Raleigh voters will pick a new mayor and City Council members this November.
All eight council seats, including the mayor’s, are up for grabs, with all the incumbents except for current Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin seeking another two-year term.
Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 7. Early voting runs from Thursday, Oct. 17, through Saturday, Nov. 2. The race is non-partisan.
To help inform voters across the state, this candidate questionnaire is available to be republished by local publications in North Carolina without any cost. Please consider subscribing to The News & Observer to help make this coverage possible.
Name: Paul Fitts
District/seat: Raleigh mayor
Political party: Republican
Age as of Nov. 5, 2024: 55
Campaign website: www.fittsforraleigh.com/
Current occupation: Mortgage lender
Education: proud college drop out
Offices sought/held: ran for City Council, county commissioner, mayor
Please list any notable government or civic involvement.
Donated time to numerous charities, on the Board of Wake County Tax Payer association, founding/board member of East Wake Alumni Association (scholarship), blood donor
What council district do you live in? Not specified
What is the top issue facing Raleigh now and how would you address it?
Public Safety — Raleigh has been experiencing increasing, record crime rates. Murder, break-ins, assaults are all steadily increasing. Homelessness is at an all-time high in Raleigh. Factor No. 1 our city council hasn’t focused at all on public safety at all. Since 2011 the Democrat-led council has had ONE major focus, and that’s Dix Park. The city has allocated $500M to pour into parks that WILL NEVER REPAY ITS INVESTMENT, our debt servicing is more than our investment into public safety.
We need a minimum of 400 more police officers. To pay for them we need to broaden our tax base to invest more money into public safety. That means make our city more business friendly, to bring in more businesses and create more livable areas. I’ve asked current representatives to look at removing properties from downtown such as Central and Women’s Prison and convert those areas to livable space.
We need to help transition our homeless population to places where they need to be. If they are mentally or physically incapable of caring for themselves, we need to find them long-term care or group homes. If they have job loss or addiction issues we need to find short term housing or rehab care to get them back on their feet to be productive citizens again.
All of this can be accomplished and crime can be reduced again once we have a better RPD presence on the street.
What is your strategy for increasing affordable housing in Raleigh?
Affordable Housing — First let’s make sure everyone understands, you cannot make housing affordable until you make it available. We need to start converting underutilized commercial space which is truly the most cost effective way to create homeownership in an urban setting.
I have already spoken to members of our General Assembly about removing Central and Women’s Prisons from downtown Raleigh, we simply need the space. Central prison has 44 acres of land, women’s prison has 189 acres of land. These facilities can be relocated in areas that have much cheaper land where good, state-paying jobs will bolster their local economies. We missed the boat on Dix which could have had SOME of its area designated for housing, but most of the underused state properties need to become housing (townhomes/rowhouses/condos). We need livable, taxable properties to keep our city strong and vibrant.
Should the city be more aggressive about requiring affording units from developers or partner with nonprofits?
The city has missed opportunities everywhere. But now we need to focus on underutilized state-owned property for living use.
Do you think Raleigh can support concert venues both downtown and in Dix Park?
No, and Red Hat should stay where it is and there’s no reason to permanently block a street.
Would you describe Raleigh’s growth as too fast, too slow or just right?
It’s faster than anticipated, but the current and previous councils have not even tried to keep up. We need to think about future water usage at this rate. There’s an old plan to take over the quarry on Duraleigh in 2054, but that plan may have to be moved up to create a reservoir.
Do you think Raleigh is losing too many historic properties? If so, how should this be addressed?
Some of the properties that are older have fallen into a state of disrepair. It’s possible to salvage some but for others, it may simply be too late.