Taxes and spending: Where Greensboro City Council candidates stand

Assuming a new city council reaches an agreement on what to do about solid waste early in the next term, the budget is likely to be the major challenge in the next two years. Revenues are likely to be lower than hoped for because of the depressed housing market, while services and infrastructure remain in demand. Mayoral challenger Robbie Perkins would like to move forward with the Downtown Greenway. At-large challenger Wayne Abraham wants to repair city roads. District 3 challenger Jay Ovittore wants to hire additional police officers.

No surprise that the four conservative incumbents on council, including Mayor Bill Knight, have pledged to not raise taxes or water rates, as documented in a video clip produced by Conservatives for Guilford County. At-large incumbent Danny Thompson and at-large challenger Chris Lawyer also took the pledge. Mayoral challenger Robbie Perkins has left his options open when asked the question.

“It’s a qualified maybe answer,” said Perkins when asked during a candidate forum hosted by the Greater Greensboro Republican Women’s Club on Oct. 25 if he would vote to raise taxes. Asked if he would raise water rates and if he would cut spending, he responded, “It depends.”

Abraham may be the only challenger that has campaigned against cutting taxes, calling the council vote in 2010 to cut property taxes by a quarter of cent, “a jobs-killing tax cut.” He argues that the reduction had an insignificant impact on taxpayers, but stripped the city budget with the result that council cut funding to the Greensboro Partnership, which works to recruit new businesses to the city.

Only one candidate has expressed active interest in raising taxes.

“I don’t believe we can move Greensboro forward if we keep our taxes the way they are,” District 2 challenger C. Bradley Hunt II told an audience at the downtown public library for a forum hosted by the Greensboro Neighborhood Congress on Oct. 24. “I am a citizen and I believe that everyone wants to keep taxes low. It makes us all comfortable. But in order for us to spur economic development, in order for us to improve our infrastructure and to improve our services we must look for new ways to generate income for the city. So I believe we have to look at new ways that we may increase our tax rate so we can provide services for our citizens. So I think that in order to improve our services and infrastructure, in order to increase our police department, fire services, and also to give small business owners and minority business owners a chance to compete, we must look at ways to raise taxes.”

Incumbent Jim Kee was happy to take the opposing side on the issue.

“Certainly I would not advocate raising taxes,” he said. “Matter of fact, I voted to lower taxes. In this type of economy, citizens could not afford any increase in taxes. The way we can expand the revenue in Greensboro is to bring more businesses, to create more small businesses right here in our city. And that’s exactly what I have been doing.”

Kee, a developer, said he worked with Kotis Properties to open the H&F cafeteria at the corner of Church Street and Pisgah Church Road, creating 60 jobs. He said he has also worked with Kotis Properties to open Pace Medical at the intersection of East Cone Boulevard and Summit Avenue, which employs 30 people.

“That’s the way we keep taxes low and keep services great in Greensboro,” Kee said.

Zack Matheny, a registered Republican seeking reelection to the District 3 seat, told the audience at the Greater Greensboro Republican Women’s Club Forum that he would not vote to raise taxes. One day earlier he gave a somewhat more qualified answer to the Greensboro Neighborhood Congress.

“I don’t know, quite honestly, what’s going to happen with taxes,” he said. “My goal would be to not increase taxes. I’ve said that and we’ve been able to accomplish that by not increasing and actually have a very small, slight decrease for the city. One of our major issues is going to be real estate valuations in the next couple years.”

Historically, home values have appreciated over all, with the result that local governments can cut the tax rate and maintain neutral revenue. Real estate is revalued every eight years, and Guilford County is due for a revaluation next year. If, as expected, property values have depreciated overall because of the foreclosure and housing crisis, then local governments will have to choose between increasing the rate to maintain neutral revenue or cutting spending to compensate for reduced revenue at the current rate.

After the candidate forum Matheny said in an interview that his ultimate objective is to keep the tax bill flat, whatever that requires.

Jay Ovittore, who is challenging Matheny for the District 3 seat, stressed spending needs.

“I don’t want to make promises that I can’t keep, so I don’t want to say that I’m not going to vote to raise taxes, if necessary,” he said. “We need 200 more police officers on our police force. We need more fire people. We need our roads taken care of. We need to upgrade the Osborne water treatment plan so we can handle a capacity that’s almost near full at this point and continue to bring clean water to our communities. So that money’s going to come from somewhere. We can either get creative and do something about the landfill: Keep it closed, make it a regional solution, maybe own a regional solution, maybe cut off some of that as a portfolio, do some waste to energy. And if we spend the money on waste to energy now, that waste to energy is going to make us back millions more. And if I can keep your tax rate flat, I’ll do that. But I simply don’t know until I have the numbers in front of me.”

Mary Rakestraw, the conservative District 4 incumbent, has consistently pledged that she will not vote to raise taxes.

“With the present economy that we have we’ve got to be good stewards of your money and my money,” she said. “And I pay taxes, too. And this is a situation, y’all, that we cannot go the well but so many times. You have a budget in your own home. And you have to look at how you spend your money. And when you don’t have enough money, what do you do?... And, you know, I bet you even if you go home this coming week and you say, ‘What could I cut out that would not hurt my lifestyle, what would it be?’ Surely there is something. And we’re going to have to look at that as we go into the next two years. We have to be smart. We have to be prudent. And again, y’all, I cannot say this enough: We cannot tax ourselves out of this situation that we’re in at the present.”

Like Ovittore, District 4 challenger Nancy Hoffmann emphasized spending needs, prefacing her remarks by saying she is “committed to sound financial stewardship.”

“No one can predict the future,” she said. “So we really have to see what the situation is next year or the following year, but we know that we have possibly deferred some very important maintenance in this city. Those things catch up with you sometime down the road, and when they do the cost may be greater. We bear the cost of training the police staff and the fire staff in this city. And if we lose them a year or two years after we train them, then we have lost the cost of that investment in those people, and they’ve gone to High Point, or to Burlington, or Reidsville for another thousand dollars a year.”

