Mayor Yvonne Johnson has been known to show up for a neighborhood celebration, plop down in a chair with a child on her lap and observe the proceedings. Her Greensboro constituents are typically grateful to her for lending her presence. She’ll return a reporter’s phone call after 9 p.m. on a Sunday evening, mindful of the deadline.
On Oct. 20, Johnson joined opponent Bill Knight, six at-large candidates and the two candidates for District 5 at the Friends Home West retirement community on West Friendly Avenue.
“You’re facing an experienced group of voters,” said David O. Stanfield, a retired Guilford College administrator and resident of the neighboring Friends Home Guilford who moderated the forum. “The people you’re facing were voting before some of you discovered America. This precinct has the reputation of having the highest turnout across the city.”
Indeed, Precinct G42B, a precinct drawn specifically for the two retirement communities, reported 30.4 percent voter turnout during the primary, compared to an average 6.0 percent turnout across the city.
Johnson had the weary look of someone who’s been balancing the responsibilities of waging an active election campaign, running a nonprofit full time and governing the city over the past few weeks. In less than four hours she would be presiding over a city council meeting — the first since Rashad Young started his new job as city manager.
One retiree bluntly asked whether the candidates would consider reopening the White Street Landfill to household waste.
Johnson described her interest in using “technology to transform waste to energy.”
At-large candidate Danny Thompson raised his hand and chimed in:
“I second that.”
Johnson swayed her hips and mouthed the words to the 1967 Motown hit by Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, “I Second That Emotion.”
Johnson made history two years ago as the first African-American mayor of Greensboro. Since her first campaign for city council in 1993, Johnson has run citywide, comfortably crossing the city’s electoral color line and building relationships with constituencies in every corner of the city.
“It’s hard not to like Yvonne,” said Gabrielle Beard, who is co-managing the campaign with Johnson’s sister. “She’s very likeable and she meets people where they are. She’s very genuine.”
Johnson’s first term as mayor has been marked by an unraveling of the famous civility that has traditionally characterized city council. Growing concern among the electorate about former City Manager Mitchell Johnson’s handling of a chorus of allegations about racial discrimination within the police department led to the election of two council members intent on firing the manager. Fractiousness, irritation and anger has roiled council even after a majority of its members accomplished the goal of removing the manager. The mayor found herself on the losing end of that vote.
Johnson, a mediator by profession, has handled the division by maintaining an even and respectful tone in her dealings with other council members and by trying to get everyone a chance to say their piece. During her reelection campaign, she has taken a more stern line.
During an Oct. 8 candidate forum, Johnson said she might propose new rules for the conduct of council meetings.
“But if someone wants to be contentious and nasty, that doesn’t wipe that out,” she said. “So my suggestion to the people of Greensboro is to select the people that you want to represent you based on knowledge and character and civility.”
With unemployment in Guilford County in the double digits, job creation has been a priority for the mayor, with the challenges in the police department vying for the top spot to the degree that they distract from economic development.
“Greensboro, even in these challenging times, has done a fairly good job, when you think of Precor and Mack Truck and O’Reilly Auto Parts and other companies that have located here,” Johnson, who celebrated her 67th birthday on Monday, said in a recent interview. “We need to be aggressive about recruiting and incentives. We need to be visionary about small businesses and what we can do to help them.”
Johnson has differentiated herself from her opponent in her interest in infill development.
“One of the things that the land use plan does that I really like is it gives incentives for infill,” Johnson said. “We have a lot of shopping centers that are just dead. Some of them have a number of empty storefronts. What that would do is have incentives where a developer can come in and say, ‘I’m going to take this shopping center that only has twenty percent occupancy and do A, B and C to it,’ and we give them incentives in return.”
Johnson clarified that incentives could come in the form of tax breaks or flexibility on regulations such as minimum setbacks and parking spaces.
Johnson has maintained a stance against reopening the White Street Landfill, but has taken the initiative to promote the idea of harnessing new technology.
“The answer has to be in converting waste to energy,” she said. “We have a group that is interested in doing a pilot project that will not cost us anything. That’s a win-win, especially if there are opportunities for jobs and training. If we produce, for example, jet fuel, and get a percentage back of the profit plus some jobs and some training, that is an absolute win.”
Resolving a knot of related controversies in the police department having to do with alleged misconduct and alleged discrimination will be a major challenge for the next council. For now, the mayor and council have won some breathing room by asking City Manager Rashad Young to study the situation.
“I think all the council members, or the great majority at least,” Johnson said, “want some resolution and want some concrete action steps to improve public relations and trust.”
