<body><div> Name as it appears on the ballot:&nbsp; Christina Jones <figure class="alignright size-large"><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=47xhSD_0w9Zu4cv00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=47xhSD_0w9Zu4cv00" width="683" height="1024" ></figure> Age: 39 Party affiliation: Democrat Campaign website: Christinaforraleigh.com Occupation &amp; employer: Raleigh City Councilor – District E Years lived in Raleigh: 13 <ol class="wp-block-list"><li> Given the direction of Raleigh government, would you say things are on the right course? If not, what specific changes will you advocate for if elected? </li></ol><nbtemplate data-id="AdPlaceholder" data-content="JTdCJTdE"></nbtemplate><ol class="wp-block-list"></ol> The last two years have shown me that there is very little communication between City Staff and Council.&nbsp; Our Staff does amazing work, but the lines of communication to Council are not strong.&nbsp; There are big decisions being made, such as the cancellation of the Christmas Parade, that Council only learns about a few hours before it hits the news. We are a part time Council, but I would like to begin discussing with the public the need for Full Time representation.&nbsp; The city is going to be 500,000 residents soon and we need to have leadership who does the work daily.&nbsp; I would also like to have our Council Committee meetings be mandatory every month so we can have public discussions about our Strategic plan.&nbsp; We currently only meet when an item is sent to be reviewed, but ongoing public conversations about HOW we are connecting the work to the strategic plan is an area of opportunity for us. <nbtemplate data-id="AdPlaceholder" data-content="JTdCJTdE"></nbtemplate> 2. If you are a candidate for a district seat, please identify your priorities for your district. If you are an at-large or mayoral candidate, please identify the three most pressing issues the city faces. <ol class="wp-block-list"></ol> Affordable Housing is a critical need in our community as we continue to grow. As we watch developers build necessary housing to accommodate our city’s rapid growth, it is important that Leadership ensure all residents, especially those making 30%, 50%, and 80% Annual Median Income (AMI) are included in that growth. One of my core values is ensuring that we do our part, as a district, to add affordable units and ensure that we are welcoming to all. Workers’ Rights – Over the last two years, I have had the privilege of getting to tour all of our city departments to learn about what they do. An alarming statistic I became aware of is how understaffed many of our departments have been. At some points over the last two years, we were at a 15.4% vacancy rate, which translates to over 600 full time jobs. Raleigh must do a better job at keeping pace so that we don’t continue to lose employees to other cities. <nbtemplate data-id="AdPlaceholder" data-content="JTdCJTdE"></nbtemplate> Community Engagement – Citizens Advisory Councils are what brought me into public office. After being dismantled in 2020 without having input into what could have made us stronger, I committed to ensuring that CACs were not forgotten. After showing up at public comments and winning a seat on council, I was able to lead the conversation to bring CACs back. On February 6, 2024, I lead the way by working with current CAC chairs and brought forth a motion to begin the process to strengthen what we lost 4 years ago. 3. What in your record as a public official or other experience demonstrates your ability to be effective as a member of the city council and as an advocate for the issues that you believe are important? <ol class="wp-block-list"></ol> My experience over the last few years has taught me that in order to be effective as a City Leader, you must engage and be open to listening to many different perspectives.&nbsp; From my time as Chair of the CACs, to my term on the Parks Board, as well as serving on non-profit boards such as the YMCA, Community Partnerships Inc, and The Great Raleigh Cleanup; working on projects within the community have helped guide many of the decisions made at the Council table. <nbtemplate data-id="AdPlaceholder" data-content="JTdCJTdE"></nbtemplate> In addition to that, I have spent the last two years touring with every city department and actually working shifts with RPD, the Fire Department, 911, Stormwater, and Solid Waste Services.&nbsp; This has meant that I am able to speak directly to employees on the job to hear how being understaffed effects them personally.&nbsp; Balancing those conversations with the presentation from Department Directors, I feel that I am able to bring voices to the table who have not always been afforded a seat. 4. In 2021, the Raleigh City Council enacted a missing middle policy to allow for the construction of new, diverse types of housing across the city. More than 2,000 newly-allowed units have been added to the city’s housing stock under the policy, yet there has been pushback from residents, including lawsuits. Do you support Raleigh’s missing middle housing policy as is, or do you think it needs amending? If you feel it needs to be changed, please explain. <nbtemplate data-id="AdPlaceholder" data-content="JTdCJTdE"></nbtemplate><ol class="wp-block-list"></ol> I do not support the Missing Middle policy as is.&nbsp; There are no guardrails to measure success and the unintended consequences of stormwater impact in my district are a direct result of limited community conversation before it was enacted.