Spartanburg City Council '09: District 4 Candidate Thomas Belenchia

“Belenchia Means Business.” That’s the slogan for small business attorney Thomas Belenchia’s Spartanburg City Council District 4 campaign. Blenchia, 57, was born in Shelby Mississippi, and has been a resident of Spartanburg since 1985. He is a former farmer and former Marine who graduated from USC Upstate in 1989 and Emory Law School in 1992.

Mr. Belenchia is running against Cate Brandt Ryba who currently works in media and communication for the Mary Black Foundation and is the former Economic Development Coordinator for the City of Spartanburg. The election is Tuesday, November 3rd.

This past Friday, I got the chance to sit down with Mr. Belenchia to get his thoughts on the issues facing Spartanburg, and how he would tackle those issues if elected to City Council.

Why do you think that you’re the best choice for the City Council District 4 seat?

I see myself as being experienced, disciplined, and knowledgeable in different areas. I’ve been in the United States Marine Corp during war time. I learned a lot of things being in the Marine Corp. I learned discipline, which is very important, and teamwork. Discipline I think is very important, because right now we are in some very tough times financially and socially, and I think that we have to be frugal with our spending and our taxes.

Experience: Just [in terms of] city experience I’ve been on the HARB [Historical Architectural Review Board]. I served two full terms, served as chairperson for one term, and am now in my third term. I enjoy trying to help people along those lines.

Plus, I own my own small business, and I have in the past [because] I farmed prior to this, and I work with small businesses owners on a daily basis, that’s what my law practice is. I understand the financial difficulties of business in today’s economy.

Would you Support the creation of city-supported small business incubators to assist entrepreneurs create and operate successful small business models in Spartanburg?

One of the pillars of my platform [is] making the city more small business friendly. We need to expand our tax base through working with small business owners. So that we can help take some of the pressure off the residential tax properties. The only way we can do that is to expand the business base. Incubator centers would be very important.

Whether the city is the best vehicle to support the incubator centers, I don’t know that answer. I do believe that incubator centers should be privately capitalized centers. I don’t think that we should be putting taxpayers’ money to support incubator centers. I think that if there’s a demand for it, the free-market will fill that demand.

There is reason to believe that Spartanburg is entering a period of growth, both in terms of population and local economics. What actions can City Council take to ensure that such growth is sustainable instead of a short-lived boom?

There are positive signs. We’ve got the Chapman Center. We’ve got the George Dean Johnson Business School. We’ve got Spartanburg Community College coming into the city. All of those are pro-growth moves. They all fit into the potential for new businesses coming to Spartanburg if we can get them connected in so they feel like Spartanburg is the place to start their new businesses.

I think that’s one of the things we can do to make sure that Spartanburg’s growth continues is by connecting those entrepreneurs who are going to be graduating from these colleges to start their businesses here.

The other thing I think we can do is we’ve got to maximize all of our effort, and make sure we’re efficient as far as everything we’re doing in the city. We’ve got to be good stewards of the tax income. I’m not an advocate of increasing taxes. I believe we have to find ways that we can decrease the tax load on our taxpayers, and I believe then if we have a pro-business city, that new businesses will sprout here. Then we’ll continue to grow.

How do you think City Council can best address Spartanburg’s high unemployment rate, and what specific ideas will you present to do so?

I only see the city being able to address it in a couple of ways. Something that I think the city can help facilitate, that shouldn’t take additional funds, is connectivity between the six colleges. I think it would be advantageous to the city if the colleges were connected physically to each other. That’s a thing I see where the city can help in some ways without additional funds.

The other thing is making sure the college students feel connected to the city. Right now I talk to college students and they tell me—the majority of them—that they go to Greenville. We, as a city, have to see if we can get the college students that are here more connected to Spartanburg, and want to be part of the community. Get them involved in the decisions that are going on.

If we have a business-friendly city all the way through the system, then this would be the place they would start their small-businesses. Small businesses start and they employ people and that will help bring down the unemployment rate.

