MUSLIM AMERICAN PUBLIC AFFAIRS COUNCIL

Raleigh City Election Recommendations

Prepared for: October 8, 2019 City of Raleigh Municipal Elections Prepared by: Muslim American Public Affairs Council Political Action Standing Committee October 7, 2019 MUSLIM AMERICAN PUBLIC AFFAIRS COUNCIL

Table of Contents

Summary ...... 1 Offices on the Ballot in 2019 ...... 1 Synopsis of City Services and City Operations ...... 1 Recommended Candidates ...... 1 Election Basics ...... 2 Election Mechanics ...... 2 What You Are Really Voting for On October 8th ...... 3 Major Election Issues ...... 5 Impact of Previous Elections on the Current Election ...... 5 2019 City of Raleigh Election Issues ...... 6 Public Transit ...... 6 Affordable Housing ...... 7 Gentrification ...... 7 Soccer Arena ...... 7 Climate Change ...... 8 Council Conduct & Diversity ...... 8 Terms of Office and a Related Question ...... 8 Analysis and Basis for Recommendations ...... 9 Candidate Evaluation Considerations ...... 9 Candidate Evaluations and Recommendations ...... 12 Mayor ...... 12 City Council at-Large ...... 15 City Council District A ...... 15 City Council District B ...... 15 City Council District C ...... 16 City Council District D ...... 16 City Council District E ...... 17

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SUMMARY

Offices on the Ballot in 2019 The 2019 election is what is known as an “off year” election, so called because State and Federal offices do not appear on the ballot, nor do any County wide offices appear on the ballot. The 2019 election is confined to municipal offices. Voter turnouts during “off year” elections are typically low, and, because of this low turnout, smaller, but well organized and/or well financed groups are sometimes able to exert influence far out of proportion to their numbers. A single voter’s influence is greater in a low turnout off year election than in any other election.

Synopsis of City Services and City Operations The City of Raleigh is responsible for providing water service, sewer service, garbage collection, police protection, fire protection, parks and recreation, land use regulation, community development services including public transit, and some roadway construction and maintenance. Day to day operations of the City are the responsibility of the City Manager and a professional staff under the Manager’s supervision. The City Council, (and sometimes State law), however, is the body that decides what operations are being undertaken. It is the City Council who, for instance, decides to what extent, if any, the City will be involved in public transit operations, in providing public housing, and in creating incentives for the development of “affordable housing”. The City Council can hire and fire the City Manager, the City Attorney and the City Clerk, but not any of the City staff, The principal role of the Mayor and City Council is setting City strategic goals and directions, making budgetary decisions, including setting tax rates, water and sewer user charge rates, and other schedules of fees and charges, and appointing members to various quasi administrative, planning and judicial boards and commissions.

Recommended Candidates The Muslim American Public Affairs Council recommends that its members vote for the candidates listed below. The basis for these recommendations, as well as more detailed explanations of City provided services, the mechanics of the election, and current City issues can be found beginning on the next page. Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin City Council at Large (vote for 2 candidates) Russ Stephenson Nicole Stewart Council District A Patrick Buffkin Council District B* David Cox Council District C Corey Branch Council District D* Brittany Bryan Council District E David Knight *Voters may wish to pay particular attention to the discussions on pages 15, 16 and 17 about these offices, as the decision for which candidate to endorse was close one.

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ELECTION BASICS

Election Mechanics

Most local governments in the CITY OF RALEIGH COUNCIL DISTRICTS Triangle Area elect Mayors and "98" Councils for 4 year terms, and stagger the election dates so that in Council Districts "50" any given election year, only roughly ut70 half of the offices are on the ballot. ¨¦§540 ut401 The City of Raleigh is different, and District A District B all members of its governing body District C District D ut1 are elected for 2 year terms, and all District E "540" positions are filled in the same election. City elections are “non I partisan”, meaning candidates do 0 1 2 Miles 440 "54" ¨¦§ ut401 ut64 not run according to political party ¨¦§540

¨¦§40 affiliation, and there are no political Overview Map ut64 party primary elections as there are RALEIGH 440 t1 ¨¦§ u ¨¦§40 with State and Federal offices. While some candidates are members of Map updated December 2013 by City of Raleigh GIS Division This map is a graphic representation one or the other of the political and should only be used for illustrative purposes. In no way should this map 50 "55" "" parties, their party affiliation will not be used for exact locations. appear on the ballot. The election of Mayor, and of two of the City Council seats (those seats listed on the ballot as City Council At-Large), is done through City wide elections, with candidates for these offices appearing on every ballot. The remaining Council seats represent specific geographic Districts within the City. Only voters who live within a District can vote for candidates seeking to represent that District. The City is divided into five Districts, designated as Districts A, B, C, D, and E. The boundaries for these Districts are shown on the map above. If you live close to a District boundary and cannot tell from the map in which District you live, you can go to the website url following this paragraph, enter the requested information, and find out which City Council District candidates will be on your ballot when you vote (and more information that will be useful in other elections):

http://www.wakegov.com/elections/voters/Pages/voterinfo.aspx

Since there are no primaries, the number of candidates running for each office is limited only by the number of people who registered to run for that office. Where only 2 candidates are running for a single seat office, the candidate with the most votes after the October 8th polling closes will win that office. There are only 2 candidates running for District B and District E. The October 8th election will therefore be the final election for Districts B and E. Six candidates are running for Mayor and six candidates are running for the 2 Council at Large seats, and four candidates are running for the District C and District D seats. Where there are more than 2 candidates competing

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for a single Council seat, if no candidate gets a majority (50% plus 1 vote) of the votes as of October 8, 2019, a runoff election will be held on November 5, 2019 between the 2 candidates that receive the most votes in October.