Hoffmann said that a city, like any business, must “drill down” to see what spending items are “not absolutely essential” during difficult economic times, and have an honest conversation with citizens about what services they want to maintain, what they’re willing to give up, and what they’re willing to pay for.

Trudy Wade, the conservative incumbent in District 5, said she would not raise taxes.

“There’s two ways not to raise taxes,” she said. “And no, I wouldn’t raise taxes. Two ways to do that. Either you’re going to have to cut things or you’re going to have to bring in more jobs, more people, and increase your base of people paying in. There’s only two ways to do it. I think we’ve tried as a council to bring more jobs here. And I think we’ve done a pretty good job of that. For 12 of 16 years the unemployment rate’s been going up. This last year it’s started to go down again.”

In fact, data for the Greensboro-High Point metropolitan statistical area posted by the NC Employment Security Commission indicates that the unemployment rate increased in eight of the past 16 years. The rate has been declining over all over the past two years, but has remained at above 10 percent since 2009 after bouncing between 3 percent and 7 percent during the period from 1996 to 2008.

Wade credited the city council’s efforts to keep property taxes and water rates low with what progress has been seen in reducing the unemployment rate. During her remarks the councilwoman linked the tax rate to efforts to reopen the White Street Landfill, which she favors.

“If we were using our own landfill, we could save $8 million a year,” she said. “We won’t talk about the $30- or $40 million we’ve lost over the past four or five years.”

The $8 million figure tossed around by Wade, Thompson and The Rhinoceros Times is at odds with the $3.1 million per year in annual cost savings estimated by the city’s solid waste consultant for the plan to reopen the landfill that was adopted by the conservative faction. The difference can be chalked up to closure costs once the currently permitted portions of the landfill are depleted. Those who cite the $8 million figure argue that closure costs should not be included because the landfill would eventually have to be closed anyway. But under the current arrangement, the permitted portion of the landfill accepts a miniscule amount of screening, allowing it to remain open indefinitely.

Wade blamed a group of citizens who filed suit against the city to prevent the landfill from reopening with scuttling the city’s ability to pursue a regional approach, recycling, waste-to-energy technology, investments in infrastructure and cost savings.

“And we tried to take a regional approach,” she said. “And we tried to take the companies on the cutting edge of waste management and bring them into an RFP, and say, ‘What can you do for this community with technology, with recycling, and do a long-range plan for us.’ This is the first council that really stood back and said, ‘Let’s take a look at that.’ What can we do to cut this $8 million-a-year cost? And, of course, we ended up in a lawsuit, so all that technology, infrastructure, all that additional money we were going to have for the city, of course that won’t be the case now.”

A&T vote inspires fiery city council campaigning

Sal Leone, an at-large candidate for Greensboro City Council, speaks from the well.

About a hundred conservatively dressed, most female students filed into a NC A&T University auditorium to address questions to candidates for Greensboro City Council last night during a forum hosted by the Alpha Mu Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. on Wednesday evening.

At the end of the program Cherrell Brown, chair of the sorority’s political awareness and involvement committee, asked how many of the college students were registered to vote. Virtually every hand went up, prompting applause from council members.

“Myth debunked,” Brown said. “Students are registered to vote.”

The university is located in District 2, and the three candidates for the seat – taking nothing for granted in the run-up to what is traditionally a low-turnout primary – engaged in a spirited debate to try to win the students’ vote. Challenger C. Bradley Hunt II, himself a student at A&T, and incumbent Jim Kee, an alum who serves on the university’s board of visitors, delivered particularly contentious challenges to one another’s character and record of leadership.

Kee discusses his ability to work with conservative council members on matters of common interest such as bringing a grocery store to east Greensboro. Hunt took advantage of the opening to attack.

“There are certain issues in the city that are not worth a compromise,” Hunt said. “When you talk about a landfill that’s going in your backyard, in a backyard where there’s 85 percent African Americans – environmental racism – when you have to deal with the stench and the rodents, the trucks going back and forth in your neighborhoods, we don’t need to compromise on those situations.

“Councilman Kee was willing to negotiate a landfill for economic development,” the challenger continued. “That’s not right. Not in District 2. If you elect me, I’ll give you a voice. I will tell them, ‘No, that’s wrong,’ and I will say it to the top of the Melvin Municipal Building. And let everyone in Greensboro know that it’s wrong. So no, my style of leadership is a fighter, and not a compromiser.”

Kee struck back.

“This young man here is distorting the facts,” he said. “And if you’ve got people that are running for city council that are going to lie to you before they get on council, imagine what they are going to do after they get on city council.”

The incumbent pulled out a June 2001 copy of the News & Record showing him addressing city council on the White Street Landfill.

“I was a community activist fighting to close the landfill,” Kee said. “You know, I was pretty angry then. As a matter of fact, a group that I helped form called Concerned Citizens of Northeast Greensboro is the organization that [got the landfill closed in 2006].”

Kee went on to say that he believed when he got elected and still believes that waste-to-energy technology is a viable alternative to landfilling.

“You call it a compromise,” Kee said. “But let me tell you about waste to energy. Waste to energy is a new technology that [converts trash] to electricity or diesel fuel. And it creates green jobs for Aggies, jobs that pay $50,000 or more. Now, my suggestion was that we form a public-private partnership with a company, the city of Greensboro and North Carolina A&T because A&T can acquire those $30- and $50 million energy grants that President Obama has put out so we can research alternative energy.”

Yvonne Johnson, an at-large candidate, reminded the audience that she had served on the council that made the decision to close the landfill in 2001. Mayoral candidates Robbie Perkins and Tom Phillips, and at-large candidate Nancy Vaughan were also part of that vote. Johnson said the Golden Leaf Foundation, on whose board she serves, gave A&T upwards of a million to research waste-to-energy technology.

