JJ Campbell, candidate for Durham City Council, takes your questions
A pivotal election is underway in Durham, with voters set to choose a new mayor and fill three City Council seats this fall.
There are 12 people competing for the City Council seats, including two incumbents.
A primary is being held to narrow the field. Early voting in the primary runs through Oct. 7 and Primary Day is Oct. 10.
The top six candidates will proceed to the general election in November.
Terms last four years. The seats are at-large, which means candidates can live anywhere in the city.
We collected questions from residents across Durham to help readers get to know the candidates.
JJ Campbell
Name: JJ Campbell
Age: 40
Occupation: At-home dad/Private investor
Website: goodparty.org/candidate/jj-campbell
Are we paying people competitively and keeping our promises to our workers?
- East Durham resident Aidil Ortiz
No, and we need to. To be the best city in NC we need to act like it. That includes livable wages and keeping promises.
Do you have any experience that helps you understand development in Durham? How do you plan to get more affordable units in the city?
- Planning commissioner Zuri Williams
I’ve lived on four continents and the problem is sufficiently complex that a single solution won’t cut it. The first thing will be to connect with individual neighborhoods to see how they want to solve the problem. If they need ideas I’ve got three, but it will be more effective if they bring their own to the table. An example idea is a perpetual development fund that will help homeowners (particularly those in redlined areas who haven’t been able to take advantage of generational wealth) to develop their own property if they are willing to voluntarily make a percentage of the units affordable. As the development money is paid back it will go toward developing another plot and so on.
As Durham grows more dense, how do we get away from the classic American model of car-oriented development? Are there any policies that you support that can keep us from becoming another Atlanta or Dallas?
- Downtown resident Nirav Patel
We need to get our priorities straight. If we prioritize cars we will get more cars and more congestion. If we are going to preserve and improve our green spaces, walkability, climate, and also boost our local economy we need to get people out of cars. I’m hoping that in the near future we can make downtown a place sufficiently connected that cars are only allowed by exception.
What policies do you support for implementing safer streets and reducing car dependency locally and regionally?
- Stadium Heights resident Nick Roberts
If I have my way, our bike routes will spiderweb the city so that it is safe to go from end to end. I will boost transit and try to make cars unnecessary for anyone living within city limits. I will also work to implement dedicated bus lanes so that during rush hour it will actually be faster to take the bus.
What will you do to support the mental health needs of everyday Durham residents, especially thousands of young people in our public school systems?
- Hillside High School senior Isaiah Palmer
Mental health care is health care and needs to be treated as such. From the city level we have to be a bit creative as we cannot directly control health insurance or anything that happens within the schools. However, we can provide places to hangout, places for kids to connect with other kids, places to connect with nature, and places to pursue your interests.
Further, I hope to implement a way for all people of Durham to electronically vote on everything that I will be voting on. I hope that this will give more hope to the youth that their voices will be heard and will matter. Through this, if the public will is high enough, we may even be able to start putting psychologists and social workers into our libraries, community centers and other places where kids hang out. I can’t do that on my own, but I can with your help.
In your vision for the city, what role does public education play and how does that connect to economic development, public safety and community health?
- Fayetteville Street corridor resident Erika Wilkins
I will always lean toward too much education instead of too little. In growing our economy we need to provide the means whereby people can learn new skills, new hobbies, and make new connections while doing so. We need unskilled labor for our city to run. To thrive, we need to give them the opportunity to transition to more skilled roles. This will raise the wages of the individual as well as see the salaries for unskilled labor go up as the CEOs need to find people to get the jobs done. This is just the tip of the iceberg though.
On the subject of alleged Clean Water Act violations in Falls Lake and its tributaries: How did we get here and who should be held responsible? Who is going to pay for the creek restoration and environmental damage?
- Southeast Durham resident Pam Andrews
Ideally, the developer would be required to immediately put in place all necessary changes to prevent further damage and cover all costs for restoration and enforcement. I would also ask for permits to be temporarily suspended until appropriate plans are in place. Further, I would ask for full transparency in all their financials so that we could figure out where the oversight happened and if it was an intentional scheme to save money in the expectation of a fine costing less than they would pay. If so, then the final penalty should be at least 2x what they tried to save plus the full cost of all damages incurred and costs incurred by whistleblowers and the city. They should further be required to put up a bond for any further developments they wish to pursue in the area to be held against their future compliance with all regulations.
This approach needs to be balanced with the need for housing, but balance is key, not building to the expense of all else. There are a lot of developers, and those who aren’t interested in playing by the rules can find other markets to serve.
How have you seen Durham evolve in your time here and what’s one thing you’ll have the power to change if elected?
- The News & Observer
I am relatively new to Durham and immediately after getting here my wife and I realized we wanted to raise our daughter here. I sincerely hope that we will be able to, and that is a large part of why I’m running.
If elected I will have the power to give the people more of a voice in their government. I will (using my own funds if necessary) create a way where people can electronically vote on everything that I’ll be voting on. You can still write letters and speak at meetings, but now we will know exactly how the engaged public would vote as well. This will help the council and mayor prioritize our budgets, set common goals, and utilize resources to best help our city as a whole instead of just the special interests and lobbyists.
To find polling places and full details on voting, visit the Board of Elections at dcovotes.com or 919-560-0700.