The situation with City Council At-Large seats is more complicated. There are 6 candidates running for 2 positions. All voters in Raleigh can vote for 2 of these 6 candidates, but may choose to vote for only one candidate. The “majority” vote needed to assure a win is the total number of votes cast (not voters voting) divided by 4. If 2 candidates in October receive a majority vote, then both are considered elected. If 2 candidates do not receive a majority vote, then the candidate with the most votes will be considered to have won one of the 2 At Large seats and the second At Large seat will be awarded to the candidate who got the second most number of votes unless the candidate with the 3rd most votes requests a run-off, in which case the second At Large seat will be determined by a runoff election in November between the candidates who received the second most and the third most votes. Under these circumstances only the candidate with the third most votes can request a runoff. Even if the candidate with the 4th most votes received only one vote less than the candidate with the 3rd most votes, and the candidate with 3rd most votes declined to request a runoff, the candidate who received the 4th highest vote total could not request a runoff.

What You Are Really Voting for On October 8th The October 8th election in Raleigh only concerns the Mayor and City Council of Raleigh. The types of services provided by municipal governments, and the revenue sources available to those governments, vary greatly from State to State, and even within the same State, from City to City and Town to Town. The City of Raleigh is responsible for providing water service, sewer service, garbage collection, police protection, and fire protection. City services also include development and maintenance of a Parks and Recreation network, development and administration of land use plans and controls, including zoning, building permitting and inspection. The City is also involved in community development, operates programs that try to assure an adequate supply of housing for low to moderate income families, and funds various activities and construction aimed at providing more employment opportunities and generally improving the quality of life in Raleigh. While in other States construction and maintenance of roads within City limits is nearly exclusively the responsibility of local governments, in North Carolina most roads, even those within City limits, are the responsibility of the State. There are, however, some City owned and maintained roads. Raleigh also appoints 2 of the 8 Raleigh-Durham Airport Authority members, and operates the GoRaleigh (formerly Capital Area Transit (CAT)) bus system. The City of Raleigh does not operate any schools, and the public schools within the City of Raleigh are operated and controlled by Wake County. The City, through its land use planning and zoning, through its allocation of its police resources, through its location and cooperative sharing of parks and recreation facilities, and through various other means, can, however, affect the costs, and, to a lessor extent, the quality of public schools within the City.

While the types of services the City offers to its citizens are largely decided by the Mayor and Council, day to day operations of the City are the responsibility of the City Manager and a professional staff under the Manager’s supervision. The City Council can hire and fire the City Manager, but the Manager is the only City employee (other than the City Attorney and City Clerk) over which the Council can exert that power. The Council also has the power to appoint members to quasi-administrative and quasi-judicial bodies such as the Raleigh Durham Airport

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Authority, the Planning Commission and the Board of Adjustment and to create various advisory committees to which it appoints members for the purposes of studying and making recommendations for various issues.

The type of amenities available to Raleigh residents and the conditions in which Raleigh residents now live are in large part determined by the land use regulations and budgetary decisions and priorities of previous Mayors and City Councils. The next Mayor and City Council, by deciding how much and on what the City spends, and the means by which the City funds that spending, will be a major determinate in how Raleigh residents will live in the future. City services can be funded through various combinations of property taxes, user fees, special assessments, impact fees and tax incentives, sales taxes, revenue bonds (bonds that must be repaid from revenues of activities specified under the terms of the bond sales), general obligation bonds (bonds that can be repaid from any number of sources, but whose repayment is guaranteed by the taxing authority of the City), and various State and Federal loans and grants. Tax rates, user fees, impact fees and special assessment charges are all set by the City Council. The City, by State Law, must have a balanced budget, even if vital services must be cut to achieve it.

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MAJOR ELECTION ISSUES

Impact of Previous Elections on the Current Election Raleigh has consistently been ranked as one of the best places to live in the United States, and one of the places with the highest growth rates, for the last several decades. This development is partly a result of geography, partly the result of being the State Capital, and, in no small part, and arguably for the most part, the result of decisions made by governments at the local and State level in the 1960s and the 1970s regarding such things as development of the Research Triangle Park, merger and maintenance of the City and Wake County school systems, cooperative development of what became the RDU airport, development and expansion of NCSU, etc. These decisions were not universally acclaimed when made, and often involved incurring costs that would not be recouped for years or even decades, but were responsible for Raleigh and the Triangle area being held today in the same regard as Silicon Valley on the west coast and the Boston area in the northeast as a center of technical development and innovation, and as a place people want to live. No other area in the south has achieved anything like what Raleigh and the Triangle Area have achieved. Raleigh is, for nearly all of its residents, a great place to live and raise children, with ample opportunities for most workers and businesses. The lesson to be learned is that the people elected in any given year may have a greater influence on what kind of place Raleigh will be in the decades ahead than on the kind of place it will be during the next 2-year term they serve.

The 2014 Wake County Commissioner elections and the 2015 Raleigh elections resulted in local governments dominated by people determined not to deal with continued rapid growth by allowing unchecked urban sprawl with attendant massive expansions in highway systems like what had happened under similar circumstances in places like Atlanta, Houston, and Dallas. Instead those elected in 2014 and 2015 sought to provide guidance for this continued growth and steer Raleigh on a course more like that followed by Cities such as Portland, Oregon. Prior to the 2014 Wake County Commissioner elections a block of County Commissioners had prevented a referendum being placed on the ballot in Wake County that would allow an increase in sales taxes within the County to fund improved public transit systems. The Commissioners knew such a referendum was likely to pass and used their positions to impose the will of the minority on the majority. Once the 2014 elections removed the recalcitrant County Commissioners from office, the needed County wide vote could be scheduled. This vote was held and funding finally became available to make substantive improvements in the Raleigh public transit system. The City Council elected in the 2015 Raleigh elections then proceeded with completing the near term planning and ordering of the long lead time equipment needed for substantial improvements to the transit system, and to plan and place on the ballot a Bond referendum to finance other needed transport system improvements. The results of these measures taken by those elected in 2015 started to take a clear physical form over the next four years, and those elected in 2017 were all generally supportive of the basic government direction established before the 2017 election.

