Pick one: Three candidates will square off for District 4 Goldsboro City Council Seat
By News-Argus Staff
Published in News on September 23, 2015 1:46 PM
BEVAN FOSTER
Q: Why do you want to be on the Goldsboro City Council?
A: I just think it's time for a change. You know, District 4, there's a lot happening, it's been happening for years, and I don't see anything different going on, and I think I can help make a change.
Q: What government experience do you have? If you don't have government experience, what are your qualifications?
A: I really don't have any (government experience). I have two degrees -- one in psychology and one in criminal justice. I learned a lot about criminal justice in just knowing how to get out and talk to people, and with our city and my district, there's a lot of crime. There needs to be changes with that, and I feel like I have a little influence that I might could help curb it. From living there all my life and knowing the district so well, I hope that I can make a difference.
Q: The City Council has designated four major issues it intends to tackle in the coming years:
* Greenways and pathways around the city, both maintenance of existing systems and bringing new ones to Goldsboro.
* Continue to invest in downtown.
* Develop the city's parks and recreation department.
* Combat blight throughout the city.
Where do you stand on these issues?
A: I think that a lot of the pathways are something that's needed, I think that exercise is crucial. People need to be able to get out and exercise and feel safe walking down the street, even if it's just walking to the store you should be able to do it without having to walk through grass and a bunch of weeds and everything, so I think it's important to maintain everything as well to keep it up to par. With downtown investment, I think it can be a great thing if the right things are put downtown. I think it has to be for everybody. If you're going to bring things downtown, bring things so it will bring everybody together and bring people from out of town to downtown, so Goldsboro can make money. You know, we don't have anything. If you live in Kinston, if you live in Fremont, if you live in Dudley or wherever, you really don't have a reason to come to Goldsboro outside of to eat. But you know, put some good things downtown and make people want to come downtown and hang out and spend money and bring people to Goldsboro. I think developing the city's Parks and Recreation Department is crucial. I think our kids really need something to do to get them off the streets and get them active in programs as much as possible. Sports honestly probably saved my life. I ran track in high school, ran track in college, and without sports probably a lot of kids would've fell to the wayside, but we had something to grasp to that made us want to do better.
Q: As for the budget, are there things you would like to see cut, increased or added?
A: No, not really. I just want, if I get in, I'm hoping to make sure with the budget that things are allocated the right way. One section shouldn't get ten times more than another section, so let's put some money over here in this district as well, and let's put some money over here so it's equally spread out.
Q: What do you think the city needs to do to help curb the violence, particularly shootings, that seems to be escalating?
A: One, we have to have community policing. Not to knock anybody, but with police officers, if you're a police officer and you're in a car, I see you, I don't like you, I think you don't like me, plain and simple, because we never interacted... So until we get back to community policing and the police are willing to get out of their cars, walk their beat, meet the people in the community, talk to the people, talk to these guys, let them know that look, we're here to help you and give them inspiring words... I think that's one of the main things that needs to be done is just community policing and then coming together as a neighborhood. It's not all on the police. It's just as much the neighborhood's fault as it is the police. We have to come together and stand up for what we won't tolerate and take our youth back and tell them we aren't going to tolerate it and they need to stop, because they're our streets... I think it's a two-sided thing, and I'm not going to blame it all on police. It's going to take the community and the police working together to stop it.
TONDALAYO CLARK
Q: Why do you want to be on the Goldsboro City Council?
A: First, I have a major concern with education. District 4 right now, nothing has improved. For the past 18 years, the incumbent hasn't done anything to make improvements in District 4, everything has become worse. Goldsboro is just on a downward spiral, and it didn't turn out this way overnight, and everyone on the council is aware of that. So, way before now something could have been done to improve the conditions in Goldsboro before now. I'm running because I'm a teacher. I've been teaching for 13 years, and three of my former students are dead because of the crime that's taking place in Goldsboro, and these three students were promising students.
My other motivation is that I'm concerned about the elderly and that there are elders in the community that just don't feel safe just to go for a walk in their community. Some have bars on their windows, several locks on their doors and they have concerns about the safety in their community.
