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.”
Showing posts with label Jay Ovittore. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jay Ovittore. Show all posts
Matheny and Ovittore on teen curfew, youth activities, jobs
Last week’s candidate forum at Congregational United Church of Christ marked District 3 incumbent Zack Matheny’s first foray into the campaign, and challenger Jay Ovittore, who has been talking to community groups for more than a month appeared to relish the opportunity to be in the same room with his opponent.
“There’s a few things I want to accomplish on council, and that’s if you will elect me to be your council man,” Ovittore said. “First and foremost, we need to move speakers from the floor back to the beginning of the meeting. I made that promise in other interviews and other forums. That will be the first motion I make as a council member. My job as a councilman? First and foremost is to represent you the citizens in this city, and then secondly to do the city’s business. It’s not the other way around.
“Second thing I’d like to do is repeal the teen curfew downtown – it’s hurting our small businesses and our downtown nightlife – that was instituted by our current councilman in District 3,” Ovittore added.
An audience member also challenged Matheny on the curfew, which affects young people under 18 years old after 11 p.m.
“I find it hard to believe that very many businesses downtown – which it is the businesses that told me to create the curfew in the first place – I find it very hard when people 16 and under are supplying that much business for those businesses, because the curfew starts at 11 p.m. Now, during the school year, I got to be honest with you – I’m not going to be anybody’s parent – but I don’t think a 14-year-old needs to be downtown at midnight. And if they’re hurting the businesses downtown, what businesses are they? Because most restaurants are closed after 11 o’clock. The food’s cut off. They can’t buy beer, can they? And you get free refills on Coca-Cola. So, are they really hurting that much business?”
Matheny lead the effort to implement the curfew last year based, in part, on prodding from Downtown Greensboro Inc. Matheny said he also received encouragement from the police department.
“I was meeting with the captain of my central division yesterday at the Green Bean, at a small business in downtown Greensboro,” Matheny said. “And I said, ‘Captain, there’s a lot of talk about this curfew. Y’all are the ones that told me, with the business owners, to put the curfew in. In your professional opinion as the captain of this division, what do you want me to do?’ ‘Keep it.’”
Speaking before council in November 2010, police Chief Ken Miller offered measured support for the curfew proposal, citing his experience with an under-16 teen curfew that was applied citywide in Charlotte.
“My concern is – I have to police the entire community, not just downtown,” Miller said at the time. “And I have to manage police relationships with diverse communities. And as we implement ordinances that are enforcement based, there’s generally a more in-depth process of analysis and understanding that goes into them before you’re voting on them. This one’s moved very fast, but it is limited to the downtown.”
Later, the chief added, “I am comfortable with the downtown provision, but I’m not comfortable with the process we went through to get there.”
In other comment, Miller expressed both support for the concept and concern about the process of arriving at a decision.
“Well, both the truancy and the late-night activities really ought to require some thoughtful analysis,” he said. “I think, in terms of our strategies and our approaches. The curfew – and I’ve heard the comments here earlier today, but my experience with applying curfews has not been heavy handed in my prior jurisdiction. And we just didn’t have any backlash from it. We were able to take kids off the street and get them home. And we think, Charlotte-Mecklenburg felt, reduced victimization and some late-night crime.”
During his exchange with Matheny last week, Ovittore said he had spoken with business owners at the southern end of Elm Street near the Green Bean and M’Coul’s, adding, “They are seeing a loss in business.”
An audience member asked Ovittore and Matheny what council could do to provide training and employment to young people so that they’re not tempted to engage in criminal activity.
“I can’t tell you how long ago it was, but a bond passed by the voters of Greensboro for, I believe, a skate park or a teen center in downtown Greensboro,” Ovittore said. “That bond needs to be put into action. That money needs to be allocated for that teen center-slash-skate park…. And as far as jobs go, taking some of the incentive money we throw around to real estate developers and putting it into a fund for small businesses that apply for grant money from the city that are looking to expand their businesses that don’t necessarily have the money to do it right now but would hire more people if they did have the money, I think that’s a wise investment for our city.”
Parks and Recreation Director Greg Jackson said the city is currently planning to build a skate park, which was approved by voters as part of a 2006 bond referendum, at the Hilltop Recreation Center and Park in the southwest corner of the city. As to a downtown teen center, the city recently closed the Folk Teen Center on Clifton Road. Jackson said that while the city plans to continue teen programming at other facilities, there is no bond funding currently allocated for a downtown teen center.
Matheny indicated that he does not believe it is the city’s role to create employment opportunities for youth beyond supporting small businesses.
“From a council perspective, in reality, what can a council do to help youth become workers?” he said. “We can’t really do a whole lot, in reality. What we can do is focus on the small businesses, which the small businesses can hopefully hire youth. That’s the reality. We can continue to have outlets for them to go to such as our parks and rec department, and we can have things which council can support, the city can support. We can have outlets, but as far as income-producing outlets, I think the main thing city council can do is focus on the small businesses….”
Zack Matheny said he asked his family recently if he should run again.
“My wife, who I love dearly, looked at me and said, ‘Well, if you don’t run – you love the city of Greensboro – you’re not going to sit still and sit idle, so you might as well go ahead and run again.’” Matheny said. “My 10 year old, the wise person that he is, looked at me and said, ‘Yeah, you should run again.’ What would he know? Why should I run again? He said, ‘Because I get to see you in the newspaper and on TV.’ You do think about it. He is my stepson, but he’s every bit my son. And you want your kids to look up to you. And you realize that what I do is important. And he realizes that what we do and the decisions we make and how we carry ourselves are important. It’s important for me to look up to me. It’s important for me to represent my citizens.”
Matheny outlined a stance on economic development that featured flexible standards for incentives.
“Jobs – we’ve got to think out of the box,” he said. “We’re in an environment we’ve got to throw the box away, as Dr. Nido Qubein said over in High Point. We’ve got to do everything we can, whether it’s lower the minimum wage, higher wage, in the city of Greensboro, outside of the city of Greensboro. We got to figure it out and we got to work together.”
Ovittore sought to differentiate himself from Matheny by establishing distance from the real-estate industry, whose members have contributed lavishly to the incumbent’s campaigns over the years.
“I am first and foremost a citizen of Greensboro,” Ovittore said. “I am not owned and operated by real estate developers. I will not take money from real estate developers. I will not give them a larger seat at the table than any other person sitting in this room today.
To see the next round, attend the Greensboro Neighborhood Congress' district candidate forum tonight at 6:30 p.m. at the Nussbaum Room in the downtown public library.
“There’s a few things I want to accomplish on council, and that’s if you will elect me to be your council man,” Ovittore said. “First and foremost, we need to move speakers from the floor back to the beginning of the meeting. I made that promise in other interviews and other forums. That will be the first motion I make as a council member. My job as a councilman? First and foremost is to represent you the citizens in this city, and then secondly to do the city’s business. It’s not the other way around.
“Second thing I’d like to do is repeal the teen curfew downtown – it’s hurting our small businesses and our downtown nightlife – that was instituted by our current councilman in District 3,” Ovittore added.
An audience member also challenged Matheny on the curfew, which affects young people under 18 years old after 11 p.m.
