DJ Hardy’s faith in politics was restored when he canvassed for Barack Obama in east Greensboro last year.
The 33-year-old works as a financial analyst for a chemical company in High Point, but lives in a section of Greensboro’s Ole Asheboro neighborhood that is challenged by crime and deteriorating properties.
He’s identified a handful of precincts in east Greensboro with high voter registration but historically low turnout in municipal primaries, which he’ll be targeting. He also plans to reach out to voters in precincts where Obama ran strongly.
“For obvious reasons,” he said. “We have a lot in common. I was raised by my grandma. I’m biracial. I have two daughters. My wife is African-American. I don’t have a law degree. I guess that’s where the similarities end.”
Hardy is one of three at-large candidates that live in districts 1 and 2, which are predominantly African-American. At-large representatives on council have tended to come more from affluent sections of north and northwest Greensboro. Hardy is a strong supporter of his district representative, Dianne Bellamy-Small (“She epitomizes what it means to represent a district. She knows her constituents, keeps in touch with them and tries to find solutions to their problems.”), but he gives props to one of her opponents, Ben Holder, who has been waging a campaign to get the city to address three dilapidated houses in Glenwood.
“One of those houses is about to fall over,” Hardy said. “If that sort of stuff was happening in District 3 or District 4 it would be taken care of. It’s not a racial thing. It seems to be tied to some sort of psychology that that’s the way it’s always been. “The direct cost of having a property like that is it depresses property values,” Hardy continued. “Revenue to the city is tied to property values. Sure, it will cost the city [to knock down the houses], but it’s already costing the city. It’s affecting his neighbors, and creating safe houses for nefarious activities, which ties up the police.” In the same spirit, he opposes reopening the White Street Landfill to household waste.
“Right now, it’s environmental racism,” he said. “We really have to be conscious about decisions that at least play into race on a perception level. I don’t think the financial argument is strong enough when there are questions about health and safety that are unanswered.”
On economic development, his thinking aligns with a current trend that transcends conservative and liberal ideologies. He said he has read parts of the Connections 2025 comprehensive plan, and research compiled by Action Greensboro and the Greensboro Partnership, and concluded that the city needs to shift its emphasis from incentivizing large corporations to providing tax breaks to small, local businesses, and should even consider reducing property taxes and sales taxes.
“If these companies are not based in Greensboro, their profits go elsewhere,” he said. “If things go bad, these owners will make a decision to cut jobs. It creates a vacuum. It creates a situation where you have a lot of people who are underemfaith ployed. That creates a cascading effect where you have more competition for lowskill jobs. That’s where you get the threeand-a-half-percent higher unemployment than Raleigh.”
Hardy described his views on the roiling police controversy with uncommon candor. He said he favors a full airing of the facts and making appropriate amends, even if it weakens the city’s hand vis-à-vis the many black police officers who are suing for alleged discrimination.
“As long as my responsibility to the citizens is not in conflict with the institution [of the city], then I’m okay,” he said. “But when the two are in conflict, then I have to go with the citizens. Some council members err by referring to government as ‘we’ and the citizens as ‘them.’ I have a philosophy that requires justice to come first, and then fiduciary responsibility.”
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