Mayor Anthony Foxx Reaches Out To Developers
In the final weeks of Anthony Foxx's campaign for Charlotte mayor last fall, Foxx attacked his opponent, John Lassiter, for being too cozy with developers. The state Democratic Party produced a piece of campaign mail that said Lassiter sided with developers, "hanging homeowners out to dry."
After three months as mayor, Foxx has softened his message - a shift that has concerned some supporters.
In a March 1 City Council meeting, he said he's heard "horror stories" from developers about dealing with city regulations, and urged staff to have some flexibility.
His change in tone comes as the city's politically powerful developers, along with affordable housing advocates, are questioning regulations that outline how neighborhoods should be built, how developers deal with stormwater runoff and how many trees they save. They argue the rules make development too expensive.
There have been heated battles over the regulations for the last five years, and there is likely to be more conflict this summer when the City Council considers making some of the recommendations into law.
"I have felt for a long time that Mayor Foxx was very much in favor of sustainable growth, and urban street guidelines," said Dan Faris, chairman of the Charlotte Area Bicycle Alliance. "I was surprised about his comment on flexibility."
Rick Roti, chairman of the Charlotte Public Tree Fund, said he's trying to meet with Foxx to understand what he meant when he talked about flexibility.
"I'm very concerned," Roti said. "I think there is enough flexibility already. Nearly 80 percent of our streams are impaired, our air quality is suffering. We are losing tree canopy and wetlands. You can't lose sight of the fact that the ordinances need to be effective."
Foxx, a Democrat, said he hasn't shifted positions since last fall's campaign.
He stressed he has always supported the regulations in question, which are designed to ensure the city protects the environment. They are also designed to make the city's newer suburbs resemble the tree-lined streets of the city's pre-World War II neighborhoods.
"The policies that I supported are still the policies that I support," Foxx said Tuesday. "I'm trying to offer a different perspective. Developers need to know there is more flexibility than they would be led to believe. And for city staff, flexibility should be practiced. I don't view it as a departure."
The city's builders and developers, however, are pressing Foxx to roll back some of the regulations.
On Tuesday, Foxx took questions from members of the city's Real Estate and Building Industry Coalition, which has opposed many of the regulations because of added costs.
City staff have said the regulations can add between $1,900 and $2,900 to the cost of a new home.
In the meeting, Foxx told the developers he isn't in favor of scaling back the guidelines and ordinances, and is in favor of strengthening an existing ordinance to require builders to save more trees.
"I spent a year campaigning on this," Foxx said. "My position is clear."
Bill Daleure, an executive with Crosland, said Foxx needs to help the city's developers.
"We don't want these in the flexibility column," said Daleure. "We want them in the bad idea column."
Foxx has said he wants city staff to work together to ensure different departments - such as transportation and engineering - aren't giving developers conflicting advice. He also said the city needs one person to interpret gray areas of the regulations. That person will probably be the city's planning director, Debra Campbell.
The builders group on Tuesday presented Foxx with a list of items it would like deleted from the regulations. Foxx gave no indication he would support any changes.
Foxx said he's concerned about the "psychology of 'I can't' that's prevailing in the industry."
Stephen Pace of Pace Development Group, a home and apartment developer, said area developers may shift their thinking from "I can't" to "I won't." Pace meant that developers won't build in Charlotte but in neighboring cities instead.
After the March 1 council meeting in which Foxx said he wanted city staff to be more flexible with developers, Lassiter told the Observer he thought Foxx was flipping positions and echoing some of Lassiter's positions from the campaign.
Foxx said that's not true.
"John's argument was that the regulations were too expensive and we should do away with them," Foxx said.
The two men, who both served on City Council, voted differently on some of the issues.
When the council passed the Urban Street Design Guidelines in October 2007, Foxx voted for them and Lassiter voted against them. Lassiter was more sympathetic to developers, who said the regulations were a financial burden.
An Observer analysis from last fall's mayoral race showed Lassiter got at least $104,000 - 20 percent of his campaign money raised - from people whose jobs are listed as being in the real estate, building and development industries. Foxx got $28,000, or 5 percent, of his money, from such donors.
Republican Andy Dulin, one of the most pro-business City Council members, said Foxx is realizing that developers are an important part of reviving the economy and getting people employed.