“I find it hard to believe that very many businesses downtown – which it is the businesses that told me to create the curfew in the first place – I find it very hard when people 16 and under are supplying that much business for those businesses, because the curfew starts at 11 p.m. Now, during the school year, I got to be honest with you – I’m not going to be anybody’s parent – but I don’t think a 14-year-old needs to be downtown at midnight. And if they’re hurting the businesses downtown, what businesses are they? Because most restaurants are closed after 11 o’clock. The food’s cut off. They can’t buy beer, can they? And you get free refills on Coca-Cola. So, are they really hurting that much business?”
Matheny lead the effort to implement the curfew last year based, in part, on prodding from Downtown Greensboro Inc. Matheny said he also received encouragement from the police department.
“I was meeting with the captain of my central division yesterday at the Green Bean, at a small business in downtown Greensboro,” Matheny said. “And I said, ‘Captain, there’s a lot of talk about this curfew. Y’all are the ones that told me, with the business owners, to put the curfew in. In your professional opinion as the captain of this division, what do you want me to do?’ ‘Keep it.’”
Speaking before council in November 2010, police Chief Ken Miller offered measured support for the curfew proposal, citing his experience with an under-16 teen curfew that was applied citywide in Charlotte.
“My concern is – I have to police the entire community, not just downtown,” Miller said at the time. “And I have to manage police relationships with diverse communities. And as we implement ordinances that are enforcement based, there’s generally a more in-depth process of analysis and understanding that goes into them before you’re voting on them. This one’s moved very fast, but it is limited to the downtown.”
Later, the chief added, “I am comfortable with the downtown provision, but I’m not comfortable with the process we went through to get there.”
In other comment, Miller expressed both support for the concept and concern about the process of arriving at a decision.
“Well, both the truancy and the late-night activities really ought to require some thoughtful analysis,” he said. “I think, in terms of our strategies and our approaches. The curfew – and I’ve heard the comments here earlier today, but my experience with applying curfews has not been heavy handed in my prior jurisdiction. And we just didn’t have any backlash from it. We were able to take kids off the street and get them home. And we think, Charlotte-Mecklenburg felt, reduced victimization and some late-night crime.”
During his exchange with Matheny last week, Ovittore said he had spoken with business owners at the southern end of Elm Street near the Green Bean and M’Coul’s, adding, “They are seeing a loss in business.”
An audience member asked Ovittore and Matheny what council could do to provide training and employment to young people so that they’re not tempted to engage in criminal activity.
“I can’t tell you how long ago it was, but a bond passed by the voters of Greensboro for, I believe, a skate park or a teen center in downtown Greensboro,” Ovittore said. “That bond needs to be put into action. That money needs to be allocated for that teen center-slash-skate park…. And as far as jobs go, taking some of the incentive money we throw around to real estate developers and putting it into a fund for small businesses that apply for grant money from the city that are looking to expand their businesses that don’t necessarily have the money to do it right now but would hire more people if they did have the money, I think that’s a wise investment for our city.”
Parks and Recreation Director Greg Jackson said the city is currently planning to build a skate park, which was approved by voters as part of a 2006 bond referendum, at the Hilltop Recreation Center and Park in the southwest corner of the city. As to a downtown teen center, the city recently closed the Folk Teen Center on Clifton Road. Jackson said that while the city plans to continue teen programming at other facilities, there is no bond funding currently allocated for a downtown teen center.
Matheny indicated that he does not believe it is the city’s role to create employment opportunities for youth beyond supporting small businesses.
“From a council perspective, in reality, what can a council do to help youth become workers?” he said. “We can’t really do a whole lot, in reality. What we can do is focus on the small businesses, which the small businesses can hopefully hire youth. That’s the reality. We can continue to have outlets for them to go to such as our parks and rec department, and we can have things which council can support, the city can support. We can have outlets, but as far as income-producing outlets, I think the main thing city council can do is focus on the small businesses….”
Zack Matheny said he asked his family recently if he should run again.
“My wife, who I love dearly, looked at me and said, ‘Well, if you don’t run – you love the city of Greensboro – you’re not going to sit still and sit idle, so you might as well go ahead and run again.’” Matheny said. “My 10 year old, the wise person that he is, looked at me and said, ‘Yeah, you should run again.’ What would he know? Why should I run again? He said, ‘Because I get to see you in the newspaper and on TV.’ You do think about it. He is my stepson, but he’s every bit my son. And you want your kids to look up to you. And you realize that what I do is important. And he realizes that what we do and the decisions we make and how we carry ourselves are important. It’s important for me to look up to me. It’s important for me to represent my citizens.”
Matheny outlined a stance on economic development that featured flexible standards for incentives.
“Jobs – we’ve got to think out of the box,” he said. “We’re in an environment we’ve got to throw the box away, as Dr. Nido Qubein said over in High Point. We’ve got to do everything we can, whether it’s lower the minimum wage, higher wage, in the city of Greensboro, outside of the city of Greensboro. We got to figure it out and we got to work together.”
Ovittore sought to differentiate himself from Matheny by establishing distance from the real-estate industry, whose members have contributed lavishly to the incumbent’s campaigns over the years.
“I am first and foremost a citizen of Greensboro,” Ovittore said. “I am not owned and operated by real estate developers. I will not take money from real estate developers. I will not give them a larger seat at the table than any other person sitting in this room today.
To see the next round, attend the Greensboro Neighborhood Congress' district candidate forum tonight at 6:30 p.m. at the Nussbaum Room in the downtown public library.
Candidate profile: Jay Ovittore
District 3 challenger Jay Ovittore (left) speaks at a candidate forum with incumbent Zack Matheny.Nov. 8, 2011 is a big day for two reasons.
It marks the release of the “Call of Duty” war-fighter simulation game. As an employee of GameStop, Jay Ovittore would ordinarily have a tough time getting permission to take off on such a major sales day. But his boss made an exception: Ovittore will be working the polls and watching the returns in hopes that Greensboro voters will elect him to the next representative of District 3 on city council that day. He’ll have help from the AFL-CIO to set out campaign signs at polling places the night before.
In a field of competition typically crowded with financial advisors, real estate professionals and business owners, Ovittore’s livelihood as a retail employee gives him an every-man touch. But his union backing represents another facet of his candidacy: As a former human relations commissioner, onetime consumer lobbyist and volunteer coordinator for the city’s unsuccessful Google Fiber initiative, Ovittore has gradually built a reputation as a hardworking and thoughtful civic leader.
As a challenger to two-term incumbent Zack Matheny, Ovittore undoubtedly remains the underdog. While Matheny has alienated some constituencies from time to time, he has also proven to be a high-profile and vocal leader, particularly on the issue of public safety and promotion of the Natural Science Center. And Ovittore has a lot of ground to make up, if election returns two years are predictive: Ovittore was eliminated from a three-way race in the 2009 primary, winning only 12.7 percent of the vote. Matheny went on to handily defeat the successful challenger in the general election.
Ovittore has tapped into an anti-incumbency mood among the electorate by emphatically declaring his opposition to efforts to reopen the White Street Landfill. Matheny was sidelined on the issue because of a conflict of interest. And Ovittore has declared that his first motion, if elected, would be to move speakers from the floor back to the beginning of the meeting. Matheny voted in May 2010 with the majority to move speakers from the floor from the beginning to the end of the meeting.
The challenger has also exploited a sense of alienation felt by some downtown business people towards the incumbent, particularly on an initiative to implement a teenage curfew at the instigation of Downtown Greensboro Inc., a group representing a number of powerful developers and downtown property owners.