The 2015 and 2017 elections also saw a greater realization that Raleigh was experiencing a growing economic opportunity and quality of life gap. Raleigh is truly a land of opportunity for the professional class, for engineers, for doctors, for scientists, for accountants and MBAs, but not for many existing low to moderate income residents

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with limited job skills. The economic underclass in Raleigh, for whom owning and operating an automobile is an unaffordable luxury, and who lack the job skill set needed to take advantage of most of the new jobs coming to the Raleigh area, have not shared in its prosperity. This is a group for whom there is little affordable housing, even less employment opportunity near those who do have homes, and woefully limited ways to get to any jobs that could change their condition. The City Council elected in 2015, in addition to the measures to make effective public transit available to help this underserved group, also took a number of measures to try to preserve and expand the supply of affordable housing. Most notable in this effort was instituting a property tax increase, with the proceeds dedicated to affordable housing. This tax increase will provide a steady, predictable, nearly 6 million dollar annual fund to be used to create more affordable housing. Most of the fruits of these housing improvement measures will not be seen to take concrete form until after 2017. Land banking done by the City prior to 2017 could also come into play in addressing affordable housing in the coming years. However, the on-going growth and prosperity of Raleigh as a whole has seemingly outstripped the efforts of the City to address affordable housing and public transportation issues, and for at least some demographic groups, the more Raleigh prospers the worse their condition.

After the election in 2017 Bonner Gaylord and Mary-Ann Baldwin left the Council, and this, coupled with the defeat of John Odom two years earlier, resulted in a change in the overall complexion of the Council from one that represented a broad spectrum of City interests with a richly varied set of backgrounds and expertise to one more dominated by neighborhood activists with a narrower scope of experience and expertise. The combination of pragmatism and vision that had previously characterized the Council came, to put it delicately, less predominate. The current Council mix has resulted in a Council that seems unable to accomplish much positive in the short term and next to nothing that would improve the long term prospects of the City.

2019 City of Raleigh Election Issues There are a number of issues that are foremost in the minds of candidates and voters in 2019, and some that may not be but should be on the minds of the electorate. The local governing bodies elected in 2014 and 2015 put in place the funding sources and planning needed to begin making significant progress towards effective public transit options and improved affordable housing.Those elected in 2017 got to see and to some extent oversee the fruits of the previous councils’ labors to address these concerns. However, as noted earlier, affordable housing, related problems have grown at a pace faster than problem solutions. Virtually all of the 2019 candidates for City of Raleigh offices agree that mass transit and affordable housing remain priorities, but voters must decide which candidates are most capable of effectively addressing those problems. Affordable housing and public transit are not the only issues, and to some voters at least, perhaps not even the most important issues. Ongoing and new issues are discussed as follows:

PUBLIC TRANSIT Voters passed a Transportation Bond on the ballot in October 2017 for sidewalks, bus shelters and other improvements that complement and improve access to public transit system improvements. While many improvements are completed, much work still needs to be done, and the City is a long way from having the system it needs.

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AFFORDABLE HOUSING Raleigh adopted a property tax increase generating nearly 6 million dollars per year for affordable housing. This funding, coupled with other existing programs, when properly spent helps in alleviating the housing plight of the worst off sectors of society. However, growth and economic prosperity for many has put pressure on the stock of affordable housing, and despite past efforts for many the housing situation is getting worse, not better, The growing prosperity of Raleigh has resulted in residential property values rising to the point where it is difficult for even people like teachers, firefighters, policemen and many others who would not be considered “poor” to find homes in the City they can afford, and alleviating this problem is another avenue for investing the newly raised property tax. The best ways to use property tax funds, regulatory and tax incentives and other financial tools that exist now, the best ways to use zoning and other development regulatory powers to preserve existing and encourage construction of new affordable housing, and determining what additional tools need to be brought to bear to solve the affordable housing problem, are all current campaign issues.

GENTRIFICATION Closely related to the Affordable Housing issues is the problem of gentrification. Gentrification is not a problem unique to Raleigh, but is a “problem of success” in many areas of the Country, including Raleigh. Revitalization efforts for Cities when successful make the areas “revitalized”, and the areas adjacent to those areas, more desirable locations, resulting in increased property values and more affluent individuals and businesses displacing the lower and moderate income residents and traditional small businesses in those areas. Older, existing structures are often either torn down to make room for newer, more expensive development, or sold, extensively rehabilitated, then resold to more affluent buyers. Rising property values mean rising rental rates, forcing many tenants out of their homes. Rising property values also mean higher taxes for home owners, even if tax rates do not increase, imposing what can be an unbearable burden on home owners with incomes already stretched to the limit. Portions of Districts C and D in Raleigh are particularly susceptible to gentrification. The continued success of downtown revitalization efforts are expected to make gentrification pressures even worse in the older, predominately African-American community in southeast Raleigh. Ideally, economic growth, access to good education and new and better paying jobs would allow community wealth to rise with property values and thereby prevent people from being forced from their homes. This is an ideal that has probably never been achieved anywhere in the country, and expecting middled aged and retired people to somehow be able to increase their incomes in proportion to rapidly escalating property values, whatever improvements in educational opportunities and affordable transit are achieved, is not realistic. Gentrification can therefore be expected to be a continuing and growing problem in Raleigh. There are, however, likely measures that can be taken to soften the impact and extent of gentrification, and to protect the most vulnerable from losing their homes. The best ways to find and deploy those measures are the heart of gentrification as a campaign issue.

