Julie Eiselt cites anti-crime efforts in bid for Charlotte City Council at-large seat
In 2007, Julie Eiselt was standing outsider her car at the Dowd YMCA parking lot one morning when a man stuck a gun in her chest and ordered her to get back in.
She called out, pretending someone was rushing to help. The gunman fled.
Within months, the mother of three had started Neighbors for a Safer Charlotte, a grassroots group that would become one of the area’s largest anti-crime organizations. It was once called “a squeaky wheel in the ear of government leaders.”
The group would fight for – and win – more public funding for the police and courts.
“I felt it was really true that one person can make a difference,” Eiselt says.
Eiselt moved to Charlotte in 1998 for a job at a bank in international finance. She has a long list of volunteer experience including mentoring and tutoring programs, Crisis Assistance Ministry and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Public School Friends.
On council, she would focus on three areas: public safety, economic development and transportation.
“I know how to bring pragmatic solutions and build coalitions,” she says. “I think I could do a pretty good job of bringing people together from different sides.”
Jim Morrill
Biography
Age: 54
Hometown: Elm Grove, Wisconsin.
Family: Husband, 3 children
Education: Bachelor’s in Spanish, 1983, Indiana University; Master’s in International Management/Finance from the American Graduate School of International Management, 1984.
Occupation: Formerly in international finance for the Bank of America.
Politics: First run for office.
Community service: Includes the board of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Foundation, Latin American Coalition; HopeSpring mentoring program for college-bound adjudicated youth; Urban Ministries- Room In The Inn program; Crisis Assistance Ministries WISH team, helping a homeless family transition to stability; Barringer Elementary ESL program (reading tutor); Tutor for Hispanic teens; Charlotte-Mecklenburg Public School Friends
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 "Julie Eiselt cites anti-crime efforts in bid for Charlotte City Council at-large seat."