Earlier this year a new group called Downtown Alliance GSO emerged to fill a perceived void. Ovittore’s recent meeting with the group appears to have created a good impression.
“Ovittore seems to be in step with many of the Downtown Alliance GSO goals, citing a need to move incentives from developers to entrepreneurs and business owners, opposition to the teenage curfew and improving the public image of Greensboro politics as some of his objectives,” wrote David McLean, owner of King’s English public relations firm, in a recent blog post.
“I look at downtown as the Montagues and the Capulets,” Ovittore said during an interview yesterday at Caribou Coffee in the Friendly Shopping Center. “One side is artistic and the other is development oriented. We’ve got to get them both to the table.”
Ovittore said he has talked to some Greensboro police officers about an under-18 downtown curfew. The candidate said the curfew was unnecessary, and unfairly punished teenagers for a public safety problem caused mainly by adults.
“Some of these teens are now 18 and able to vote,” Ovittore said, “and I hope they’ll remember who voted to implement the curfew.”
Ovittore adds to the distinguishing factors between himself and the incumbent: “The fact that I’m not owned and operated by local real estate developers. I find it unethical that real estate developers donate to some candidates and then come before those same candidates and ask for rezoning favors. It seems like our local politics has become pay to play.”
Ovittore announced early in the campaign that he would not respond to questionnaires by the Triad Real Estate and Building Industries Coalition or the Greensboro Landlords Association, and that he would not seek the landlords associations’ endorsement. Matheny, who is employed by a real estate and investment management company, received 41 percent of his 2009 campaign funds from contributors involved in the real estate industry, according to an analysis conducted by YES! Weekly.
Ovittore noted that a number of sitting council members have accepted campaign contributions from Roy Carroll, a developer who owns a company that has been developing a proposal to seek incentives from the city to create a shovel-ready site for economic development.
“It’s a microcosm of the problem we have in DC,” Ovittore said. “Loudon County, Virginia, which includes the city of Alexandria, has passed an ordinance that does not allow real estate developers to make campaign contributions. Some would argue it’s a free-speech issue. They don’t have the right to buy influence on the city council and get their way every time.”
Ovittore also challenged Matheny on his commitment to transparency.
“Every time I’ve heard him speak in this campaign, he says he’s open and transparent,” Ovittore said. “You yourself reported that he tried to hide redistricting maps. If he tried to hide that, what else is he hiding?”
On some issues, the challenger said he agrees with the man who currently holds the District 3 seat. Matheny has broken ranks with fellow conservatives by backing major bond projects such as the Greensboro Aquatic Center and, more significantly for District 3, the SciQuarium at the Natural Science Center. Matheny persuaded his fellow council members to place a $20 million bond to expand the science center on the 2009 general election ballot.
Ovittore said he commends Matheny for his leadership on the Natural Science Center, characterizing the facility as “extremely important.” Ovittore said he counts himself as a supporter of the science center in particular and of science in general.
As a lobbyist, Ovittore said he brought it to City Manager Rashad Young’s attention that the Republican-controlled General Assembly was considering legislation that would make it more difficult for municipalities to establish their own broadband services. The Greensboro City Council passed a resolution opposing the legislation, but the General Assembly ultimately enacted it. Ovittore credits Matheny with casting the deciding vote to put the city on the record as opposed to the bill.
Ovittore indicated that his stance on the landfill has been neither a help nor a hindrance with voters in the district.
“There’s a lot of people still opposed to it being opened up,” the candidate said. “There are some who feel differently. I put it to them as: What if it was in your backyard?”
He added that he hears a lot of complaints about the city spending $8 million a year – the purported cost of keeping the landfill closed.
“If you think that’s expensive, then open it up and see if a cancer cluster develops,” Ovittore said. “See how much it costs to settle a lawsuit.”
The candidate said he is interested in having the city own and operate a landfill as opposed to being a customer to another local government, and also interested in pursuing waste-to-energy technology. He added that he would consider taking a portfolio approach so that the city diverted a portion of its waste stream from a landfill to experiment with waste-to-energy techniques.
“If it costs our council a little more to pursue an avenue that would be advantageous in the future, I’m willing to consider that,” Ovittore said. “A basic business principle is you have to spend money to make money.”
Ovittore shares with at-large candidate Wayne Abraham, with whom he formerly served on the human relations commission, a critique of the city’s sprawling growth pattern.
“I understand the principle that if a city doesn’t grow, it dies,” Ovittore said. “I want to see the city grow up instead of growing out. I strongly prefer infill over sprawl.”
The candidate expressed skepticism about whether annexation ultimately pays for itself by generating additional tax revenues in excess of the cost of extending services. And contrary to the assurance of a number of candidates, Ovittore said he believes the city council can help create jobs. Ovittore’s proposal for doing that involves shifting incentive money from industrial development projects on the outskirts of the city to redevelopment projects at the city’s core.
“There’s a difference between giving Roy Carroll an abatement and we sprawl out, and giving a building owner an abatement to beautify a business downtown,” Ovittore said.
As a member of the human relations commission, Ovittore chaired the housing committee, and served on the RUCO task force to monitor negotiations between landlords and housing advocates over the city’s proactive rental inspection program.
A tenant himself, Ovittore faults the current council for remaining publicly silent when the General Assembly passed legislation to outlaw the RUCO program this summer.
“Sitting on the housing committee as chair and seeing that the real estate industry wanted to get rid of a program that upgraded housing and brought everything up to a minimum safety standard, the message was that the real estate industry doesn’t care about their housing,” Ovittore said. “When the General Assembly passed that bill, Mecklenburg County and Wake County got themselves exempted. You didn’t hear anything from our city council. I relate it to the human aspect. I want it to be safe.”
City council candidate snubs real estate interest questionnaires
Jay Ovittore, a candidate for Greensboro City Council in District 3, says he is not completing questionnaires for the Triad Real Estate and Building Industries Coalition, or TREBIC, and Greensboro Landlords Association during this election cycle.
The landlords association makes endorsements and funnels money to candidates in the form of campaign contributions through its political action committee. While TREBIC does not make endorsements or direct contributions, the candidates responses, coupled with face time with industry members at the coalition’s annual Pigs, Poultry and Politics political event, drives significant campaign finance from builders, developers, bankers and real estate brokers after the October primary.
Statement from the candidate after the jump:
The landlords association makes endorsements and funnels money to candidates in the form of campaign contributions through its political action committee. While TREBIC does not make endorsements or direct contributions, the candidates responses, coupled with face time with industry members at the coalition’s annual Pigs, Poultry and Politics political event, drives significant campaign finance from builders, developers, bankers and real estate brokers after the October primary.
Statement from the candidate after the jump:
For far too long, our local real estate developers have had a monetary stranglehold on our city council giving them an unfair advantage over average citizens. I see serving as a councilman as a job beholden to serve the citizens of my district. I have no problem sitting and listening to the real estate community, but they will not get any special treatment compared to my next door neighbor or the family that lives down the street. I am fully aware that our developers have a role in how our city grows, but their ability to usurp power via campaign donations has got to stop so we can fix our local problems and serve our citizens, not just a select few. I have heard from the public repeatedly that they want representation that wasn’t purchased by real estate developers. I will be that representation. Being true to myself and those I hope to represent, I will not seek the endorsement of TREBIC’s [spelling corrected] joint election committee or the Greensboro Landlord’s Association.
