Public safety, transparency and partnerships are among the issues raised by three candidates challenging City Director Doris Wright for her Ward 6 seat in the Nov. 6 election.
Wright, 59, has served on the Little Rock Board of Directors since 2007. She touted her work in the ward and said she hopes to keep the momentum going, emphasizing the completion of the West Central Community Center and the expansion of its after-school programs, as well as job creation and lower crime rates.
"Under my leadership, Ward 6 has thrived," she said at a recent forum.
Ward 6 is defined as west-central Little Rock. It encompasses neighborhoods east of Woodlands Trail to University Avenue and south of Markham Street, Mara Lynn Drive and Kanis Road to Colonel Glenn Road.
City directors are elected to four-year terms and paid $18,000 annually.
Sandy Becker, 58, was Wright's only challenger in 2014. Becker manages the Arkansas Teachers Federal Credit Union. He has also been a city department head for North Little Rock. He said he is running on his experience and ability to create partnerships.
"I have been a mediator and a person who tries to solve problems, and I have a long history of being able to resolve issues," he said at a forum.
Vicki Hatter, 39, has a history of activism and being vocal about hurdles the Little Rock School District faces. She said in an interview that if she is elected she wants to work across governmental lines to address infrastructure, economic health, youth engagement, historic preservation and rental inspection. The state Department of Human Services employee said there is a disconnect between city government and residents.
"We were feeling that we were not a part of the process and being heard, so therefore I decided to go ahead and run to where I could bring in more inclusion," Hatter said at a forum.
Russ Racop, 59, has been a critic of the city for years. Racop runs a blog critical of Little Rock's government and police force. Some posts call out city directors including Wright. He often illustrates his posts with photos that are altered to illustrate his point.
He has made Freedom of Information requests seeking documents that concern a variety of public officials, which some have said is a tactic Racop uses against people with whom he has clashed. In an interview, Racop said that wasn't the case, and that his requests go with blog posts he is working on.
Racop acknowledged that his background also includes charges of battery and child endangerment, for which he was not convicted, as well as a judge's order to have no contact with the principal of his daughter's elementary school in 2012. He said Friday that those stemmed from false allegations.
Wright said she promotes government transparency through a magazine and radio station devoted to the community. The station, KWCP 98.9, has been backed with city money and was the subject of a federal complaint in 2017 when it went dark for several months after the exit of its former manager.
At a forum, all candidates expressed support for community policing, though they differed on how to make it happen and what the obstacles are.
Becker said the city, because of budgetary challenges, should focus on retraining all officers to be more involved in the community.
Wright said she believes the Police Department is on its way to being fully funded and fully staffed and will soon be able to station community-oriented officers at neighborhood resource centers. This was a community-stabilizing approach the department took in the 1990s, she said.
Racop called out Police Chief Kenton Buckner for not reinstating community-oriented policing, despite the department filling vacancies.
Hatter expressed her support for community policing throughout the city and echoed Racop's sentiment that it required leadership from the Police Department.
"If we have a strong advocate for community policing as well as a strong law enforcement head, then we will see issues of conflict between law enforcement and community come down," she said.
The candidates are all support budgeting money for sidewalks.
Becker said he would seek multiple funding sources for sidewalk development and maintenance.
"I'm a great believer that you do everything you can with city resources, but then you look for private resources, you look for resources from the community, you look for volunteers, you do all the things necessary to solve the problem," he said.
Hatter said sidewalks are a safety issue and not something the city could not "afford to pass the buck on whose responsibility it is -- whether it falls on homeowners or developers. She said the city needs to be proactive and take leadership.
Racop agreed.
"These are concerns the city has to address, and we can't put that on the back of developers or the property owners," he said.
Similarly, Wright said the policy of sidewalk maintenance falling on the homeowner should be revised.
The candidates agreed that the city's rental-inspection policy required examination or revision.
"We have to have some way that all the units can be correctly inspected, problems can be resolved and a win-win situation can be created that's fair to all. But we have to have affordable and adequate housing," Becker said.
Hatter said the city has an opportunity to be a leader in that area, given the state's lack of a warranty-of-habitability law.
Wright said the city needs to hire more code enforcement officers and pay them a more competitive salary, as well as consider hiring a subcontractor to help the city get in compliance with its rental-inspection policy.
"We have already started a review of what we're doing now to see how we can improve it, and I'm committed to making sure that we do improve it and that we raise these salaries so that we can retain our staff," she said.
Racop said the code enforcement division does need more officers and higher wages, but said that Wright is "part of the problem," referring to a past campaign contribution from the Arkansas Realtors Association Political Action Committee. He said the group fights equitable landlord-tenant laws and he encouraged voters to choose anyone but Wright.
Wright has not yet submitted her 2018 campaign contribution and expenditure form, but her 2014 form shows a $1,000 contribution from the group. Racop submitted a form Monday that shows no contributions nor expenditures. Wright could not be reached immediately for comment.
Metro on 10/28/2018