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CAPE FEAR MEMORIAL BRIDGE CLOSURE: UPDATES, RESOURCES, AND CONTEXT
WHQR News brings you up-to-date Elections 2011 converage.Mayoral candidates gathered for an election forum on October 24th at WHQR where media panelists and audience members asked the candidates questions on a variety of issues.

Wilmington City Council Race: Neil Anderson

By Michelle Bliss

http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/whqr/local-whqr-990604.mp3

Wilmington, NC – Voting turnout for municipal elections in New Hanover County is typically low, with less than 20 percent of voters casting their ballots in 2009. WHQR's Michelle Bliss reports that for voters who do make it out to the polls this year, there are nine candidates for Wilmington City Council, including Neil Anderson.

Lowering the city's high unemployment rate is on the top of Anderson's priority list. He says that Wilmington relies too heavily on tourists, second home owners, and retirees for fueling its economy, and that the city needs to diversify its industries in order to reign in younger residents.

"We're going to have to attract some employers that can attract some good, young people back here. Heck, UNCW is attracting some pretty sharp folks these days. Get them stay here. They want to stay here, they just don't have a job."

For more than 20 years, Anderson has been a self-employed, independent contractor in the home furnishings industry. He lives in Wilmington with his wife and three children.

Do you have insight or expertise on this topic? If so, we'd like to hear from you. Please email the WHQR News Team.

 

After growing up in Woodbridge, Virginia, Michelle attended Virginia Tech before moving to Wilmington to complete her Master in Fine Arts from the University of North Carolina in Wilmington. Her reporting and nonfiction writing have been featured on NPR’s All Things Considered, within the pages of Wrightsville Beach Magazine, and in literary journals like River Teeth and Ninth Letter. Before moving to Wilmington, Michelle served as the general manager for WUVT, a community radio station in Blacksburg, Virginia. She lives with her husband Scott and their pups, Katie, Cooper, and Mosey.