I do see real problems in our local real estate market. The very people I am not going to be a pawn for, lobbied our state house to repeal our RUCO (Rental Unit Certificate of Occupancy) program and others like it successfully. RUCO eliminated 80 percent of our substandard rental housing in Greensboro in five short years, all the while being fought by TREBIC [spelling corrected] and the Greensboro Landlords Association. RUCO didn’t only force rental property owners to keep their houses up to a minimum standard to live in, but ensured every Greensboro citizen that when they rented in our city they would be in a safe and habitable home. RUCO also kept property values in neighborhoods in a better position, which in turn kept tax revenue in a better position. Rundown housing will bring down property values for houses that surround them, the same way foreclosures hurt entire neighborhoods.
There will be plenty of opportunities to answer questions for the public at local forums and in most local media. I look forward to debating my opponent in the coming months, giving the public a better option for council and holding him accountable on issues I know my fellow constituents are upset about.
What did they know and when did they know it?
George Hartzman, who lost his bid for the District 3 seat on Greensboro City Council, has a lot of questions for sitting council members. Most recently, he's asking when council members knew that the police department wanted a fifth patrol district. A recent story in the News & Record pegs the cost of an additional patrol district at $18.5 million.
The question of police coverage came up during Hartzman's race. Jay Ovittore, another District 3 candidate, advocated for putting more patrol officers on the street during the campaign.
“We have 639 officers on the street,” he said during a Sept. 28 candidate forum at Presbyterian Church of the Covenant in College Hill. “Right now, Chief Bellamy says we need 950 officers. So essentially what the police department is doing is pretty laughable. We’ve got crime in this neighborhood and a lot of people complain; they put resources over here and they take resources from over here. Back and forth and back and forth. We need more officers and we need more coverage.”
Incumbent Zack Matheny downplayed funding as a factor in police coverage in rebuttal to Ovittore.
“You might hear a police officer say, ‘You know what, we could use more police officers’; You might hear the police chief say, ‘You know, we could use more police officers,’” Matheny said. “Have you ever heard a police officer or a chief say, ‘We don’t have enough money’? No, you don’t hear it. Ladies and gentlemen, if there were a hundred people outside on South Mendenhall Street waiting to become police officers for the city of Greensboro, what do you think the city council will do? We’ll find the money.”
Ovittore was knocked out in the primary. Matheny prevailed over Hartzman in the Nov. 3 general election.
During a Dec. 8 briefing for new council members that was attended by Mayor Bill Knight, Mayor Pro Tem Nancy Vaughan, at-large Councilman Danny Thompson and District 2 Councilman Jim Kee, police Chief Tim Bellamy said the police department would like to have a fifth district. He noted that the western district is 42 square miles and the patrol officers in the eastern district have to drive through the county to reach annexed areas near McLeansville. He said that adding a fifth patrol district would entail adding 78 new officers, including commanders. The chief, who is retiring next year, added that over the next five years the department will need an additional 250 officers.
Vaughan expressed support for the chief's request four days later at the council's retreat.
“I think we need the fifth police district," she said. "McLeansville – that is really way out in the middle of nowhere. I don’t know how we can serve them.”
The council voted to approve a $7 million financing plan for the planned aquatic center on Dec. 15, a point of contention for Hartzman.
Matheny was quoted in the News & Record on Dec. 20 saying something that sounded very much like support for the additional patrol district: “If we’ve got a plan to cover more territory, I think city council would support that initiative going forward. If it helps District 3, it’s got to help the other four districts citywide. We’ve got to cover more territory.”
The question of police coverage came up during Hartzman's race. Jay Ovittore, another District 3 candidate, advocated for putting more patrol officers on the street during the campaign.
“We have 639 officers on the street,” he said during a Sept. 28 candidate forum at Presbyterian Church of the Covenant in College Hill. “Right now, Chief Bellamy says we need 950 officers. So essentially what the police department is doing is pretty laughable. We’ve got crime in this neighborhood and a lot of people complain; they put resources over here and they take resources from over here. Back and forth and back and forth. We need more officers and we need more coverage.”
Incumbent Zack Matheny downplayed funding as a factor in police coverage in rebuttal to Ovittore.
“You might hear a police officer say, ‘You know what, we could use more police officers’; You might hear the police chief say, ‘You know, we could use more police officers,’” Matheny said. “Have you ever heard a police officer or a chief say, ‘We don’t have enough money’? No, you don’t hear it. Ladies and gentlemen, if there were a hundred people outside on South Mendenhall Street waiting to become police officers for the city of Greensboro, what do you think the city council will do? We’ll find the money.”
Ovittore was knocked out in the primary. Matheny prevailed over Hartzman in the Nov. 3 general election.
During a Dec. 8 briefing for new council members that was attended by Mayor Bill Knight, Mayor Pro Tem Nancy Vaughan, at-large Councilman Danny Thompson and District 2 Councilman Jim Kee, police Chief Tim Bellamy said the police department would like to have a fifth district. He noted that the western district is 42 square miles and the patrol officers in the eastern district have to drive through the county to reach annexed areas near McLeansville. He said that adding a fifth patrol district would entail adding 78 new officers, including commanders. The chief, who is retiring next year, added that over the next five years the department will need an additional 250 officers.
Vaughan expressed support for the chief's request four days later at the council's retreat.
“I think we need the fifth police district," she said. "McLeansville – that is really way out in the middle of nowhere. I don’t know how we can serve them.”
The council voted to approve a $7 million financing plan for the planned aquatic center on Dec. 15, a point of contention for Hartzman.
Matheny was quoted in the News & Record on Dec. 20 saying something that sounded very much like support for the additional patrol district: “If we’ve got a plan to cover more territory, I think city council would support that initiative going forward. If it helps District 3, it’s got to help the other four districts citywide. We’ve got to cover more territory.”
D4 and D3 campaign finance update
Joel Landau, a candidate for Greensboro City Council in District 4, has raised $3,055 since Jan. 1, and holds $3,487 in cash on hand, according to a campaign finance report filed on Sept. 10. Mary Rakestraw, who currently holds an at-large seat and his Landau's most formidable opponent, reports raising $1,665 and has $2,996 in cash on hand for roughly the same period. Mike Martin and Joseph Rahenkamp, who are also candidates in the District 4 race, have filed no campaign finance reports.
District 3 candidate Jay Ovittore reports having raised $1,075, with $824 in cash on hand as of Aug. 24. Ovittore is receiving support from people active across the state in the Democratic Party, including former US Senate candidate Jim Neal and NC Rep. Grier Martin. Ovittore remains significantly behind the other two District 3 candidates, Zack Matheny and George Hartzman, who have respectively raised $7,900 and $2,850.
District 3 candidate Jay Ovittore reports having raised $1,075, with $824 in cash on hand as of Aug. 24. Ovittore is receiving support from people active across the state in the Democratic Party, including former US Senate candidate Jim Neal and NC Rep. Grier Martin. Ovittore remains significantly behind the other two District 3 candidates, Zack Matheny and George Hartzman, who have respectively raised $7,900 and $2,850.
District 3 candidates tangle in College Hill
Zack Matheny, Jay Ovittore and George Hartzman (l-r) are vying for the District 3 seat on Greensboro City Council. (photo by Jordan Green)
The three candidates for the District 3 seat on Greensboro City Council appeared together tonight for a forum at Presbyterian Church of the Covenant that was hosted by the Fisher Park and College Hill neighborhood associations.