What steps, in our opinion, need to be taken to help bring more of Spartanburg’s large college population into downtown?

I’m 57, so my years dealing with college students have been with our children, and they’ve all finished college. It’s been about 10 years since we’ve had college-aged children. I think with Spartanburg Community College having a campus downtown that’ll bring new students downtown. I think they estimate 800 students for the George Dean Johnson business school.

Automatically, with those two bringing students into the city, you’re going to have more people there. Will that lead to students living downtown? Will they eat lunch there? Will they stay there in the evenings? I don’t know that answer. I think the initiative for how to attract college students into downtown has to come more from the college students’ input into what they want Spartanburg to deliver to them, [not] from the top down. I don’t think that I can accurately dictate what would bring more college students to downtown Spartanburg.

Do you support a policy of sustained annexation by the city of Spartanburg? Would you support a more or less aggressive annexation policy?

Annexation is an interesting subject in South Carolina. [There's] a restrictive policy associated with South Carolina’s annexation laws. Saying that, as I see it, there are benefits to individuals, whether they’re families or subdivisions in the county, to come into the city. However, I haven’t seen the detailed list on the benefits that the city offers the county residents.

I’ve spoken to people outside of the city, and those are the people who come to me and say “they want to annex me.” They’re having difficulty understanding the benefits they get from the city

There are benefits they get from the city. They get protections, and a matter of fact I’ve spoken to a few families outside of the city that would welcome annexation into the city. They tell me, weekends sometimes their neighbors burn trash. That doesn’t sit well; they don’t like the smoke coming into the house, and that’s one of the things the city can help them with by coming into the city. That’s a benefit.

If you’re in any type of business, and you’re talking to your clients, your customers, and you’re telling them your benefits. You’re saying “here are the benefits that I can offer you.”

The city offers benefits. My understanding is that city [police] response time is very good. So we’ve got good public service as far as city responses. Fire protection is good. Regulations and ordinances are in place in the city. I think that most people can understand that that’s good, so that you have protection against neighbors burning trash on the weekends and that type of thing.

As far as annexation, it’s a tough sell in South Carlina, and I think it’s something that the city’s going to have to be vigilant with.

Do you believe that the city is doing enough to provide affordable housing options for poor residents? What initiative would you propose or support on council to address this?

We need housing for everyone. Anyone who wants housing should be able to afford that housing. How is that done, and how is that accomplished is always the rub. I don’t think that anytime, as far as our society as a whole, if we have people who are working [and] if they need assistance, [then] they should get that assistance for affordable housing.

I think during these times with the financial circumstance of our country that there’s no secret that the state budget is in trouble, and they’re slicing the budget annually, and there’s less money available. The city is going to have to work inside its budget. I think that we, as being good stewards of the budget for taxes and spending, have to be sure that we’re looking at the city budget and making sure that we know what services are essential to the city.

Those essential services need to be funded adequately. We need to look and if there’s some nonessential services that the city provides that the taxpayers [think] are not essential, then I do think those nonessential areas need to be decreased. Whether affordable housing is an essential service or not is a discussion for the constituents to have and then pass that on to council.

Do you believe that the city does enough to fund the arts? Would you increase funding, decrease funding, or leave funding at roughly the same level?

One of the things I believe is that the city has to continue being a partner with the arts community and to continue funding it. What I try to do when categorizing funding is to ask “is this one of the revenue producing areas of our funding?” For every dollar we put into arts funding are we as the city getting back $.50? Are we getting back $.75? Are we getting back a dollar? Are we getting back two dollars?

For me to discuss funding levels, I would like to see a report, and maybe the arts community has this report, saying that for every dollar we spent we are getting back two dollars. If that were the case, I’d be in favor of putting in an extra dollar in order to get two. It just makes business sense.

Considering that the city of Spartanburg is a majority African American city, do you believe that the city should do more to support and increase the number of minority-owned businesses in the city?

