In the race for Wilmington’s City Council, there are nine people competing for three open seats that carry four-year terms. Two incumbents are seeking re-election. Deb Hays is the current Chair of the City of Wilmington Planning Commission, James Ray is Associate Minister of Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church in Wilmington, and Perry Fisher ran his own restaurant, Front Street News, before moving to broadcast journalism.
When Deb Hays looks ahead, she sees the short-term rental issue
“We need to understand what the issues are. We need to make sure and drill down on those issues, and we need to be able to identify these properties. We also need to make an ordinance that is going to be fair and reasonable to everyone, but one that is also manageable for staff and enforceable.”
James Ray wants to work for a more accepting society.
“Well, the base foundation for my campaign is the ability to spread truth and love to combat fear and hate. One of the problems that I've seen in observing Wilmington these last six years that I've lived here was that we are stuck in the past. We are stuck based on fear and hate, and there is no trust.”
Perry Fisher says the key to a healthy future rests with the family.
“Well, to me, it boils down to concentrating on strengthening families. I think that our biggest problems, and this is not only Wilmington obviously, our biggest problems are social, and almost all of them can be traced, to some extent, back to disintegrating family unit.”
Election Day is November 7. Early voting is underway.
