WILMINGTON — A longtime local official hopes to enhance Wilmington’s affordable housing and public safety initiatives by winning office as the city’s mayor in the upcoming election.
READ MORE: Departing NHC commissioner looking at other political offices, incoming leader shares her goals
Jonathan Barfield — who served as a New Hanover County commissioner for 16 years before narrowly losing office in the 2024 election — announced his plans to run for mayor of Wilmington earlier this week.
Barfield has a good relationship with incumbent Bill Saffo, who has been Wilmington’s longest-serving mayor since taking office in 2006. Port City Daily reached Saffo to ask if he was planning to run in the upcoming election but did not receive a response by press.
PCD spoke with Barfield to discuss local issues and the November election.
The candidate Q&A has been edited for length and clarity.
PCD: What is motivating you to run for mayor of Wilmington?
Jonathan Barfield (JB): I spoke at my last county commission meeting, and I shared that ‘I’m not done yet.’ There’s so much institutional knowledge in my mind from serving in public office for the last 16 years. I feel like I have a lot more to contribute to our community, and this would be a great way for me to do that.
As a commissioner, we have worked jointly with the City of Wilmington on numerous issues — from the unsheltered, to workforce development and workforce housing, to the opioid epidemic just a whole host of initiatives that we’ve worked on — to where I feel like I have a keen understanding of the needs of the City of the Wilmington.
Serving as a county commissioner for 16 years can definitely give you a comprehensive view of the entire needs of the whole county, and the City of Wilmington is the largest municipality in the county. I think it could give me unique insight into how to be an asset to citizens of the City of Wilmington.
PCD: How would your priorities or platform differ from Mayor Bill Saffo?
JB: Serving at the county level I believe gives me a different insight into some of the issues and nuances of the City of Wilmington. I would continue to focus on housing affordability and how we can invest differently in ways that are impactful to allow people that work here and the ability to live in the city is important to me. And I think there are things that can be done differently. In the county, we set aside $15 million dollars to invest in house affordability. Finding creative out-of-the-box ways to address that challenge is critical to me.
For workforce development, [I’d focus on] retaining existing businesses, finding ways to increase other businesses to our community that will pay livable wages, so that when folks are hired, they can afford to live.
For public safety [it’s] making sure that our police department and our firefighters have the tools that they need and feel supported, so they can go out and deliver an exceptional level of service to the citizens. I recognize that people need to feel valued to give value, so you have to make those right-sized investments.
PCD: What would be your strategy to increase affordable housing?
JB: My desire would be that whether you have a large apartment complex or small, that you would have an understanding of people’s ability to pay and afford where you’re located. I think each market is going to be different in terms of the economy, in terms of jobs, in terms of pay ranges.
Right now, you need to make roughly $58,000 a year to afford the average two-bedroom apartment in our community based on rent prices. And that’s unattainable for many people here. Just like we’ve seen the cost of buying homes increase, we have seen rents exponentially increasing at an unaffordable rate.
I recognize that you have large companies and investment groups that are buying apartment complexes that don’t have those ties to our community and are there to make money.
I think from a city level, we can think outside of the box: using low-income tax credits and loans, giving developers an additional incentive to [develop affordable housing], and making long-term investments.
PCD: I’ve seen two primary lines of criticism to the announcement of your candidacy. Firstly, there are members of the community who feel the development and real estate sector have excessive influence on the county and city government, and your career experience in real estate is similar to the [incumbent] mayor. The other criticism was your vote for the hospital sale from community members who feel Novant Health has a lower quality of care than the former county hospital. How would you respond to these concerns?
JB: I’m a realtor, not a developer. I sell very little new housing. Most of what I sell are resales to individuals. The only home I own is the home that I live in.
When it comes to selling the hospital, I still stand on my decision. We’re talking post Covid. Covid-19 had an effect on every industry, but especially healthcare across the country, and to a large extent, is still having an effect. The vote that I made in many ways was inconsequential. First, I say that because there were already three votes to sell the hospital. Had I voted yes or no, it still would’ve been sold. I was a strong no the majority of the time, but the more I heard and the more the conversation went on, my no went to a yes.
But then you look at the benefits of the sale in terms of the investments that the $1.3 billion is making in our community. That will be there in perpetuity. I think long term, it’s going to be a greater benefit for residents here, having a host of initiatives from housing affordability to health care. The [New Hanover County Endowment] is a direct result of the sale of the hospital. We’re seeing those benefits in large, measurable ways.
PCD: Physician Jon Martell has requested local government leaders approve a resolution to request Novant commit to an improvement schedule to achieve commitments to high care standards included as part of the hospital sale agreement. What is your view of the proposed resolution?
JB: I would say I would support those standards. In the last [few] months I have talked with both the hospital leadership locally and the leadership in Charlotte and Winston-Salem about their need to improve patient outcomes and quality. I shared my expectations with them and hope things will improve.
PCD: What is your view of race as a factor in local politics and would helping disadvantaged and minority communities be a major part of your platform?
As an elected official your job is to represent all of your constituents and be a voice for everyone. Whether they live in the North Side or Landfall, I think being immersed in the issues of the community is what makes you an effective leader.
I think racism exists everywhere, not just in America, but in the world. And I think we’ve all experienced something somewhere.
For me, having been elected and serving six years of the board commissioners, to me its testament that in many ways, mindsets have definitely changed here for the better.
PCD: What is your view on local environmental preservation initiatives?
JB: Last year we were encouraging our county staff to look into finding ways of using federal grants for conservation. You can’t just go in and take peoples’ land to conserve it, but if you have the resources you can go in and buy it. When the Board of Commissioners purchased Airlie Gardens the cost of that land was $10 million. Can you imagine Airlie Gardens being a development and not being used the way it is now? It’s a tremendous asset to our community and it was the right decision to make.
I’m an outdoor person. I go to Long Leaf Park every day and walk. I live close to Halliburton Park and walk there. So for me, to have spaces like that in our community is definitely important. I’m definitely supportive of finding ways to conserve as much as we can.
Tips or comments? Email journalist Peter Castagno at peter@localdailymedia.com.
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