After City Councilman Wayne Maiorano dropped his not-running-for-reelection bombshell Wednesday afternoon, Council watchers and Raleigh nerds were all aflutter with speculation.
Who will run in District A?
This guy? Maybe not.
He’s not saying yet. But,
this guy—JB Buxton—told N&O city reporter Andy Specht yesterday that he’s planning on running…
In a former life, Buxton served as Democratic Gov. Mike Easley’s top education aide, and as Deputy State Superintendent of the North Carolina school system. Buxton is a nationally known education consultant and currently chairs the new PAVE Southeast Raleigh charter school, which serves kids who live in the poorest part of Raleigh. He’ll be a formidable candidate if anyone decides to run against him.
And then there’s Bonner Gaylord’s District, District E.
Gaylord already has competition in newcomer DeAntony Collins, who manages an early education center.
And now a third contender, Edie Jeffreys, is in the running in District E as well.
Jeffreys, a neighborhood activist from Roanoke Park has been upset about teardowns in her Five Points neighborhood since 2007. She’s a leader of SCALE—short for “streets that connect people under a canopy of trees with architecture of different types and land preserved for a neighborhood everyone can enjoy—” which consists of activists from the Fallon Park, Anderson Heights and Bloomsbury neighborhoods as well. The group advocates for input on new construction and against tearing down old houses.
One thing has become clear: with the UDO rezoning debacle last week, no Council seat is safe these days.
