CANDIDATE PROFILE: Briggs says focus needs to be on youth to build a better city

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Hollis Briggs Jr. is running for Wilmington City Council. He said he is campaigning for the city’s youth.

“Something is going off the track with the kids,” Briggs said. “I think it even goes back five or six years of really not paying attention to them, and now they are starting to get older and they’re just doing things that are not favorable to the community.”

That’s why if elected, Briggs said he wants to focus on recreation centers like the Martin Luther King Jr. Center.

“This is part of the bottom neighborhood,” Briggs said. “I grew up here. I played here.”

He said the director, William E. Murphy, is who pushed him to become the man he is today.

“It was like no non-sense, but he loved all the children and he directed us,” Briggs said.

That’s why he wants to push for more funding.

“So we can keep the recreation centers open longer, so kids will have more activities,” Briggs said.

In addition to more activities, Briggs also wants better lighting at the centers.

“Recreation centers where we leave our children should not be dark,” Briggs said.

Briggs said he also wants to continue working with the mayor on transportation projects and the homelessness problem.

“I think it is going to sneak up on us in a little bit if we turn our backs and act like it’s not there,” Briggs said.

He thinks the council is doing a lot of things right, but he hopes he can bring Wilmington the extra push that he said it needs.

“I’ve been working hard for the citizens of Wilmington for a long time, and I think city council is just the next step,” Briggs said.

Early voting begins on October 22. Election Day is November 3.

Click here to learn more about candidates running in Brunswick, New Hanover and Pender counties.