Final thoughts: Dan Coody

Over the last few months you’ve gotten to know the candidates personally and politically as they’ve been kind enough to answer all of our questions. Even the silly ones.

With election day fast approaching and early voting already underway, we’ve invited all six of them to share some final thoughts. Just like the previous interviews, comments will be closed on these posts.

From Dan Coody:
Thanks for the opportunity to visit with your readers.

4 of the 6 candidates are going to appear essentially running on the same platform. We say we support the trails, the “greening” of Fayetteville, the sustainability movement and its related economic development potential. We say we support balancing a healthy environment and a vibrant economy. We say we support our Downtown Master Plan and the City Plan 2025.

We all say we want a high quality of life, better mobility, safe streets, affordable housing, and good public transportation. We all say it. But I, alone, am acting out of the belief that our aesthetic, how we look, feel, and grow, is as important as any other part of our basic infrastructure.

Here’s the undeniable difference between us: the bandwagon that all the candidates are jumping on is the one that the public, my staff, and I built over the last 8 years with the council support.

Before I took office staff turnover was around 25%. It is now and has been for several years in the more normal range of 8-9%.

Before I took office, there was no effective trails program. Now our trails program is recognized nationally, with other mayors and their staffs coming here to study our success.

Before I took office, there was no internal effort within the municipal government to “green up” our city. As a matter of fact, in 2000, Fayetteville was sued by environmental groups for ignoring our environmental ordinances. We are now seen as a city that is leading by example for other small cities to learn from.

My administration forged a new, publicly-driven, community-oriented planning process that has resulted in laying new groundwork for how Fayetteville will grow into the future. If we stick to the plans that were designed by the citizens of Fayetteville, we will continue to see our fine community get better, more walkable, less congested, more attractive, and more livable.

The City’s sustainability movement is one of our best accomplishments because it not only has put Fayetteville on the same map as some of America’s great cities, such as Austin, Chapel Hill, Portland, Boulder, and Ft. Collins, it has put us on an international map for companies to examine our potential for entry and expansion in the new economic fields of renewable energy and high efficiency innovation. This is key to Fayetteville’s, and the planet’s, future.

All this local advancement, and much more, has been accomplished because of three things: one is the excellent and professional staff, management team, and work force we have put together during my tenure. The second is excellent council support of our initiatives. The third is my approach to leadership – a balance of drive, passion, and vision, with the ability to network at both the local and national levels, and an understanding of how to get real work done.

Everyone else says they want to continue the work I have started. I would ask, where have they been all these years? I could have used their help in getting us where we are. It is one thing to simply support initiatives that are brought forward by others But it is another thing, entirely, to be the one to initiate, develop, promote, gather approvals, and bring to fruition concepts and actions that will help improve our city.

I am very pleased with the progress that has been made during my two terms and I would like to see this direction and this momentum take Fayetteville to the next level. I am the only candidate with a long, public track record of success, achieving the vision for our city that you see unfolding in front of you.

Make no mistake about this: when you change leadership at the top, you will change abilities, vision, perspective, scope, and image. Then the question becomes, “what changes will we see?” and there is no way to know until it is too late to do anything about it. You know where I stand. If you share my vision for Fayetteville, then please support my candidacy.

If you would like to learn more about what we have accomplished in less than 8 years, there is much more at www.dancoody.com.

Your Full Service Mayor,
Dan Coody