"I think the mayor and others in the community who have been harsh on development have realized that no jobs are created until a developer puts capital at risk and builds something," Dulin said. "The folks who made political hay at John Lassiter's expense probably knew that at the time, but they found something that worked, and they stuck with it."
Foxx said he understands the concerns of developers, with the new regulations being imposed during a severe economic slump. But he said he doesn't want to jeopardize the city's long-term future for short-term economic benefit.
Bob Morgan, president of the Charlotte Chamber, said he couldn't comment on Foxx's mayoral campaign, other than to say jokingly it was "obviously effective."
He said he's pleased that the mayor is trying to find flexibility in some of the guidelines.
But it's not clear whether city staff will heed Foxx's call for flexibility. At the March 1 meeting, after Foxx talked about "horror stories" from developers, City Manager Curt Walton defended his staff. He said he has only heard "horror rhetoric" from developers.
Charlotte Mayor Candidate Says Developer Flier Is "Dirty Politics"
Just days before Election Day, Charlotte’s campaign for mayor has suddenly gotten feisty.
Republican mayoral candidate John Lassiter held a news conference on Friday to announce he believes the Democratic Party has resorted to "dirty politics."
Lassiter said a flier that was sent out to about 30,000 Democratic and unaffiliated voters crossed a line, using a grainy black and white photograph of him and suggesting that he’s more interested in helping developers than homeowners.
“This is the kind of thing we’ve seen in other statewide campaigns and in campaigns around the country, but we’ve avoided here in Charlotte,” Lassiter said.
He said he doesn't think his opponent, Democrat Anthony Foxx, knew about the flier, but he claims members of Foxx's campaign staff may have.
“It says that he didn’t (know),” Lassiter said. ”But the information is only information that his campaign would know.”
A spokeswoman for the North Carolina Democratic Party told Eyewitness News the organization stands by the flier and that it is spelling out the issues for voters.
“The issue for us is who is he taking money from and who benefits from his votes? If you want to call that negative, that’s a matter of interpretation,” Kerra Bolton said.
Bolton also said the state party did not consult with Foxx’s campaign before sending the flyers out.
A spokeswoman for Foxx’s campaign said he was not available for interviews Friday, but in a statement Foxx said, “Throughout this mayoral race, I have focused on the affirmative message of my campaign and issue differences between myself and my opponent. I am proud of the positive campaign we have run, and I have no intention of changing course now. I particularly appreciate Mr. Lassiter's acknowledgement that I had no role in sending any independent mailer."
Charlotte Mayor Candidates Agree: It's The Economy
They've argued over tax increases and streetcars. But Anthony Foxx and John Lassiter, candidates for mayor of North Carolina's largest city, agree on one thing: The new leader's priority should be turning around the faltering local economy.
Foxx, a Democrat, and Lassiter, a Republican, said in recent interviews that Charlotte has to move quickly to create and retain jobs.
"There's nothing more pressing," said Foxx, 38.
Said Lassiter: "The number one challenge -- no matter who you talk to -- is the economy and job creation. We've seen a significant hit to our financial services industry."
With the nation's banking meltdown, Charlotte has lost thousands of good-paying financial services jobs. Bank of America, one of the nation's largest banks, is headquartered in Charlotte. So was Wachovia, which was bought by Wells Fargo. For years, construction cranes symbolized the city's explosive growth. Now, many of the downtown projects have stalled.
Foxx and Lassiter, both lawyers and city council members, are competing in the Nov. 3 election to replace Mayor Pat McCrory, who is stepping down after 14 years.
Charlotte has a council-manager form of government, meaning the mayor and council make policy but a professional manager runs day-to-day operations. The mayor's post, considered a part-time position, pays $39,000 a year.
The city tends to lean Democratic, but has elected a Republican mayor for the past 21 years. No matter who's elected, Foxx and Lassiter said the next mayor will face a difficult economy that threatens the city's tax base.
"Obviously, we're going to have to work harder on retention than we ever had to," Foxx said. "We were humming for a while, but we can't ride a wave of prosperity anymore. We have to go back and redouble our efforts to keep existing employers here and keep those jobs here."
One way to do that: "Work more aggressively to recruit more companies that draw on these very same financial services workers that a company like Bank of America might be transitioning out," he said, noting that GMAC Financial recently announced plans to expand in Charlotte.
Lassiter agreed the city has to aggressively recruit and retain businesses. But he said the city also must diversify its economy.