SOCCER ARENA 2017 saw a tentative proposal for a Soccer Arena in downtown Raleigh. While some candidates in 2017 attempted to make an issue of it, nothing concrete was ever really proposed, and Raleigh fell out of contention for the team for which it was intended. Still, considering Raleigh’s population and growth it is likely that at some time it will be viable candidate for a professional sports complex. A feasibility study for one such project is now underway. Depending on the outcome of that study, there may be something worth discussing in 2021, but as in the 2017

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election, MAPAC is skeptical of any candidate trying to make an issue out of something that is at present so nebulously defined and uncertain.

CLIMATE CHANGE While climate change may at first glance seem like a strange issue for a local unit of government, it is a real problem that can not longer be avoided, and governments must now turn their attention to how its impacts can best be mitigated and minimized. Actions to do this will be needed at Federal, State and Local Level. While western European countries, China, and southern Asia countries are all taking strong steps towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the Trump Administration has gone in the opposite direction, encouraging the burning of fossil fuels and reducing restrictions on allowable green house gas emissions from petroleum wellheads. The North Carolina Legislature has turned a blind eye to the problem, and even passed a law limiting the ability of State agencies and local governments to consider sea level rise in planing and and regulating development. So, for the time bing at least, any progress in North Carolina is going to have to be made at the local level. Cities and Counties can not hope to solve the problem, but they can contribute to the solution, and need to take climate impacts into account wherever appropriate in planning, zoning, purchasing and capital improvements construction decisions.

COUNCIL CONDUCT & DIVERSITY The Council elected in 2017 has developed a reputation for contentiousness. Ability to conduct thoughtful debate, and to both win and lose gracefully, are desirable traits in any Mayor and City Council. It can not be that these attributes have been present in abundance in the current Council. Diversity in represented interests is also desirable. Having “good” diversity in a City Council more than just have a mix of different genders and ethnicities. An effective Mayor/City Council government needs to be able to effectively understand and represent the interests of the City businesses, both large and small, of the wide spectrum of residential neighborhoods, and of the sometimes competing interests of different interest groups within the City.

TERMS OF OFFICE AND A RELATED QUESTION The City of Raleigh is unusual in that its Mayor and Council serve only 2 year terms rather than the more customary 4 year terms. Election expenses have been steadily increasing with the increase in City population and associated development pressures. Even District seat elections have resulted in some candidates having campaign expenses exceeding $100,000. There can be a tendency for elected officials to avoid votes on controversial issues in any election year, but these tendencies can be particularly pronounced in “off year” elections where low voter turn out can give a motivated, or angry, group of single issue voters an impact on the election outcome far out of proportion to their numbers. Campaigning also exerts a heavy time demand on the part of incumbents, leaving them less time to actually govern. While not often publicly broached by any candidate, challenger or incumbent, as an election issue, changing from 2 year to 4 year staggered terms should in MAPAC’s view be an issue, an issue that should be addressed soon. The Mayor and the City Council positions are considered to be “part time” jobs, but those elected report that they average spending 20-30 hours per week on City business. The continued growth of Raleigh can be expected to demand even more time commitments from its council members and mayor, and at some point consideration needs to be given to changing the positions from being part time with “token” compensation, to being full time positions with commensurate salaries and benefits.

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ANALYSIS AND BASIS FOR RECOMMENDATIONS

Candidate Evaluation Considerations MAPAC uses a number of factors in formulating its voting recommendations. Positions on the major issues (see previous section for an issues analysis) is one criteria, but not the only one. Having the “right position” on issues is of little use without the knowledge, experience base, and skills needed to devise solutions for the problems identified, even when there is a single, clear “right position”. MAPAC therefore considers candidates knowledge, experience base, and skills as important as their positions on particular issues.

Day to day miscues and successes predominate news coverage, but it is the long term strategic decisions a Council makes, decisions that may have little or no immediate effects, that can have the greatest impacts on a City. Long term strategic decisions are more likely to be good ones if reached after careful deliberation by people who do not all have the same background and world views, but who do have significant education, work and life experiences. A City Council consisting of people all having the same general perspective and approach to government risks not having the right questions asked, and not engaging in the kind of reasoned questioning and debate that can expose flaws and shortcomings of any particular plan or action under consideration. Therefore, in making voting recommendations MAPAC considers how each candidate can add a beneficial perspective to Council deliberations that would not otherwise be present.

Once a strategic course has been adopted, it must be implemented, which often will require support from a broad spectrum of the population. A council that is perceived as only representing the interests of businesses and real estate developers will be hard pressed to get the votes it may need to pass bond referendums critical to its plans. A council perceived by the business community as being ignorant of the requirements of sustaining businesses which provide the job base, and much of the tax base of the City, is unlikely to get the critical support it needs for securing things like enabling legislation from the State legislature. it is difficult, if not impossible, for a City Council to succeed if that Council is not perceived by at least a large portion of the business community and a large portion of the general populace as being capable of understanding the concerns of each group and as being competent enough to adequately address and protect those concerns. Therefore, in making voting recommendations MAPAC considers how each candidate, if elected, would impact the confidence different sectors of the City have in the Council as a whole.