“We need to go to waste to energy, but we don’t need to open the landfill to do that,” Johnson said. “We can do that someplace else. We can do it at the transfer station. And so the only thing I am hoping will happen with that landfill one day is that we will have the technology from North Carolina A&T State University to mine that landfill, environmentally safely mine it, and take all that crap out of it.”

Dianne Bellamy-Small, the incumbent in the District 1 race, was in rare form and good spirits. Challenger Donnell “DJ” Hardy, in contrast, took a subdued, low-key approach.

“There’s an African proverb that says, ‘The lion’s story will never be told as long as the hunter is telling it,’” Bellamy-Small said. “My leadership style is one of get it done. You’ve got to have someone on the council who is a grassroots-er, who gets out here in the community and who can very articulately talk about what’s happening. That’s me.”

The incumbent representative used an anecdote about her negotiations with Honda Aircraft Co. to illustrate her commitment to ensuring that people of color and women receive equal access to jobs.

“Every time a new business comes to us and wants an incentive, I ask, particularly when they talk about engineering jobs and that kind of stuff, I say, ‘Have you been over to A&T?’” Bellamy-Small recounted. “They’ll kind of fumble around…. ‘Well-uh-well-uh.’ ‘Have you been over to A&T? We’ve got engineering graduates over there.’ You saw on the paper how HondaJet – we’re waiting on them. When HondaJet came before us, I always ask, ‘How many minorities? How many women? And will you hire ex-offenders?’ The last time, HondaJet said, ‘Yes, we’ll hire them.’ You know how many they hired? Forty out of 550. You do the math. When they came this time, I said, ‘Something’s wrong with this picture.’ They said, ‘We’ll deal with it.’ So they thought behind closed doors they tried to answer my question. I asked in public, and the man said, ‘Oh, we talked about that in private.’ ‘Yeah, and I brought it up in public.’”

One of the students asked candidates how they planned to work with universities to bring jobs to Greensboro.

Robbie Perkins, one of two mayoral candidates who showed up at the forum, leaped form his seat.

“This is one of the great opportunities that we have in our city,” he said. “We’ve got 35,000 college students in our city and we need to keep more of them here, and the only way we’re going to keep them is create jobs. Now, one of the four critical clusters that has been identified by the business community is the nanotech-engineering cluster with the joint venture between A&T and UNCG over on East Lee Street. You’ve got a $21 million building that’s open, and we’ve got a $58.8 million building that should open in the next few weeks. And that’s going to be one of the leading sources of tech jobs in this region.”

Perkins went on to outline his vision for expanding the roadway network to create opportunities for economic growth in the area of the nanoscience campus.

“Now, I don’t think that that’s a big enough area over there to accommodate what I see as a large-growth industry,” Perkins said. “Councilwoman Dianne Bellamy-Small and I have been working for the last several years on the TAC, which is the Transportation Advisory Committee, that basically works on roads in this area. And we think it’s imperative that there’s a new road that’s going to run from that nanotech center north where that stop light hits Lee Street. And if you run it right, you can run it all the way to Penry Road where GTCC has their campus. And if you really want to expand the vision, you expand the vision from a 75-acre park that the university owns and that the nanotech buildings are being built on, you take everything from the east of that road out to our belt loop around the city, and you make that the research park of the future.”

Kee said he supports Perkins’ road proposal, but he would go a step further and extend the road to Cone Boulevard. That has been a politically sensitive initiative, considering that the proposed road would go past the White Street Landfill, and make reopening the landfill more politically palatable by relieving heavy truck traffic from residential neighborhoods. Greensboro voters supported a bond for the project, but the city has yet to issue the debt to finance the Cone Boulevard extension.

Bellamy-Small said she supports the strategy of creating jobs through nanoscience research, but argued the city needs to take a broad-based approach.

“There is no other kind of economic generator in Greensboro at this time that provides the kind of jobs, whether it’s part time,” she said. “I’m over at the coliseum. I was over at the aquatic center today swimming with the little children. We hire A&T students. We hire UNCG students. Yeah, the nanotechnology center is very important, but if you can get a part-time job or a full-time job, or if you can work the ACC, those are the kind of things that do put some money in your pocket.”

Hardy championed a more entrepreneurial approach.

“Portland, Oregon is what I would to model Greensboro after if I have the chance,” he said. “They go and find companies that are two and three big – two and three people in garage – who have a business plan and have something that can work and hire thousands. Out of 20 that they might fund, 15 of them might crash and burn. It’s those five that make it through that will make thousands of jobs.”

Kee went on the offensive against both of his challengers in the District 2 race on the topic of job creation. Kee criticized opponent Dan Fischer for his reservations about the Greensboro Coliseum’s operating deficit, arguing that the coliseum’s economic impact translates to a 100 to one return on the investment. Kee also ridiculed a statement by Hunt at a previous candidate forum acknowledging acknowledging that, in contrast to Kee, Hunt is not a business person.

“You don’t want a council person who’s not business astute,” Kee said.

Hunt hit back.

“You also don’t want a developer as a council member because this creates a conflict of interest,” he said. “Any time that you put development and business over people, it’s when you’re willing to compromise the White Street Landfill. No, I’m not a developer; I don’t think Councilman Kee is either.

“A&T has been around since 1891 and I haven’t seen too much or any economic development for students,” Hunt added. “If you elect me, one of your own, I will see to it that we get jobs.”

Several candidates responded to a question about how they see council working with college students.

“I just created the first ever internship program, where interns from A&T and Bennett College will intern for the city council, get paid for it, get experience, and have something to put on their resume,” Kee said. “That program just started – wasn’t it October 1st, Robbie? Robbie Perkins and I are funding the program.”

Jim Lewis, an activist with Conservatives for Guilford County had questioned whether the program was appropriate at a city council meeting the previous evening. Discussion about the program revealed that, in fact, the funding is coming out of council members’ travel budgets. District 5 Councilwoman Trudy Wade, part of the council’s conservative coalition, said that she, Mayor Bill Knight, at-large Councilman Danny Thompson, District 3 Councilman Zack Matheny and District 4 Councilwoman Mary Rakestraw, returned their share of the travel budget to the general fund, and that the money was reallocated to purchase reflective vests for community watch volunteers.

