Wilmington, N.C.-The future of the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge and affordable housing dominated a recent forum of candidates in the elections for Wilmington Mayor and City Council.
On September 14, The Greater Wilmington Business Journal hosted a Power Breakfast at the Wilmington Convention Center. The hour long program was broken into two parts. The first one featured eight candidates who are vying for three spots on the Wilmington City Council.
The forum was moderated by Business Journal Editor Vicky Janowski. She started the program by asking each of the candidates why they were running for office. Then the discussion moved to the future of the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge.
The 52-year-old bridge has been the topic of much debate. One report estimated that by 2035 more than 100,000 vehicles will cross the bridge every day. In its current structure many experts doubt the bridge could handle such a work load. For the last couple of years local leaders have been talking with state officials about plans to either replace or repair the current bridge.
At the forum in September all eight city council candidates said they were against any plan that would fund a replacement or repairs by charging motorists a toll to cross the bridge.
Candidate JB Brookins said he wants the State to give money to New Hanover and Brunswick County and let local officials lead the way on the project.
“If anything why wouldn’t you just give the money to the counties for them to actually get it fixed? Brunswick and New Hanover Counties lean on one another, and we need this bridge.”
Candidate Paul Lawler said if elected he wants to work closely with the North Carolina Department of Transportation.
“This is not something that gets turned over to the counties. Counties can’t do roads. This is not something the City can do,” said Lawler, “The DOT will look at this in their normal course of business. They will look at financial options and the construction options and they will come back with a proposal. It has to be done by the state. What we have to do is make sure that all of our questions get answered.”
Incumbent Charlie Rivenbark is a member of the Wilmington Planning Organization and worked on this issue for about a year and a half. He blamed Hurricane Florence for the delay in a solution. Rivenbark said the storm, which caused an estimated $24 Billion in damages in 2018, diverted state money from the bridge project.
“I really thought it was going to come to fruition. Then along comes Hurricane Florence that devastated the southeast region. That put the DOT and the state in a financial bind. I think we may have to wait until 2030 to get the bridge project back on track. In the meantime they can do repairs and maintenance on the current bridge to make it functional at great expense.”
Rivenbark did not directly come out in favor of a new bridge, although one of his opponents did firmly come down on the side of renovating the existing structure.
“I do feel like it is important to keep it up. It is more than just a landmark, it has history. It’s our iconic symbol,” said candidate Angie Ulmer. “It’s made its way into film productions, into television shows. It needs to be a priority to keep the bridge up and running. ”
The second part of the program was a discussion between the two men who are running for Mayor, seven term incumbent Bill Saffo and former Wilmington Mayor and former State Senator Harper Peterson. Between the two men they have a combined 26-years of public service.
Saffo said he is running for re-election to continue what his administration started. He called himself a “consensus builder” and said his proudest accomplishments have been the building of the convention center, revitalizing downtown, the addition of 30,000 new jobs, and saving the film industry.
Harper Peterson credited his opponent for many of those accomplishments, but added that we have a “tale of two cities. We have one that has seen unprecedented wealth and prosperity, and another city that faces persistent poverty, food deserts, racial unrest, development that is at a speed that we cannot keep up with, trees that are disappearing and toxins in our air and water. We need leadership that is going to address these issues.”
For the next half hour the two men debated economic development, job recruitment and what to do with $26 million dollars in federal funds to help with Covid relief. But it was the issue of affordable housing that showed the major differences between the candidates.
Candidate Peterson reminded the audience that affordable housing does not mean low income housing.
“This present council really hasn’t done anything on affordable housing. They’ve given lip service on a crucial issue, but there is zero to show for it. If we don’t get busy in ten or 20 years the middle income workers will be forced to go to other counties.” Peterson went on to say that he wants any new residential development to be mandated to include 10% affordable options as part of their zoning permits.
Mayor Safo said that he has supported affordable housing for years. He claims that his administration has created 400 units of affordable housing in just the last few years.
“We know that the vast majority of land that is available is in unincorporated areas, so we have to partner with the County. We as the city have decided to invest money in unincorporated areas for affordable housing, which has never been done before. Also understand that affordable housing is not only here in New Hanover County, we have to be willing to work with Brunswick County where we could partner with those folks over there if a project makes sense.”
The Wilmington City Elections will be held on November 2, 2021 with early voting running from October 14 -30th.