Jinnette announces he will run for mayor
By From staff reports
Published in News on February 2, 2012 1:46 PM
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Henry Jinnette
City resident Henry Jinnette has announced that he intends to file as a candidate for mayor of Goldsboro when the filing period begins Feb. 13.
The filing period continues until Feb. 29.
Jinnette, 71, said an incident a few years ago led him to feel that City Hall was in need of some changes.
He decided he would file to run for mayor after he was awakened after midnight by music coming from Herman Park. He said he walked over to the park to find nearly a dozen police officers standing around.
Jinnette said he was told the police were not permitted to disrupt the music due to permission being granted for an event to last until 2 a.m.
"I found out the approval was not from the police department -- it came from City Hall," he said. "Right then I decided we need some changes."
Jinnette, who has worked in international finance through raising money and providing capital funds to third-world governments and financial institutions, says he will support the city's economy by recruiting more business and industry while preventing projects that he says will lead to business closures, like the Center Street Streetscape.
He also proposed more transparency within the city's money dealings.
"The public needs to be better-informed of the financial decisions being made," he said, advocating fewer loans through more efficient use of the city's revenues which he said will result in lower taxes.
Jinnette, an Air Force veteran, is a graduate of Friends University and the Asbury Theological Seminary and serves on the Goldsboro Appearance Commission as well as chaplain of the local American Legion post.