Allen wants to continue work on Council
By Anessa Myers
Published in News on November 4, 2007 2:10 AM
Incumbent Chuck Allen is ready to serve District 5 for four more years.
Allen has been on the City Council for eight years, and for five of those, he has been mayor pro-tem.
He doesn't want the seat to set a record or for personal gain, he says.
He wants to remain on council because he believes he has done the city some good, he said, and he wants to keep that up.
"For the last eight years, I have put a lot of time and life into making this city a better place. I am hard-working, efficient, and I take it very seriously," Allen said. "I hope folks in my district can see that I am serious about this seat."
Allen said feels he is a leader in the community, trying to improve a small part of the city one day at a time.
"Every day I'm trying to accomplish something for our city. I am very much a type-A personality," he said. "I'm a competitive person. Competition makes me work harder and smarter."
And he pushes Goldsboro to be competitive as well.
"I want Goldsboro to always be innovative and always be looking for better ways to do things," he said. "I want us to take the district and the city to the next level," he said. "We need to think more globally. Anything that's good for the district is good for the city. It should go hand-in-hand."
Allen said he receives the most calls from citizens in his district and in the city about bringing more well-known businesses into the area.
"People keep asking me when they are going to get a high-end grocery store," he said. "They want these things here. I think our folks want to have a better quality of life, and I think what the council is doing with building and improving the downtown area will get us there."
From restoring city hall to rebuilding the community building and the Paramount, Allen said he believes in the projects the city is currently supporting.
"I make no apologies for what we are doing in the city," he said. "Some people say we are doing too many projects, but we're probably not doing enough projects. We should be doing more, but we don't have the money. So we prioritized everything."
Goldsboro was in the "dark ages a few years ago with technology," he said, and the facilities "were an embarrassment."
The truth is that town officials were doing things that they had to do, he added, because they couldn't let the city continue to deteriorate and do nothing.
"I feel that most of the projects, like the Paramount and community building, are just getting us back to where we were. They are catching us up."
Now, the citizens of Goldsboro have things to look forward to -- and Allen hopes one of those is Election Day.
He said he feels confident the citizens of his district will see that he has the experience, knowledge and work ethic to continue to improve the city, but, he said, "I take nothing for granted."
"There are three things you know you get with me," he said. "One -- you may not agree with what I believe, but I do what is the very best for the majority of the people in Goldsboro. Two -- I will always tell you what I feel and where I stand. Three -- I understand that in order for things to happen, you have to be flexible, and I think I am."
In the end, Allen said he puts his competitive side and personal thoughts aside.
" I just want to do what is in the best interest for Goldsboro," he said.
Allen is not officially facing a challenger. Write-in candidate Susan Farfour has declared her intention of running for the District 6 post.