By Ray Gronberg

gronberg@heraldsun.com; 419-6648

DURHAM -- Challengers took shots at the incumbents in this year's City Council elections during a forum Tuesday at N.C. Central University, with perhaps the toughest barb coming in what may have been the quietest of the three races.

Ward 3 challenger Allan Polak used his time to say the council needs more people on it like him who have experience building a business.

Polak, an IT consultant, said Ward 3 incumbent Mike Woodard by contrast is a Duke University employee who "on an almost nightly basis at City Council meetings [faces] conflicts of interest."

"As a person who owns his own business and is self-employed, I don't have to fear reprimand from my employer for taking a stance on difficult issues," he said.

Woodard, a Duke administrator who also works in IT, shrugged off the criticism and said he's piled up a strong record of community service in and out of office. "Change is just a word until you can produce something," he added.

Polak didn't single out for criticism any recent council decision affecting Duke. But members did vote last week to approve two street right-of-way abandonments near East Campus.

Neighbors opposed the abandonments until Duke officials pledged to keep the streets open to the public 24/7. Woodard criticized the Duke administration's handling of the issue but joined five other council members in voting for the deal. The council's seventh member, Diane Catotti, recused herself because her husband oversees parking at Duke.

Tuesday's forum was among the first in what has been a relatively low-key election cycle. The candidates are also scheduled to gather next week at a forum sponsored by the Young Democrats of Durham County.

Nine of this year's 10 council candidates showed up for the N.C. Central forum, the exception being Ward 2 incumbent Howard Clement. About 30 spectators, mostly students, attended.

The Ward 1 and Ward 2 candidates focused mainly on economic-development issues, with many of the challengers contending that the city has neglected predominantly black neighborhoods while pushing investment into downtown.

Variants of that accusation came from Ward 2 challengers Sylvester Williams and Sandra Howell. Williams criticized city officials for talking about closing small community centers to save money, and Howell scored the condition of the city's roads.

"The city should look the same wherever they go," she said. "Southpoint is fine, downtown is fine, but enough is enough. What about our communities?"

Ward 2 challenger Darius Little added that the council suffers from "a corporate mentality" that members should counter by reaching "out to the whole community."

Ward 1 challenger Donald Hughes criticized council members for raising water rates, and for pushing for a half-cent local-option sales tax to raise money for transit. Ward 2 challenger Matt Drew added that the council's goal should be to take "as little as possible from" citizens in taxes and fees.

Another Ward 1 challenger, John Tarantino, said in answer to a question that officials should address security problems at the McDougald Terrace public housing complex by considering a youth curfew "until the situation [is] rectified."

Woodard and Ward 1 incumbent Cora Cole-McFadden both noted that city leaders are trying to address the problems the challengers invoked. Woodard noted that the city has greatly expanded its street-paving program, and both he and Cole-McFadden added that the under-construction Walltown Recreation Center shows it's willing to invest in low-income neighborhoods.

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An earlier version of this article misquoted Ward 2 challenger Allan Polak's characterization of his opponent, Mike Woodard. Polak characterized Woodard as a Duke University employee.