MAPAC in evaluating candidate recommendations looks for a mixture of candidates that will bring to the council a wide variety of different expertise and experiences. There is no practical way for a Council to have within its own ranks expertise in the full range of issues it will face. Each Council person for many deliberations will have to rely on the expertise of City staff and City retained consultants in making some important decisions. Nonetheless, it is useful to have enough variety in education and experience backgrounds on the Council so that for most issues at least one member can bring an extended, in-depth knowledge to bear without having to rely solely on outside expertise, and MAPAC takes this consideration into account when formulating its recommendations, However, having specialized experience alone is not sufficient to receive a MAPAC endorsement, and MAPAC also looks for

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characteristics that show a candidate has the ability and willingness to look beyond his or her own bailiwick, and the willingness and ability to do the hard work needed to understand relevant factors when making decisions in areas for which the candidate had no prior expertise.

The Mayor and the City Council together constitute only 8 people, who by necessity must sit and work together on a regular basis. There are always opportunities for disagreements on particular issues to become “personal”. If that happens Council Meetings can become acrimonious, and City government can suffer as a consequence. The ability to disagree without becoming disagreeable is therefore something that should be valued in an elected official, and in a candidate for elected office. Ideally, elected officials would all have the ability to agreeably disagree, would come from a variety of different backgrounds, experiences, and viewpoints, and would be people who are open to considering different approaches to any given issue. MAPAC considers this ideal in making its voter recommendations.

While there are many clearly definable characteristics needed to be a good Mayor and City Councilor, there are not any education, experience or character prerequisites to registering to run for office. It is the job of the voters to impose “quality control” in the election process. There may be times when no candidate having the desirable experience and characteristics is on the ballot, in which case the voter is forced to choose between the “lessor of the evils”, and times when the qualification or lack of qualification of one or more candidates is just not clear, in which case voters must just “take their best shot”. MAPAC in its candidate evaluations does its best to reduce voter uncertainty in these cases, but it is not always possible to do this with certainty, particularly when dealing with candidates who are not incumbents with a public record of performance or nonperformance,

The routes successful candidates follow to City Council seats and the office of Mayor vary, but are not as varied as some might think. The most common route in Raleigh is for a candidate to first serve on one or more of the various City advisory Boards, Commissions, and Councils. This type of service exposes the candidates to a in-depth look at how the City operates before being elected. A candidate that served the typical three 2 year terms of service on the Planning Commission while the City was in full boom mode, and before a Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) was adopted that significantly curtailed Commission activity, would have spent 10 to15 hours per week for 6 years interacting with the citizens through the work of the Citizens Advisory Councils (CACs) and the activities of various individuals and ad hoc citizen groups formed in response to particular issues, in addition to working with the City Attorney, City staff assigned responsibility for land use and housing planning, mass transit and street planning, parks and recreation facilities planning, and the fire department, interacting with developers and their attorneys, and interacting with the City Council itself. This background helps candidates that are successfully elected to “hit the ground running” when they take office, with little or no “learning curve” required, a particularly valuable trait for a City Council elected for only 2 year terms. Incumbents who went through the “Planning Commission-City Council” route include Russ Stephenson and Dickie Thompson, but only Russ Stephens is running for re-election. Councilwoman Kay Crowder’s preparation for her service on the Council was largely through her association with her late husband, who served on the Planning Commission before being elected to the Council. While perhaps not as rigorous a training ground as long service on the Planning Commission, service with other appointed City Boards and Commissions is another common route that offers similar, if not as extensive, experience as the Planning Commission. Incumbents Councilman Corey Branch, and challenger Shelia

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Alamin-Khashoggi all spent time on City appointed advisory bodies. Mayoral candidate Charles Francis acquired relevant experience by a more direct route, having spent time in the past on the City Council when appointed to serve out the terms of vacated Council seats. Charles Francis also served time on the Planning Commission. Kay Crowder was originally appointed to the Council to fill out her late husband’s term in office, before being elected to the District D seat twice in her own right. Extensive service with non-profits (both formally chartered and informally organized) serving the Raleigh community is another pathway to office, and challenger Nicole Stewart is an example of a high profile candidate who owes that stature not to work on City advisory bodies, but rather to extensive non governmental public service work. A not unheard of path to office is following up grass roots opposition to some particular project or action with a run for office. An example of this route to a Council seat is the 2015 election of David Cox to the District B seat. A proposed zoning change proved unpopular with a large number of District B residents even though it was supported by their then Councilman. David Cox emerged as a leader of the opposition, and from this position ran for and secured the District B Council seat. Mayoral Candidate Caroline Sullivan has extensive with non-profits and as a Wake County Commissioner. Mayoral Candidate Mary- Ann Baldwin has served 5 terms on the City Council.

Mayor McFarland has elected to step down, as has long time District A Councilman Dickie Thompson. Current At- Large Council Members Nicole Stewart and Russ Stephenson and all but one of the sitting District Council persons are running for re-election. Three of those sitting Councilors, Ms. Kay Crowder, Mr. David Cox and Mr. Corey Branch, are two term Councilors running for re-election for the third time. (Ms. Crowder, in edition to serving two full terms, also served a portion of her late husband’s term prior to that election). The Muslim American Public Affairs Council (MAPAC) generally supports incumbents if it feels they have been doing a good job under the theory that you usually do not fire somebody who is doing his/her job. As noted earlier, though, Raleigh is unusual in that it elects officials for only 2 year terms rather than the more ordinary 4 year terms, so a single term in office does not provide as much a view of a candidates capabilities as it otherwise would.. Evaluating incumbents is in many ways easier than evaluating challengers, since there is a clearer record on which to judge an incumbent. (Being an incumbent is, however, not without disadvantages, since any one who is in office long enough is eventually forced into taking a position on an issue that will alienate a large number of constituents, no matter which side of the issue the incumbent takes). Conditions today are to a great extent the product of decisions made years ago, and the current Mayor and the long time, multi-term veteran council members are probably justified in taking credit for the high regard in which Raleigh is held nationally and the high ratings Raleigh receives from most of its citizens as a place to live. All of Raleigh has not shared and enjoyed the good times and good fortune equally, and the long time, multi-term veteran council members and Mayor must also bear some responsibility for this unfortunate fact as well.

