By Kylie Marsh
Kylie.marsh@triangletribune.com
DURHAM – Durham got a firsthand look at how its two mayoral candidates interact in real life Tuesday night.
North Carolina Central University’s Miller-Morgan Auditorium was packed, spectating a lively debate between incumbent Leonardo Williams and opponent Anjanee Bell. Candidates gave timed responses on affordable housing, homelessness, crime, development, transportation and audience-submitted questions.
Bell’s campaign is made possible by contributions from the Durham Black Political Action Committee. Williams’ campaign is funded by the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People.
The debate was organized by the NCCU Political Science Club in collaboration with the Student Government Association, Students in Public Service and The Campus Echo student newspaper. Students considered the turnout a big success.
“It’s important to have events like this so students know who to vote for,” said first-year student and SGA secretary Amber Johnson. Johnson, who just joined Bell’s campaign, was motivated by the candidate’s policies on fair and affordable housing in Durham.
Many students’ ears were attuned to answers about student housing, as NCCU is experiencing a strain on availability. Students hosting a peaceful demonstration around campus housing issues in April were arrested.
“As a student who depends on off-campus housing in Durham, it’s important that legislators and local elected officials make housing accessible,” third-year student Charity Crawford said.
Williams advocated for more development and growth, lauding his leadership on the Bull City Future Fund, which allocated approximately $300,000 in private donations to 15 nonprofits to strengthen youth engagement and empowerment. The Fund’s mission is to address youth crime, which has reportedly been on the rise despite a decline in overall crime.
Bell discussed the importance of including community voices, remaining true to the Durham that raised her and preserving its community culture. She said the fund was a good start but must be included in the budget.
“Should you not be reelected, what happens to that program?” she asked Williams.
“I question anyone that has an issue with the community getting anything. It’s more than what they had,” Williams rebutted. “I would appreciate more ideas on getting more money to more organizations. What we did is more than what a lot of other people did.”
Candidates sparred over the terms of smart growth and development. While Williams’ perspective was more development and investment could create a wider, more diverse tax base, Bell criticized his leadership, saying the development has led to displacement and a Durham that does not feel culturally or historically authentic.
Candidates also disagreed over the terms of Heritage Square, a proposed mixed-use development to be built in Hayti, one of Durham’s most well-known historically-Black neighborhoods. While Williams is in support of Heritage Square, representatives of the DCABP previously opposed the development’s rezoning petition. Sterling Bay, the Chicago-based developer, withdrew the proposal in August.
“I would not have allowed the developers to walk away after holding what felt like hostage, the people,” Bell said. “This leadership could not stand with courage to allow the people to speak. That is a problem.”
Bell said, in a similar development, Sterling Bay received contractual rezoning approval* but started “piecing” the land.
“There was no guarantee,” she said. “They were developing a very similar project in Chicago, Mr. Williams. They got what they wanted, and they pieced off the land…developers change their minds.”
Williams countered that any development would bring jobs to Durham.
“We don’t govern on speculation,” he said. “Every time we’ve brought a company to Durham, it’s brought jobs. And every time they have transactions and spend money, it creates revenue. That’s just basic 101 government, that’s just logic.”
When asked about diversifying municipal revenue, Bell spoke passionately how downtown parking deters people from entering the area. “I hate the parking downtown,” she said. “We need to evaluate the revenue that that actually brings it, because I know that it’s keeping revenue out. People are not coming into the heart center.”
Williams said the city has lost nearly $72 million in denied contracts because of capacity issues with the Durham Performing Arts Center. An “innovation center” would use creative ways to bringing Research Triangle Park into downtown.
“Convention centers are a big block that when not occupied, it’s dead,” he said. “We can have a grocery store finally. We can have a larger hotel so we can have more conferences, possibly increasing our sales tax revenue by 25%.”
During the round when candidates could ask each other one question, Bell said, in a previous forum, Williams had allegedly implied that an elder resident “could not do math” during a discussion about raising taxes. Using the incident as an example, Bell asked Williams what his aversion to accountability for wrongdoing is.
Williams asked Bell how she would distinguish herself as mayor, rather than being overshadowed by her father’s legacy.
SGA President Sha’lexus Sanders said education is the key aspect to getting younger people to cast ballots. “Just educating people about what’s going on,” Sanders said. “You can’t expect people to care about something they don’t know about.”
Sanders also said having an on-campus polling site makes a big difference in getting college students to vote. However, the site is at risk of being closed due to low turnout, she said.
Despite instructions to remain silent while candidates spoke, the audience did not refrain from responding directly to comments. At one point, a couple with a young child were escorted out for disrupting.
