Susan Farfour to run as write-in candidate for City Council
By Anessa Myers
Published in News on October 14, 2007 2:09 AM
Susan Farfour wants people in the city's fifth district to have a choice.
So, when she learned that only one candidate -- the incumbent -- had filed for the race, and with a little encouragement from some friends, she decided she would be one of the names on that fall ballot for Goldsboro City Council.
"I think that any time you have elected officials that you do need a choice," she said. "It helps the city keep itself in check."
So, she will be the write-in challenger running against Councilman Chuck Allen this November.
At first, Mrs. Farfour said she brushed off the prospect of being a councilwoman.
But then, she realized that to promote progress, some change had to occur, and she figured she was just as good as anyone else who is running.
She said she is going into the race with an open mind on what the city's next step should be. She doesn't have a top priority in mind, yet.
Except, that is, listening to her constituents.
If elected, she said she wants to see what the people of her district want, and she will try to get them all she can.
"I'm the only voice they are going to have on certain issues," she said.
And, if elected, Mrs. Farfour said she will be her constituents' voice when she places her vote.
But that doesn't mean she will abandon her own convictions.
"Say if I have 500 people in the district. If 250 people call and say one thing, and 250 other people call and say another, then my personal opinion would come into play there," she said. "But it is my obligation to the people that I would represent to vote the way they want me to vote."
She is not running because she doesn't feel the City Council is doing a great job. She said she feels that the city is going in the right direction for the most part.
With crime, for example, she said city officials are doing the best they can with what they have.
"I think they are getting together gang task forces, and that's a good thing. Regardless of what people believe, they are here, they have been here and they're showing their presence more and more," she said.
The city's police force needs to be "beefed up" to full staff, she said, and that will help with a lot of the problems, too.
As for the many projects the city has undertaken, she said that they are great and needed -- specifically the old City Hall, Paramount Theatre, historic homes downtown and the proposed community building.
"I think it's real important for Goldsboro to grow," she said. "I think it's great that they are looking into the future and seeing that we need to have these places restored and constructed."
The Paramount Theatre in particular, she said, will allow the city to be slightly more attractive to those looking to move, she said, because it brings more of a cultural atmosphere to downtown.
"I'm a big fan, and I do support it," she said.
And even though she is not 100 percent happy with the expected design of the proposed community building, she said it is a necessity in the city.
"I'd rather see something, even if it doesn't quite fit in, then nothing at all," she said. "The community building used to be a place where people would go to swim and do all sorts of things,, and we should get that back."
She agrees with the renovation of the old city hall as well as keeping historical homes intact.
In the end, what she wants is to be a voice for her community, and that doesn't take experience, she said. It takes determination and integrity.
"I don't have experience in politics, and (Chuck Allen) does," she said. "But I don't think that should be the main criteria for electing a person. The willingness to learn, the openness to listen and the honesty to stand up for what people in this district want -- that's what it should be about."
Because of the lateness of her declaration, Mrs. Far-four's name will not be on the November ballot. To vote for her, voters will have to write in her name.
The fall vote is Nov. 6.