D.J. Haire is one of the longest-serving members of the Fayetteville City Council, having represented District 4 for 10 terms.
His challenger, Thomas C. Greene, says city leadership is lacking and that Haire has been in office long enough.
Haire, 63, is self-employed in real estate.
Greene, 50, is the owner of Promise Bail Bonds.
The municipal election is July 26. Early voting is underway at the Cumberland County Board of Elections Office.
CityView TODAY asked the candidates for City Council and mayor questions about several issues facing the community. These are their answers, which have been edited for style and grammar.
Age: 50
Occupation: Owner of Promise Bail Bonds
Elected offices held: None
Crime in the city continues to rise, according to a recent report on the first quarter of 2022 by Police Chief Gina Hawkins to the City Council. Are city officials — and specifically, the police chief and the Police Department — doing enough to address crime? If not, what should they do differently?
As a bail bondsman, I see what drugs and crime are doing to the city. Of course, there is more we can do. It would be unreasonable to think our police could stop all crimes, but that also doesn't mean we shouldn't try. I, like all of the candidates, would like to see more cops on the streets, but we need to take a targeted approach. I believe we should plus up units dealing with gangs and narcotics first. The narco-economy is, in my opinion, the prime mover for crime in our communities. Also, traffic, taking care of the smaller things first, will help (us) know how to deal with the larger aspects of policing.
Record numbers of officers have left and are leaving our police force. Many are underpaid and feel they don’t have the support of their leaders. What is your plan to correct this serious issue?
It is apparent that we are dealing with low morale in the police force. Whether that is due to the current climate from the 2020 demonstrations, ineffective leadership, or both. We should, along with the city manager, conduct a census survey in order to lock down the reason for officer attrition. This should be a priority with the next City Council. We as a city should at all times do what we can to support our officers. This should be in the form of pay raising and fully funding the department to ensure they are the best equipped and paid officers in the state.
Affordable housing continues to be an issue for many in our community. The City Council decided to earmark part of its American Rescue Plan Act funding to address housing issues. What else can the city do to help residents find safe, affordable housing?
I believe the first thing that needs to be done is to get a handle on crime in our city. That will set the conditions for more well-paying jobs to come into our city, which in turn promote home ownership. These goals should be clearly spelled out by our City Council and manager.
A review of Fayetteville’s traffic stops shows they totaled over 70,000 in 2016 and less than 22,000 last year. There are still problems with speeding, red light violations and other traffic issues. Was there a conscious decision made to ban minor traffic stops, and if so by whom? Are you concerned about the decrease in stops and what should the city do about it?
I am very concerned. I for one have witnessed a Fayetteville PD officer observe people drinking in a parking lot and fail to stop them. If our police fail to hold people accountable for the seemly small stuff, how can we expect them to do the larger things?
Fayetteville has seen some economic news in recent months with the new Amazon distribution center and other business announcements. What does city leadership need to do to increase jobs in our community? What city resources need to be devoted to this cause?
We as a city must continue to put our best foot forward in order to attract more businesses to Fayetteville. We should lift the burden of regulations in order to assist businesses that would want to build in our city. I will also establish a sort of cadre service in order to help small business owners start their businesses. Streamline the process if you will.
Age: 63
Occupation: 40-year, second-generation local self-employed real estate business owner
Elected offices held: City Council representative District 4
Crime in the city continues to rise, according to a recent report on the first quarter of 2022 by Police Chief Gina Hawkins to the City Council. Are city officials — and specifically, the police chief and the Police Department — doing enough to address crime? If not, what should they do differently?
I frequently speak to elected officials and law enforcement across the city, state and nation on their challenges with crime prevention. As far as our FY 2022 overall crime statistics, there have been reductions and increases in all categories.
Crime prevention is a collaborative effort, all hands-on deck: City Council, police and our citizens. With the crime challenges the city of Fayetteville faces every day, I think our Police Department as a whole is giving our citizens its very best to prevent crimes, and the City Council has provided the Police Department its requested budget of $59 million.
In 2022, our efforts to increase community policing have risen. During our community crime prevention meetings, zone officers and supervisors attend these meetings where a lot of information is shared between the police and the citizens, which also helps with crime prevention.
The City Council and Police Department have added new tools to our crime prevention toolbox such as micro-safety grants and new license plate camera technology, which are showing positive returns in a short period of time helping with crime prevention. I think this council will continue to support our Police Department and give them all resources needed to curtail crimes in all areas.
Record numbers of officers have left and are leaving our police force. Many are underpaid and feel they don’t have the support of their leaders. What is your plan to correct this serious issue?
There have been difficulties in attaining police officers across the country. Over the last few years, City Council has worked intensely with senior management toward increasing our police salaries and becoming more competitive. We have a start pay scale with benefits for inexperienced beginning officers at $41K, the salary increases with experience and other factors.
I love saluting our officers every opportunity I get. On my social media pages when I post about our Community Watch meeting, I always let our officers know how much they are appreciated. I feel uplift is very important from the City Council, and I personally share that as often as I can.
On Friday, June 24, our Police Department had 19 new officers sworn in. Council will continue to support our community policing efforts. The more the community gets to know our police and their community zone officers the better relationships and morale grows. Giving uplift to our first responders should be an ongoing effort.
Affordable housing continues to be an issue for many in our community. The City Council decided to earmark part of its American Rescue Plan Act funding to address housing issues. What else can the city do to help residents find safe, affordable housing?
Affordable housing is one of the city's top priorities, it's in our Vision In Action five-year impact plan. We are aggressively applying for grants. We were awarded the Choice Neighborhood Planning Grant. Council adopted the Affordable Housing Master Plan.
Council also has been aggressively supporting those planning and zoning cases that come before us for adding additional affordable housing.
We can also continue to work with landlords and managers who manage smaller amounts of rentals with improving their properties that can be used for affordable housing. A couple of meetings ago I asked for infrastructure funding for the Bonnie Doone area for affordable housing. This is a great location and a need for affordable housing.
A review of Fayetteville’s traffic stops shows they totaled over 70,000 in 2016 and less than 22,000 last year. There are still problems with speeding, red light violations and other traffic issues. Was there a conscious decision made to ban minor traffic stops, and if so by whom? Are you concerned about the decrease in stops and what should the city do about it?
I'm not aware of any City Council or police conscious decision to ban speeding, red-light violations or any other traffic violations. I personally support lawful police stops.
FYI: There was a City Council decision made In March 2012 to adopt a written form for consent searches and stops, the first in the state of North Carolina.
Within the FY 2023 police $59 million budget that City Council approved, more video camera technology will be purchased to help guard against speeding (and) other types of violations.
Fayetteville has seen some economic news in recent months with the new Amazon distribution center and other business announcements. What does city leadership need to do to increase jobs in our community? What city resources need to be devoted to this cause?
There's always room for economic development improvements as it is in various city departments, but I do like the job that our economic development team does. I think we should continue to equip this department with what it needs to widen its scope across the country when it comes to presenting our city to prospective companies that are wanting to expand.
I've been very vocal about the city doing all we can to become more business-friendly with our city ordinances and policies. If ordinances can be tweaked, let's tweak them to better support business growth.
I've also been very vocal in asking for more incentives that can help draw new business and to help our local business community to increase its jobs and staffing. Improvements are always ongoing.