Tom Phillips, who is also running for mayor, went on the attack against Perkins, who is considered likely to make it through the primary with incumbent Bill Knight. Knight and two other mayoral candidates, Bradford Cone and Chris Phillips, did not attend the forum.

“I believe it’s going to require leadership coming in from outside the current council, because it’s become so divisive,” Tom Phillips said. “But unless you have a massive change on the council – and historically that has not happened; it may happen this time, but historically it hasn’t – unless we have a massive change, we’re going to have several people on the council who will not work with Robbie. So we’re going to have two more years of bickering.

“I also am retiring December 31st,” Phillips continued. “I can’t have any conflicts of interest on zoning cases, things of that nature. Mr. Perkins, being in the development industry, can’t help but have conflicts of interest, whether they’re real or perceived. Those are two the main differences between myself and my good friend, Robbie.”

After declaring his intention to withdraw from the race earlier in the day, at-large candidate Sal Leone resurfaced at the forum. The candidate went on the attack against conservative incumbents and their political philosophy, holding the floor for almost six minutes.

Leone charged that at-large Councilman Danny Thompson broke a promise to residents of east Greensboro when he said during the 2009 campaign that he was not in favor of reopening the White Street Landfill. The line of attack echoed a spirited statement by another at-large candidate, Marikay Abuzuaiter, a week earlier.

“He said he implemented a curfew, which is anti-conservative,” Thompson said. “But he took credit for it because it looked good. More lies. He’s not here because he can’t defend lies. What’s he going to say to you? He didn’t go to the Interactive Resource Center. Know why? There are poor people there. They don’t care. He’s not here because the conservatives think you won’t vote. That’s what they’re counting on. Bennett College, UNCG, A&T, GTCC – you guys have the power, and they know it.”

Wade, Knight make no apologies for landfill position

C4GC candidates forum, a set on Flickr.

Conservative incumbents Trudy Wade and Bill Knight made their first public appearances in a lively City Council election campaign before a friendly audience at the International Civil Rights Center and Museum during a forum hosted by Conservatives for Guilford County last night.

The host organization asked candidates to address the White Street Landfill, along with the issues of fiscal responsibility and job creation, and the District 5 councilwoman took to the first issue in particular with zeal.

“The problem with the landfill is our trash is costing us millions of dollars,” she said. “There were conservative members of council that decided we needed to look at this issue for the people of Greensboro – all the people of Greensboro. Is there a way we could save money and with that money do things for economic development such as put in infrastructure, do things we really need in this city? Are we getting the best bang for our buck with paying all that money to transport our trash, which is our responsibility, not our responsibility to go stick it in somebody else’s backyard – our responsibility as citizens that we should take care of our own trash.

“So yes, it’s a hot item; it was emotional,” she continued. “But let’s think about it a minute: Four of us – actually five, but one conservative member could no longer vote on the matter and had to recuse himself – took on this challenge: Let’s talk about White Street. Let’s see if there’s something we can do.”

District 3 Councilman Zack Matheny had been recused because of a conflict of interest with Gate City Waste Services, a vendor that was pre-selected to operate the landfill before withdrawing its bid. Matheny has not indicated publicly which way he would have voted on the question of whether to reopen the landfill.

Wade went on to dispute the cost-savings estimated by city staff and an outside consultant for reopening the landfill. Wade contended reopening the landfill would save the city $8 million per year, as opposed to $3.1 million.

“We can play with numbers all we want, but the way you get [the low] number is you add the closure cost in over a period of seven years,” she said. Wade’s math assumes that the city will have to pay closure costs for the White Street Landfill whether it’s reopened or not, but the city has maintained permitting and operational capabilities at the landfill since it stopped accepting municipal solid waste in 2006 and staff has put forth no plans to decommission it.

“It took brave people to bring this issue up,” Wade said, drawing applause. “There’s been people on the council for years. You’ve heard some candidates tonight and city council representatives that said, ‘I’ve been on the council 12 years, 16 years.’ Well, we don’t have a plan for solid waste, and they’ve been there for that amount of time because they didn’t tackle the situation.”

Mayor Bill Knight appeared to be dispirited by a recent reversal that took place when the interim city attorney ruled that Mayor Pro Tem Nancy Vaughan could vote on the landfill, but made no apologies for his handling of the matter.

“We’re faced with trying to find a way to stop the hemorrhaging of millions of dollars each year; that was not the case just five years ago,” Knight said. “We did have a solution at hand, but it’s too late now to turn back the clock on that. I’ve seen nearby communities – Winston-Salem and Raleigh, for instance – with landfills very similar to ours that have gone forward to significant economic development without the problems that we have here or have had in Greensboro. Economically, we are behind on this issue.”

The mayor proposed a study committee to take up the issue in the next term.

The program included two follow-up questions for mayoral candidates. The group did not give the incumbent candidate a free pass, despite their shared conservative philosophy. The moderator asked Knight to address criticism that the council has not demonstrated transparency under his leadership.

“I believe this council has been quite open,” Knight said. “We have a number of discussions. We have long agendas. Everything is discussed openly in open council meeting. We do have closed sessions for certain sensitive matters, but we do not engage in what used to be called small-group meetings.”

Chris Phillips, a self-described conservative candidate who has worked with Conservatives for Guilford County in the past, backed away from a previous position of conditional support for reopening the landfill.

“To keep the peace in Greensboro I would say keep it closed for right now,” he said.

“Saving money, if the White Street Landfill is the best option, I’d say, ‘Let’s do that,’” the candidate added. “But what we need to do also is the city of Greensboro needs to prove to the people in the area that it is the best option – that there is no foul odor…. As an African American, I can say that I have struggled with asthma, I have struggled with bronchitis, so any children that live in that area, we need to make sure that they feel safe, that there are no health hazards.”

