Wright Worries Ice Storm Rage Could Turn Vote Against Her

As promised, here's my Q & A with City Councilwoman Shelia Wright, who's running for her fourth term in Zone 2.

Catanese - Do you think there's a perception that City Council is isolated and doesn't listen to the public?
Wright - We do not have closed door meetings and all of our committee meetings are public record. There's the possibility that we can have any type of media there. We also have a rule in our code that any new development that occurs, requires a neighborhood meeting.

Catanese - What about the fact that usually Council votes together, unanimously?
Wright - When it comes to a zoning case, which a lot of people thing is our most controversial thing, our council . . . we just discussed a zoning case that did go through , and we heard of the possibility of a new designation within our zoning cases. A lot of it goes on there and a lot goes on in the neighborhoods within council members.

Catanese - You did vote against the pit bull ordinance. Why?
Wright - Yes, I did because I received so much information that a breed specific ban is not the best way to go. The best way to go is whether its a pitbull or a wild raccoon that is aggressive.

Catanese - So how do you change the perception that some people have about council?
Wright - What we've tried to do is get more public people involved in our city academy, so they have a chance to see how the city functions. Get them on boards. These committees we have have a lot of the ordinances we're getting ready to vote on.

Catanese - Based on the primary results, are you worried about your re-election chances?
Wright - You wouldn't believed how many phone calls, e-mails and letters we've gotten that said they would not vote for any council member because of how long it took to get the electricity. What a lot of people do not understand is City Council has absolutely zero control over the workings of City Utilities.

Catanese - Are you afraid it could hurt your chances?
Wright - There is a possibility it could. Councilman Griggs and I have both talked about that, that there's been a good possibility that might happen. If it happens, it happens. It will be a disappointment. Because I have had a lot of the staff people here at the city comment that I've been one of the best zone councilmembers they've ever had the opportunity to work with.

Catanese - Do you expect it to be close?
Wright - Oh yeah, I do. I do. That's the way democracy works. There has been lot of anger over the ice storm. Our News-Leader has published a lot of erroneous information about our family and our pets. And there has been a lot of bad press over that and my family are very discouraged, and my friends are very discouraged about the information coming out of the print media.

Catanese - Explain what they got wrong about the dog issue.
Wright - The debate has been our dogs are vicious and quite honestly, every dog that our dog has attacked has been on our property and it has been very discouraging . . . My daughter was just saying the other day, she could hear our dogs barking -- we have spent over $13,000 putting in fencing and gates to keep other people's animals out of our yard -- saw a man standing out in the street with his leash in his hand, sticks his nose through our fence. My daughter just wanted to go out and say, "Sir, are you aware you're breaking the law, you are not to be on the sidewalk with your dog off the leash." But people like controversy. That's what sells papers, that's what makes the news.

Catanese - What's the biggest difference between you and Cindy Rushefsky?
Wright - Cindy has an excellent reputation of serving on boards. I have a good reputation working one-on-one with people to get things done. Not that she doesn't have experience. It's a difference in how we do things.