Dave Wils

Dave Wils

Education

Bachelor's

Grand Valley State University

Personal

Profession

Teacher

Contact

Personal website

Dave Wils was a candidate for at-large representative on the Greensboro City Council in North Carolina. He was defeated in the general election on November 7, 2017.

Biography

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Wils earned a B.A. in social studies teacher education from Grand Valley State University.

At the time of his 2017 run for city council, Wils was a civics and world history teacher at Grimsley High School and a high school director for the Guilford County Association of Educators. His experience also includes service as a member of the Human Relations Commission and work as the director of youth ministry at St. Pius X Catholic Church, a secretary for the Internal Revenue Service, a city host for the Center for Student Missions, the coordinator of student ministries at Spring Valley Community Church, and a social studies teacher for the Academy at Lincoln, Davidson County Schools, and Lexington Public Schools.

Elections

2017

See also: Mayoral election in Greensboro, North Carolina (2017) and Municipal elections in Greensboro, North Carolina (2017)

Greensboro, North Carolina, held a general election for mayor and all eight seats on the city council on November 7, 2017. A primary election was held on October 10, 2017. The filing deadline for candidates who wished to run in this election was July 21, 2017. The following candidates ran in the general election for the at-large seats on the Greensboro City Council.

Greensboro City Council At-Large, General Election, 2017
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Yvonne Johnson Incumbent	26.59%	21,390
Marikay Abuzuaiter Incumbent	19.56%	15,733
Michelle Kennedy	16.45%	13,236
Mike Barber Incumbent	16.33%	13,134
Dave Wils	10.96%	8,814
T. Dianne Bellamy-Small	9.53%	7,666
Write-in votes	0.6%	480
Total Votes		80,453
Source: North Carolina State Board of Elections, "11/07/2017 Official Municipal Election Results - Guilford," accessed November 22, 2017

The following candidates ran in the primary election for the at-large seats on the Greensboro City Council.

Greensboro City Council At-Large, Primary Election, 2017
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Yvonne Johnson Incumbent	22.42%	10,639
Marikay Abuzuaiter Incumbent	14.65%	6,952
Mike Barber Incumbent	11.29%	5,357
Michelle Kennedy	11.26%	5,345
Dave Wils	7.93%	3,761
T. Dianne Bellamy-Small	7.03%	3,336
Dan Jackson	5.84%	2,772
Irving Allen	4.63%	2,196
James Ingram	3.00%	1,424
Lindy Perry-Garnette	2.88%	1,366
M.A. Bakie	2.79%	1,325
Tijuana Hayes	2.57%	1,219
Jodi Bennett-Bradshaw	1.41%	671
Andy Nelson	1.19%	563
Sylvine Hill	1.12%	530
Total Votes		47,456
Source: North Carolina State Board of Elections, "10/10/2017 Official Primary Election Results - Guilford," accessed October 27, 2017

Campaign themes

2017

Wils' campaign website highlighted the following issues:

“	SMALL BUSINESS GROWTH Small businesses make up the majority of our local economy, and local business owners are far more likely to invest back into Greensboro than anywhere else. It makes sense, then, that Greensboro should be doing everything within our power to elevate small businesses, and to improve the conditions for would-be entrepreneurs in order for them to take the leap into opening their own businesses. This is especially important in East Greensboro, where there is great potential for community investment, some of which is already underway. We can achieve this growth through what is known as an 'economic gardening model' where we focus on continuing to improve our infrastructure and overall quality of life, facilitate connections between business owners, thought leaders, trade groups and other relevant stakeholders, and provide access to needed data and strategic information that would normally only be available to larger corporations. This also includes assisting would-be business owners acquire access to capital through partnering with private investors to provide loans to local start-ups. There is value in hunting for economic development to come to Greensboro, but we must not overlook the riches already present in our city. GOOD-PAYING JOBS With the growth of Greensboro comes the opportunity to increase the number of good-paying jobs that are available. We must do all we can to make sure that our own workforce has access to those jobs, and that those jobs pay a living wage and provide the necessary benefits to keep working families afloat. By working with our many great educational institutions, we can provide training to help workers learn new skills. We can collaborate with businesses and trade groups to help connect employers and employees. We should encourage the growth of employee-owned businesses, an exciting concept that has been proven to ensure stable and profitable employment. Finally, we should seek community benefits agreements with all of the development that is taking place downtown and around UNCG. These are agreements between the city and developers where developers promise to provide certain benefits to the community in which the development is taking place. These agreements have been proven to provide greater access to the jobs these developments create by including local and low-wage hiring policies, job training, and minority hiring and sub-contracting targets. AFFORDABLE HOUSING One of the unintended consequences of development is the increasing number of families that can no longer afford to live in their homes due to the increase in property values. Affordable housing is generally defined as costing no more than 30% of the occupant's take-home pay. The city should prioritize preserving existing units that are affordable by identifying potential problem properties and taking steps to intervene, do more to educate and empower low-income tenants as to their own rights, prevent unnecessary demolitions of existing property, and do all we can to prevent affordable properties from timing out according to federal regulations. In addition to preserving existing affordable properties, we must also seek ways to set aside new properties as being deemed affordable. This can be done through inclusionary zoning policies, providing incentives for developers, and by looking to the creation of supportive housing. On top of all of this, the maintenance of quality in housing options is essential, and can be achieved through targeted-proactive building-code inspections and through partnerships with property owners who provide affordable housing in order to maintain quality. ACCESS TO FRESH AND HEALTHY FOOD Greensboro has made great strides in improving access to fresh and healthy food through the building of the Renaissance Community Co-Op. This is a wonderful example of what can be done to deal with the issue of the so-called 'food deserts' that plague too many communities in our city. But rather than be the final solution to the problem, it is merely a beginning step in a series of steps we must take. To ensure greater access to fresh and healthy food, Greensboro must promote land-use policies to allow for urban food-growth, otherwise known as urban farming, continue to expand retail food options, and improve public transportation to close the gap between neighborhoods and grocery stores. Finally, we should explore ways to partner with food vendors and non-profits to provide fresh food to underserved areas through mobile produce markets in the mold of the wildly successful 'Meals on Wheels' program.	”
—Dave Wils' campaign website, (2017)

Endorsements

2017

Wils received endorsements from the following in 2017:

• Equality NC
• Replacements Ltd PAC

Recent news

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Dave Wils Greensboro City Council. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

Dave Wils - Google News

See also

Greensboro, North Carolina	North Carolina	Municipal government	Other local coverage

External links

Suggest a link

• Greensboro City Council
• Campaign website
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