The moderator noted that Phillips has gone on record as saying that he’s a regular user of Greensboro mass transit. Contending that city buses are underutilized during non-peak hours, the moderator went on to ask the candidate what changes could be made to make the system more efficient.

“In riding the buses every day, as I do, I understand what Greensboro’s residents who ride the buses go through every day,” Phillips said. “I think that we need to make sure there’s a safety net in place for the transit system so the money is used for that purpose. Another solution, I would say, we could have for the low ridership and the cost of diesel fuel, let’s have fuel-efficient cars, or let’s have shuttle vans that can go to these areas and pick up people. One of the things that I face is that if I miss the bus sometimes I have to catch a cab. And catching a taxi has become more and more expensive. So we need to make sure that there’s an effective bus system in Greensboro to pick up the riders who need those bus routes.”

The 45-year-old candidate noted that he is not married and has no children, adding, “those are some desires that I do have one day.” He told the audience that he graduated from UNCG with a bachelor’s degree in journalism.

“I thought that when I graduated the world was going to be my oyster, so to speak,” he said. “I thought: I’m smart, and I’m going to get a job, and I’m going to live happily ever after. And please don’t get me wrong: I thank God for HH Gregg, and I thank God for my job, but there are other gifts, other dreams that I would like to put in place, and I know a lot of other college students who feel the same way that I do.”

The forum presented a test for mayoral candidate Robbie Perkins, a longtime councilman who is favored to win by many political observers. Although he is a registered Republican, Perkins is distrusted by many conservatives because of his alignment with the council’s progressive faction.

Perkins looked extremely composed, betraying only the slightest hint of nervousness as he answered a question about his vote to close the landfill a decade previously.

“The solution to the issue that we looked at in 2003 was similar to what we looked at today,” he said. “Your worst-case scenario, as a public official, is that you have no solution for your garbage. The assumptions made that you could keep White Street open and expand it were problematic then, as they are today. We’ve all heard about the issues involved in section 4 and section 5 of White Street and how that’s going to require rezoning, that’s going to require additional permitting. Those issues were up in the air in 2003 as well. What we were looking at is retaining our unused capacity, using that as a way to negotiate against the haulers, for them to give us a fair price.”

The candidate also answered a question about public subsidies for the Greensboro Coliseum with ease.

“I look at the billion dollars of tourism business in Guilford County as a huge community asset,” he said. “And the centerpiece of that business is the Greensboro Coliseum. So the million and a half dollars that we are giving the coliseum out of the general fund each year is a small part of the many millions that we bring in through that facility to the benefit of all of our citizens. I contend that the tourism business, the hotel business, and the restaurant business would not be close to the same in our city without the coliseum driving that business.”

One of the questions posed to mayoral candidate Tom Phillips, a former councilman who is also a registered Republican, related to the candidate’s long experience as a director of the Piedmont Triad Regional Water Authority, which is responsible for bringing the Randleman Reservoir online to supply the water needs of Greensboro and neighboring municipalities. The moderator asked Phillips if the projected needs for water were inflated and whether citizens could expect a rate cut as a result of the new supply.

Phillips responded that if the city’s projected water needs had been inflated, it was because of the decline of the textile industry – once a major user. If the new water supply lasted for more than 50 years, as projected, Phillips said he doesn’t consider that a problem. He offered no relief on rates.

“You have expenses, and you never know what environmental rules will come along to require us to spend money,” Phillips said. “I really don’t see rates going down from here.”

Bradford Cone, the only Democrat on the mayoral slate, put forward a flat recitation of positions antithetical to conservative agenda. He said the landfill issue should not have been brought up by council and is unnecessarily dividing the city. And he said the city should invest in infrastructure to create jobs, and spend money in the short term to achieve long-term savings.

“I would also reinstate the moment of silence,” he added, “as the prayer, for anyone who’s not Christian would feel they’re less welcome and less a part of the community.”

Mary Rakestraw, a member of the conservative faction who is seeking reelection to her seat as the District 4 representative, pushed back against the notion that the process was rigged to favor Gate City Waste Industries.

“Now, some people have said that the RFPs that were sent out were written specifically for one server,” Rakestraw said, adding that after staff developed the request for proposals, council members made only “four or five minor changes” before the document was posted.

Rakestraw noted that studies about health impact of the landfill have come back inconclusive, and remarked that the landfill was currently “a moot point.”

Only one of two challengers in the District 4 race, Tony Collins, showed up for the forum. Collins said there was a need for new blood, but did not take a stand on either side of the landfill debate.

The three candidates competing to represent District 2, where the landfill is located, waded into hostile territory.

Incumbent Jim Kee geared his remarks somewhat to a conservative perspective on cost savings.

“It’s a bad economic idea because you’re looking at a short-term gain of four and a half years, and once the landfill is filled the profits that we would have earned would have evaporated when we went back to the open market, which we would have to do,” Kee said.

Challenger C. Bradley Hunt II made no apologies for his stance against reopening the landfill.

“We have to come together to understand that the White Street Landfill should not be opened in Greensboro,” he said. “I feel that no amount of savings is worth the quality of life for the residents that live near the landfill. To me, that conversation should not have ever come up, and I will do everything that I can to keep the White Street Landfill closed.”

Dan Fischer challenged audience members to who employ people in Greensboro.

“We need to start paying a living wage to everybody who walks through our doors when we’re hiring,” he said.

Jorge Cornell, who is challenging Wade for the District 5 seat, cut a striking contrast amidst the nattily dressed and politically conservative crowd. Cornell’s introduction did not include any mention of his role as leader of the North Carolina Latin Kings, a group considered to be a street gang by the Greensboro Police Department and other law enforcement agencies. All the same, the candidate and audience appeared to be in separate psychic universes.

Cornell gamely pitched himself on a bootstrapping theme, noting that he plans to launch a temporary labor agency.

