Fayetteville Mayor Lioneld Jordan (left) and former mayor Dan Coody are the only mayoral candidates in 2012.
The Fayetteville Forward Green Economy Group, a division of the Fayetteville Forward Economic Accountability Council, recently sent questionnaires to each of the opposed municipal candidates.
Sarah Marsh, facilitator of the group, asked if the Flyer would be interested in sharing their replies.
Marsh said the group would not be issuing an endorsement. “Our intent,” she said, “is just to educate voters about the candidates’ positions that are relevant to our mission.”
Listed below are the unedited answers from Mayor Lioneld Jordan and former mayor Dan Coody.
Note: Several Ward 4 City Council candidates and one Ward 2 candidate also participated in the surveys. Visit the FFEAC Green Economy Group Facebook page to view those responses.
1. Connectivity / Congestion Management
Please assign each of the following strategies with a priority ranking according to what measures you would work to implement to improve connectivity, promote inclusive mobility, and reduce traffic congestion in our community (1=high priority 2= medium priority 3= low priority 4=avoid)
Lioneld Jordan:
- Increased funding for more and bigger highways – 3
- Moving forward with a Fayetteville-Only transit plan – 1
- Increasing efforts to build support for a regional transit plan – 2
- Expanding our trails network – 1
- Increasing our investment in sidewalk construction and maintenance – 1
- Adopting policies that promote density, in-fill development, and mixed-use zoning – 1
- Incentivizing employers to allow flexible scheduling and telecommuting when possible to reduce peak traffic demand – 1
- Improved maintenance of existing roads without adding additional capacity – Yes on maintaining existing road and adding capacity on arterials that can reduce traffic in center city.
- Road diets and other traffic calming measures to slow traffic down – 3
- Incentivizing employers to provide transit passes to employees – 3
- Working with our University to disincentives students from bringing automobiles to town, and/or using them frequently – 3
Dan Coody:
- Increased funding for more and bigger highways – 4
- Moving forward with a Fayetteville-Only transit plan – 1
- Increasing efforts to build support for a regional transit plan – 1
- Expanding our trails network – 1
- Increasing our investment in sidewalk construction and maintenance – 1
- Adopting policies that promote density, in-fill development, and mixed-use zoning – 1 We already have these.
- Incentivizing employers to allow flexible scheduling and telecommuting when possible to reduce peak traffic demand – 2
- Improved maintenance of existing roads without adding additional capacity – 1
- Road diets and other traffic calming measures to slow traffic down – 1 No more bumps, though.
- Incentivizing employers to provide transit passes to employees – 2 For when we have transit.
- Working with our University to disincentives students from bringing automobiles to town, and/or using them frequently – 1
2. What efforts would you make to improve the energy efficiency of homes and businesses in our community?
Lioneld Jordan: We have passed the state’s first residential energy efficiency building codes. With some data on experience in its success and benefits, I will ask staff to examine extending to commercial building. We are using Community Development Block Grant funds to weatherize 150 home in qualified low-income areas. We have also provided light bulb exchanges in public housing projects.
Dan Coody: Education is key to homeowners and businesses alike to understand how energy-efficient upgrades can pay for themselves.
I will push for HUD funds to concentrate on achieving the high R values and low air infiltration rates for low- income residents.
Spread the word about faster ROI when following the 2012 energy code and get builders to use it as a marketing tool.
Get at least one code inspector certified as an energy efficiency expert, so he or she can be well versed in EE building options.
Quickly adopt the 2009 code for commercial buildings and lay the groundwork for adopting the 2012 code for all new buildings.
Put an ad hoc panel of experts together to make recommendations on building materials and building types for experimental structures that are currently not allowed by code, like straw bale and recycled cargo containers.
Good publicity and recognition for high achievers in EE construction and green businesses. I wish Natural Building Solutions would have remained in Fayetteville instead of moving to Rogers.
3. What efforts would you make to promote and attract green businesses, i.e. businesses that utilize best management practices in relation to their economic, social and natural resources, to our community?
Lioneld Jordan: This has been a key point in our community and economic development strategy developed by Fayetteville Forward, and it is a targeted goal of our recruitment efforts directed in our economic development contract with the Chamber of Commerce. It has been very successful, including the opening of Delta Electronics, the first major manufacturing employer in Fayetteville in decades.
Dan Coody: Those types of businesses are naturally attracted to cities that share and support their practices. I will make sure the city is doing what it can to exceed that standard and recognize existing businesses that are meeting that standard as well. My philosophy is, as RichardFlorida states, build the city with the amenities that the creative class expect and they will come. And they have. The same is true for the green businesses we want to come here. Be the greenest city we can and share our story with the world so they will know we exist. We made great strides during my tenure and we need to get that momentum going again.
We HAVE to develop some property where we can encourage small start-ups that need low-cost space. Partnering with the U of A’s tech park, we can attract companies that have small space needs and big potential.
4. What efforts would you make to create and retain high-quality affordable housing in our community?
Lioneld Jordan: We received one of two $500,000 grants from Home Depot, and a portion of that is devoted to affordable housing with low-impact design.