&nbsp; Pipes built in the 1950’s were not meant to handle the amount of water we are currently seeing due to increased rainfall and increased impervious surface development. The affordable housing contribution is at 10%, of which 190 units are in one development.&nbsp; We need affordable housing throughout the city and not focused in one area.&nbsp; While we cannot control whether or not affordable housing is built, I believe we can help incentivize development partners to work with us to address this critical need.&nbsp; What happens when the next time we check back, we don’t meet that 10%?&nbsp; Council needs to set guidance so we can address the concerns that residents are experiencing. <nbtemplate data-id="AdPlaceholder" data-content="JTdCJTdE"></nbtemplate> 5. Raleigh has many funds, programs, and partnerships in place aimed at addressing affordable housing, but still has a deficit of some 23,000 affordable units. What more can the city do to secure affordable housing, and what more can it do to ensure that low-income residents don’t face displacement? <ol class="wp-block-list"></ol> I am very proud of the work this council has done in terms of affordable units.&nbsp; In District E, we were able to partner with market rate and affordable housing developers to bring almost 300 units to those making between 20%-80% AMI.&nbsp; The County Commission has the purse strings to help bring even more affordability on line.&nbsp; A priority for me will be to strengthen our partnership with the County to address the housing need in Raleigh. The strongest tool we have against displacement is to help protect Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing (NOAH).&nbsp; During this term, we have been able to get conditions that saved NOAH units while also adding new stock in available units.&nbsp; In this year’s budget, we are also starting our Direct Voucher Program, where we will be working with those in need of assistance by giving direct payments instead of waiting for Section 8 vouchers to be accepted.&nbsp; Affordability hasn’t been a priority in the past and it will take time&nbsp; to see the results of the work we have only just begun. 6. The recent resignation of GoTriangle’s CEO raises questions about the future of the county and regional transit strategy. How do you see the future of transit in Raleigh when it comes to Bus Rapid Transit, microtransit, and commuter and regional rail projects? <ol class="wp-block-list"></ol> Downtown is going to continue to get busier as we add key infrastructure to our Transit System.&nbsp; The S-Line is set to come on line, along with our RUS Bus Facility, within the next 10 years.&nbsp; In addition, we are beginning work on Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) as well as micro transit programs with our partners in Wake Forest.&nbsp; I am excited about the future of Transit in Raleigh and look forward to learning more from our County, State, and Federal partners on how to fund the plans that have been worked on to connect our communities. I do plan to bring District E to the center of those conversations because we have been left out of big initiatives, like BRT.&nbsp; We are the only district in the city that will not be touched with this key infrastructure, but we are the connection between downtown Raleigh and downtown Durham.&nbsp; I have raised this question multiple times while on council, however, I still can’t explain why we are not included. 7. A common complaint from residents is that the city council doesn’t do enough public engagement, with the plan to relocate Red Hat Amphitheater being one recent example. Do you agree with this assessment? If so, what more should the city government and council do to engage residents with city business? <ol class="wp-block-list"></ol> I do think the city can do a better job at advertising the many community meetings that are held to discuss important topics.&nbsp; Our Community Engagement Department has done a phenomenal job with outreach about big issues such as our Alternative Response Unit, and stepped up the amount of engagement so that more residents were able to participate. There have also been missed opportunities around Red Hat and Election Reform which left residents feeling like their voice didn’t matter.&nbsp; We are moving more staff into our Community Engagement department, and I believe that will grow their capacity as they go from being an office to a full department. Community Engagement is the center of why I came to council, and I have exemplified that in my monthly community meetings throughout the district.&nbsp; Giving District E a space to listen and be heard has proven to be very effective in increasing public participation in city government. 8. Downtown Raleigh has had a rough five years following the COVID pandemic with the transition to working from home and business owners reporting an increase in crime and other issues. Many see keeping Red Hat Amphitheater downtown as a positive step; what else does the city need to do to help downtown with its recovery and plan for its future? <ol class="wp-block-list"></ol> We have great downtown partners such as Downtown Raleigh Alliance (DRA) and the Raleigh Chamber of Commerce.&nbsp; Through their hard work, we are seeing more businesses relocate to Raleigh as well as more and more new start up companies that have worked through DRA initiatives like the Pop-Up market stores.&nbsp; Our Parks Department is also working with small business to help attract people to downtown by doing monthly movie nights in Moore Square (weather permitting).