Thank you so much for the letter from your class.
I was elected on November 5th. I have an orientation for new council members on November 20th. I will be sworn in and take office on December 2nd.
I am new to elected office and have many things to learn but I will try to answer your questions.
1. How will you help students in schools? Our children are learning English and need extra support to feel confident.
I love this question.
We have a very diverse community here in Garner. Many people are not aware how diverse our schools are and the special attention some students may need.
The schools in Garner are operated and administrated by Wake County, not the town of Garner. This means the town government has little influence on how students are taught. However, as a community and town government can advocate to the Wake County School Board for our children. I plan to work with the town of Garner and non-profit organizations to create more tutoring programs and after-school activities. English learning opportunities for students and their families is a something I would like to create.
2. How will you protect affordable housing? Where will you create affordable housing? We work hard, but we do not earn a lot of money.
Affordable housing is another problem that will require partnerships.
We need to make sure that there is affordable housing in Garner for people of all incomes.
We also need to make sure that the housing is safe and that landlords are treating their tenants fairly.
I know of one affordable housing project that is coming but we need to make it a priority.
I plan to create an affordable housing committee that will focus on housing issues. Affordable housing is one of the things that makes Garner a great place to live and raise a family. If people work hard, they should be able to afford safe housing close to the community they love.
3. When will you open health clinics in our community? Doctors offices and hospitals are too expensive without insurance. Where will you hold health fairs in our community? We had them in the past. When will you open centers for emotional and mental health issues?
Health families are important. Healthy people can work and healthy students can learn.
Healthcare is a big problem for many people and is a complicated problem.
The town alone does not have the resources to open centers for emotional and mental health issues.
I will ask the other council members and the town manager about health clinics that have come to Garner before. I will see if what we can do to have them again if it is possible.
I will have to do research and see what services are available in Garner now and see if we can work with partners to expand them.
4. How will you reduce traffic? When will you improve busing in more parts of Garner? We don’t want traffic like we had in our countries.
There is a new bus route that goes from downtown Raleigh through Garner every hour. https://www.thegarnernews.com/garner-politics/all-day-goraleigh-service-for-garner-replaces-peak-hours-only-gotriangle-routes-oct-14 . It only goes to the north side of Garner.
I know that there are some plans for more connecting bus routes in Garner but I will need to get more information.
Reducing traffic will be very hard. I do not think we will be able to reduce traffic. Traffic will continue to increase. The existing road plans did not anticipate Garner's very fast growth. The new town council will have to revise our growth plan.
The best we can do for the next few years is try to slow the increase in traffic.
Thank you for your questions.
I invite you to come to a town council meeting.
It would be wonderful to have you bring these questions to the town council. We need to make sure everyone's voices are heard. Do not let language be an obstacle to participating. It is our responsibility as a town and a council to make sure you are heard and understood.
Best Regards,
Demian