HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WAFF) – The race for Huntsville’s district two city council member is on. Incumbent city councilwoman Frances Akridge is not running for re-election, leaving the door open for a new leader to join the council.
Five men with diverse backgrounds want to fill the position. They all have different outlooks on how to make Huntsville a better place, especially when it comes to infrastructure during a time of rapid growth.
Veterans Danny Peters and Drake Daggett are focusing on housing stock and public transportation.
“You want equitable housing workforce housing for everyone to have options,” explained Peters. “I think we need to continue that. I think as we’ve grown, we’ve outgrown the public transit. We need to continue to develop that so it’s touching more of the city and increasing the frequency so people can use it.”
Meanwhile, Daggett would rather relax permits to promote more housing units, particularly apartments. He does advocate for expanding public transportation.
“Public transportation that goes west of Redstone Arsenal,” said Daggett. “(…) I think that is a big issue I’d like to see a study done on light rail that would go from ditto landing to the city center out to the airport and maybe out to Decatur at some point. I think a study is merited.”
When it comes to infrastructure, the remaining three candidates say they want to focus more on staying ahead of that growth.
WAFF’s Megan Plotka reporting
David Little has a long history with the City of Huntsville, he was part of the Huntsville Police Department Citizens Advisory Council in 2010.
When it comes to the infrastructure he’s keeping an eye on the roads.
“Traffic is a concern, always keeping up with roads is important,” said Little. “Certainly there’s concerns with density. We definitely want to keep up. We want to be ahead of that.”
Billy Yell spent 40 years working on the city’s infrastructure for Huntsville Utilities. He says we have a long way to go.
“I have great concern if we don’t stay active and do not stay on the infrastructure, we’re gonna get behind,” said Yell. “We’re already behind on roads we have to make sure we have all the other infrastructure in place.”
Brian Foy is the co-owner of a small software services business and says we have to be proactive about infrastructure, rather than reactive.
“The last thing we want to be is in the position where five years ago we should have made this decision, 10 years ago we should have made this decision,” said Foy. “The best time to make that decision is now. At the same time, we have to balance residential, retail and look at affordable housing options for our workforce.”
Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday for District two, three and four candidates. Find your polling place here.
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