The following is a transcript of Greensboro City Council District 2 candidate Nettie Coad’s answers at a Guilford County Unity Effort forum on Sept. 22:
Introductory statement:
Good evening, everyone. I want to thank the Unity group and everybody here for coming out and braving the weather. I’m here because people matter, first of all, and because I have long years of service, both for the city and neighborhoods all across the city. I was telling someone today: I field questions from people all the time directing them to resources. I have experience in business. I worked for worked for a major retail company for 22 and a half years, where I managed one of the most effective departments. I have much experience in organizing, and also in training. I provide the Undoing Racism training here in Greensboro with my colleagues… at all levels, from the police to the clergy because we want people to be aware of how we’re all impacted by certain things in society and learn how to overcome. So I’m representing people, and I need you to allow me to do that through your vote.
How do you plan to promote economic development of east Greensboro?
I’ve been working with a housing group for the last 14 years – an affordable housing group out of Charlotte – and we’ve found ways – I’ve learned where resources are: the North Carolina housing financial agency, Fannie Mae, the federal housing financial agency. I’ve worked with the committee to bring FedEx here. So I want to continue the efforts that I’ve learned in the past, working with business, working with business leaders and working with the city. Because I don’t think we have enough people in the right places bringing resources into Greensboro. I serve on boards and committees outside of Greensboro. I know resources are out there that we’re not attracting here. We didn’t bring the brownfield funding here to clean up South Elm Street. Timely. I knew the funds were out there. I made people aware of that. I’m going to bring my experience, what I’ve learned to the issues that we face. But to the funds, where the money is, to bring that to Greensboro, to address the economic development issue. Because if you don’t know, if you don’t have people working for the resources, no matter how much you plan, you don’t have the money to get it done. So I believe, I have enough knowledge and can spur people along, including the council members, to be able to attract resources and leaders who can help us with moving forward with economic development.
Under what circumstances do you think it is appropriate for the city council to annex new land?
I pretty much agree my colleagues that annexation should be planned. Development should be planned; I’m a proponent of that for whatever area, whether it’s annexation or not. One of the things that we do is, often times we lose some valuable resources through annexation because I know that in some areas such as McLeansville we used to have good farmland and good farmers. What happens to people when we annex them in? What kind of livelihood do they have, and what do we provide in place of that? So I think we have to study the area to be sure that it’s time for it and to be sure that we can sustain it through provision of services and so forth. So I agree with them.
Describe your leadership style and how you would work with other council members.
I believe I possess a measure of integrity. I believe all peoples’ opinions count. I like to work in collaboration with others. And I like people to feel that I value what they say. And then I like to be in discussion with people and have an atmosphere of respect, respectability, that we can hear each other and we can work together. I plan on bringing that to the council. I brought that to my neighborhood by building leadership. And I have people that I’ve worked with over the years who are in leadership positions now. I brought that on the boards and commissions where I serve, on the redevelopment commission. We have a great working relationship. On the Community Foundation, on the Moses Cone Health Foundation. Being able to work with people from every persuasion, from every race and ethnicity. And I believe I can provide that on the council. I do believe in respect for people. And their feelings count. People matter.
A lot of city council people and candidates use youth in their campaigns and make a lot of promises. What will you do to include the youth in decision-making and moving Greensboro forward?
I’ve been working with youth for a long time as a very young mother working with the Cub Scouts and then with the Boy Scouts. Presently I’m doing training with youth. Throughout the summer we’ve been doing the training with youth so they will understand more about their culture, their race and more about historical perspectives that they don’t understand that have an impact on their lives. I also taught for four years in the justice and policy studies at Guilford College. And I have a lot of youth still that I work with We started an antiracism team there with the youth and faculty and staff that actually created a 20-year antiracism ongoing team at Guilford College. I want to continue to do that throughout Greensboro, bringing youth together. And that’s one of the things we’ve been working on this summer with youth. Also, working with the leaders in my neighborhood, where there’s some issues with youth that are hanging out on the street corners. We want to work with them to put them to work. We’re also looking at economic development in the neighborhood. We used some youth this summer in two major events that we had. Hired them for cleanup and to actually put on the event. We are looking at involving the youth, training them and also creating jobs within the community and wherever in order that they can become viable entities within our community, learn how to work and have good work ethics.
What will you do to advocate for the needs of older adults and people with disabilities?
Well, I’ve been doing that with the Democratic Party as chair of the Senior Dems. We made people aware of the homeowners 15 percent discount that they can get. Probably some of them are not aware. We did a lot of extensive work on that in the past two years. We also make sure that seniors that are in public housing, we’ve taken on a project of making sure that they have someone to look after them. The other thing is just advocating and letting seniors know their rights. Because with healthcare bills, with all the kinds of legislative things that are coming it’s been ver y hard on seniors, including me, with medication. So we make them aware of all kinds of projects and programs that are available to them. Also, housing for seniors. We are making sure that – even in my neighborhood, we have a seniors complex built. There are just so many things. I advocate for seniors and everybody else all the time. But seniors come to me with problems with their house payment, not knowing what’s going to happen, especially with this last 18 months of downturn in the economy. So I’ve been able to direct them to the resources, even with the city, or whether there’s other groups out here that are advocating for seniors with ownership problems. And those are just some of the things that I’ve done to try to help people like myself.
Closing statement
I know that I bring a lot of years of experience here, having worked out of many, many neighborhoods, having listened to people. I’m going to serve the people, because people matter. And not only do I bring the skills, but I understand how it works. I know where resources are, and how to advocate and bring them to this city for people. I’ve worked with students at all the colleges here in Greensboro, so I have a rapport. I know where the newcomers are. I know where the needs are. I also am very concerned about our citizens, and I didn’t elaborate on those who are disadvantaged. I’ve worked with the area mental health. I’ve worked with substance abuse. I’ve worked with just about any entity in Greensboro. So I know where the resources are. I know where the people are. I also know where the needs are. And I bring a spirit of collaboration, integrity, that I can work with the council, that we can work together as a team to address the concerns and the issues for the citizens of Greensboro. I promise to do that. That’s my pledge, if elected, and so I challenge you to make that happen.
Triad Elections ’09
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