Dan Coody: I have seen only one model that has excelled at creating and maintaining a growing stock of affordable housing, and that is the Housing Land Trust model. Chapel Hill, N.C., has one of the most successful examples of effective land trusts . If federal money and grants could be used to buy lots that would remain the property of the trust and builders were to construct super energy-efficient homes within affordable guidelines, the cost of the home would be reduced by the cost of the lot and utilities would be minimal. The homeowner agrees to terms that restrict the escalation of the home value to simple a consumer price index allowing for some building of equity. The homes remain affordable for as long as they are standing. Today affordable homes are built, the homeowner sells at market value, and we helped one person, one time.
5. What policies should we adopt to promote waste reduction and a higher landfill diversion rate in our community?
Lioneld Jordan: We have constructed and opened the state’s first Solar Bio-Solids Drying facility. This reduces landfill costs and provides a beneficial use of organic fertilizer for Fayetteville residents and businesses. We have also expanded commercial recycling, and we are currently operating successful pilot programs for apartment recycling and for glass recycling by restaurants and bars. This week we are breaking ground on the Marion Orton Recycling Drop-Off Center, conveniently located in center city and in the heart of the largest concentration of apartments.
Dan Coody: The “Pay As You Throw” program that my administration put in place increased participation dramatically. There are new technologies that allow for co-mingling that may make collection less costly and increase participation rates by 30% or more. The claim is, 98% of the material is recycled. It’s worth exploring. We need a “take it or leave it” room for usable building materials and other serviceable items, free to whomever has a use for it. We should learn from successful programs that have adjusted their codes to allow the use of salvaged construction materials. The pilot apartment program needs to be revamped to be more user-friendly if it is going to succeed. I do not support the construction of a drop-off site on a busy commercial corner on a main artery through town. That is a misuse of good commercial land. It needs to be placed in an industrial area.
6. Washington County has the third highest number of food-insecure children in our state. What efforts would you take to address this problem?
Lioneld Jordan: I initiated the “With a Can We Can” ongoing food drive for helping supply local food pantries.
Dan Coody: I want to form an urban farmland trust that protects good farmland inside and just outside the city for future sustainable food production. Agriculture is a “use by right” in any zoning, but selling produce is not. I will work with the city council to allow farm stands at the farms that are producing foods for our kitchen tables and restaurant tables. Seeds That Feed and CareCroppers are great examples of innovative young people stepping up to the plate and getting fresh produce to those who usually have to settle for canned vegetables and fruits. I will see that they get the recognition they deserve and make people aware of this great opportunity to help others. The USDA offers grants to develop local sustainable agriculture. As mayor of Fayetteville, I will work to build a coalition of university experts, farmers, and city officials to develop infrastructure to support local sustainable agriculture. I will work to build that coalition and help pursue the grant funding to support it.
7. What is the number one issue that you think is adversely affecting our community and what actions will you take to address it?
Lioneld Jordan: Jobs for everyone who is looking for work. In partnership with NWACC, the UA, the Fayetteville Chamber, and the NWA Labor Council, we opened the Green Jobs Training Center of Excellence in Fayetteville, and that training has now gone mobile throughout the region. In the last two years, despite a weak economy, we have added more than 1,775 new jobs in Fayetteville, and my goal is to increase that by at least 500 a year.
Dan Coody: The lack of good public transit. It affects our social services, our ability to attract good employers, and even our need for parking downtown. Obviously, step one is public education about the negative social and economic factors of not having it. Next is building public support for the funding. There are almost always grants for capital, especially for communities that have demonstrated a commitment to good public transit. We will certainly have to work with the Highway Department to accommodate bus shelters on College Avenue and every other state highway that runs through town. Currently, these are not allowed.
8. Would you be more likely to support urban density planning or less regulation of land use development?
Lioneld Jordan: Urban density planning and incremental sprawl repair.
Dan Coody: My record is clear: I initiated the Downtown Master Plan and the same planners were contracted to update our City Plan 2025. Both plans emphasized walkability, infill, transit-oriented development, and avoiding sprawl.
9. Would you be in favor of ordinances that enable small-scale urban agriculture?
Lioneld Jordan: Yes
Dan Coody: Yes
10. Do you believe the principles of property rights outweigh the importance of watershed conservation?
Lioneld Jordan: No
Dan Coody: Yes. We all live downstream, so one person’s property rights can have a flooding or polluting effect on another person’s property, but I am always aware of the possibility of overreach when it comes to legislation.
11. Tell us about something that you personally have done to reduce your environmental footprint.
Lioneld Jordan: My wife and I recycle, compost, and have weatherized the home we have lived in and raised our children since 1977. I also abolished the $500 a month mayor’s car allowance and now use a Prius from the city fleet for any official travel, saving money for the taxpayers and reducing carbon emissions.
Dan Coody: I am the only candidate in the country that I know of endorsed by Ed Begley, Jr. We have lived in very small spaces most of the last 30 years and have always had a small fuel-efficient car for everyday use. Our landscape is very low maintenance – some might say too low.
Our biggest step so far has been to build a home that is the most energy-efficient home on record in the U.S. It produces more energy than it uses by a factor of 14. We will use the excess energy that we produce to power an electric vehicle. Even without the solar system, our home achieved a HERs rating of 38, which even surprised our rating consultant. We have opened our home throughout the building process as a teaching tool for those interested in building their own home or designing and building for others. The energy we have produced is 21,000 kilowatt hours and has offset 14.5 tons of carbon.
No other candidate for office has done the work in their private lives that we have. I will carry this environmental ethic and drive into my job as mayor – just as I did with the trails system and the many other successful environmental initiatives that I accomplished in my tenure as mayor.