“I’m proud to say that our doors will be opened in January, and it’s a joint effort with the Beloved Community Center, which has built in a training center,” the candidate said. “Which is going to help a lot of brothers and sisters that are homeless, brothers and sisters that got felonies, those that are considered marginalized in our community. The reason why I think this is important is that these brothers and sisters need to know that they still are community and we need to let them know by giving them that second chance in life because everybody deserves a second chance in life.”

In his closing remarks, Cornell echoed Frederick Douglass, who was quoted in a mass e-mail sent out by Conservatives for Guilford County to publicize the event: “In a composite nation like ours, as before the law, there should be no rich, no poor, no high, no low, no white, no black, but common country, common citizenship, equal rights and a common destiny.”

Cornell said, “We need to get away from this two-class citizenship, okay? We really do. We’re all one people. And I think that’s really important, because the only way we’re going to make change in this community is if we come together as one. As long as we sit here on this side and we have people sit on this side, we’re never going to make change. It’s been like this for awhile. As long as we stay divided, they shall conquer. And when I say that, I’m talking about us conquering ourselves.”

At-large candidate Chris Lawyer, a self-described conservative offered some general comments about fiscal responsibility, but made no mention of the landfill.

Jean Austin Brown, another conservative in the at-large race, exhibited difficulty articulating a position on the landfill, making equivocating statements about public input process and the merits of recycling.

“Nobody has the answer to the landfill,” she said. “I don’t think so. I’ve listened to everything. I’ve read everything I can about the landfill. I don’t think anybody has the answer yet. But I’m open to suggestions. Even when I’m on city council I would not be against town-hall meetings if all possible participants were there to voice their concerns, whether it’s yes or no. But I’m not for listening to just a bunch of folks who are angry and who are not willing to listen and to try to do something about this.”

Austin said, “When you say recycling, it’s probably like putting a Bandaid on cancer.”

Then she added, “I would be all for more recycling.”

Moderators Algenon Cash and Kevin Daniels gave remarks about the connection between conservativism and civil rights, but the real more resonant statements about the setting came from candidates.

“Earlier this week… the letters ‘KKK’ were spray-painted on one of my yard signs,” said Mayor Bill Knight, who graduated from Greensboro High School in 1957, the year before it accepted its first black student. “And what I took this to mean was hate. I can’t interpret it any other way but hate. Being where we are here I find it rather meaningful where we are. And this center symbolizes injustice and struggle.”

Sal Leone, an at-large candidate who drew a boo from the audience when he mentioned he was a Yankees fan, brought an unpopular message on the landfill.

“The future of Greensboro is in the east; we have no place else to go,” he said. “We need economic development. Landfills do not bring a lot of jobs. We need to develop the east. It will bring economic development, jobs, corporations, which bring money, taxes, revenue. It’s what we need.”

Then he drew back to a historical period that Daniels had referenced as the dawn of American civil rights.

“With the city council divided as they are, Abraham Lincoln said it the best: ‘A house divided cannot stand,’” Leone said. “And we all know what happened in 1860. That’s what’s happening here now. We’re in a crisis. We’re in big trouble.”

Northeast Greensboro council incumbent challenges the challengers

Presbyterian Church of the Cross candidate forum, a set on Flickr.

City Councilman Jim Kee took the fight to his two challengers last night at Presbyterian Church of the Cross in northeast Greensboro during an intimate and candid series of exchanges in which candidates nearly outnumbered citizens.

Kee posed a question to C. Bradley Hunt II, the youngest of three candidates seeking the District 2 seat on council, and his toughest critic.

“What are you currently doing to bring economic development to District 2?” asked Kee, who is a real estate developer by profession.

“Let’s be honest here,” Hunt responded. “I know that you are in business and that you are a business person. That is what you were supposed to bring to council. However, that is not my thing. Once I get on council it will be quite easy for me with my leadership skills, with my zeal, with my enthusiasm, with my fresh approach and fresh perspective to do anything that needs to be done.”

Kee then made a preemptive strike, drawing out the policy issue in which he differs most dramatically with Hunt.

“I happen to think we have an excellent police department,” he said. “Crime has steadily gone down…. What is your position on the Greensboro Police Department?”

Hunt responded, “I believe that the Greensboro Police Department cannot continue to investigate itself. We need a citizens review board with subpoena power. We have to get citizens involved in the Greensboro Police Department or we will still see corruption; we will still see mistreatment, harassment and discrimination.”

Next, Hunt received a set-up question from his mother, Yvonne Hunt Perry: “Why should I vote for you as a student? Some people may say you’re inexperienced. Persuade me that you are the candidate for District 2.”

“Let’s bring it right here to Greensboro, North Carolina,” her son replied. “Feb. 1, 1960. You had four freshman at NC A&T. The Greensboro sit-in movement changed the nation. As a 24-year-old within the same city, I know that together with the university and the community we can change the city.”

Kee took advantage of the opening, referencing Hunt’s role in a civil disobedience action with the Spirit of the Sit-In Movement in which Hunt and others took seats on city council during a break in a May 2010 meeting. Hunt had taken the mayor’s seat and banged the gavel, signaling for the student activists to begin a discussion of issues such as alleged police corruption and the landfill, which they believed were being neglected at the time. Later, Hunt and others were voluntarily arrested.

“What was your purpose and accomplishment?” Kee asked.

“On that day, I took a stand – something that is needed at times,” Hunt said. “Maybe you can understand that, councilman. Sometimes you just have to take a stand.”

In his introductory remarks, Hunt suggested that Kee has not taken a strong enough stance against reopening the White Street Landfill.

“That conversation is a nonstarter, as far as I’m concerned,” Hunt said. “I don’t believe that should have ever come up, and I believe we need the right leadership, someone that’s willing to stand and say, ‘No, this is wrong.’”

Mayor Pro Tem Nancy Vaughan, who is seeking reelection as an at-large candidate, took umbrage at Hunt’s remarks and came to her fellow council member’s defense.