The three had met voters together before, last month at a forum hosted by the Democratic Women of Guilford County, but this was the first time all appeared for a forum solely devoted to the District 3 race. Incumbent Zack Matheny parried with challengers George Hartzman and Jay Ovittore on a range of issues, including public safety, constituent services and ethics.
Hartzman set the tone with his opening statement.
“We are in what I would say is the fourth inning of a pretty ugly scene, the worst that has occurred since the Great Depression," he said. "Crime, as unemployment benefits expire, is going to spike. We are going to have to deal with it together because the government isn’t necessarily going to have enough money to fund everything. On a community basis, we’re going to have to make some changes. We’re going to have to actually participate in these community watch programs.”
Matheny outline his accomplishments in his first term, focusing on keeping taxes flat.
“I’m going to do my best to not raise your taxes or your fees," he said. "We tried to cut $200,000 out of the Greensboro landscaping budget, out of a $600,000 budget. I never knew how important plants were to the city of Greensboro. I can tell you: I know now…. How do you juggle? We did it pretty nicely in this past budget cycle. Again, not raising your taxes. And we actually got it to where – the water rates were going to increase – and we stopped that as well.”
Ovittore outlined one of his signature proposals: hiring additional police officers and increasing patrols.
“We have 639 officers," he said. "Right now, Chief Bellamy says we need 950 officers. So essentially what the police department is doing is pretty laughable. We’ve got crime in this neighborhood and a lot of people complain, they put resources over here and they take resources from over here. Crime goes up over here. They reallocate resources back over here. Back and forth and back and forth. We need more officers and we need more coverage.”
Matheny quickly expressed skepticism.
“The 950 officers is probably a little bit high," he said. "At the last forum that we had my opponent said that we needed to double the police department.”
The candidates were asked to reconcile their professed support for strengthening the police department with promises to not increase taxes. Ovittore was the first to answer.
“I don’t want to raise your property taxes," he said. "In my first two years on council, if that comes up, I will most likely vote no. What I will tell you is the right way to raise money is to have a fund set up for police resources, and go to our state legislators, especially our Guilford County contingent – who I have a very good relationship with – and talk to them about increasing our city sales tax by a cent or two. I think everybody in this room would agree that for paying for more officers, if a soda costs a dollar, then we wouldn’t mind paying a dollar and one cent.”
Hartzman expressed his aversion to taxation.
“Greensboro has the highest tax rate of any of the cities in this state," he said. "Why is this so? It’s a question of allocation of resources.”
Matheny went on the offensive against Ovittore.
“Let’s focus on reality," he said. "That’s what I chose to focus on the last year and a half when I represented District 3. The reality is this: You might hear a police officer say, ‘You know what, we could use more police officers.’ You might hear the chief say, ‘You know what, we could use more police officers.’ Have you ever heard a police officer or a chief say, ‘We don’t have enough money’? No, you don’t hear it. Ladies and gentlemen, if there were a hundred people outside on South Mendenhall Street waiting to become police officers for the city of Greensboro, what do you think the city council will do? We’ll find the money…. We know our public safety ranks number one, number one. And so in reality, we have to get folks who want to be an officer for the city of Greensboro.”
Matheny also disparaged a pledge by Ovittore to hold constituent hours at Melvin Municipal Office Building.
“One of my opponents said he’s going to hold hours at the downtown MMOB," Matheny said. "I gotta tell you: I don’t know too many people who are my constituents that want to go down to the MMOB. I have worked hard to be accessible…. I will continue to come where neighborhoods want me to be. I will continue to come where individuals in my constituency want me to be.”
Hartzman, in turn, attacked Matheny, pointing to the significant campaign funds raised by the incumbent in his last race and questioning whether Matheny should have recused himself from voting on business brought before council by his contributors.
“I saw when the protest petition was being debated," Hartzman said. "And it came about from a county commissioner, Mike Winstead – his company is Mega Builders – wanted to build this three-story condo development out on Friendly Avenue. Mr. Winstead gave $1,000, his partner gave $1,000, and my understanding is that his attorney also contributed to his campaign. Less than six months later, the zoning commission came before city council. It was a split vote. Mike Barber recused himself from the vote because he had a financial [stake]. A lot of people said that Mr. Matheny should have recused himself from the vote because basically he had a financial interest…. If you consider he’s funding his campaign, it doesn’t fly. It doesn’t make sense. The system is broken here. That is a conflict of interest. It is a serious problem. I’m going to leave it at that.”
Matheny waited until his closing statement to respond, but gave no quarter.
“I will not apologize for volunteering for eight years, meeting people and learning a lot," he said. "And I think, quite honestly, it’s an honor to have had as many people contribute to my campaign. If George or anyone else would like to contribute to my campaign, I’d be happy to accept your check. You know, the thing about people who stand back and say, ‘Zack doesn’t have ethics and integrity,’ but if you look at what I have, it’s a track record. You may not agree with every decision that I make. But I am transparent. I let you know. It is out in the open. My contributions are out in the open. My decisions are out there. So I’m transparent…. I take that with a lot of pride that I feel I’ve served this office with the integrity that it deserves. I base my decisions on facts and reality, and I do my homework.”
Matheny turned the table on Ovittore and Hartzman, both of whom expressed support for the protest petition.
“The problem with that is now you’ve got a situation where if you had developers out there who want to do some infill development in the city of Greensboro… because if I were a developer – which I’m not, and neither is my company – it’s easier to develop in the county than the city," he said. "And that’s a situation that a lot of people didn’t give a lot of credence to.”
Hartzman said he doesn't see a need for city government to intervene to stop urban sprawl.
“From the research I’ve done I feel that inner-city neighborhoods like this and downtowns, and probably the other side of downtown are going to do very well," he said. "If energy prices go up – Are energy prices probably going to go up? Probably. The chances are. We seem to hate all the people that sell it to us. There is a limited supply of energy. And as that becomes more apparent to the economy as a whole the downtown areas will become much more valuable. Much more use of public transportation will occur. And the sprawl problem that we’ve had will be self correcting in a major way.”
Ovittore was allowed to make his closing statement after Matheny. He used it to explain why he got in the race, and to throw another punch at the incumbent.
“I got in this race at the last minute," he said. "As a human relations commissioner, I made a very tough decision, a very courageous decision. When this city council tasked the human relations commission to write a statement about the 1979 shootings, not too many commissioners raised their hands to volunteer for that. I raised my hand. Because I want to get our city past this. We need to get our city past this. I sat on that committee for a year. I read the truth and reconciliation report…. We wrote a statement of regret. We gave it to every city council person and the mayor before that council meeting to avoid any kind of surprise. I leaned forward to a reporter, and I said, ‘If my councilman votes against this, I’m in this race.’ And Councilman Matheny voted against it. And the reason he gave? He said, 'Our generation is past race relations.'"