"We have to expand our economy to include renewable energy and health care and biotechnology," said Lassiter, 55, who founded Carolina Legal Staffing.
The candidates acknowledge that economic issues are often driven on a national level, but both were optimistic there were steps a mayor can take to help. They include meeting with business leaders and marketing the city.
"I'm on a first-name basis with every major CEO in the region," Lassiter said. "You have to have the ability to talk honestly about what do you need to continue to remain here and invest here and keep the jobs here."
That, he said, has become increasingly critical.
"We need to be selling Charlotte. We have lower rent rates. We have an educated workforce in financial services that is unparalleled. We have access to an airport that will take you nonstop to any other city in the country. And we've got to market those strengths. That's exactly how we pitched that to GMAC," he said.
It's been a relatively low-key campaign in the city of nearly 687,000 people. The candidates have appeared at debates and agree on many issues.
They both voted for a 2 percent hotel tax increase to help build the NASCAR Hall of Fame, and support extending the city's light rail line to the northern part of the city and suburbs to reduce traffic.
However, Lassiter and Foxx took different positions on a 2006 budget vote that increased property taxes by 9 percent. Lassiter opposed it, but Foxx supported the measure because it allowed for the hiring of 70 police officers.
Their latest disagreement involves a proposed streetcar. Both candidates support it in principle, but last month Foxx voted to override McCrory's veto of a $4.5 million engineering study for the line. Lassiter supported the mayor's position, saying it made no sense to pay for a study when there's no budget for the project.
"We just don't have the funding source," Lassiter said.
Check out what the Charlotte Observer’s Taylor Batten goes on to say.
Foxx Wins Race For Charlotte Mayor (Charlotte Observer)
Foxx wins race for Charlotte mayor (Charlotte Observer)
Voters ended more than two decades of Republican leadership in Charlotte Tuesday by electing Democrat Anthony Foxx the city’s second African-American mayor and the youngest in memory.
Foxx won Charlotte’s closest mayoral race in years, taking just over 51 percent of the vote over Republican John Lassiter in unofficial totals.
At a victory celebration, Foxx shared a long hug with a jubilant Harvey Gantt, the last Democratic and first African-American mayor.
“It’s been 22 years since we’ve had this moment,” a hoarse Foxx told a cheering crowd at the Westin hotel. “The work of rebuilding our community starts very soon. … We will work together – Republican, Democrat and unaffiliated, white and black and Hispanic. … Let’s get going.
“We’re going to pull Charlotte together.”
He went on to thank Lassiter for a “race well run.”
An hour earlier, Lassiter had been conceding on live TV when his cell phone rang.
“Oh, it’s Anthony,” he said, telling Foxx, “You can count on me in any way I can serve this city. Good luck to you.”
Foxx carried a wide swath of precincts from east to west Charlotte, while Lassiter’s support was largely confined to a wedge in the south and southeast.
Though turnout was heaviest in the southeast, Foxx benefited from heavy straight-ticket voting that pushed Democrats to an 8-3 City Council majority.
Foxx got his strongest support in predominantly African-American precincts. He carried two by more than 1,000 votes. At East Stonewall AME Zion Church off Beatties Ford Road, he won 1,307 votes to Lassiter’s 3.
Foxx planned to continue the momentum that began a year ago when Barack Obama carried Charlotte by more than 25 percentage points. He benefited from a strong base. At 35 percent, the city’s proportion of black voters is more than a third higher than when Gantt was first elected in 1983.
After 14 years of Republican Mayor Pat McCrory, Foxx campaigned on a platform of change and promised to help Charlotte to “reach its true potential.” At 38, he’ll be a year younger than McCrory was when he was first elected at 39.
Throughout the campaign, Foxx stressed his own story: growing up in west Charlotte with a single mother and grandparents, becoming the first black student body president at Davidson College and going on to study law at New York University.
“My life example proved what this city must do,” he said Tuesday night, “which is the simple thing of believing in yourself.”
Lassiter, a lawyer and businessman, campaigned on experience. He brought a long resume of community service – as a neighborhood leader, planning commissioner, school board member and a City Council member since 2003. He said all that offered a stark contrast to Foxx, a council member for four years.
But change trumped experience for many voters.
Foxx supporter Lachelle Smith took her 5-year-old son Julius Hall to the polls at Hawthorne High School. He pointed to Foxx’s picture on a campaign flyer. “Why’s he running for mayor?” he asked.
