Claire Fallon pushes for public safety in bid for Charlotte City Council at-large seat
Long past an age when most people slow down, Claire Fallon is going strong.
At 79, she’s in her second term on Charlotte’s city council. She chairs the community safety committee and was an early champion of Kerr Putney, who was appointed chief of police.
She’s even helped shape state legislation, offering suggestions on a Senate bill to regulate Uber drivers. A native New Yorker, she’s developed a reputation as one of the council’s most outspoken members.
“I ask the questions nobody else wants to ask,” Fallon says.
After moving to Charlotte in 2001, Fallon jumped into community service. She founded the NorthEast Coalition, a neighborhood group, and served on the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Planning Commission.
She said she’s running to finish the business she started. As chair of the Community Safety committee, she’d like to see a fire department ladder company in north Charlotte, new police stations in the north and south and up to 80 new officers on the street.
She’d also like to clean house among leaders in the fire department. “I’d like to see morale come back to that department,” she says.
Says Fallon: “I don’t need the money, I don’t need the status and I don’t have an agenda other than to do what is right with Charlotte.”
Jim Morrill
Biography
Age: 79
Hometown: Spring Valley, N.Y.
Family: Widowed; three children, four grandchildren.
Education: Graduated from New York School of Interior Design; attended New York University and Queens College (N.Y).
Occupation: Former interior designer; former chairwoman of a New York Montessori school
Politics: At-large City Council, 2011-present.
Meet the candidates in Charlotte’s at-large City Council primary
Read profiles of other Democrats vying to be the party’s three Charlotte City Council at-large nominees in Charlotte’s Sept. 15 primary. There is no Republican primary, with candidates Pablo Carvajal, John K. Powell Jr. and David Michael Rice appearing on the Nov. 3 ballot.
▪ Laurence Bibbs cites ‘fresh perspective’
▪ Darrell Bonapart advocates for east, west sides
▪ Bruce Clark to focus on economic mobility
▪ Julie Eiselt cites anti-crime efforts
▪ Claire Fallon pushes for public safety
▪ Sean Gautam cites civic experience
▪ Shawn Greeson focuses on environment, poverty
▪ Mo Idlibby cites legal experience
▪ Vi Lyles cites experience with city, council
▪ Billy Maddalon said LGBT vote spurred him to run
▪ James 'Smuggie' Mitchell to focus on sustainable neighborhoods
This story was originally published August 22, 2015 at 2:00 PM with the headline "Claire Fallon pushes for public safety in bid for Charlotte City Council at-large seat."