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HIGH POINT - Ward 2 has seen better days. Boarded-up houses line the streets of once-thriving middle-class neighborhoods. The area's rich black history is obscured by overgrown lawns and garbage-strewn streets.

But when the ward's four-term city councilman, Ron Wilkins, announced that heart problems would keep him from running again, there was no shortage of candidates willing to face the challenges. Five candidates, more than in any other High Point race, are vying to represent the ward: Julius Clark, Tony L. Davis, Foster Douglas, Pride D. Grimm Jr. and Jerry C. Mingo.

The emerging theme: Clean up the ward, bring in investment and restore its pride.

"When the jobs were good in manufacturing and the factories, this was a totally different place," says resident Corrine Michaels, 54. "Most everybody you knew had a job, people were looking at owning their own houses, they had pride in where they lived and what they did.

"Now, people are out of work. The people who cared for the place have moved away. You've got more gangs, more guns and drugs, more empty houses. It's all changed."

Julius Clark

On R.C. Baldwin Avenue, Clark runs the Rosetta C. Baldwin Museum, a monument to black history and education in High Point. Clark, 57, says the city has overlooked its responsibilities in Ward 2: city-owned areas are overgrown and unkempt, graffiti lingers, and more than 200 houses are boarded up and abandoned, attracting gangs and drug dealers.

"People can't develop a sense of pride if there's no pride shown," Clark says. "You wouldn't see this in other wards, in other neighborhoods. The city is more vigilant about maintaining those things - loit­ering, littering, landscaping. There are standards that the city cares about. There are tickets. It's talked about. Here, it's like they've just given up."

Clark says he would hold the city to enforcing inspections, rally local church groups to help the cleanup effort and be a strong voice for those in his ward who feel the city doesn't care about them.

Tony L. Davis

Tony Davis, brother of Guilford County Commissioner Bruce Davis, says he thinks development can come back to his ward - and he's running to see that it does.

He says part of that is matching companies that receive incentives with High Point's work force - largely blue-collar workers, many of whom lost good jobs in manufacturing when the furniture industry moved its operations overseas.

"This is a good ward with good people in it, and there's no reason why it can't have those things," says Davis, 40. "If you've got the right person working with the residents and representing them, I believe anything is possible for this area."

Foster Douglas

Douglas, 47, says one of the keys to the ward's economic redevelopment is transportation. He says he would push for standardizing bus routes and times to make sure residents without cars can get to and from their jobs.

Douglas also says the city and community groups need to come together to create youth programs to keep youths away from drugs and gangs. Neighbors and parents have to work with police to reclaim their neighborhoods, he says.

"If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem," Douglas told Ward 2 residents at a community forum Sept. 20.

Douglas, 47, has faced questions about the nearly $20,000 in damages and legal fees he still owes the city from a lawsuit he filed in 2002. The suit came after three fatal shootings near a club owned by Douglas led police to increase surveillance there.

Douglas and his brother Jerry sued the city after the club closed in 2000, claiming the police discriminated against black clubs and their owners.

Douglas and his brother were ordered to pay damages and legal fees because the court found the case to be without merit.

Douglas has declined to talk about the suit.

Pride D. Grimm Jr.

Grimm says he's running to bring more investment - from the city and beyond - to the ward.

"There are two High Points right now: the more affluent and the less affluent," Grimm says. "Ward 2 contains most of the less affluent. We need to target our incentive money to bring in jobs to this area."

Grimm, 31, says economic incentives - city money and tax abatements used to lure companies to the area - haven't been divided equally throughout the city and haven't concentrated enough on the core city and its middle class.

Jerry C. Mingo

Mingo didn't attend a candidate forum Sept. 20 and didn't return calls this week.

Contact Joe Killian at 883-4422, Ext. 228, or joe.killian@news-record.com