Candidates for Greensboro City Council met tonight for what is, to my knowledge, the final candidate forum. The event was hosted by synerG and Elon University School of Law at the Greensboro Historical Museum.
I counted 50 people, roughly equivalent to the number who attended the first Guilford County Unity Forum event at the same venue. There were two absences: District incumbent Dianne Bellamy-Small and District 2 candidate Jim Kee.
The questions largely focused on familiar topics: the Warnersville public-art benches, job creation, annexation, corporate incentives, to name a few. I arrived late, but organizer Cecelia Thompson seemed to concur that there were no late-game attacks by candidates in tight races.
A couple remarks stood out to me.
District 3 candidate George Hartzman said, "We're gonna need more police. We're going to need more efficiency on the police side. It's kind of a mess, as you might have read. We're also going to need more involvment from communities."
At-large candidates answered a question about a decision by the City Manager's Office to remove some public-art benches along the Downtown Greenway in Warnersville.
Sandra Anderson Groat, who currently serves as mayor pro tem, said candidly that she doesn't know the answer.
Gary Nixon said he was disturbed to learn that a county commissioner ordered the benches removed, and that the action was taken without the involvement of the District 1 representative on city council. "It should have been a vote of the city council, not a decision of a county commissioner," he said. "That is wrong."
Robbie Perkins, who currently serves in an at-large position on council, said, "You've got to choose your battles," and went on to say, "The greenway is too important to start out with an us-and-them scenario," while describing it as "an important asset."
Nancy Vaughan said, "Clearly removing the benches is just a Bandaid solution. If there was a problem, we should have placed more police there. There were a lot of homeless people there." She went on to praise the Interactive Resource Center, a place where homeless people can drop in during the day, as addressing the problem of loitering and other derelict behavior in Warnersville.
District 1 candidate Luther Falls said, "We have to work to make a better presentation to business" to attract new employers to east Greensboro, adding, "I feel I'm one of the strongest candidates in this field."
District 3 incumbent Zack Matheny played up his ties to synerG.
"I cut my teeth volunteering with some of you," he said. "I will never forget my roots with synerG."
Overall, the candidates seemed to be experiencing frayed nerves with less than a week to go before Election Day. They appeared to be intent on maintaining civility and avoiding gaffes, while finding creative ways to set themselves apart.
Falls elicited laughter with what may be a new campaign slogan: "The future is now, not in the future."
Calling for more efficient government, at-large candidate Danny Thompson got off one of the best one-liners: "We need to look like a Lance Armstrong city, not Jabba the Hut."
Groat said she will have 26 12th graders working the polls on Election Day.
Mayoral candidate Bill Knight concluded, "We've had a very interesting and a very civil campaign, I would say."
His opponent, incumbent Yvonne Johnson, nodded in agreement.
Knight ended by saying, "I hope you will vote...."
Then, after a pause, he finished his sentence: "For me."
The room erupted in laughter.
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