Triad Elections '09
Jay Ovittore transcript
The following is a transcript of District 3 candidate Jay Ovittore's answers at a Guilford County Unity Effort candidate forum last night:
Introductory statement
My name is Jay Ovittore. I am running for city council in District 3. I’m a human relations commissioner here in the city of Greensboro. I chair the fair housing committee for the Greensboro Human Relations Commission. I have sat on the RUCO Task Force. I have sat on the subcommittee that scripted the statement of regret for the truth and reconciliation process. I am here to help. District 3 needs a lot of help right now. There are three things for the city that I want to focus on. One, being open and transparent. I am going to hold constituent hours at Melvin Municipal Building three days a week, four hours a day. If you need more, I’ll do more. I’m doing this because I want to and it’s the right thing. And I want to encourage other candidates and other council members to do the same. The police department, I want to focus on getting us a better police department. We have a good police department; it can always be better. And I want to bring jobs here. I want to focus on small businesses. I own a small business myself. We give incentives to folks like Dell and FedEx; we need to give incentives to folks like Mary’s Frame Shop, to hire two more people. Www.jayovittore.org.
How would you deal with the issue of dilapidated, unsafe housing and absentee landlords?
I sit on the RUCO Task Force, which reports to the RUCO Board.... We’ve reduced substandard housing in Greensboro by 80 percent in the first five years of the program, and we will continue to do that keeping RUCO in place. I sit as the fair housing chair for the Greensboro Human Relations Commission, and these are the problems I deal with on a daily basis. I myself — for full disclosure — have a RUCO complaint against my landlord right now for problems that haven’t been fixed over a period of eight months. Even the folks who are in the know have problems with this. And let me just point out that 98 percent of your landlords are good landlords. You have a few, a small percent, that own a lot of property that are letting it get rundown. And as long as we let our engineering and inspections department do their job, we will fix this problem. And that will raise everybody’s property values in this room.
The city staff came up with a plan to mitigate noise from the Urban Loop. Should the city adopt these rules?
I believe the city should adopt these rules. We need to put a barrier up between the Urban Loop and the houses that are there. Some cities have been fortunate enough to be able to put up brick barriers to reduce noise. The Urban Loop was in development well before those houses and those properties were built. The developers knew it was coming; they decided to put it up anyway. I think if anybody has a problem with the Urban Loop, they should go to the developers and yell and scream, because they’re the ones that put the people through the wringer. Bottom line.
There are certain places such as New Garden Road and Horse Pen Creek Road where sprawl as occurred and not urban infill, which is what many council people and candidates support. How will you address urban infill and limit the continued sprawl of northwest Greensboro?
I am a firm supporter of urban infill development. I believe that annexing properties out in the county that don’t pay for themselves in the long run — if the projected tax value doesn’t pay for the schools, libraries and firehouses, the police, the parks that need to be put into these neighborhoods — that’s what our sprawl problem is. We keep annexing property. Some are smart, and some are not. We just have to look at what we’re annexing, and what we’re not. The jobs are closer to downtown, but the one problem that my opponent has not addressed is that your folks like teachers, firefighters and policemen, your service workers, they’re getting pushed from the inner city out into to the suburbs. And in the suburbs they’re getting less bang for their buck, but they’re having to find new ways of transportation to get into where their jobs are. I think they’re all things we need to address.
Name something that would not have happened without you.
Time-Warner Cable. If you remember a few months back, Time-Warner Cable tried to implement a cap on how much bandwidth you can use on your internet. They would charge you more money than they’re charging you now, and they would cap it at a certain point — ten-, twenty-, thirty-gigabyte caps. I know this is getting very hairy, so bear with me. What that would do is they would essentially charge you an overage fee after you reached that cap. I put together a coalition of folks here in Greensboro, as well as folks in Rochester, New York, San Antonio, Texas and Austin, Texas — the four markets they were trying to do this in — and we got them to shelve that idea. The senator from New York, Charles Schumer, actually sat down with the CEO of Time-Warner and got them to shelve that. Part of that effort stemmed from here; it stemmed from me. I’ve already been fighting for you, saving you money in the long run. Your internet bill could have been two times more expensive than it is now.
How would you improve public transportation for areas in the city without bus service?
The one thing we always have to do with transportation is we have to fix the… ridership. If an area doesn’t have a bus route and there are only two or three people that may ride it, that will cost the city an immense amount of money to put a bus out there. I think expanding stuff like our HEAT service recently was a very good idea for our students that live outside the university area. I have been talking to Rep. Grier Martin out of Wake County. In the next five years we’re looking at a light-rail system from Greensboro to Raleigh. If you elect me to council, I will make sure we get that light-rail system.
What is your position on land use, zoning or future land-use planning?
There’s a lot of discussion right now on the LDO — the land development ordinance. It’s been sold very badly by the department that’s running it. The way it was explained to me is on the old zoning maps if it said RS-7 that might be a residential with five units. It makes no sense whatsoever. And to the general public it makes no sense either. Under the new LDO it would say R-5, which makes total sense — residential 5. MU-7 — mixed use 7. It makes it easier for you to read, and for you to enact your protest petition — which I’m glad we have back. I look at the 2025 plan. I think we’re on target for a lot of those things that are in the plan. I also believe that things change. Times change. Money changes. The economy changes. So some of those things may change as well. I think the LDO in general is going to simplify the process for the everyday, average citizen.
What is your vision for Greensboro concerning the following environmental issues: the expansion of the current recycling program with more types of materials and accessibility to recycling centers?
I think we can always improve our recycling. We’re lucky enough to have enacted a — to be one of the Cool Cities. I think that’s done wonders for us. It’s right in our name: “Greens”-boro. We need to be a green city. Depending on what cost is involved in collecting different types of recycling from homes or businesses would [determine] whether or not I’d want to implement that or not. But I would want there to be a place for the common folk in the city to go to and say, “Okay, I’m separating my brown bottles from my green bottles, and my plastics.” And to be able to do that at a recycling center.
Closing statement
I’m not going to take the entire two minutes. I want to come here tonight and tell you without a doubt I will be available to you. My phone number is 790-4611. It rings at my house. You can call me. You can reach me by e-mail at voteovittore@gmail.com. You can check out my website — it has my full platform at www.jayovittore.org. I’m going to be accessible, something that a lot of our officials aren’t. I’m glad our mayor is as accessible as she is. If you’re going to elect me to be your District 3 representative, then I need to be there for you. That’s the bottom line. I run a small business, and I’m going to treat this part-time council job as a full-time job. And you have my word on that. Anyone who knows how I work knows I’m a pit bull for getting things done and making sure they’re done right. I’ve fought for you before. I’m going to fight for you again. Whether I win this race or not, thank you for coming tonight. I appreciate if you vote for me. Thank you.
Introductory statement
My name is Jay Ovittore. I am running for city council in District 3. I’m a human relations commissioner here in the city of Greensboro. I chair the fair housing committee for the Greensboro Human Relations Commission. I have sat on the RUCO Task Force. I have sat on the subcommittee that scripted the statement of regret for the truth and reconciliation process. I am here to help. District 3 needs a lot of help right now. There are three things for the city that I want to focus on. One, being open and transparent. I am going to hold constituent hours at Melvin Municipal Building three days a week, four hours a day. If you need more, I’ll do more. I’m doing this because I want to and it’s the right thing. And I want to encourage other candidates and other council members to do the same. The police department, I want to focus on getting us a better police department. We have a good police department; it can always be better. And I want to bring jobs here. I want to focus on small businesses. I own a small business myself. We give incentives to folks like Dell and FedEx; we need to give incentives to folks like Mary’s Frame Shop, to hire two more people. Www.jayovittore.org.
How would you deal with the issue of dilapidated, unsafe housing and absentee landlords?