&nbsp; Outside of city funded or sponsored events, groups like “We Are DTR” have done creative campaigns that brought new people to experience local shopping in downtown through a passport program which highlighted multiple local stores. Raleigh must continue to assist new business development in our downtown core as well as bring new attractions to the area to get people to want to visit.&nbsp; Making downtown a destination through shopping and activities for the whole family is key to making this area more vibrant. 9. Since 2012, the City of Raleigh has paid more than $4 million in settlements to 47 individuals, families, and estates related to RPD officer’s use of excessive force and other unconstitutional interactions. What are your thoughts on the current culture at RPD? For what changes would you advocate to improve the culture of policing in Raleigh, if any? <ol class="wp-block-list"></ol> I believe that RPD has been given a lot of responsibilities that go beyond solving crimes.&nbsp; Last year, we started the Civilian Traffic Unit to assist officers in minor traffic accidents so they are available for more important calls.&nbsp; In this budget, we are starting our Alternative Response Unit to deploy professionals in crisis management situations to calls that don’t require law enforcement.&nbsp; As I have spoken directly with officers who have been impacted by these initiatives, they are happy to have the assistance and can focus on the main objectives of their job. Currently, we don’t see the Police Department during our Budget process because the City Manager’s office has not placed it in a work session.&nbsp; The last presentation from RPD was back in the winter of 2023 and two budget cycles have passed without publicly hearing from one of the city’s largest budgeted items.&nbsp; I believe that Police culture is a topic we can work on in our Safe, Vibrant, and Healthy Community Committee.&nbsp; The first step in addressing the culture is to first learn about it in full view of the public so that we can make impactful changes that benefit both residents and RPD. 10. Some municipalities, such as Durham, have seen success with crisis response units that deploy trained workers to respond to non-violent behavioral health and quality of life calls for service. Should Raleigh consider such a crisis response program that’s NOT housed in the police department? <ol class="wp-block-list"></ol> Raleigh has considered an Alternative Response Unit and is in the process of working with the county to develop one that exists outside of RPD.&nbsp; We started our ACORNS unit a few years ago, but the community has made it clear that the need is for non-law enforcement to respond to certain situations.&nbsp; We are working with County partners to see how we can access more funding for mental health professionals, but we haven’t come to that solution yet.&nbsp; Since the County is charged with funding social programs, such as this, we are not able to fully fund this initiative without a large tax increase. City staff has been in communication with other municipalities, like Denver, CO, to see how they started their programs.&nbsp; Due to differences in state governments, we are not able to fully replicate the same program, but we are working to define it for Raleigh. 11. The next city council will transition from two-year to four-year terms with staggered elections. What other changes, if any, should the city council make to how voters elect its members? Should any additional changes be put to voters in a referendum or should the council make those decisions? <ol class="wp-block-list"></ol> For a city with almost 500,000 residents, I think that we need more councilors.&nbsp; We held off on adding 3 more this time because of the amount of redistricting that would have taken place both for 2026 and then again after the 2030 census.&nbsp; To limit the confusion and participation of residents who would possibly be redistricted multiple times, we decided to leave that for another council to decide.&nbsp; Having 5 districts with almost 100,000 people in each one makes representation hard, so my thoughts would be to add more District seats instead of At Large.&nbsp; I do believe that should go to a referendum for the public to weigh in on before a vote is taken. Another topic that should be discussed is making Council a full-time position instead of part time.&nbsp; Many decisions are made by City staff, and we don’t have a clear way of communicating those decisions to council before it is made public.&nbsp; A clear example of that was the cancellation of the Christmas Parade and the back and forth with the Veterans Parade, which ultimately led to them cancelling their event as well.&nbsp; We were told about that hours before it was made public and I think that if we were required to be present full time, information would flow more easily. The post <a href="https://indyweek.com/news/elections-news/candidate-questionnaire-christina-jones-raleigh-city-council-district-e-2/" rel="nofollow"> Candidate Questionnaire: Christina Jones, Raleigh City Council, District E </a> appeared first on <a href="https://indyweek.com" rel="nofollow"> INDY Week </a> . </div></body>

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Name as it appears on the ballot:  Christina Jones Age:  39 Party affiliation: Democrat Campaign website: Christinaforraleigh.com Occupation & employer:  Raleigh City Councilor – District E Years lived in Raleigh: 13 The last two years have shown me that there is very little communication between City Staff and Council.  Our Staff does amazing work, but the lines of […]
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