I just want to say that African Americans are very entrepreneurial. For example, down on Union Street there’s a new jazz club called Celebrities. I went a couple of weeks ago to their grand opening. It’s a wonderful atmosphere and great place to eat. If you like jazz it’s a wonderful place.

To me that’s an example of the free-enterprise system at its best. Now we have to be sure we’re not interfering with them. We have to be sure we’re assisting them. We have to be sure, as far as the city, we’re doing everything we can to assist them to be successful. I don’t think the city can start businesses.

And the city is not going to be the right person to decide what businesses should be where and who should be the owners of them.

So basically nothing specifically for African American businesses, but support for businesses as a whole?

As a whole. Yes.

Considering that Spartanburg has a high HIV/AIDS infection rate, particularly in poor and minority communities, what specific steps do you believe that city government can take to help stop the spread of this disease?

HIV is a complex issue. If it wasn’t a complex issue it I think it would’ve been solved by now. There have been great strides in medication and treatment, and I think most of us, if not all of us, are happy that we’ve had these advances.

I think the only way you’re going to stop the expansion of it is through education. With that education comes awareness, and then hopefully you decrease the need for care.

What are your thoughts on last June’s LGBT Pride march? Do you support or oppose such events in the City of Spartanburg? If asked, would you speak at a future Upstate Pride event?

On the speaking side of it, as an official position that would be interesting to consider that. I would say that if I did give a speech, I’m not sure what that speech would be. I would have to consider it at that time to make a decision.

Number one, if there were no preconditions to whatever I could speak about, then I would be more likely to speak. If somebody’s going to put preconditions on what I could say, then I can say that no I wouldn’t speak at any event.

I am not opposed to free speech for anyone. If any group, whether I agree with them or disagree with them is irrelevant, whatever those groups may be.

If they go through the process, get a permit, a legal demonstration, I’m in favor of it, and I think they have a right to do it.

But what are your thoughts, specifically, on this [Pride] march last June?

The only information I have on the march is what I read in the paper. I have no firsthand information. The only thing I can comment on is what I read in the paper. Maybe I should have been there. I didn’t really get to, firsthand, get a flavor for it.

Would you support moving municipal elections to regular election years to take advantage of greater voter turnout? Do you think moving the elections would encourage move people to participate in city government?

I will say this. Number one, if it doesn’t increase the costs, if it would decrease the costs then I’m definitely in favor of it. From the outside looking in, I would think it would decrease the cost.

I think the off-year elections show, from the number of voters that participate, it is a lower number. I am generally in favor of more people participating in the election process.

Do you believe nonpartisan municipal elections help or hurt the local political debate?

I think it helps. I think that all people have something to contribute to the process. I think that both sides have viable concerns. I think that both sides have viable opinions. I think that dialog is critical. I think that discussion is important. I do not believe that if a person doesn’t agree with me, that I should take it personally, and that I should think they’re wrong.

I like nonpartisan [municipal elections], I like the fact that you can represent everybody and that you don’t have to try to categorize everybody.

[Editor's note: I asked Mr. Belenchia for his thoughts on implementing the Spartanburg Downtown Master Plan. He said he hadn't had time to look it over and I agreed to e-mail him for an answer. As of this writing, I haven't received an answer to the question from Mr. Belenchia. If and when I do, I will post the question and Mr. Belenchia's answer.  Edit: Mr. Belenchia e-mailed his answer on this question writing, "I support the adoption of the Downtown Master Plan."

I also asked Mr. Belenchia about his campaign's relationship with former Spartanburg GOP Chairman Rick Beltram. Mr. Belenchia denied that his campaign has any official relationship with Mr. Beltram. Recent statements from Mr. Beltram though, seem to imply otherwise. I e-mailed Mr. Belenchia to ask for clarification, and as of this writing, I haven't received a response clarifying Mr. Beltram's involvment. If and when I do, I will post Mr. Belenchia's response.]