Raleigh City Council At Large
Joshua Bradley
Are you an incumbent?
No
1. Do you support the City of Raleigh’s $275 million parks bond on the ballot this November?
No
2. Do you support the $353.2 million Wake Tech bond on the ballot this November?
Yes
3. Do you support the $530.7 million Wake County schools bond on the ballot this November? .Yes
4. What is your long-term vision for growth in Raleigh?
We live in one of the fastest growing cities in the country and the pressure that that puts on us will certainly change us. We must decide whether we want a city that works for all or a city that works for the developers and monied interests. I am firmly in the camp of the former. We must be a city that serves the interests of all who live here. We must fight to oppose discrimination, we must fight to lift folks up rather than push people out. Our strength is in our unity and our diversity. It is often said that the government should be run as a business, but this is wrong. Governments should be run in a way that ensures everyone who lives is able to have the support they need to thrive, not in a way that caters exclusively to the wealthy. It is not the developers that make this city run, but the workers.
5. What do you see as the city's number one challenge?
Gentrification and the lack of housing that is affordable to workers. Raleigh faces a housing crisis, one that disproportionately impacts low-income families and residents. As the capital city for North Carolina, our city council leads as an example for the entire state in housing practices, and housing practices in Raleigh have severe impacts for nearby counties. Knowing this, I am committed to a housing first policy that prioritizes low-income residents and their housing needs. Core elements of this housing first approach include:
*Acquiring city owned properties and using city funding to develop housing that is meant for low-income residents
*Voting against re-zonings that do not include community benefits (i.e. inclusion of low-income housing, protections for current residents, etc.)
*Promoting the organizing and bargaining power of tenants unions
6. What are you hoping to achieve as an elected official that will foster a healthy and innovative business environment in both the near and long term?
* I would ensure that any municipal help for businesses only goes to businesses that pay a wage that enables its employees to live comfortably in the city. By letting businesses that do not properly compensate their employees fail, it makes it clear that businesses that cannot fairly compensate their employees will not be aided by the city. As it is workers that create the value generated by any business, it would dramatically increase the health of the business environment if it is known that the city will not bail out businesses that underpay and undervalue their employees when times get tough.
7. The Wake County Transit plan will expand bus service countywide, implement four bus rapid transit lines, and initiate a regional commuter rail system. What would you like to see the City of Raleigh do to complement or modify this enhanced transit service?
*Our transit infrastructure must meet the demands of the growth Raleigh is facing over the next several years, and this can only be done with equity at the core of our transit goals. We currently face city worker staffing shortages due to low wages, making it hard to maintain the bus routes we currently have. We need wage increases for transit workers as well as updated ridership assessments to determine which areas of the city continue to be underserved. Additionally, we are still in need of collaborating with nearby municipalities to develop a light-rail between major cities and towns in Wake County. We also need to make sure that we keep the bus system fare-free.
8. How do you plan to involve the community in the decision-making process in our city, especially area businesses?
*I support reinstating citizen advisory groups and improving upon them by offering meeting spaces to residents, offering greater city staff support to CACs, allowing hybrid participation at community meetings, and increasing community engagement through all methods possible. I am committed to meeting with CAC members and other community groups and seeing what support is needed to help these groups grow, stay engaged, and have open community with council members. I will also have an open door policy and will be willing to talk to any person or group (or business) to hear their concerns or suggestions about what is happening in the city.
9. How will you balance increased infrastructure and personnel funding needs of the city while also addressing economic growth, affordability, and quality of life?
*The city needs to focus first on the needs of the workers. The workers are the ones who enable the city to run and exist. These needs include affordable places to live and wages that enable them to thrive.
Transportation/Transit – Continue to promote and implement an effective transit plan to optimize service delivery and position the city for ongoing growth.
Transit must be expanded, but must include ongoing ridership studies to ensure that it grows in a way that ensures that the people who use public transit the most are able to take advantage of it. We also need to ensure transit workers are paid enough to ensure that proper staffing levels are maintained.
Economic Strength - Create a business-friendly environment to attract, retain and grow business, diversify the economic base, and create job opportunities for all citizens.
The city needs to create a worker-friendly environment in order to do all of these things. If pay is low and housing is unaffordable, businesses cannot attract and retain quality workers. North Carolina was recently rated as the best state for business according to CNBC, but shortly before that, it was listed as the worst state for employees by Oxfam. This needs to change and we, as the capital city, must lead the way.
