Councilman Nelson Malloy's decision not to seek re-election after 20 years of representing the North Ward has created one of the most competitive Winston-Salem City Council races. Although there's only one candidate, John Hopkins, in the Republican primary for the seat, three Democrats -- D.D. Adams, Phillip Carter and S. Wayne Patterson -- are battling for their party's nomination. We believe that Adams is the most qualified Democrat.
The departure of Malloy, a Democrat and champion of social justice, will leave a void.
The three Democrats who want his seat have all spent most of their lives here.
Carter, a 50-year-old graduate of Forsyth Technical Community College who works there in instructional services, is a veteran community activist on issues such as the need for more county money for the Downtown Health Plaza. He believes that incentives shouldn't just go to attract out-of-town businesses; they should also be given to existing, local businesses.
The city council should have sought more community input, and given more scrutiny, before approving millions of dollars in financial support for the Dell computer plant and the downtown baseball stadium, he said.
Carter wants the city to establish an emergency-relief fund to help with disasters such as the Alder's Point apartment complex fire last month. That's a good idea, but we worry about another of his ideas --the creation of a system whereby citizens could call in and vote on important issues, like, he said, on American Idol.
Patterson, a 37-year-old graduate of the John Marshall Law School in Atlanta, said he has worked for social justice through his law practice. He is active in the community. He said the city should communicate better with its citizens on issues such as the downtown stadium project. He wants to see the city create an emergency, low-interest loan program for small business and he wants it to reduce crime in the North Ward through a stronger police presence.
Now that the stadium project will be overseen by a citizens' committee, it should work out well, he said, but that oversight should have come sooner. He said recently that he is still researching the council's decision to give incentives to Dell. Incentives in general can be good, he said, but tighter requirements should be placed on them.
Adams, 55, a graduate of Morgan State University in Baltimore, is a quality engineer at Johnson Controls Inc. who is active in her community. She served on the Housing Authority of Winston-Salem for most of the 1990s, where she worked to provide affordable housing, despite problems the authority experienced with executive directors.
Adams made an unsuccessful run for the state House in 1990, and was Malloy's campaign manager in 1993. She stepped back from politics after the death of her mother, and later, the death of her twin sister of an aneurism.
The stadium can succeed if the council holds it to the greater oversight it implemented in June, she said, and Dell needs more scrutiny. She said that incentives can be useful if handled carefully, but would prefer they go to more small businesses.
She wants to see revitalization in the North Ward, and more accountability from the city council.
The winner of the Democratic primary faces Hopkins in the November general election. Hopkins, a 49-year-old computer technician with Time Warner, makes some good points, including that city council members need to ask harder questions about issues such as the ballpark deal.
Adams is well-suited to debate him on the issues. She is confident, seasoned and reasonable in her thinking. The Journal endorses D.D. Adams in the Democratic primary for the North Ward council seat.
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