Q: What government experience do you have? If you don't have government experience, what are your qualifications?
A: As far as local government experience, I can't say as far as serving. But I can say as far as my involvement in the community, I'm on the Client's Rights Committee with the Family First Center, which is a committee that ensures that clients' rights aren't violated. The clients are those such as mentally or physically disabled citizens. I'm an active member of the community. If there's a concern, whether it's in my neighborhood or someone's job, if someone has concerns about their rights, I have assisted people in that manner. Since 2002 I've had veterans visit my classrooms to talk to students, which was a bridge to connecting students to the community and what it means to be a productive citizen in their society. Personally, this is just what I've seen through communicating with citizens in my community, and as a teacher working with students, I know the day-to-day problems that families are dealing with... Hunger, jobs -- there's nothing for them to come back to if they're in District 4. There's no preparation for them, and if they come back home, where are they going to work?
Q: The City Council has designated four major issues it intends to tackle in the coming years:
* Greenways and pathways around the city, both maintenance of existing systems and bringing new systems to Goldsboro.
* Continued investment in downtown.
* Develop the city's parks and recreation department.
* Combat blight throughout the city.
Where do you stand on these issues?
A: With all of these, all four of them, my question is, who is that benefiting? To me, it appears it's benefiting downtown. It's not benefiting the people uptown, it's not benefiting the children uptown, it's not benefiting the elders. I'm seeing that funding as, you know, as a citizen of District 4 I'm seeing my tax dollars going towards this -- I don't see how that is benefiting the citizens of District 4... And then how does that reduce crime? When the crime in District 4 has been high for over 20 years and the incumbent has been there for 18, and it still remains to be high. There's still all of this building, and there's Streetscape. Who is that benefiting? That's not benefiting District 4.
Q: As for the budget, are there things you would like to see cut, increased or added?
A: I know there's a prison that was approved for funds going towards a prison on North William Street. OK, now it costs over $27,000 to house one inmate. Just one inmate. It's over $27,000, I'm giving a general amount. But it costs approximately $4,000, $5,000, maybe $8,000 just to educate one child. So it makes sense to be proactive and look at ways to keep children in school, provide families with resources, put funding toward keeping kids at school and educating them and not just increasing the graduation rate, and showing they're prepared for employment. Whether they're going on to college, whether they're going on to a trade school, whether they're going on to the military, even if they got into some trouble with the law while they were in school, how can we provide enrichment for the child to then be successful? What it would cost to house one inmate, look how many children you could educate -- that's about what, three, four children that could have been educated, and education is the key. I don't care what area you're talking about, if we make the improvements and provide the funding in education and resources, the crime rate is going to go down. But right now, young people and adults are being killed. We're not just talking about little minor offenses. And it's getting worse. So that's the first and major thing in the budget I think that needs to be addressed, is instead of providing more for the prisons, education will move us in the right direction and provide jobs.
Q: What do you think the city needs to do to help curb the violence, particularly shootings, that seems to be escalating?
A: It still comes back to education. It comes back to the schools. It comes back to providing funding, or programs. Education is the answer. We need to provide programs to allow people to work with the children, to work with the families, and I know they'll say they have grants and programs. What are those programs, and again, what are the benefits? I think everyone knows that there's been funding cuts in education. It comes right back to that. There's cuts and cuts and cuts, and then now when you have kids without anything to do, they're idle, so they're bored, so they'll get in the streets and then they'll get in trouble. It starts with the children. That's the only way we're going to see improvements and a decline in crime.
CHARLES WILLIAMS
Q: Why do you want to be on the Goldsboro City Council?
A: When I first ran for District 4 councilman, my platform back in 1995 was, and still remains, growth and productivity for the 21st century. After 19 years and seven months in this position, I can truthfully say as a member of the Goldsboro City Council, and a team player, we have accomplished a lot.
Q: What government experience do you have? If you don't have government experience, what are your qualifications?
A: I have enjoyed every moment of it (time on the board). I think the good outweighs the bad. I am a humble type of person. I have always looked at it from a point of all inclusiveness. I think the challenges we have met have been like a motivator for us. We have a real good team. We had a 10-year plan. I want to see that 10-year plan, the most of it, become reality.