The full slate of 2019 candidates is not without its concerns. This is not the fault of any particular candidate, but rather an observation that this year the slate of candidates just does not have the same breath of different experience, background, and education as other slates of candidate have had in recent years.

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Candidate Evaluations and Recommendations Mayor

There are 6 candidates running for Mayor, none of whom is the incumbent. Most observers believe that only 3 of these candidates, Mary-Ann Baldwin, Charles Francis and Carolina Sullivan, have a broad enough base of support to be serious contenders, and a run-off election for Mayor is a real possibility. The remaining three candidates Zainab Baloch, George Knott and Justin L. Sutton each has their own set of limitations that make it unlikely that they will be elected.

Mary-Ann Baldwin served 5 terms in one of the 2 City Council at-Large seats, winning her last reelection with a vote total that exceeded that of any other Council candidate that year. Ms. Baldwin elected to step down from the Council in 2017. Ms. Baldwin was a part of the long, laborious process that enabled the City to established dedicated funding sources for public transit and affordable housing that is only now beginning to bear fruit. While on the City Council Ms. Baldwin served as Chair of the City's Law & Public Safety Committee and Transportation Committee, and was a member of the Budget & Economic Development Committee, Public Works Committee, Comprehensive Planning Committee, Healthy Neighborhoods Committee, and Technology and Communications Committee. Ms Baldwin also served for nine years as City’s representatives to GoTriangle, (the regional transit authority) and was a former representative to the Metro Mayor’s Coalition and liaison to the NC State Legislature. Ms. Baldwin has over 30 years of work experience which includes time as Director of Marketing at Stewart Engineering; Assistant Branch Manager at Mulkey Engineers & Consultants; Director of Corporate Communications & Community Relations at the NHL Carolina Hurricanes and Executive Director of the team’s Kids ‘n Community Foundation; Director of Communications at the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce; Director of Public Relations at Carolina Physicians Health Plan and Executive Director, Holt Brothers Foundation / Vice President of Marketing and Business Development at Holt Brothers Inc. A pragmatist with ties to City business as well as community groups, and experience in dealing with the State legislature, Ms. Baldwin would bring back to City government a greater sense of representation by important segments of the City that may now feel they are being unheard and underserved, and more importantly, that have the expertise and experience to help the City achieve its goals for affordable Housing and Public Transit. Additional information on Ms. Baldwin can be found at:

http://www.maryannforraleigh.com https://indyweek.com/news/wake/mary-ann-baldwin-raleigh-mayor-2019/ https://indyweek.com/news/elections/candidate-questionnaire-mary-ann-baldwin-raleigh-mayor/ https://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2019/09/27/meet-the-candidate-mary-ann-baldwin.html

Zainab Baloch ran, unsuccessfully, for an at-Large City Council position in 2017 and is now running for Mayor. The goals Ms. Baloch advocates are not materially different from those of the other candidates, all of whom advocate for improved housing for low to moderate income people and improved Public Transportation systems. Ms. Baloch does not seem to realize that the Mayor has extremely limited executive authority, that a successful Mayor must be able to build coalitions across a broad spectrum of different interests, and that referring to the people needed to help achieve your goals as “corrupt” is just not likely to be fruitful. Ms. Baloch’s advocacy of eliminating all single family zoning, so that any existing residential lot/structure so zoned could be converted to multi-family dwellings (at

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what density level she does not make clear), is problematic. Such a proposal would be enormously unpopular, could wreak havoc on existing infrastructure, and actually raise real estate values, tax valuations and taxes on the very low to moderate income people Ms. Baloch wants to protect. Ms. Baloch advocates high density mixed use development, where people can live, shop, and work, be more easily served by Public Transit, and live with little to no need for an automobile, while being openly disdainful of those who have actually built such developments. Requiring low to moderate income housing to be a part of future such developments would go a long way towards solving the City’s housing problems, but that will require enabling Legislation from the North Carolina General Assembly, and the support of developers such as those Ms. Baloch publicly chastises is almost certainly going to be required if there is to be any hope of such legislation ever being passed. Ms. Baloch needs to be more circumspect in what she proposes and what she opposes. Ms. Baloch’s willingness to serve in an elected office and her energetic campaigning are to be commended, but if she is to be successful in both seeking office, and in making positive contributions once she secures an office, she needs to work on her policy analysis and expertise, and on establishing a broad base of support. Additional information about Ms. Baloch can be found at:

https://zainab4raleigh.com https://indyweek.com/news/wake/zainab-baloch-wants-to-be-raleighs-youngest-mayor/ https://indyweek.com/news/elections/candidate-questionnaire-zainab-baloch-raleigh-mayor/ https://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2019/09/27/meet-the-candidate-zainab-baloch.html

Charles Francis is making a second try for Mayor, having unsuccessfully challenged for the position in 2017. Mr. Francis has an impressive resumé and a dubious record as a campaigner. Misleading and downright deceptive claims and characterizations are his stock-in-trade. Mr. Francis may have toned this propensity down for 2019 from the 2017 campaign, but he is still the same man. A fuller, more detailed discussion of the problems associated with Mr. Francis is contained within the 2017 MAPAC Raleigh City Election Recommendations (see pages 14-17 of the 2017 report). It is difficult to conceive of any situation in which MAPAC could endorse Mr. Francis. Additional information on Mr. Francis can be found at:

https://www.francisforraleigh.com https://indyweek.com/news/elections/candidate-questionnaire-charles-francis-raleigh-mayor/ https://indyweek.com/news/wake/the-enigma-raleigh-mayoral-candidate-charles-francis/ https://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2019/09/27/meet-the-candidate-charles-francis.html

