The citizens of Raleigh will go to the polls Tuesday to pick a mayor and city council and to weigh in on street and housing bond issues — choices that will determine the area's environmental well being in years to come. Among the critical environmental issues at play in this year's election are development impact fees and protecting Falls Lake, the city's drinking water reservoir.
Raleigh Eco News does not make political endorsements. However, the Sierra Club Capital Group does endorse candidates in municipal races. It does so based on candidates' past records and proposed platforms, which it assesses through questionnaires, interviews and candidate forums.
"Since it's an off-year election, there will probably be low turnout," observes Chris Dowdle, chair of the group's political committee. "The environmental community can have a big impact on the elections. There's a lot at stake, because our area is growing rapidly and we need to have responsible leaders to make sure the growth is done responsibly and doesn't destroy the environment."
In the race for mayor, the Sierra Club has endorsed incumbent Mayor
Charles Meeker. Since taking office in 2001, Meeker has successfully championed an ordinance protecting trees from clear-cutting, backed expansion of the NeighborWoods tree-planting program and passed a 2005-2006 budget that includes $30 million for deferred maintenance on the city's wastewater treatment plant. Under Meeker's leadership, the city also has worked with Wake County to purchase land to expand the greenway system and protect the watershed, and it has pushed the Environmental Protection Agency to clean up the
PCB contamination from Ward Transformer.
A Democrat, Meeker is running for re-election on a platform that emphasizes fair development fees to pay for expanded services and infrastructure. Raleigh has not updated its development fees since the 1980s; meanwhile, homeowners had their property taxes hiked as recently as last year. Thus while the average development fee for a single-family home in North Carolina is $4,038, Raleigh’s fee is only $1,152. Meeker would like to shift more of the tax burden from homeowners to developers.
Challenging Meeker are Republican
J.H. Ross, a retired State Capitol police officer and advertising executive, and Libertarian
Steven Hilton, a software developer. Ross derides the concept of "smart growth" as “catastrophic growth,” and he wants to reconsider the city's recently expanded recycling program and stormwater tax. On his Web site, Hilton offers no position on sprawl or zoning, two of the most critical issues facing city leaders.
In the at-large council race, Sierra has endorsed incumbent
Joyce Kekas and
Russ Stephenson, an architect, urban designer and member of the city's Planning Commission. Both are Democrats.
"Russ is really impressive," says Hartley Bream of the local Sierra Club's executive committee. "He has a great level of expertise and knowledge on planning issues, and his positions on smart growth and urban design are forward-thinking." Stephenson supports raising impact fees, preserving the Dorothea Dix Hospital campus as parkland and revamping city regulations to rein in sprawl.
A management consultant, Kekas was appointed to council earlier this year to fill one of the two seats left open when former councilors Janet Cowell and Neal Hunt won election to the state senate. Prior to that, she served on the city's planning commission, where she established a pro-development voting record. However, the Sierra Club has found Kekas to be open-minded on environmental issues, with protecting water and air quality among her major priorities. "She is somebody we could work with," Bream says. "Her heart is in the right place."
Also running for the two open at-large seats are Republican John Odom, a former city councilor and muffler shop owner, and restaurant worker Ed Carson Jr. Odom's campaign material paints him as pro-environment, and he did work to support the city's park system during his time on council. But he's inconsistent on the issues and has grown increasingly more pro-developer in his rhetoric. Carson is not a serious candidate; during his Sierra endorsement interview he noted that he thinks "like a tree" and inexplicably discussed shooting bear from aircraft. "The good thing about our political system is that anybody can run for office," Bream notes drily.
In North Raleigh’s District A, incumbent Mike Regan — a far-right Republican who would like to
turn Raleigh into a Christian theocracy — is not running for re-election. Tommy Craven, appointed to fill an at-large opening earlier this year along with Kekas, is running for the seat against
Paul Anderson. Sierra has endorsed both candidates — a somewhat controversial move, Bream says.
Craven is a Republican and a land-use planner who's aligned with developers and opposes higher impact fees. However, he
served with distinction on the city's tree preservation task force and supports stormwater control efforts. "We have common ground on environmental issues," Bream says. Anderson is a Baptist minister who previously served on the city's Human Relations Commission; his environmental platform emphasizes smart growth, drinking water protections and updating transportation systems to protect air quality.
In central Raleigh's District B, incumbent Democrat
Jessie Taliaferro is running unopposed. The Sierra Club opted not to endorse her, noting her close ties to developers. Another local blog,
Below the Beltline, has gone one step further, declaring political war on Taliaferro for her work on behalf of developers and urging voters in her district to write in a name — any name — other than hers. BTB has done an excellent job of
documenting developer money in local races, finding that as of this summer almost 90 percent of Taliaferro's campaign funds had come from development interests.
In southeast Raleigh's District C, incumbent James West is running unopposed. He did not actively seek Sierra's endorsement, and the group did not give it to him. He is the council's only African-American member, and he has been a supporter of neighborhood concerns.
In southwest Raleigh's District D, Sierra endorsed incumbent
Thomas Crowder, who is running unopposed. An architect and former chair of the city's Planning Commission, Crowder has established a distinguished pro-environment record during his time on council, working to limit impervious surfaces in the watershed, opposing floodplain development and championing the tree preservation ordinance — even casting a symbolic protest vote against the ordinance that passed over concerns that it was too watered down. "He’s with us on every issue, and he's not afraid to speak his mind," Bream says. "We'd like to see more people like him on council."
In northwest Raleigh's District E,incumbent Philip Isley is running unopposed without Sierra's endorsement. An attorney and conservative Republican, Isley opposed the tree ordinance as well as the city's stormwater utility.
There are also two bond issues on this year's ballot, a $60 million issuance for street improvements including bicycle lanes, and a $20 million bond to rehabilitate housing for low- and moderate-income families. The Sierra Club did not take a position on the bonds, but it urges environmentally minded citizens to continue to pay attention should the bonds pass. "After the fact, people are going to have to contact their officials and let them know what's important — things like installing bike lanes, or putting affordable housing near existing infrastructure,” Bream says. "Don’t just say, 'Here’s your money — do what you want with it.'"
For more details on Tuesday's election, including a copy of the ballot, visit the
Wake County Board of Elections’ Web site. The polls will be open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Election Day.