Affordable Housing – Develop an effective affordable housing plan through collaboration with the government, the private sector, the community, and individuals.
The city needs to challenge the state’s ban on rent control and restrictions on municipalities setting property taxes, and it should utilize city-owned properties to develop low-income housing for those at 30% or below AMI. The city should fight for community benefits in all rezonings to ensure that low-income housing needs are prioritized. A true “housing first” policy means that our low-income and unhoused residents are given access to housing first, as they face the greatest housing insecurity currently.
Great Government - Promote a vision of a city government that partners with all levels of government to empower, protect and serve its citizens through a culture of respect, collaboration, and innovation.
Our city must do all it can to listen to and respect the concerns of all of its residents. It must put in the effort to enable all of its residents to thrive. This necessarily means that the first focus should be on the foundation on which this city rests, its workers.
Growth and Sustainability - Establish a deliberate and realistic approach to address growth and mobility while preserving our environment and healthy communities.
Our infrastructure and development in the future must anticipate the rapid population growth the city is about to experience, and this will require a multi-faceted approach. While we must move toward dense and walkable communities, we must simultaneously prioritize equity and protect low-income residents. My goal as a city councilor is to lift up working class people and tenants to meet their needs and allow growth to take place that benefits all of us, not just a few.
Public Safety - Provide a safe, secure, and healthy community through coordinated, efficient, and effective public safety services.
The best way to reduce crime is to lift people out of poverty and meet their needs. Whether its access to food, housing, or healthcare services, our city funding must reflect resident needs as a preventive measure to care for our communities. Similarly, it is time we move toward a community-based safety structure that moves away from expensive and punitive policing practices that disproportionately harm Black and brown communities.
Social and Economic Vitality - Improve economic and social opportunities in vulnerable communities through strategic partnerships.
It is important to halt the gentrification in the city as much as possible in order to try to maintain communities that have existed in the city for many years. If people can afford to live and work in the city and get the services they need to thrive, Raleigh will continue to be a thriving, vibrant community. If not, the services and businesses in the city will suffer from lack of employees. This will take an emphasis on the workers, even if it comes with a cost to developers and investors. CIty engagement with the residents that live in the city is important as well. A city that listens to all of its residents is able to ensure that everyone’s needs are met.
Are you an incumbent?
No
1. Do you support the City of Raleigh’s $275 million parks bond on the ballot this November?
No
2. Do you support the $353.2 million Wake Tech bond on the ballot this November?
Yes
3. Do you support the $530.7 million Wake County schools bond on the ballot this November? .Yes
4. What is your long-term vision for growth in Raleigh?
We live in one of the fastest growing cities in the country and the pressure that that puts on us will certainly change us. We must decide whether we want a city that works for all or a city that works for the developers and monied interests. I am firmly in the camp of the former. We must be a city that serves the interests of all who live here. We must fight to oppose discrimination, we must fight to lift folks up rather than push people out. Our strength is in our unity and our diversity. It is often said that the government should be run as a business, but this is wrong. Governments should be run in a way that ensures everyone who lives is able to have the support they need to thrive, not in a way that caters exclusively to the wealthy. It is not the developers that make this city run, but the workers.
5. What do you see as the city's number one challenge?
Gentrification and the lack of housing that is affordable to workers. Raleigh faces a housing crisis, one that disproportionately impacts low-income families and residents. As the capital city for North Carolina, our city council leads as an example for the entire state in housing practices, and housing practices in Raleigh have severe impacts for nearby counties. Knowing this, I am committed to a housing first policy that prioritizes low-income residents and their housing needs. Core elements of this housing first approach include:
*Acquiring city owned properties and using city funding to develop housing that is meant for low-income residents
*Voting against re-zonings that do not include community benefits (i.e. inclusion of low-income housing, protections for current residents, etc.)
*Promoting the organizing and bargaining power of tenants unions
6. What are you hoping to achieve as an elected official that will foster a healthy and innovative business environment in both the near and long term?
* I would ensure that any municipal help for businesses only goes to businesses that pay a wage that enables its employees to live comfortably in the city. By letting businesses that do not properly compensate their employees fail, it makes it clear that businesses that cannot fairly compensate their employees will not be aided by the city. As it is workers that create the value generated by any business, it would dramatically increase the health of the business environment if it is known that the city will not bail out businesses that underpay and undervalue their employees when times get tough.