“He wants to make changes in the city to help us,” Smith replied.
Lassiter had appeared to break away from Foxx in recent days.
Last week Raleigh’s Democratic-leaning Public Policy Polling found the race tied. Monday it released a poll that gave Lassiter a 4-point lead and showed white undecided voters moving toward him.
The mayoral campaign featured more than 40 forums and debates and was widely applauded for its civility. That began to fray last week when Foxx and the state Democratic Party made an issue of Lassiter’s support from developers.
In a televised debate, Lassiter accused Foxx of spreading “false information” about his record and later lashed out at a state party mailing that he said injected negative politics into the campaign. Foxx distanced himself from the mailing.
Throughout the campaign, the two tried to underscore contrasts over streetcar funding and taxes. But many people struggled to find differences between candidates whose City Council voting records were often similar.
“I don’t see a big difference between the two, frankly,” said Republican Ben Kinney, a magazine publisher who voted for Lassiter in east Charlotte. “I have a strong feeling Democrats are basically going to control most of City Council.”
Foxx alluded to the strengthened grip Democrats will hold on council.
“There’s a great amount of opportunity there,” he said. “But there’s a great amount of pressure.”
With Two Strong Choices, We Give Foxx The Edge
Rarely in mayoral politics in America today are voters given two excellent choices. It's rarer still in Charlotte, where Republican Mayor Pat McCrory has rolled over his opposition for 14 years running.
But that's the happy circumstance facing city voters this fall. Democrat Anthony Foxx and Republican John Lassiter are vying to replace the retiring McCrory. Either could be an exceptional leader. Both are intelligent, hard-working, committed to Charlotte and are within the city's tradition of moderate, mainstream politics.
Charlotte would be well-served with either as mayor. In the end, though, we back Foxx. We think he is a better fit for what Charlotte needs at this point in its evolution as a city.
After decades of heady growth, Charlotte has hit a rough patch unprecedented in recent memory. Our booming economy is stalled, and the banks that have led the way for years have faltered. Uptown condo towers that were sprouting everywhere froze, unfinished. Tax revenues are down at every level of government, limiting the ability to build roads, beef up public transit and pay for schools, parks, jails and other projects. Our neighbors are unemployed, or fear they soon will be, and the nonprofit sector has seen donations drop while demand soars. A lack of affordable housing remains a stain on this city's reputation.
We believe the next mayor needs to be unusually adept at connecting with residents and uniting a diverse community. He needs to use the mayor's office as a bully pulpit. He should set the agenda and tackle our city's toughest problems with new solutions. He must reach out to our neighbors in the region, in Raleigh and in Washington to seek collaborative approaches. He needs to imbue the city with confidence that we can navigate through this daunting time and emerge stronger than before. He should not do things the way we've always done them.
We believe Foxx is best positioned to do those things and set a new tone. Throughout his life, he has shown an ability to relate with people from all backgrounds. He grew up fatherless in Charlotte. His own character and the grandparents who raised him deserve credit for keeping him from being another sad statistic. The resilience and determination he developed as a child served him well as Davidson College student president, then at New York University Law School. He served as a judicial clerk, worked in the Justice Department and was a congressional counsel.
He is a work in progress, to be sure. At 38, he is still honing his campaigning and governing skills. But we admire his philosophy on leadership, which is an inclusive brand that believes in listening and serving and being more bottom-up than top-down.
He and Lassiter are not wildly different on most of the issues facing city government. We do believe, though, there is a substantive difference in their approach to growth and development. Foxx works with the development industry while trying to make sure Charlotte grows wisely. Lassiter, by contrast, has shown less independence from development interests. He opposed the city's Bicycle Plan, the Transportation Action Plan (though he missed the vote) and the Urban Street Design Guidelines, and tried to delay each. Foxx supported all three.
Charlotte is fortunate to have two good choices. Lassiter's experience in public office is as deep as any Charlotte mayoral candidate in recent memory. He is fluent on just about any issue that comes his way, able to talk in detail about the nature of problems and their solutions. He has shown the ability to juggle many tasks at once, successfully weaving his personal and professional life with his civic involvement. He would make a good city manager.
The mayor's office, though, is about agenda-setting and image-shaping as much as it is policy implementation. And for that, we give the nod to Foxx.
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Sources: WCNC, McClatchy Newspapers, Youtube, Google Maps
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