Mark William Enloe
Mayoral challenger
Age: 46
Address: 709-C Daniels Street
Hometown: Raleigh
How long Have you lived in Raleigh?
I was born in ’62 in Pinehurst, but then we immediately moved here (to Raleigh). When I was in sixth grade, we moved back down to Moore County and I went to high school down there at North Moore. And then came back to Raleigh and attended N.C. State. I graduated from State with a B.S. in computer science, so I’ve been working in the area since 1987.
What brought you to Raleigh?
N.C. State University.
In two to three sentences, please share something that you believe the City of Raleigh does well.
I think that we do a good job of trying to bring jobs to the area. We’ve led the nation in economic growth. That was something that was started 50 years ago by the visionaries who founded RTP, so we’ve got a good foundation to build on, but I think we need to move forward with that. I don’t think we’re living up to our potential in that area.
In two to three sentences, please share one thing that you believe the City of Raleigh could improve upon or change.
I think we have a fundamental lack of leadership and vision. Like I was saying, the visionaries that created RTP 50 years ago, they are the ones that created all this growth that we have and we’ve just made a lot of poor decisions on things that could have kept us on track. Such as bringing the Carolina Hurricanes to Raleigh and then we put them out by the fairgrounds to play. Whereas if we put them downtown, all the fans that are attending those games, after a game, could’ve poured out on the streets, paid for food, transportation and hotels in Raleigh and helped bring some of the funding we need into town for some things that we’re lacking funding for.
In two to three sentences, please share your position regarding public transit in the City of Raleigh.
I think we are not doing a good job in public transit. I think we’ve dropped the ball on regional rapid transit, such as light rail. We’ve been talking about it, I think, for 20 years, and we haven’t been able to do anything We were able to build a convention center, but unable to start on a light rail project. While during the same period we completed a convention center, Charlotte was able to complete a leg of a rail system.
In two to three sentences, please share your position regarding growth management in the City of Raleigh.
As well know growth is going to drive economic development. We need to bring growth, but we have to have growth pay for itself. The citizens who are already here can’t continue to pay for bringing in growth. We have to look at impact fees and development fees and maybe new solutions that we haven’t even thought of. Something that we can study and come up with a solution for – bringing growth, but making it pay for itself.
In two to three sentences, please share your position regarding crime control in the City of Raleigh.
I think we all believe that Raleigh is a safe place to live, generally speaking, but I think we could do better. One thing I have a problem with is that our city manager is one of the highest paid city managers in the region, while our police officers are some of the lowest paid police officers in the region. I think that just an unreasonable disparity and I think that reflects on the overall leadership we have in Raleigh, to allow that sort of disparity.
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.
I think one of the things we have to do is look at infrastructure. I’ve already mentioned transportation, but two years ago we had a crisis with a water shortage. And rather than making an earnest effort to develop new water resources and improve water quality, the best thing we could do at the time was ban garbage disposals. Rather than diverting funds from the Capital Improvement Program, we need to be aggressively funding that and moving aggressively forward with a new reservoir. I know there are plans for a Little River Reservoir, we need to be moving aggressively toward that rather than slowing it down. Recently you may have heard that Mayor Meeker wants to move forward with some temporary regulations to improve water quality at Falls Lake, this is something that should have been done much sooner.
Issue number two would be continued economic development. As I was saying, we have some great visionaries in this area who created RTP. And they are the ones that created all this growth and brought the jobs and people, and now we have to do something similar. It’s been 50 years; we can’t live off that forever. We need to bring another source of economic development to Raleigh and hopefully not just the region, but downtown Raleigh. We need to look at new sources for economic development, including technology. We’ve got the people here who know technology, they grew up with technology. And we also need to look at bringing private enterprise to downtown Raleigh, and that includes sports teams. We used to play minor league baseball here in Raleigh and we gave up our rights to a team to Zebulon and Durham. Imagine if we were playing baseball at Devereaux Meadows on Peace Street and you were able to go to a game down on Peace Street and then walk over for dinner across the street or maybe walk to a game from a downtown condo. Also, Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill are the heart of basketball in this country. I think the NBA would be very interested in coming to play in downtown Raleigh. We don’t have to have the largest arena in the league, but we could have the best. We need to bring new economic development, and that includes sports and technology.
What would you say is your guilty pleasure?
I think my worst offense is overspending on kayaks, bicycles and sailboats, anything that allows me to get outdoors and have fun. I have to be very careful whenever I’m around REI or Great Outdoor Provision Company or I’m in danger of spending money.
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