Q: The City Council has designated four major issues it intends to tackle in the coming years:
* Greenways and pathways around the city, both maintenance of existing systems and bringing new systems to Goldsboro.
* Continued investment in downtown.
* Develop the city's parks and recreation department.
* Combat blight throughout the city.
Where do you stand on these issues?
A: I would love for that greenway to go all the way through the city of Goldsboro, even down in my district. I would like for them to come right on through behind Slocumb Street right on out to where it ends and everybody would have access to go on through there.
We have made great strides (downtown). The City Hall Annex is completed and is beautiful and meeting our needs.
We talked about downtown revitalization and really for a number of years not a lot happened until the last eight or nine years when we have really started making things happen. Things just don't happen. You have to make them happen. So we have a $10 million Streetscape, and you can see all of the beautiful new streets and sidewalks, trees and shrubs going in down on Center Street.
Then it is going up Walnut Street all of the way to Union Station. We will probably doing a little facial work on Union Station, then we have the Goldsboro-Wayne Authority new transit station there. It is going to be beneficial for the city and all of the bus lines that will be coming in. The infrastructure down there is wonderful -- the sidewalks and paved streets.
We are planning to move through the Little Washington area to the H.V. Brown Park. We are going to upgrade that.
I think we need to give some incentives for entrepreneurs to locate downtown. A lot of them have left us and have gone into other areas.
I would love to see us get that hub, Amtrak, coming back through here through Goldsboro to Wilmington. That would open up a lot of doors and attract a lot of things into our city.
We have made improvements in our city parks and also increased our programs for youths, adults, children and seniors in our parks and recreation.
We have a young man now who is heading that up, Scott Barnard. He is implementing a lot of new programs and these programs are designed for youth activities, Little League. There are just a lot of things going on to get these youths off the streets.
There is a lot being done, but I would like to see even more. We still have room for improvement, and I'd like to see us do more in that area.
Our parks and recreation, we appropriated money for them and I think that we need to do more of that so they can broaden the scope of that program.
We have improved the appearance of the city by demolishing old, dilapidated buildings and houses. We have striven to preserve historical houses. We have secured Community Block grants to improve low-to-moderate-income homeowners' houses.
We are doing a lot of demolition. We give people a chance to come in and to rehabilitate their houses or we condemn them and then they are demolished.
We are resurfacing streets, paving streets all over the city. We are trying to keep our city clean, and we are asking people to join with us to help keep it clean.
We need to do to more to renovate these houses in the historic district.
Most of the people whose lots are grown up, they don't live in Goldsboro anymore. They live in other states. We need to cut those lots and put it on their tax bill.
Q: As for the budget, are there things you would like to see cut, increased or added?
A: I think we would make sure that our budget and the funds we appropriate for the operation of this city, and especially for our employees, that our salaries are comparable to other cities of our size and that we can attract people that can bring something to the table to help enhance our community.
There was an attempt to reduce some of the allocations that we give to organizations like WAGES, WATCH and so forth. Those programs, if they can show where they are vital and are a necessity, then we should contribute to it. But if it is something where not a lot is happening and money does not seemed to be used wisely, then there is a possibility we might could cut their allocation.
Q: What do you think the city needs to do to help curb the violence, particularly shootings, that seems to be escalating?
A: We have assigned police officers to the inner-city schools geared toward youth, education and awareness as to crime prevention and character building.
We have required our police officers to take annual diversity training. (Interim) Chief (Mike) West is going to try to bring in that CALEA training. That will have better community policing. It would be a great advantage for the police and citizens once we get that program implemented and our police have access to it.
We have 110 (officers) budgeted. We have 12 vacancies now so we have about 97 actual police on the job. We need to do more to try to attract people.
We need to do all we can to make it attractive, not only in police, but all of our departments.
We need to get some of these guns off the streets. People don't like to talk about gun control, but something has to be done about the availability of so many guns in the hands of criminals. I believe in the rights of people who have arms to protect themselves, families and homes, but I am not sure it is a good thing for everybody to be walking around with firearms.