{"id":8716,"date":"2011-09-15T17:00:40","date_gmt":"2011-09-15T21:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.raleighpublicrecord.org\/?p=8716"},"modified":"2011-09-15T16:37:03","modified_gmt":"2011-09-15T20:37:03","slug":"eugene-weeks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/voter-guide-2011\/2011\/09\/15\/eugene-weeks\/","title":{"rendered":"Eugene Weeks (D)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Age: 70\"\"<\/a>
\nOccupation: Educator, Retired Military
\nWebsite: www.weeksworks.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Why have you decided to run for office?<\/em><\/strong>
\nThe same reason I decid\u00aded to be an appointment \u2014 I wanted to make sure I\u2019m still here to increase the quality of life in south\u00adeast Raleigh for not only the citizens in southeast Raleigh, but the City of Raleigh.<\/p>\n

What do you think are the three biggest issues the City of Raleigh faces and how do you plan to address those issues?<\/em><\/strong>
\nOne of the issues would be our transit and trans\u00adportation and we already have a bond referendum coming out there: housing, and increasing business opportunities.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re already address\u00ading one on the transporta\u00adtion bond. We\u2019re address\u00ading the needs in that, and we\u2019re also doing it in the housing referendum bond. So, those are some of the needs, and what I would do is to continue bring\u00ading them to the table to make sure we are doing the things that we need to be doing to move Raleigh in the right direction.<\/p>\n

In my district you\u2019re playing catch up all the time. And I just wanted to see southeast Raleigh on the same playing field as all the other areas.<\/p>\n

What do you think are the best and worst decisions the current city council has made?<\/em><\/strong>
\nSome of the best deci\u00adsions made, I\u2019d have to go back to the recent one with the storm, the tornado. The way we reached out to people who cannot af\u00adford to get back into their houses. Coming up with some funds to help people get their homes back up to minimum code, so they could move back in and not be in hotels.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m very satisfied with the way we are looking at our growth pattern here. We\u2019re adjusting to the growth pattern because it changes every day. But, we\u2019re addressing it because when we have growth, there\u2019s more need for citi\u00adzens, from sewers to ev\u00aderything else that we have here.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve got two things on the public agenda. We have our comprehensive plan\u00adning for 2030, but we\u2019re also getting the input on our [Unified Development Ordinance] before we go in the final part on this. I like the public hearing that we\u2019re having on that, and how we\u2019re using the infor\u00admation that we\u2019re getting from the public to amend change and do whatever we\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n

What do you think are the most important issues facing your district and how do you plan to address those?<\/em><\/strong>
\nThe most important is\u00adsues that are facing my dis\u00adtrict, first of all, would be infrastructure. Small busi\u00adness would be another one. Affordable housing would be another. And jobs would definitely be.<\/p>\n

First of all, I believe that not only jobs in south\u00adeast Raleigh, but jobs that might come up from the city, even the playing field to make sure that Afri\u00adcan-American contractors get a share of the pie on this. We\u2019re talking about awarding contracts. This will help with jobs a whole lot: small business loans to help small businesses in southeast Raleigh get a start.<\/p>\n

Infrastructure, not only infrastructure, but trans\u00adportation needs. A good example would be that southeast Raleigh is very neglected in the transit needs as far as bus shelters and benches.<\/p>\n

Affordable housing: what I\u2019m talking about is that we want to see \u2014 and it\u2019s already started \u2014 not blighted areas in our area, blighted areas of housing, but if you replace them, can you replace them so they can be affordable to people?<\/p>\n

What do you think the city should do to house its public safety functions?<\/em><\/strong>
\nI am a proponent [of the Lightner Public Safe\u00adty Center]. I believe we should move forward with the center. All these acco\u00adlades we\u2019re getting for the City of Raleigh, but yet have your police depart\u00adment spread out all over the city? They need to be together.<\/p>\n

How do you feel about impact fees?<\/em><\/strong>
\nI agree that some im\u00adpact fees should be put in because if we are having problems, your developers are making the money. So, if you\u2019re going to be here, why don\u2019t you help the City of Raleigh to accom\u00adplish some of the things that we need to do?<\/p>\n

What are your ideas for public transportation?<\/em><\/strong>
\nWe need buses that are running all the time. They\u2019re already starting with the new transporta\u00adtion center off of Poole Road; that\u2019s a step in the right direction.<\/p>\n

At the same time, let\u2019s look at why is it that our citizens in Raleigh have to stand out in the rain, in the cold, the snow with no shelters. That\u2019s an urgent matter. Why isn\u2019t there an electronic board telling you the time your bus is coming?<\/p>\n

How do you think the city of Raleigh should plan to meet its future water needs?<\/em><\/strong>
\nWe\u2019re doing a good job on it now with conserva\u00adtion surrounding the cities who want to be a part of it. And I think that, along with growth, we are going to have to look into what are other ways that we can conserve and do things without hidden fees on the consumers.<\/p>\n

I understand we have to pay for utilities. Our utili\u00adties department in the City of Raleigh is really above some of the cities that I\u2019ve seen. They\u2019re already re\u00adporting on some of the things that we need to do. Replacement of our pipes; we\u2019ve got pipes in the ground that have been in there for 40 years. So can we be proactive on what we need to do now to try to get funds to be ready for some of these things.<\/p>\n

The city has been given a million dollars to do anything that it wishes. What do you think the money should go to?<\/em><\/strong>
\nWell, with the econom\u00adic downturn, I think right now we should be able to establish more jobs. A million at the city, okay. I think we should be able to look doing more for our city employees. You notice I left out building. Right now you\u2019ve got to satisfy the needs of your citizens. That\u2019s the bottom line.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Age: 70 Occupation: Educator, Retired Military Website: www.weeksworks.com Why have you decided to run for office? The same reason I decid\u00aded to be an appointment \u2014 I wanted to make sure I\u2019m still here to increase the quality of life in south\u00adeast Raleigh for not only the citizens in southeast Raleigh, but the City of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24038,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[378],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8716"}],"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=8716"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8716\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}