Q: What are the most pressing issues facing the city, and what will you do to address them? What would you do as a commissioner to make Dayton a better place to live, work and play?
Darryl Fairchild: The top issues are that a majority of residents do not feel safe in our city; we lack a vision for our residential neighborhoods; the social fabric in many of our neighborhoods is so frayed that we do not have the deep relationships that create community; and, with few exceptions, parents and the community have little confidence in our public schools, both DPS and charters.
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The opioid crisis, a lack of jobs, and stagnant pay for our workers that keeps them in poverty are additional issues. As commissioner, I will be the champion for our residential neighborhoods. I will also look at advancing the Gem City Market and other local, new economic initiatives that augment traditional economic development. Additionally, I would be an advocate for our children and youth.
Beyond a vision, we need a clear plan so that we bring focus, set priorities, and recruit resources to address these issues. I would be persistent so that we turn vision into implementation.
Jeffrey Mims Jr.: The fact that we have made faster progress over the last 4 years than in the last 15 years prior, says that we are moving in the right direction. My goal is to continue to unify the citizens around strategies that have been identified in our 2017 Dayton Survey. Jobs, safety, and community/ neighborhood development and education were the 4 most pressing issues identified in the survey and the areas where I plan to continue my efforts.
I will work continuously to make sure our citizens understand how diverse our problems are in the city and that there is no silver bullet for addressing these issues. We value all of the concerns faced by our residents, but must always prioritize how we address these issues in ways that best utilize our resources. For example, with my support of issue 9, the 2017 Dayton Survey indicated the need to support educational issues, which is why we provided financial support for preschool expansion.
Our city staff have also been hard at work filling potholes and repaving to make our streets more safe and drivable. We also hired 20 additional police officers to address hot spots. We have been able to acetate our process of cutting grass throughout our neighborhoods because of the additional resources. We have also been able to provide additional support to our fire and police department to help fight the opioid crisis.
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Shenise Turner-Sloss: The most pressing issue in our city are the dilapidated conditions of our neighborhoods. The lack of services and disinvestment that our residential neighborhoods have experienced over the past 10 years has caused a detrimental economic impact in our community.
As commissioner, I would make our neighborhoods and its residents a priority. I will continue to build on the fabric that makes Dayton a great, place to live, work, and play by fostering the resilience and perseverance of Dayton residents. Our residents are more than deserving and in need of support by its elected officials. As commissioner, I will make a deliberate effort to address community concerns through intentional leadership with a vision for all of Dayton.
My Block by Block strategy will include: Block 1) building our neighborhoods one block at a time; Block 2) aggressively removing abandoned housing; Block 3) attracting businesses; Block 4) creating & retaining jobs; and Block 5) making each resident a priority.
Joey Williams: Dayton is a successful city! We have been named America's Best Town Ever by Outside Magazine, a Best Place to Live by US News and World Report, and an All-American City by the National Civic League.
But we still have work to do. The most pressing issue facing the City is making sure we expand the strong success of downtown into all of our neighborhoods. My plan to make Dayton, especially the neighborhoods, an even better place to live, work and play is to continue working on what I call the four pillars of a strong city: 1) Financial Stability; 2) Safety; 3) Jobs; and 4).
Activities for all citizens, especially youth and seniors. Focusing on these four pillars our team will accomplish the following and more: Removal of abandoned and vacant housing; improve parks; increase youth and senior programming; increase new construction projects; repave approximately 60% of our streets; increase community policing; award mini-grants to support neighborhood community projects; and increase job opportunities for all Daytonians.
We need a strong foundation to achieve these goals. The majority of the City’s revenue from downtown is redirected back towards neighborhood revitalization. In addition, we receive federal funding (such as the $1.5 million HUD grant awarded in 2016 for redevelopment efforts in distressed neighborhoods). I helped create this strong foundation to support neighborhood revitalization and will continue to do so if you re-elect me as City Commissioner.
Q: What will you do to improve life in Dayton’s neighborhoods outside of downtown?
Darryl Fairchild: I will persist until we have a clear, comprehensive plan for urban revitalization across all neighborhoods. Included in this plan will be a cost analysis of removing blighted properties and making necessary infrastructure repairs and improvements.
Additionally, the plan will include an analysis of the current cost of maintaining the blight (depressed property values; lost tax revenue; mowing, boarding and maintaining vacant properties; and fire and police runs) Finally, I would prioritize the development of nine blocks around every elementary school so that our children have safe, stable, and attractive places to learn. Once we have this plan, we can then begin to strategically allocate current funds and recruit new ones. Ultimately, we will transform Dayton so that families will see Dayton as a good place to raise their families.
Jeffrey Mims Jr.: Based up surveys taken by the city, a significant number of individuals who live in Dayton, plan on staying. It is important for us to find out from them what causes them to feel that way and to continue to expand upon those services.
For those who are least likely to stay, we have to find out what it would take. We must ask questions about the services they feel are being neglected, and which programs they feel are needed. How we generate revenue and seek state and federal dollars to effectively address quality of life gaps in these communities is a focus of my campaign. This is a strong link between what happens in the neighbors and what happens downtown. We spend 75% of our budget in all of our neighborhoods outside of Downtown Dayton.
Shenise Turner-Sloss: I will create a balance; we will no longer neglect our neighborhoods. I will push for city staff to be equipped with the tools and resources they need to — address residents' concerns. Empowering and sustaining Dayton neighborhoods with a block by block strategy increases opportunities for downtown development.
Joey Williams: As a commissioner, my focus has been to improve the quality of life in every Dayton neighborhood. I am doing so by focusing on the four pillars of a great city: 1) Financial stability; 2) Safety; 3) Jobs; and 4) Activities for all citizens, especially youth and seniors. I am also very supportive of the City's overarching Green and Gold strategy.
This strategy invests in activities to “green” our neighborhoods, such as demolition of abandoned properties, creating community gardens, supporting the Lot Links program, and mowing. We also invest in “gold” activities where the City partners with local businesses, hospitals, schools and universities on asset based development.
Together the City and these assets collaboratively build stronger neighborhoods. In addition to the Green and Gold strategy there are individual plans for neighborhoods throughout the City. Those plans vary in their progress from nearly complete (like the Genesis Project) to those that are still developing (such as the West Dayton Corridor Plan). Other plans include the River Corridor Plan, Choice Neighborhoods Plan, Carillon/Edgemont Plan, Davinci Plan, Phoenix Project, and more. Lastly, it should not be ignored that the success of downtown is a great benefit to neighborhoods as approximately 75% of the income tax generated downtown is redistributed back to the neighborhoods. As downtown continues to grow there will be even more funds available for the neighborhoods.
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