Anjanee Bell

Nonpartisan

Expand paid workforce pipelines into civic, trade, and creative sectors—so residents can build lasting careers and shared ownership in Durham’s future.

Ensure Durham’s parks, trails, and green spaces are safe, clean, accessible, and fully connected—by expanding green spaces, prioritizing long-overdue investments, remediating hazards, reimagining removed or neglected amenities with the community, and designing these spaces to support learning, wellness, and care.

Advance bold tenant protections and anti-displacement measures—that shield residents from unjust eviction, sudden rent hikes, and discriminatory practices—ensuring people can stay in place with dignity, choice, and power.

Establish a permanent structure where residents, first responders, and trusted community leaders come together to define safety priorities, co-design solutions, and track visible progress—ensuring the people most impacted help shape what safety looks like in Durham.

Prioritize public land for deeply affordable and mixed-income housing—shaped by local values, not market shortcuts. Public land should serve the public good.

As mayor, Anjanée Bell will treat housing as a human right —and healing as public infrastructure. That means standing up for tenants, protecting long-time residents from being taxed out, and partnering with community-rooted developers who build with us—not over us.

Hold developers accountable to honor the land and the people—by preserving green space, repairing post-construction damage, and contributing meaningfully to shared public goods in every project: sidewalks, stormwater systems, trees, trails, and open space. Every project should reflect long-term community value—not short-term profit.

Strengthen Durham’s learning environment—by improving school zones with sidewalks, lighting, and transit access; investing in afterschool programs, neighborhood libraries, and intergenerational learning environments led by artists, elders, educators, and organizers; and designing infrastructure that treats schools as sacred civic ground—embedded in city planning, not apart from it.

Protect seniors and homeowners—new and longtime—from being taxed out of their neighborhoods—by expanding homestead protections, targeted relief tools, and age-in-place programs that honor legacy and dignity.

Partner with community-based, mission-aligned developers—those who build with people, not over them—and direct city resources toward projects that protect legacy, preserve affordability, prevent displacement, and build long-term community wealth.

Advance a citywide Opportunity & Ownership Strategy that expands access to capital, contracts, land, and leadership for historically excluded communities.

Invest in community-rooted entrepreneurship and creative infrastructure—including storefront grants, permitting reform, public art, and shared cultural space.

Work with frontline workers, schools, and neighborhoods to keep Durham clean—by improving city collection standards, holding private waste collectors accountable, addressing sanitation around encampments and construction sites, and building a shared civic ethic to leave every space better than we found it.

Advance a comprehensive public health approach to safety—investing in prevention, care, and community-led strategies that reduce harm before it begins.

Strengthen recruitment and retention strategies for law enforcement, EMS, and fire—while equipping them to serve with excellence through clear standards, meaningful training, and budgets aligned with impact.

Transform procurement and development practices—so local, small, and minority-owned businesses receive a growing share of city contracts.