I sit on the RUCO Task Force, which reports to the RUCO Board.... We’ve reduced substandard housing in Greensboro by 80 percent in the first five years of the program, and we will continue to do that keeping RUCO in place. I sit as the fair housing chair for the Greensboro Human Relations Commission, and these are the problems I deal with on a daily basis. I myself — for full disclosure — have a RUCO complaint against my landlord right now for problems that haven’t been fixed over a period of eight months. Even the folks who are in the know have problems with this. And let me just point out that 98 percent of your landlords are good landlords. You have a few, a small percent, that own a lot of property that are letting it get rundown. And as long as we let our engineering and inspections department do their job, we will fix this problem. And that will raise everybody’s property values in this room.
The city staff came up with a plan to mitigate noise from the Urban Loop. Should the city adopt these rules?
I believe the city should adopt these rules. We need to put a barrier up between the Urban Loop and the houses that are there. Some cities have been fortunate enough to be able to put up brick barriers to reduce noise. The Urban Loop was in development well before those houses and those properties were built. The developers knew it was coming; they decided to put it up anyway. I think if anybody has a problem with the Urban Loop, they should go to the developers and yell and scream, because they’re the ones that put the people through the wringer. Bottom line.
There are certain places such as New Garden Road and Horse Pen Creek Road where sprawl as occurred and not urban infill, which is what many council people and candidates support. How will you address urban infill and limit the continued sprawl of northwest Greensboro?
I am a firm supporter of urban infill development. I believe that annexing properties out in the county that don’t pay for themselves in the long run — if the projected tax value doesn’t pay for the schools, libraries and firehouses, the police, the parks that need to be put into these neighborhoods — that’s what our sprawl problem is. We keep annexing property. Some are smart, and some are not. We just have to look at what we’re annexing, and what we’re not. The jobs are closer to downtown, but the one problem that my opponent has not addressed is that your folks like teachers, firefighters and policemen, your service workers, they’re getting pushed from the inner city out into to the suburbs. And in the suburbs they’re getting less bang for their buck, but they’re having to find new ways of transportation to get into where their jobs are. I think they’re all things we need to address.
Name something that would not have happened without you.
Time-Warner Cable. If you remember a few months back, Time-Warner Cable tried to implement a cap on how much bandwidth you can use on your internet. They would charge you more money than they’re charging you now, and they would cap it at a certain point — ten-, twenty-, thirty-gigabyte caps. I know this is getting very hairy, so bear with me. What that would do is they would essentially charge you an overage fee after you reached that cap. I put together a coalition of folks here in Greensboro, as well as folks in Rochester, New York, San Antonio, Texas and Austin, Texas — the four markets they were trying to do this in — and we got them to shelve that idea. The senator from New York, Charles Schumer, actually sat down with the CEO of Time-Warner and got them to shelve that. Part of that effort stemmed from here; it stemmed from me. I’ve already been fighting for you, saving you money in the long run. Your internet bill could have been two times more expensive than it is now.
How would you improve public transportation for areas in the city without bus service?
The one thing we always have to do with transportation is we have to fix the… ridership. If an area doesn’t have a bus route and there are only two or three people that may ride it, that will cost the city an immense amount of money to put a bus out there. I think expanding stuff like our HEAT service recently was a very good idea for our students that live outside the university area. I have been talking to Rep. Grier Martin out of Wake County. In the next five years we’re looking at a light-rail system from Greensboro to Raleigh. If you elect me to council, I will make sure we get that light-rail system.
What is your position on land use, zoning or future land-use planning?
There’s a lot of discussion right now on the LDO — the land development ordinance. It’s been sold very badly by the department that’s running it. The way it was explained to me is on the old zoning maps if it said RS-7 that might be a residential with five units. It makes no sense whatsoever. And to the general public it makes no sense either. Under the new LDO it would say R-5, which makes total sense — residential 5. MU-7 — mixed use 7. It makes it easier for you to read, and for you to enact your protest petition — which I’m glad we have back. I look at the 2025 plan. I think we’re on target for a lot of those things that are in the plan. I also believe that things change. Times change. Money changes. The economy changes. So some of those things may change as well. I think the LDO in general is going to simplify the process for the everyday, average citizen.
What is your vision for Greensboro concerning the following environmental issues: the expansion of the current recycling program with more types of materials and accessibility to recycling centers?
I think we can always improve our recycling. We’re lucky enough to have enacted a — to be one of the Cool Cities. I think that’s done wonders for us. It’s right in our name: “Greens”-boro. We need to be a green city. Depending on what cost is involved in collecting different types of recycling from homes or businesses would [determine] whether or not I’d want to implement that or not. But I would want there to be a place for the common folk in the city to go to and say, “Okay, I’m separating my brown bottles from my green bottles, and my plastics.” And to be able to do that at a recycling center.
Closing statement
I’m not going to take the entire two minutes. I want to come here tonight and tell you without a doubt I will be available to you. My phone number is 790-4611. It rings at my house. You can call me. You can reach me by e-mail at voteovittore@gmail.com. You can check out my website — it has my full platform at www.jayovittore.org. I’m going to be accessible, something that a lot of our officials aren’t. I’m glad our mayor is as accessible as she is. If you’re going to elect me to be your District 3 representative, then I need to be there for you. That’s the bottom line. I run a small business, and I’m going to treat this part-time council job as a full-time job. And you have my word on that. Anyone who knows how I work knows I’m a pit bull for getting things done and making sure they’re done right. I’ve fought for you before. I’m going to fight for you again. Whether I win this race or not, thank you for coming tonight. I appreciate if you vote for me. Thank you.
Filing closes for candidates for Greensboro City Council
Ryan Shell has switched from District 2 to at-large.
Shell says in a press release: "I have been campaigning in District 2 for nearly two months and am ecstatic with the amount of support we've drummed up thus far. In no way am I abandoning the groundwork I've laid or the initiatives that I've started, but we are simply going to take those efforts to a new level and make things happen citywide. The goal of this campaign is to bridge gaps, unite Greensboro and really make some things happen."
Meanwhile, Nettie Coad, chairwoman of the Greensboro Redevelopment Commission, has thrown her hat in the race for District 2, joining Jim Kee, Gordon M. Hester and Dan Fischer.
Jay Ovittore, a member of the Greensboro Human Relations Commission, filed for the District seat, joining incumbent Zack Matheny and challenger George Hartzman.
Ovittore writes in a press release this morning: "Based on the rise in neighborhood crime, several zoning and planning issues and issues surrounding job creation and a high vacancy rate in our city, I could not feel comfortable sitting on the sidelines in this race."
David Crawford was the last to file before the noon deadline, joining the District 5 race with incumbent Trudy Wade and challenger Art Boyett.
Ovittore and Crawford's entry means that all Greensboro primary races are now competitive.
I spoke briefly with Jorge Cornell, who filed for at-large yesterday. Cornell says his campaign platform will extend beyond issues related to policing and gang enforcement. As for a felony conviction reported in the News & Record, Cornell said he pled guilty to a gun charge in King County, NY (Brooklyn) about 10 years ago. He said he needs to gather more documentation about the conviction to provide to the Guilford County Board of Elections.
Shell says in a press release: "I have been campaigning in District 2 for nearly two months and am ecstatic with the amount of support we've drummed up thus far. In no way am I abandoning the groundwork I've laid or the initiatives that I've started, but we are simply going to take those efforts to a new level and make things happen citywide. The goal of this campaign is to bridge gaps, unite Greensboro and really make some things happen."