George Knott is a professional musician with no prior political experience. It is not clear that Mr. Knott expects himself to be taken seriously as a candidate, but it is clear that he has concerns about Raleigh and wants those concerns to be addressed. While we believe Mr. Knott has an inaccurate view as to how City dollars are spent, and has no experience or qualifications that suggest he would be a good Mayor, his views on inequities in housing and economic opportunities in general are genuine. Additional information on Mr. Knott can be found at:

http://www.maryannforraleigh.com https://indyweek.com/news/wake/george-knott-mayoral-campaign/ https://indyweek.com/news/elections/candidate-questionnaire-george-knott-raleigh-mayor/ https://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2019/09/27/meet-the-candidate-george-knott.html

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Caroline Sullivan is an eighteen year Raleigh Resident. Ms. Sullivan served on the Wake County Board of Commissioners from 2013-2017 and served as its Vice Chair in 2015. While on the Board of Commissioners she served as Chair of the Budget, Audit, and Finance Committee Co-Chair of the Education Committee and of the Human Services Committee, Chair of the Public Education Committee of the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners (NCACC) and on the NCACC Special Task Force on Mental Health, the NCACC Legislative Goals and and Executive Committees. Her community service activities include serving on the SafeChild Board, Alliance Behavioral Healthcare Board, Passage Home Board, Triangle Family Services Board, Wake County Smart Start Board, Poe Center for Health Education Board, WakeEd Partnership Leadership Council, Wake County Task Force for Women’s Employment Issues, Wake County Women’s Commission, Capital Area Workforce Development Board, Wake County Continuum of Care Board, NAMI Wake Board, Performance Edge Board, UNC Rex Cancer Care Patient and Family Council, and the NC Interagency Coordinating Council for Children with Disabilities.SMs. Sullivan currently serves as the Senior Advisor of the North Carolina Business Committee for Education, an education nonprofit that focuses on promoting work-based learning. Ms. Sullivan proposes to address the Affordable Housing shortage, including homelessness, with a multipoint effort that include leveraging the cooperation and expertise of the private sector and of the various other Government Agencies and non-profits working for the same goals. Ms. Sullivan is charismatic and low key, and unlikely to fuel the divisions that have hammered the City Council over the last 2 years. However, whether Ms. Sullivan’s “soft touch” way of getting things done would work with the present City Council is an open question. Additional information on Ms. Sullivan can be found at:

https://www.carolineforraleigh.com https://indyweek.com/news/elections/candidate-questionnaire-caroline-sullivan-raleigh-mayor/ https://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2019/09/27/meet-the-candidate-caroline-sullivan.html

Justin L. Sutton is a Raleigh native from birth. A procurement attorney by profession, Mr. Sutton provides little information on which to judge his qualifications. He campaign has been low key, probably because of limited funding. MAPAC finds no glaring problems with Mr. Sutton, just not enough information to judge his suitability to be Mayor. Additional information on Mr. Sutton can be found at:

https://suttonformayor.com https://indyweek.com/news/elections/candidate-questionnaire-justin-sutton-raleigh-mayor/ https://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2019/09/27/meet-the-candidate-justin-sutton.html

MAPAC made the decision to endorse Mary-Ann Baldwin based on her track record on the City Council, her pragmatism, and her established relations with the broad spectrum of groups and population segments whose support and cooperation is necessary to successfully implement any plans to increase and preserve low and moderate income housing in the City, improve public transportation, and increase job opportunities across the full demographic spectrum of the City.

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City Council At-Large

There are 6 candidates running for the 2 At-Large Council seats. The 2 incumbents are running for reelection. One of these is a multi-term incumbent, Architect and Urban Planner Russ Stephenson. The other incumbent is long time community activists Nicole Stewart, running for her second term in office. The remaining four candidates are James Garland Bledsoe, Jonathan Melton, Portia Wilson Rochelle and Carlie Allison Spencer. Mr. Melton is the only one of the challenger candidates thought to have a serious chance of wining. A young (33 year old) Raleigh lawyer and community activist, Mr. Mention is short of the kind of experience MAPAC would like to see, but he has already built a broad base of support, including establishing ties with the local realtor community that likely will be necessary for any successful program to address the Affordable Housing Industry. At another time Mr. Melton may have been a preferred candidate, but right now we feel the City needs the experience of Mr. Stephens to get back on a productive track. While Ms. Stewart has just served one term, and does not add expertise to the Council that is not already there, she has proven herself to be steady, thoughtful “adult” on the Council who enjoys the confidence of many sectors in the City. The Council needs some stabilizing influences right now, and hopefully the 2 incumbents can bring it. MAPAC endorses Russ Stephenson and Nicole Stewart for Raleigh City Council At-Large.

City Council District A

There are three candidates running for the District A seat being vacated by long time council member Dickie Thompson. These are Patrick Buffkin, Joshua Bradley and Sam Hershey. Mr. Bradley has a world view that is probably shared by few of his would be constituents, and seemingly little grasp of what is statutorily possible. Mr. Hershey has an interesting platform, but like Mr. Bradley, seems to have done little research into what is statutorily possible, and into what has already been studied and done. Nonetheless, Mr. Hershey has assembled an impressive “wish list” of ideas, and in some cases has done something rare in election campaigns, even proposed methods to pay for those ideas. Mr. Buffkin is a Raleigh lawyer with an idea list that, while not as impressively long as that of Mr. Hershey, is better fleshed out, and legally achievable. The City Council needs some calming influence right now and to focus on what can be concretely achieved while avoiding acrimony within the Council and between the Council and City staff. Mr. Buffkin best fits that bill of the three candidates, and MAPAC recommends Patrick Buffkin for District A Council seat.

