Larry Dean Hudson
Mayoral challenger
Age: 30
Address: 5537 Roan Mountain Place
Hometown: Lincolnton, NC
How long Have you lived in Raleigh?
Nine years
What brought you to Raleigh?
Looking for work
In two to three sentences, please share something that you believe the City of Raleigh does well.
I really do think that the city has really done a great job in presenting downtown and redeveloping downtown and making the city’s heart a great destination for Raleigh’s youth or younger adults and also its citizens.
In two to three sentences, please share one thing that you believe the City of Raleigh could improve upon or change.
I think along with that focus, I think the City of Raleigh has lost touch with everything out from that line they’ve drawn. They call it the Beltline and they want to distinguish as “in the beltline” and “out of the beltline.” And unfortunately, I think a lot of the roads and things outside of the beltline really have been left behind. I think the city has ignored most of that area for quite some time since they’ve done the redevelopment downtown. I think they do need to revisit and make sure they get some other things done that us concerned citizens ask.
In two to three sentences, please share your position regarding public transit in the City of Raleigh.
Currently, I would not support a light rail system. I don’t think the population density is high enough to merit spending that kind money on a transit system of that magnitude. The Triangle Transit Authority has once been turned down for funds. They’ve done studies on it as well, saying that it would not be beneficial. Definitely light rail is not something I would support. If it’s streamlining bus systems or putting in more park and rides, those things I would be willing to explore.
In two to three sentences, please share your position regarding growth management in the City of Raleigh.
As far as Raleigh’s growth, I’ve seen this mentioned from the planning board and they have a 10-year picture of what they think is going to happen with the sprawl. I think the growth issue needs to be addressed. If it is going to be addressed, it needs to be like zoning, we’re going to have to get zoning correct. If there is low density in one area, perhaps zoning could be redrawn to get more density in that area, whether it be apartments or condos or the like. But something needs to done regarding that issue and those are definitely things I’d love to explore once I’m in office.
In two to three sentences, please share your position regarding crime control in the City of Raleigh.
One big key issue I’ve heard mentioned from the police department is that they are lacking officers and I think that is something that has to be done. If the city police department says it needs officers and they’re losing them for attrition or because someone is retiring or they just don’t have enough officers, I think a little bit of support needs to be thrown that way, in that arena. I haven’t had the statistics mentioned to me, myself, yet, but someone has in passing mentioned that crime rates have seeped up a little bit, which during a recession they tend to do. But it needs to be addressed first with the officers and make sure they have the task force to do that, to handle it.
Now, we would like to hear your position on two issues that were not previously mentioned, but that you think are important to the voters in the City of Raleigh. You tell us the issue and then give us two to three sentences about your position on the issue.
Water. Water is a very big issue in Raleigh everybody knows the drought, everybody’s lived through that drought. The city has proposed the Little River Reservoir, which is a great proposal. I think it should go through and it will go through and we’ll have that source of water. I know they’ve explored other options, with using rock quarries as a storage vessel. That’s a fine idea and I would like to pursue that as well. However, through all this conservation they’ve had to raise rates and not only has the city raised the rates, but they’ve double dipped and tiered the rates. And that needs to be readdressed and I think that’s a very, very big issue.
Infrastructure would be the real general thing, making sure that the city is aware that there are certain sections of town where these roads need to be widened. Some that are on the docket, that hasn’t gone though, they need to look at revisiting and making sure that these projects get done. First example, I live out on the Leesville road area. The county has put a new school there, the Catholic school has been allowed to expand, Saint Francis of Assisi. That means their enrollment is going to go up. And as we can’t afford to build more schools, they’re going to have to pack more children into these schools, the new school for the county. So traffic is only going to worsen, it’s not going to get better. They need to get it done by the year 2013, which is what they have on the docket. Much longer and the roads are not going to be able to sustain themselves because of traffic and then again, and again, the city not wanting to spend that money on patching and replacing. They have it on the docket to be completed by 2013 but it needs to be done sooner. They need to revisit it and get it done in the next year or two or the roads not going to hold up.
What would you say is your guilty pleasure?
Cousin Willy’s Popcorn. It’s made by the Ramsey Company and it is the best. It’s white cheddar popcorn and it is absolutely the best. I could eat two or three bags at a time it is so good. You have to order it by the case, it’s online.
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