Meanwhile, Nettie Coad, chairwoman of the Greensboro Redevelopment Commission, has thrown her hat in the race for District 2, joining Jim Kee, Gordon M. Hester and Dan Fischer.
Jay Ovittore, a member of the Greensboro Human Relations Commission, filed for the District seat, joining incumbent Zack Matheny and challenger George Hartzman.
Ovittore writes in a press release this morning: "Based on the rise in neighborhood crime, several zoning and planning issues and issues surrounding job creation and a high vacancy rate in our city, I could not feel comfortable sitting on the sidelines in this race."
David Crawford was the last to file before the noon deadline, joining the District 5 race with incumbent Trudy Wade and challenger Art Boyett.
Ovittore and Crawford's entry means that all Greensboro primary races are now competitive.
I spoke briefly with Jorge Cornell, who filed for at-large yesterday. Cornell says his campaign platform will extend beyond issues related to policing and gang enforcement. As for a felony conviction reported in the News & Record, Cornell said he pled guilty to a gun charge in King County, NY (Brooklyn) about 10 years ago. He said he needs to gather more documentation about the conviction to provide to the Guilford County Board of Elections.
Democratic debate in NC 6
I had the honor of asking questions with my colleague, Robert Boyer of the Burlington Times-News, at the third debate between the primary candidates in North Carolina's congressional District 6 contest in Burlington on April 11.
It's shaking out to be an interesting contest, with the candidates fleshing out differences of tone and nuance, and sometimes staking out different positions on the issues. Still, in what is the most Republican leaning congressional district in the state, it's hard to imagine any of these candidates mounting a credible challenge to the congenial Republican incumbent, Rep. Howard Coble.
Boyer and I tried to nail them down on some specifics, and we were pretty satisfied with their responses. For the record, all three candidates — Teresa Sue Bratton, Johnny J. Carter and Jay Ovittore — say they would vote to cut off funding for the war in Iraq, and Carter and Ovittore oppose granting immunity to companies that cooperate with illegal warrantless wiretapping of American citizens. Bratton said, "I would not want to give them immunity unless somebody high in the Democratic Party, big, said this was warranted."
All three candidates expressed a distaste for belligerent posturing against Iran, with Carter taking the most emphatic stance: "I would not attack Iran under any circumstances."
Bratton and Ovittore said invading Afghanistan in 2001, in the wake of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, was the right thing to do, while Carter said that "the intelligence to stop 9-11 was there."
Ovittore concurred.
"We knew it was going to happen," he said. "The intelligence was there, but we dropped the ball because we had an inept and incompetent president."
Taking a cue from Sen. John McCain's widely publicized confusion about the respective roles of the Sunni and Shi'a sects of Islam, an audience member submitted a question about the difference between the two and which comprises the majority in Iraq. None of the three candidates were able to answer the question. For the record, it's the Shi'a Muslims who comprise the majority.
Ovittore attempted to demonstrate his understanding of the nuances in Middle Eastern politics, culture and religion. "The Lebanese people aren't Muslim in a majority," he said. "There's a large number of Christians."
In fact, the CIA World Factbook's entry for Lebanon states that the country is 59.7 percent Muslim, including members of the Shi'a, Sunni, Druze, Isma'ilite, Alawite and Nusrayri sects, although Maronite Christians make up a sizeable enough group that by formal agreement they are assured control of the presidency."
The young Ovittore and the homespun Carter took some jabs at each other, but their differences are as much a matter of style as substance.
"I would like to correct Mr. Carter," Ovittore said at one point. "It's not 'these people.' It's 'the people of Iraq.'"
In his rebuttal, Carter feigned ignorance of Ovittore's distinction and repeated the phrase "these people."
Ovittore called the Quran "a good read."
Carter riposted, "If you'll go to my website, I have passages of the Quran quoted, and you'll see that Islam is a violent religion."
A variance on what stance the United States should take with Venezuela's populist-leftist president, Hugo Chavez, also emerged.
"He has not done anything illegal," Bratton said. "He has sent money to Boston."
"For some countries, democracy might not be the best thing," Ovittore said. "It might not matter that much to them. For Chavez, it doesn't seem that it does."
Carter responded: "As far as the Latin American countries go, it should be diplomacy first, and if any of these countries make a move we should hit them with everything we've got. None of those countries are sophisticated enough to pose a threat to us."
It's shaking out to be an interesting contest, with the candidates fleshing out differences of tone and nuance, and sometimes staking out different positions on the issues. Still, in what is the most Republican leaning congressional district in the state, it's hard to imagine any of these candidates mounting a credible challenge to the congenial Republican incumbent, Rep. Howard Coble.
Boyer and I tried to nail them down on some specifics, and we were pretty satisfied with their responses. For the record, all three candidates — Teresa Sue Bratton, Johnny J. Carter and Jay Ovittore — say they would vote to cut off funding for the war in Iraq, and Carter and Ovittore oppose granting immunity to companies that cooperate with illegal warrantless wiretapping of American citizens. Bratton said, "I would not want to give them immunity unless somebody high in the Democratic Party, big, said this was warranted."
All three candidates expressed a distaste for belligerent posturing against Iran, with Carter taking the most emphatic stance: "I would not attack Iran under any circumstances."
Bratton and Ovittore said invading Afghanistan in 2001, in the wake of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, was the right thing to do, while Carter said that "the intelligence to stop 9-11 was there."
Ovittore concurred.
"We knew it was going to happen," he said. "The intelligence was there, but we dropped the ball because we had an inept and incompetent president."
Taking a cue from Sen. John McCain's widely publicized confusion about the respective roles of the Sunni and Shi'a sects of Islam, an audience member submitted a question about the difference between the two and which comprises the majority in Iraq. None of the three candidates were able to answer the question. For the record, it's the Shi'a Muslims who comprise the majority.
Ovittore attempted to demonstrate his understanding of the nuances in Middle Eastern politics, culture and religion. "The Lebanese people aren't Muslim in a majority," he said. "There's a large number of Christians."
In fact, the CIA World Factbook's entry for Lebanon states that the country is 59.7 percent Muslim, including members of the Shi'a, Sunni, Druze, Isma'ilite, Alawite and Nusrayri sects, although Maronite Christians make up a sizeable enough group that by formal agreement they are assured control of the presidency."
The young Ovittore and the homespun Carter took some jabs at each other, but their differences are as much a matter of style as substance.
"I would like to correct Mr. Carter," Ovittore said at one point. "It's not 'these people.' It's 'the people of Iraq.'"
In his rebuttal, Carter feigned ignorance of Ovittore's distinction and repeated the phrase "these people."
Ovittore called the Quran "a good read."
Carter riposted, "If you'll go to my website, I have passages of the Quran quoted, and you'll see that Islam is a violent religion."
A variance on what stance the United States should take with Venezuela's populist-leftist president, Hugo Chavez, also emerged.
"He has not done anything illegal," Bratton said. "He has sent money to Boston."
"For some countries, democracy might not be the best thing," Ovittore said. "It might not matter that much to them. For Chavez, it doesn't seem that it does."
Carter responded: "As far as the Latin American countries go, it should be diplomacy first, and if any of these countries make a move we should hit them with everything we've got. None of those countries are sophisticated enough to pose a threat to us."
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