Candidate Info - Christina Jones - Wake County Democratic Party

Christina Jones

Raleigh City Council
District E

Christina Jones - Raleigh City Council District E

Candidate Statement:

Since winning the ’22 Council Election, Christina Jones has spent the last two years absorbing everything there is to learn about the city of Raleigh. She has met with almost every city department to better understand the needs of the city, so that we can grow sustainably. In addition to learning, Christina has dedicated herself to educating the public through monthly Community Meetings throughout the district and countless “coffee chats” with residents who have shown interest in becoming more involved. Bringing all parties to the table to help solve the issues we face as city is what has helped build community in our part of Raleigh. If re-elected, Christina is committed to bringing even more people to the table to ensure that decisions are made FOR the people, and BY the people.

Importance of this Race:

Raleigh is at the top of a lot of lists coming out, recently, and it is surely a great place to live. As our city grows, it is important that leadership is constantly looking at the big picture and ensuring that future growth is sustainable. That includes environmental sustainability, but it’s also about our city’s infrastructure sustainability. In January of this year, we had a 15.4% vacancy rate. That means that we had over 600 full time jobs left unfilled, and that translates to services for residents not being optimal. We see the increase in homelessness, the need for more public safety personnel, and growing issues around stormwater when dealing with infill development. This race is important because we will need to have difficult conversations with our communities in order to highlight and come up with creative and fair solutions to the tough issues we are facing.

Office Responsibilities:

Members of the City Council are the governing body for for the City of Raleigh. Their responsibilities include:

Appointing the City Manager, City Attorney and City Clerk.
Approval of the budget for the operations of all departments within City government.
Setting the vision and policy for Raleigh’s core services such as the Police Department, Fire Department, and 911 services, as well as the provisioning of clean water, collection of solid waste, and maintenance of our city streets.
Making legislative decisions regarding land use. They set both the broad vision for where development should occur and decide upon individual rezoning cases within Raleigh City limits.
Review and approval of grants to nonprofit organizations providing services within the city.
Review and approval of bonds addressing affordable housing, completing transportation projects, and enhancing parks and green spaces.

Issues:

Community Engagement:

Citizens Advisory Councils are what brought me into public office. After being dismantled in 2020 without having input into what could have made us stronger, I committed to ensuring that CACs were not forgotten. After showing up at public comments and winning a seat on council, I was able to lead the conversation to bring our CACs back. On February 6, 2024, I lead the way by working with current CAC chairs and brought forth a motion to begin the process to strengthen what we lost 4 years ago.

Workers Rights:

Over the last two years, I have had the privilege of getting to tour all of our city departments to learn about what they do. An alarming statistic I became aware of is how understaffed many of our departments have been. At some points over the last 2 years, we were at a 15.4% vacancy rate, which translates to over 600 full time jobs unfilled. Raleigh has to do a better job at keeping pace so that we don’t continue to lose valuable employees to other cities.

Affordable Housing:

Affordable Housing is a critical need in our community as we continue to grow. As we watch developers build necessary housing to accommodate our city’s rapid growth, it is important that city leadership ensure all residents, especially those making 30%, 50%, and 80% Annual Median Income (AMI), are included in that growth. One of my core values is ensuring that we do our part, as a district, to add affordable units and ensure that we are welcoming to all.

External Candidate Links:

Christina Jones' Website