Rainer Meadows: In his own words

By: Staff | Opelika-Auburn News
Published: July 27, 2008

Rainer Meadows, a candidate for mayor of Opelika in the Aug. 26 municipal election, answered the following questions posed by the Opelika-Auburn News. Here are his responses:

What do you consider to be the greatest short-term challenge for the city of Opelika

As I have visited the homes of Opelika's citizens in the last month, I have consistently heard a concern about the amount of crime in Opelika. In some areas of town, many people are aware of problems and problem areas but they are afraid to tell the police because of fear of retribution.

The conventional wisdom is that most of the illegal activity is centered around illegal drugs. A recent article on WTVM reported that in 2007, Opelika police made a total of 153 drug arrests. This number does not take into account the number of property crimes that were related to drug needs.

Although the drug activity seems to be centered in a few areas, property crimes related to the problem are happening throughout our city. We must utilize the existing crime task force regularly to support our police department in their efforts to eradicate this problem.

What do you consider to be the greatest long-term challenge for the city of Opelika?

I believe the greatest long term challenge facing the City of Opelika will be our ability to attract and retain young families as a part of our community. Young families support civic groups, recreation programs, arts programs, our school system and many other endeavors which are critical to Opelika maintaining a "genuine sense of community'.

In order to accomplish this, we must understand the wants and needs of these young families. I believe the key to young families choosing Opelika is our city school system. We must continue to support our system and actively convey to these young families the advantages our system offers.

A variety of housing options, economic opportunities, outstanding recreation programs and increased after hours activities are all areas that will attract young families and are areas on which city government can have an impact. Planning for our future road system is critical to this process.