City Council District B:

Raleigh District B, the largest Raleigh district involves a race between 2 term incumbent David Cox and Brian Fitzsimmons. Mr. Cox has been the subject of “attack fliers” sent by political group not linked to any candidate that have been condemned even by his opponent for over the top imagery and just general sleaziness. David Cox is noted for his strong constituent advocacy, and “neighborhoods first” positions. Mr. Cox has also widely considered to be excessively thin skinned when faced with views different from his own, and antagonistic towards City staff. After his first two terms it was hoped Mr. Cox would adopt a more conciliatory way of doing business, but this does not seem to be the case. Mr. Fitzsimmons is of a decidedly different temperament. There were some in MAPAC who felt that Mr. Cox was just too disruptive to remain on Council, but others who, though they wish and

15 hope he will learn from his past and adopt a less abrasive working style, thought his outstanding commitment to his constituents was the overriding consideration, and that view prevailed so that MAPAC endorses David Cox for City Council District B.

City Council District C:

The District C race has 4 candidates, incumbent Corey Branch and challengers Shelia Alamin-Khashoggi, Wanda Hunter, and Ricky Scott. District C encompasses the southeast quadrant of Raleigh. It is this district more than any other that has major concerns with affordable housing, gentrification displacing lower income people from affordable housing and the limitations of public transportation. There is also a concern of lack of economic prosperity in much of District C. Southeast Raleigh is a well-known food desert with lack of adequate grocery stores. Corey Branch has served two 2 year terms on the Council and prior to that served as a member of both the Raleigh Transit Authority and the Wake County Transit Advisory Committee, providing him with experience in an area vital to the District C residents long term interests. Branch is enthusiastic, studious, effective in speaking his mind on important positions and interested in the challenges in his district. Not prone to unnecessary bickering, Mr. Branch has been more victim than participant in that a part of the current City Council problems. Ms. Alamin- Khashoggi is a long time Raleigh activist, a veteran non-profit operator, and a strong voice for the African American minority in Raleigh. Ms. Alamin-Khashoggi is neither shrill nor angry, nor does she advocate giving precedence to one group in Raleigh over the other, but she is concerned that every group not just be listened to, but actually heard. Ms Hunter is an articulate community activist with an engaging personality, and while she does not mince words when discussing the needs of District C, she remains civil and non-confrontational while doing so. Mr. Scott has a Master’s Degree in Public Administration ( a degree also held by Ms. Alamin-Khashoggi,) and a doctoral degree in education. His position are not materially different than the other candidates, but less detailed. Ultimately though, Mr. Branch’s experience wins out over the other three, and MAPAC endorses Corey Branch for City Council District C.

City Council District D:

Incumbent Kay Crowder has 3 challengers for her District D seat. Kay Crowder was first appointed to the seat on the death of her husband, longtime council member Thomas Crowder, then elected to the seat in 2015 and again in 2017. Like her husband, Ms. Crowder prides herself on being a neighborhood protector in this Southwest Raleigh district. Outgoing, likable, and conscientious, Ms. Crowder has not been able to impart the some qualities to all of her fellow Council Members, and with the relative abundance of neighborhood activists elected in 2017, Ms. Crowder’s role as a voice of the neighborhood preservationist is somewhat redundant. Challenger April Parker is the only candidate whose platform does not even mention the affordable housing problems Raleigh is facing (although she does give a nod to the problems of the homeless). Ms. Parker does not really seem familiar with Raleigh, and she is the least promising of the 4 candidates .Challenger Brittany Bryan would bring to the Council her years of expertise working for various government agencies in the US and Canada. Challenger Saige Martin would bring to the job a remarkable record of perseverance and success against long odds. Born to 15 year old parents and having spent much of his childhood homeless, Mr. Martin somehow managed to get a college degree, a job with the UN in Turkey working with Syrian refugees, and then, among other things, worked on the Obama

16 and later the Hillary Clinton Presidential campaigns. Mr. Martin now works with various non-profits while he pursues a Master Degree in the NC State School of Design. While Mr. Martin is short on experience specifically related to running a City, it is difficult to imagine how his life experiences would not bring a good sense of scale and perspective to any City Council deliberation. MAPAC was divided between Mr. Martin and Ms. Bryan, but given the current state of the City Council decided that Ms. Bryan’s extensive government experience was more valuable at the moment. The decision was a close one, and the margin of preference narrow, but in the final analysis MAPAC endorses Brittany Bryan.

City Council District E

Two candidates are running for the District E Council Seat, one term incumbent Stef Mendell and challenger David Knight. Stef Mendell, like David Cox, has been the target of spurious attack mailings, ones that use out of context quotes and distort her actual positions. However, there are some legitimate criticisms that can be made of Ms. Mendell and the “attack” fliers would probably have been more effective if they had contained a reasoned, dispassionate analysis of what she actually has, and has not done, rather than taking cheap shots that do not stand close scrutiny and unnecessarily impinge her character. The challenge Ms. Mendell faced upon election was making the transition from a staunch neighborhood advocate to a Council member that weighed the interests of all the City in her decision making. Ms. Mendell has sometimes fallen short in this regard, among other things costing the City time and money on a sidewalk project for no reason other than the project was not to the liking of a few or her constituents. The project eventually went through, but Ms. Mendell’s judgment (not her character) is in doubt. Ms. Mendell’s opponent David Knight, in addition to being an Attorney, has served as Assistant Secretary of Natural Resources for the NC Department of Environment & Natural Resources and has served on a number of Wake County and City of Raleigh appointed task forces and Committees. The Council has enough neighborhood advocates, and MAPAC feels that the Council would be better served at this time by Mr. Knight’s experience, and accordingly MAPAC endorses David Knight.

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