\nNancy McFarlane said that the first is \u201cplanning for growth.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are going to have a lot of growth to come, and it is really important that we continue that planning, so that we can accommodate that anticipated growth,\u201d McFarlane said.![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.raleighpublicrecord.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/Nancy_McFarlane.jpg\" "\\"Nancy_McFarlane\\"")
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McFarlane said providing different housing, transportation and work options to citizens is going to be \u201ccritically important\u201d part of planning for that growth as household demographics change.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy 2035, a majority of the homes in America will be single-person households,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
This, McFarlane said, is due to increases in the aging population and \u201cyoung professionals\u201d opting not to marry.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, as you look at that, you have to look at options, because not everyone is going to want to live a<\/p>\n
suburban lifestyle,\u201d McFarland said.<\/p>\n
McFarlane considers jobs to be another big issue.<\/p>\n
\u201cI opened a business here nine years ago, and just from my experience and from talking to a lot of other people in the community, I know that when you are first getting started, it is really hard to know where to start. It is hard to know what licenses to get and permits,\u201d McFarlane said.<\/p>\n
McFarlane wants to see the city have a \u201cpoint of contact\u201d for businesses to turn to for advice on how to \u201cnavigate the system.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said that she did not think that the city needed to \u201creinvent the wheel\u201d in that area, pointing out that there were many great resources already for businesses, like Shop Local Raleigh and the Chamber of Commerce.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just want an identifiable point of contact for people to go to, and then they can help put all of that help together,\u201d McFarlane said.<\/p>\n
The third biggest issue McFarlane feels is facing the city is quality of life. McFarlane thinks it is not only important to maintain the city’s quality of life, but to also improve it, which will ultimately attract more people and businesses to the city.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt makes me a little crazy,\u201d McFarlane said. \u201cI hear people say ‘maintaining the quality of life.’ It is improving the quality of life. We have to always improve the quality of life, and that is what drives everything else.\u201d<\/p>\n
Billie Redmond<\/strong> Redmond said she feels that economic development will help solve these problems and has a plan to address them.<\/p>\n \u201cThat is a small two words to cover a plethora of things,\u201d Redmond said. Redmond said the city should be \u201cmore business-friendly,\u201d and said this is one of the reasons why she is running.<\/p>\n Redmond thinks that businesses need to \u201cstep up for leadership\u201d in order to create jobs in the city.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are the ones that create the jobs,\u201d she said. \u201cWe need to stop relying on the government to create them. We need to create them. Business needs to lead that process, and the city needs to be our partner.\u201d<\/p>\n Redmond said fiscal responsibility is an important issue that could be addressed through \u201csetting priorities\u201d and making more long-term investments.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople are making short-term budget decisions to survive and to be stable, but you keep your eye on the future relative to long-term investments,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n She said she believes this balance of short and long-term goals is important for the city.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is the balance between what are the priorities for the city, where should we be investing our money? And yet at the same time, how can we look at our citizens and say, \u2018This was a prudent decision,\u2019 and it meets an economic model that mirrors the fact that people are being conservative and budget-conscious at home,\u201d Redmond said.<\/p>\n Randall Williams<\/strong> \u201cThe mayor has to do everything he can to create a favorable business climate, attract jobs, increase the jobs that are here, increase customers,\u201d Williams said.<\/p>\n Williams also wants the city more fiscally responsible. Williams said officials can do that by \u201ckeeping taxes low\u201d and listening to businesses on what the city can do to help boost their productivity.<\/p>\n \u201cI think my experience overseas and here have taught me that a strong business sector solves a lot of social ills,\u201d Williams said.<\/p>\n Randall Williams<\/p><\/div>\n One thing Williams said he thinks the next mayor needs to do is \u201cset the tone for the city\u201d and encourage citizens to work together.<\/p>\n \u201cSo much of politics now is divisive, almost driven by an anger by people who disagree with you and that is just not who I am,\u201d Williams said.<\/p>\n Williams said historically, the city has been able to work together, but that within the past couple of years, both Raleigh and the surrounding areas have \u201cgotten away from that.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI think that diminishes all of us when we can\u2019t resolve your differences with civility,\u201d Williams said.<\/p>\n Williams said, like most candidates, he considers planning for growth to be an important issue facing the city.<\/p>\n \u201cI just think we probably differ a little bit on our approach on how you manage that,\u201d Williams said.<\/p>\n Williams believes that keeping taxes low in order to attract businesses and jobs to the area will help ease growing pains.<\/p>\n \u201cOr all you do is just strain the resources you have\u2014the roads, the water, education,\u201d Williams said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Mayoral candidates Randall Williams, Billie Redmond and Nancy McFarlane identify what they think are the biggest issues facing the city and how they plan to address them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24038,"featured_media":8424,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[214,15,23],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8422"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24038"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8422"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8422\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nRedmond also considers jobs and the economy to be big issues facing the city.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.raleighpublicrecord.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/billie_redmond.jpg\" "\\"billie_redmond\\"")
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\nWilliams also cited the city’s economic situation as one of the biggest issues.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.raleighpublicrecord.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Randall-Williams-headshot.jpg\" "\\"Randall")
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