“When you were 10 years old, Mr. Kee was coming before the city council relentlessly to close that landfill,” said Vaughan, who was serving on council at the time. “I don’t think there was a greater advocate for closing the landfill and organizing the concerned citizens of the northeast. I think that when it comes the landfill the community really owes him a large debt for the work that he did 10 years ago and the work that he continues to do.”

Hunt responded, “As a councilman, I did not see that. I appreciate the work that was done 10 years ago, but right now in 2011 and 2010, I believe that the councilman was the last person to sign on against the landfill, and followed public opinion.”

Kee also challenged his other challenger, Dan Fischer, who sought to exploit the same perceived weakness. Kee asked Fischer what he would have done differently had he been the one in the District 2 seat over the past two years.

“Even though I want a win-win situation, if I have to I will get down and dirty,” said Fischer, who served as a Navy corpsman for 20 years. "I will put my foot down. I will work with anybody to get the answers I want. Working with the Marines, I found ways to go through them, over, under, around, and to blast a hole in it. I am willing to do most anything to see what is right for a community, happen.”

In addition to the three District 2 candidates, a parade of at-large contenders stood before the audience. Melvin DuBose, a facilitator, said at the end of the program that any candidate who was in favor of reopening the landfill or who wasn’t talking about economic development should forget about receiving residents’ votes.

Marikay Abuzuaiter, who has made two previous attempts to win election at large and who has previously enjoyed strong support from east Greensboro, gave a passionate testimony to her stance on the landfill.

“Opening the landfill is the worst thing this city could have ever considered doing,” she said. “I took a stand very, very early on this because I had been on a landfill research committee about two years ago. And what I found out what a landfill can do to the environment, to the people – if anyone ever tells you a landfill does not leak, that is untrue.

“I had somebody tell me in a private meeting: ‘Well, you’re getting tagged on the [human relations] commission as ‘the landfill lady,’” Abuzuaiter recounted. “And I said, ‘Okay.’ ‘And you’re also being toxic.’ I said, ‘Okay.’ And this person said, ‘What do you want your legacy to be: The landfill lady or toxic? What’s it going to be?' I said, ‘No, I want my legacy to be I do what is right.”

Cyndy Hayworth, a well-funded at-large candidate who was recently elected chair of the zoning commission, also told voters she is opposed to reopening the landfill.

“This community trusted the decision that the council made several years ago,” Hayworth said. “And through that trust they built a community around the decision not to accept household waste. They built a new library. They built new things. They built up a community. And it’s just not right to come back and say, ‘Now, we’re going to reopen it.’ So my decision – and it might be a moot point at this point – would be to not reopen the landfill and to look at the alternatives that we have. One would be to renegotiate a contract. They’ve already said that they could do what they’re doing for less money and save the taxpayers money. We need to get to the table with Rockingham and Randolph and Caswell counties and start looking at a regional solution to this problem.”

Jo Isler, who serves as Abuzuaiter’s campaign manager and who lives in District 2, challenged Hayworth on her association with Danny Thompson, an at-large Councilman who was elected two years ago after telling voters he was opposed to reopening the landfill. Thompson is seeking reelection, but did not attend the candidate forum.

“Two years ago you endorsed Danny Thompson in the newspaper,” Isler said. “Do you regret that, because he seems to be the force behind reopening the landfill?”

“I did write a letter of support to Danny – a letter to the editor,” Hayworth said. “I think that you could agree with me that when you have a candidate that has no voting record, who has nothing to look at except what their platform is, and when you hear a good platform, and you think, ‘Well, that’s a great candidate,’ and you vote for them and they get in office and then you’re very disappointed. I think every person here could agree that we’ve seen candidates that we voted for and we did not agree with them once they got in office. I would not have voted on issues the same as Danny would.”

Isler also challenged at-large candidate Jean Austin Brown on her stance on the landfill.

“I’ve not been privy to some of these conversations about opening the landfill,” Brown said. “So I’ll need to know more information. I think I won’t be voting on that because it’s already a done deal, from what I understand. At this point I honestly can’t say what I would do. I’ve talked to people on both sides. It’s not that I’m wishy-washy, but I’m listening to both sides of it.”

Yvonne Johnson, who served one term as mayor before being defeated by Bill Knight in her 2009 reelection bid, is running at large this year. She lives in northeast Greensboro and holds a longstanding record in support of keeping the landfill closed.

“I also feel very strongly that we do not need to reopen the White Street Landfill to municipal solid waste,” she said. “I think it will hurt us economically. Northeast Greensboro is one of the areas of Greensboro that has the greatest potential for growth in this city. We’ve built up the rest. We have our water system in the north. And years ago we put in the infrastructure because we knew it was northeast Greensboro that had the potential.”

Marlando Demonte Pridgen, a political newcomer who is also seeking an at-large seat, told the gathering that he will take a fresh and innovative approach to economic development.

Kee, the incumbent in District 2, told Pridgen: “A lot of your ideas are already being implemented."

Vaughan came to the event with momentum from a court decision earlier in the day to uphold her right to vote on a proposed contract to reopen the landfill. She has said she will vote the contract down, and her participation effectively blocks a slim majority from reopening the landfill.

Vaughan, who has not traditionally enjoyed deep support in east Greensboro, received a round of applause when she announced the decision. She cited her participation in a 2001 vote to close the landfill, and appealed for unity.

“When the landfill came before us it was really seen as a people issue,” Vaughan said. “It wasn’t a dollars-and-cents issue. It was a people issue and what was going to be best for the community. And that was a unanimous vote to close the landfill. Do you know: We did not get one call from anybody saying, ‘How could you do that? You are not being good stewards of our tax dollars.' I think that was a different time then. I think people really valued neighborhoods and valued what was going on in other people’s lives.”

Vaughan also atoned for her role in approving a map considered by many to be a scheme to gerrymander the city to the conservative majority’s advantage.

