There are three items that are very important to me and have prompted me to run for County Council:
1. The need for At-Large seats on our County Council
2. The need for better planned zoning and development.
3. The need for better maintained roads.
4. To encourage a more responsive government for all citizens.
1. The need for At-Large seats on our County Council.
In Greenville our County Council is made up of 12 single member districts. This means that only one of the Council members answers to you and your neighbors. In most areas they have at large districts, such as in the City of Greenville and the City of Mauldin. This means more members are responsible to more of the County.
For the most part our current Council-members only worry about their districts, not the good of the County. I see this as a problem. If more council members were directly responsible for areas such as Woodruff Road maybe the current problems we have their could have been avoided.
The next Councilor elected from our district will help oversee the redrawing of districts in 2010-2011. If elected I will advocate for At-Large members and a fair redistricting policy.
2. The need for better planned zoning and development.
In my opinion Woodruff Road is an on-going traffic jam that could have been avoided with better planned zoning, and more importantly, better planned traffic patterns. Jeff Allen, director of Clemson's South Carolina Water Resources Center at the Strom Thurmond Institute of Government and Public Affairs recently addressed County Council and was quoted as saying, "If some constraints aren’t put on growth, it’s going to end up looking a lot like Atlanta".
I believe that growth - controlled growth - is a very good thing for the area. The current County Council has allowed a number of developments and rezoning requests pass with little constraint. I envision a Greenville with a growth population of Charlotte without the traffic headaches. We need to seize the opportunity to shape the growth of Greenville and guarantee we aren't all stuck on I-85 or I-385 in ten years.
3. The need for well maintained roads.
When you ride around Greenville you notice one thing just about everywhere you drive. The roads are terrible! CEO's and executives thinking of bringing their business here notice this too. Greenville needs better distribution of taxes and improved road funding to build a suitable infrastructure if we are going to attract more industry and jobs. For example, the southern portion of District 24, the area just outside of Mauldin, seems to have been forgotten by County Council. As a member of County Council, I would make the resurfacing of county roads a priority.
4. To encourage a more responsive government for all citizens.
When I lived in Charlotte I became interested in politics and started watching the Mecklenburg County Commissioners meetings on our local cable access channel. (Commissioners are North Carolina's version of County Council.) When I attempted to contact my commissioner about an upcoming vote on an issue important to me, I received no reply. I tried again, but again, no response. That really irritated me. I then decided to try for a third time, this time copying all of the County Commissioners, hoping at least one member would reply. Everyone BUT my commissioner replied! For me, that was my political turning point. From that moment on I stayed active in local politics. Elected officials have an obligation to be responsive to their constituency. I will make it a priority to reply to all communications received from members of the community.
I believe that any elected official, but especially at the local level needs to be responsive to their constituents and reply to any email, fax, letter or phone call. It is understood that elected officials are generally busy. But I will make it a priority to reply to any communication I receive from members of the community. As an elected official it is your job to represent the people. You cannot do this if you don't talk with people who have concerns.
