Fayetteville can be the greatest city in North Carolina

Mario Benavente has spent his two terms on the City Council working hard to help Fayetteville realize its promise as a highly-educated, hard-working city that sits on the economic crossroads of the Cape Fear River, Fort Liberty, and Interstate 95—but there’s still much more we can do. Mario is proud of the work he’s done on community safety and economic mobility, and hopes to continue this work as Mayor to make Fayetteville a place where our young people want to put down roots and start a family.

Mario is proud of the work he’s done on the City Council to create the Office of Community Safety in our city, creating an alternative response team that handles non-violent moments of crisis with compassion, freeing up resources for police to respond where they’re most helpful, and his work to push the city to study the root causes of gun violence in our city to try to cure the sources of crime rather than merely addressing their symptoms. As Mayor, Mario will continue working to find public health solutions for public safety that put Fayetteville on the long-term path to being the safest city in North Carolina and don’t just take a one-size-fits-all approach.

On the City Council, Mario is proud to have taken the lead in making public transit a top five priority for the first time in Fayetteville’s history. By providing a viable opportunity to make Fayetteville car-optional, we can expand access to opportunities for those who either cannot afford a private vehicle, who may have physical disabilities that prevent them from driving, or who simply desire a car-optional lifestyle. Additionally, prioritizing transit helps reduce the number of drivers on the road, easing traffic congestion for those who do prefer driving. As Mayor, Mario will continue to prioritize transportation with a goal of meeting the same level of service as world-class cities like Washington, DC.

In order to thrive for the long-term, Fayetteville must become a city where our young people want to put down roots and start a family. We can begin to help our city realize that potential via public safety and public transportation, but we cannot stop there. As Mayor, Mario will support targeted investments into youth after-school programs and childcare that help make it easier for working families to raise children in our community, will work to bring good-paying jobs into Fayetteville to ensure that job seekers are able to find work, and will highlight Fayetteville's legacy of education and achievement to begin changing our city's perception beyond its borders.