons for your answer?
Sprawl is costly. For you to get services out to a satellite-type area, it costs money. It’s just not cost effective. One reason that I’ve been so active in trying to get the revitalization of Lee Street because right now I think infill is what we need to be looking at as a cost amenity for the city. An example is the South Elm project. That’s something that should be going full blast but for some reason has just dragged on. And I feel that we should look at things of this nature before we start reaching out into the county and grabbing places that are going to be more difficult to provide services.
What is your vision for a strategic, sustainable solid waste management system for Greensboro?
That’s a pretty complex problem right now. The White Street Landfill, we cannot allow it to reopen simply because we’ve allowed too many people to build in close proximity to it. And I have friends that live near the landfill — part of the affordable housing program. I know it would be devastating for them. And I don’t know what the solution is other than simply doing what we’re doing and trucking it someplace else or opening another landfill someplace else. What we really need to look at right now — I know this is temporary, but we must be more diligent in our recycling process. That’s going to greatly reduce the load of trash that goes to Montgomery County and cut back on expenses. So right now that would be the one thing that we need to concentrate on is recycling. And in the long run we need to look at other locations or other possibilities for the landfill. Thank you.
If elected, what project would you like to have completed by the end of your first term?
One thing that I would like to see is an improvement in the infrastructure in District 1. District 1 sits right [inaudible]. To enhance businesses to come into the area you have to have a solid infrastructure system with good roads, good water and sewer, transportation and affordable housing, and a good, solid police department. And that’s the two things that a lot of businesses and investors look at when they come and look at an area is, first of all, your police department, which we need to correct the problems that we have in our police department, and infrastructure. And let’s face it: The better something looks the more people are apt to want to buy into it.
Would you support giving subpoena power to the Greensboro Police Department citizen review board? Why or why not?
I don’t believe we should have subpoena power. The citizen complaint board is being revamped, and we’re looking at what we need changed and improved in that process. Also, you get into a fine line of how it may interfere with potential witnesses, potential investigations and things of that nature in criminal issues. You have that thin line that you’re riding on. I feel that between the police department and the citizens review committee that, I believe issues can be sit down and openly discussed and to try and get resolved.
Triad Elections '09
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