Incumbent or challenger? Challenger
Age: 35
Campaign website or blog: donnellhardy.org (link)
Endorsements: Nettie Coad, Guilford County Community PAC, News & Record, Replacements Limited PAC, Daron Sellars and YES! Weekly
Occupation and employer: Controller, A&D Environmental
Previous elective experience (including election campaigns): At-large candidate for city council, 2009
Civic and volunteer experience (including service on city commissions and boards): Treasurer, Greensboro Jaycees; deacon, member of strategic planning team and moderator of the Men’s Council at St. James Presbyterian Church; member, Greensboro Chamber of Commerce; moderator, To Do Justice Steering Committee; board member, Ole Asheboro Street Neighborhood Association; member, Neighbors United Neighborhood Association
Education (highest degree attained and name of institution): BS in business economics, Florida A&M University
Party registration: Democrat (nonpartisan race)
Where were you born? Philadelphia (hometown: Alexandria, Va.)
When did you move to Greensboro? 2000
Paid consultants working on your campaign: None
Campaign manager: Daniel McKelvey Jr.
Treasurer: Daniel McKelvey Jr.
Do you favor or oppose reopening the White Street Landfill for household waste, beyond the small amount of sewer sludge currently accepted? Briefly explain your position.
I oppose the reopening, I think the health and safety concerns are too numerous to not give one pause. I would rather we focus on ramping up recycling efforts and looking at forward-thinking solutions to our waste management issues.
The current course of action proposed is short-sighted and a short-term solution for what is a long-term problem. The proposed savings are questionable, there are wide ranges and those ranges are all estimates. There are no definitive answers that have been provided. I don’t think the council should be making decisions that can be so divisive without having solid answers and making it part of a larger plan. We need to develop a waste management plan.
I support more environmentally friendly ways of disposing of waste that don’t threaten safety and quality of life. It’s also a threat to economic development. If all this land were properly developed it could generate more revenue than the potential savings. For an upfront savings, you would be giving up on a side of town that could deliver significant tax revenues when Greensboro is ready to grow, particularly in District 1.
Where do you stand on the “strong manager” form of city government and why?
If we are going to have this form of government, then we should use it appropriately. This means the council should be collective visionaries and give the manager parameters to stay within and then let him or her do their job. What’s the use of having a manager if the council is going to micro-manage them? I believe that is what’s going on now. We don’t need 10 managers.
I think we should explore other forms of government to assess if strong manager is indeed sufficient for a city our size. I think any change should not be rash but should rather be incorporated into a long-term growth plan and/or vision.
Should the city of Greensboro place more or less emphasis on maintaining a healthy water and sewer fund to plan for future growth? Why or why not?
Are you serious? This should be one of the top priorities. Healthy water and sewer should be the beginning of any growth plan. Why should we have a growth plan where we compromise the water and sewer systems that made us an attractive option?
We should do all we can to make sure we deliver and maintain high standards with our water and sewer systems. This is not an area that should be compromised. Furthermore, we need to increase connectivity in District 1 as part of our commitment to making it a viable candidate for economic development.
The city’s tax base has remained flat for the past two years in a row, and the foreclosure crisis continues unabated. As a member of city council, how would you balance the need to fund services such as police patrol, fire protection and park maintenance that citizens care about with the reality that the revenue picture remains bleak?
Clearly, District 1 residents don’t want to minimize the amount of protection provided from these services. But without an inside view of the bureaucracy, I’m not sure what all goes into providing the current service levels. However, I intend to take a second look to make sure that any or most activities are value-added and focused on meeting the needs of our citizens, neighborhoods and businesses.
We should be more aggressive in supporting community policing efforts and strengthening community watches. These are services that District 1 wants and needs, but if there were limited money to support it, then we would need to have citizens to volunteer to provide some of these services.
We are organizing the national Safe Streets Now and Safe Routes to School efforts locally. These efforts have worked well in communities across the country and could be the solution to our issues in Greensboro and I’m confident they would be effective in District 1.
Do you believe that city staff deserves council support to implement a program to spend federal grant money to improve the energy efficiency of residences and businesses, or does this program warrant additional oversight from council? Briefly explain your position.
First, it depends on what is required under the grant. If the grant doesn’t specify it, then here’s an opportunity where the council can provide the vision for the program. Then the manager, staff, and CSC can focus on delivering the objectives of the program. The only oversight should be that the manager and staff stay within the parameters set by the council and that the program stays within the original intent of the grant.
District 1 can benefit greatly from this program. This could deliver energy savings to homes and jobs to people. There should be no further delay in making this happen.
How would you assess the value and effectiveness of Greensboro’s Rental Unit Certificate of Occupancy program, which is now prohibited by state law?
Very carefully. I think RUCO worked. However, I don’t think it’s the only thing that’s going to rid Greensboro from slumlords or absentee landlords; but not having something is worse than having something that did have some positive impact. RUCO provided a baseline for the city to take action and to have some level of accountability with landlords.
We have made significant progress over the past few decades in this area, however, District 1 still has several problem properties and our citizens and city staff should have all possible means to eradicate this problem.
How should the impasse over management and operation of the Greensboro Farmers Curb Market be resolved?
The right way to go about this is to survey the customers. This is a side of the market that not much is known about in the news. What do they want? This is a market-driven enterprise, so why not use this market-driven solution?
What, if anything, should be done to resolve racial tensions, and to enhance professionalism, integrity and fairness within the Greensboro Police Department?
There are standards for professionalism, integrity and fairness. There should not be a continued imbalance or forgiveness when those standards are breached. There should be no allowance for that to continue to exist. If there are officers who choose not to follow these standards, then they should lose their job. Whenever they put that uniform and badge on, they are an instrument of the law. If they approach a situation without fairness, integrity and professionalism, they are a poor reflection of our laws. If they don’t hold to a standard, then our rule of law suffers.
What would you change about Greensboro’s land use patterns if the decision were yours to make? Please answer the question in terms of places people live, work and shop, in terms of the modes of transportation people use to get from point to point and the vitality of neighborhoods and commercial corridors?
We need more mixed-use development, so more people can live, work and shop in close proximity city-wide and especially in District 1. This would allow people to reduce their use of cars to get from point to point. We also need to participate in any regional and/or state efforts to create alternative modes of transportation, such as light or high-speed rail.
I’d like to see more retail locations within walking distance (across the street) of the coliseum. We need more convenient places to shop with a greater degree of variety provided in these locations. District 1 residents deserve these amenities and the city needs to do everything possible to attract this sort of development.
We need to increase awareness of the Adopt a Stop program, as well as adopt 21st century methods of finding out where a bus is en route. We should also look into advertising opportunities with our bus stops, our bus route brochures and bus applications for phones.
What is Greensboro’s greatest asset? What is Greensboro’s most pressing problem?
The greatest asset of Greensboro is its people. Yet, its pressing problem is the division, and the inability of leaders to work together, even if they have standing or outstanding disagreements. Only very extreme political positions seem to make it onto the council. We don’t have enough moderates to find common ground so results can be delivered to the people.
I’m ready to be the voice for District 1 that can make the uncompromising case for our concerns while also being a moderate voice on the Council that is desperately needed.
Articles about this candidate:
Differentiating between the District 1 candidates (link)
A&T vote inspires fiery city council campaigning (link)
2011 primary endorsement & voter guide (link)
Bellamy-Small switches from mayor's race to District 1 (link)
i will ====>>
Dj nice talking to you, Hope you can take this away from Bellamy Small, I am going to vote for You and David Crawford and Bill Knight! all have my vote!