“We had an issue with redistricting,” she said. “We passed a map. It was a bad map. I agree with that. There was a public outcry. And I was not ashamed to say, ‘We made a mistake.’ And within 36 hours I said, ‘We need to revisit this.’ And we came up with a much better plan. I listen to my constituents. When you say we’ve done something wrong, I don’t cover my ears, and say, ‘Well, that’s the way it is.’ If you think we’ve done something wrong, you’ve got an advocate in me. I listen to you, and I think I’ve proved that by my actions.

“You know, we are really at a crossroads right now as a city," Vaughan continued. "We can dig our heels in and we can keep our extreme left and our extreme right. You know, if we want to be successful we have to come together and we have to be willing to make broad steps. And sometimes broad steps cost money. But you know, we have to consider everything because if we keep just doing business as usual we’re going to stagnate.”

Candidate profile: C. Bradley Hunt II

C. Bradley Hunt II is arrested with fellow activists Cherrell Brown and Wesley Morris in May 2010 after a sit-in on the Greensboro City Council dais to protest alleged police corruption in May 2010. (file photo)

This year’s city council race features an influx of younger candidates, a handful of them in their twenties, and C. Bradley Hunt II is the youngest. As far as he is concerned, his youthfulness is an asset.

“That which I lack in experience I make up for in enthusiasm,” Hunt said. “I do mean business. Historically young people have changed this nation.”

The 24-year old A&T senior and political science major might be young, but he is no newcomer to politics. Hunt, a Greensboro native, has campaigned for Gladys Robinson, Marcus Brandon, and Barack Obama. Hunt serves on the Guilford County Community Political Action Committee and the executive board of the Greensboro NAACP.

He is a part of A&T’s Political Science Society and cofounded “The Movement,” a campus group aiming to involve students in civic issues off campus. And, in 2010, Hunt served as Greensboro’s mayor for one minute during a civil disobedience action by the Spirit of the Sit-in Movement Initiative to protest the council’s unwillingness to adequately address the group’s concerns about a number of issues, particularly police corruption and the White Street landfill.

“Martin Luther King Jr. said, ‘It’s always the right time to do the right thing,’” said Hunt, who added that he has matured since the city council action. “When you take a stand, the people will stand with you.”

After considering a run in the last election, Hunt decided to throw his hat in the ring challenging Jim Kee for the District 2 seat because he says Kee hasn’t taken a strong stance on important issues.

Hunt’s approach to leadership is central to the campaign and sets him apart from the other candidates, he said. Instead of formulating positions on issues, Hunt said he would vote according to what his constituents want. His campaign to reach out and listen to constituents is well under way: Hunt said he knocked on approximately 500 doors this summer.

“This campaign, in a sense, has nothing to do with me, it’s about giving people back their seat and vote on council,” he said. “It’s very important to build relationships and for people to be able to trust you, and in turn you have to be accountable.”

As an example, Hunt said that Kee often differs from his constituents on the landfill, trying to reduce the negative impact of opening it or proposing technological advances.

“He has never taken a stand on an issue since he’s been on council,” Hunt said. “Silence unintentionally allows evil to flourish. We cannot tolerate and allow a leader who won’t take a stand. The landfill is a nonstarter and we will not compromise on this issue.”

Hunt takes issue with other things the current council has done too, including cuts to early voting, the forced resignation of the city attorney, and moving speakers from the floor to the end of council meetings, he said.

But Hunt said his central campaign issues are job creation, economic development, transportation infrastructure and coming up with a long-term solid waste solution.

Referencing the old saying that teaching a man to fish is more valuable than giving him one, Hunt said helping the unemployed develop job skills is important, but added, “the people in my district do not have anywhere to fish. We need to create streams, rivers, oceans.”

Hunt, who lives off campus with his family, said one problem with economic development is barriers to employment, citing the difficulty convicted felons face when looking for work.

In addition to politics, spirituality is the other major part of Hunt’s life. He grew up attending New Light Missionary Baptist Church, where he is still active. His pastor, the Rev. Cardes Brown Jr., is like a father to him, but Hunt said Brown discouraged him from running for office.

“I’m a man of faith and strong religious belief,” Hunt said. “ I take my relationship with Christ very seriously.”

Not surprisingly, then, when he has time for reading outside of school he often reaches for the Bible. Hunt is also reading The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander. One day, Hunt wants to be a civil rights attorney.

“At this point, a change from the status quo is necessary,” said Hunt. “[This] ultra-conservative council is not safe for the city. I see an opportunity for myself and the citizens of District 2 to really come together and inspire.”

Kee to have challenger in District 2 city council race

C. Bradley Hunt II will challenge incumbent Jim Kee for the District 2 seat. The announcement makes official what was already known.

Press release after the jump:

Committee to Elect C. Bradley Hunt II

For Immediate Release: C. Bradley Hunt II says he will be the new voice of District 2.

C. Bradley Hunt II would like to announce his candidacy to be the voice of District 2 in the upcoming Greensboro City Council race. C. Bradley Hunt II is a lifelong resident of Greensboro, and is known within the community as a community activist. Hunt is a senior political science major at North Carolina A&T and a member of New Light Missionary Baptist Church.

When asked why he decided to run Hunt stated, "I believe that the time has come for District 2 to have a representative with conviction that does not waiver. Our current leadership, whether he means well or not, does not have the strong voice we need for a community that is constantly left out and under attack like District 2. When elected I think it is imperative that the council, mayor and the citizens of Greensboro understand that our community will no longer take a back seat to economic development, crime and justice, and education. It is also important to let everyone know that under no circumstances will we allow the re-opening of the White Street landfill, that conversation is a non starter and there is no room for compromise."

For more information please call (336.525.5160) or email cbhunt2011@gmail.com

UPDATE: Eric Ginsburg reminds me that Bradley Hunt was among five people in the Spirit of the Sit-In Movement who got arrested in a coordinated act of civil disobedience for taking over the dais at city council in May 2010.