7. The Wake County Transit plan will expand bus service countywide, implement four bus rapid transit lines, and initiate a regional commuter rail system. What would you like to see the City of Raleigh do to complement or modify this enhanced transit service?
*Our transit infrastructure must meet the demands of the growth Raleigh is facing over the next several years, and this can only be done with equity at the core of our transit goals. We currently face city worker staffing shortages due to low wages, making it hard to maintain the bus routes we currently have. We need wage increases for transit workers as well as updated ridership assessments to determine which areas of the city continue to be underserved. Additionally, we are still in need of collaborating with nearby municipalities to develop a light-rail between major cities and towns in Wake County. We also need to make sure that we keep the bus system fare-free.
8. How do you plan to involve the community in the decision-making process in our city, especially area businesses?
*I support reinstating citizen advisory groups and improving upon them by offering meeting spaces to residents, offering greater city staff support to CACs, allowing hybrid participation at community meetings, and increasing community engagement through all methods possible. I am committed to meeting with CAC members and other community groups and seeing what support is needed to help these groups grow, stay engaged, and have open community with council members. I will also have an open door policy and will be willing to talk to any person or group (or business) to hear their concerns or suggestions about what is happening in the city.
9. How will you balance increased infrastructure and personnel funding needs of the city while also addressing economic growth, affordability, and quality of life?
*The city needs to focus first on the needs of the workers. The workers are the ones who enable the city to run and exist. These needs include affordable places to live and wages that enable them to thrive.
Transportation/Transit – Continue to promote and implement an effective transit plan to optimize service delivery and position the city for ongoing growth.
Transit must be expanded, but must include ongoing ridership studies to ensure that it grows in a way that ensures that the people who use public transit the most are able to take advantage of it. We also need to ensure transit workers are paid enough to ensure that proper staffing levels are maintained.
Economic Strength - Create a business-friendly environment to attract, retain and grow business, diversify the economic base, and create job opportunities for all citizens.
The city needs to create a worker-friendly environment in order to do all of these things. If pay is low and housing is unaffordable, businesses cannot attract and retain quality workers. North Carolina was recently rated as the best state for business according to CNBC, but shortly before that, it was listed as the worst state for employees by Oxfam. This needs to change and we, as the capital city, must lead the way.
Affordable Housing – Develop an effective affordable housing plan through collaboration with the government, the private sector, the community, and individuals.
The city needs to challenge the state’s ban on rent control and restrictions on municipalities setting property taxes, and it should utilize city-owned properties to develop low-income housing for those at 30% or below AMI. The city should fight for community benefits in all rezonings to ensure that low-income housing needs are prioritized. A true “housing first” policy means that our low-income and unhoused residents are given access to housing first, as they face the greatest housing insecurity currently.
Great Government - Promote a vision of a city government that partners with all levels of government to empower, protect and serve its citizens through a culture of respect, collaboration, and innovation.
Our city must do all it can to listen to and respect the concerns of all of its residents. It must put in the effort to enable all of its residents to thrive. This necessarily means that the first focus should be on the foundation on which this city rests, its workers.
Growth and Sustainability - Establish a deliberate and realistic approach to address growth and mobility while preserving our environment and healthy communities.
Our infrastructure and development in the future must anticipate the rapid population growth the city is about to experience, and this will require a multi-faceted approach. While we must move toward dense and walkable communities, we must simultaneously prioritize equity and protect low-income residents. My goal as a city councilor is to lift up working class people and tenants to meet their needs and allow growth to take place that benefits all of us, not just a few.
Public Safety - Provide a safe, secure, and healthy community through coordinated, efficient, and effective public safety services.
The best way to reduce crime is to lift people out of poverty and meet their needs. Whether its access to food, housing, or healthcare services, our city funding must reflect resident needs as a preventive measure to care for our communities. Similarly, it is time we move toward a community-based safety structure that moves away from expensive and punitive policing practices that disproportionately harm Black and brown communities.
Social and Economic Vitality - Improve economic and social opportunities in vulnerable communities through strategic partnerships.
It is important to halt the gentrification in the city as much as possible in order to try to maintain communities that have existed in the city for many years. If people can afford to live and work in the city and get the services they need to thrive, Raleigh will continue to be a thriving, vibrant community. If not, the services and businesses in the city will suffer from lack of employees. This will take an emphasis on the workers, even if it comes with a cost to developers and investors. CIty engagement with the residents that live in the city is important as well. A city that listens to all of its residents is able to ensure that everyone’s needs are met.
