news-record.com

GREENSBORO — In the first candidate forum of the 2007 City Council campaign season, the prepared questions often rambled, the answers sometimes lacked specifics and the opponents' gloves — for the most part — stayed on.

Fourteen candidates vying for a council seat gathered for the first time Thursday at the Central Library. The event was sponsored by the Greensboro Neighborhood Congress.

The candidates invited to the forum were those running for a district seat. At-large council candidates and mayoral candidates are scheduled to appear this fall at two events sponsored by the neighborhood group.

Marsh Prause, the event moderator, said this first forum gave the audience unvarnished answers. "It gives us, perhaps, a little more freshness," Prause said. "After they've been to several of these things, the candidates have fallen in a pattern where they'll say the same things."

Candidates from District 1 in southeast Greensboro made no mention of the woes facing their incumbent councilwoman, T. Dianne Bellamy-Small, who is facing a recall election. Even if Bellamy-Small is voted out Aug. 21, she remains in the race and could reclaim the seat in November.

Instead, Bellamy-Small and her three challengers at the forum — Luther Falls Jr., Tonya Clinkscale and Charles Coffey — all stressed the need to revitalize southern sections of the city, notably along High Point Road and West Lee Street.

Meanwhile, District 2 candidates Goldie Wells, the incumbent, and challenger Lance A. James found common ground on issues like finding a way to pay for more city police. Wells stressed her experience with the council, and James mentioned his credentials in previous law enforcement work.

District 3 is the only district where the incumbent declined to run for another term. Six people, only three of whom attended the forum, are looking to take the place of Councilman Tom Phillips.

The questions asked of the District 3 candidates dealt primarily with growth.

Berkley Blanks, a former candidate for sheriff, derided land developers and said they hold too much sway over elected leaders. He gave the City Council an F in following the city's comprehensive plan.

On the opposite end was candidate Zack Matheny, a member of the city's zoning commission, who said the council was, in fact, following its comprehensive growth plan. His assigned grade: A-

And candidate Cyndy Hayworth, also on the zoning commission, gave the current City Council a C-.

In District 4, incumbent Councilman Mike Barber suggested the Minority and Women's Business Enterprise program could be cut to fund more police officers. Barber discussed the idea of lengthening council terms.

His opponent, David Crawford, said he thinks the city should buy abandoned homes, set them on fire to train firefighters and sell the property to raise funds for police.

The most tension at the forum was between District 5 incumbent Sandy Carmany and former county Commissioner Trudy Wade. Wade expressed unhappiness with how City Manager Mitch Johnson locked former police Chief David Wray out of his office in January 2006 just days before Wray resigned. Carmany defended Johnson, saying he has been the most open city manager in her 16 years as an elected official.

Caught in the middle was Angela Carmichael, who lost to Carmany in 2005. Carmichael called for more infrastructure development, especially road construction, in the growing southwest Greensboro district.

Eighteen candidates filed to run for one of five district council seats. Only 14 showed up Thursday. Absent were District 1 candidate James Carpenter Jr. and District 3 candidates Joe Wilson, Bobby Coffer and Gary Nixon.

Contact Eric J.S. Townsend at 373-7008 or etownsend@news-record.com