{"id":13941,"date":"2026-10-06T20:39:57","date_gmt":"2026-10-06T20:39:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/preprod.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/?post_type=candidate&p=13941"},"modified":"2026-10-06T20:39:58","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T20:39:58","slug":"neal-william-harkness","status":"publish","type":"candidate","link":"https:\/\/preprod.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/candidates\/neal-william-harkness\/","title":{"rendered":"Neal William Harkness"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Previous Offices Held<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Elected to city council in 2014, re-elected in 2026, 2018, 2020, 2022, 2024, in office November 2014 to present.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Top Three Priorities<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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The highest priority in Belfast is to provide more housing for the \u201cmissing middle\u201d, families who earn above eligibility standards for subsidies, but less than the current cost of housing in town. A related priority is to expand the tax base to lower taxes on property owners. We also need more detailed long term planning for the effects of climate change, particularly in regard to the harbor.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Why are you running?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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I am running for another term to provide the next council with experience and institutional knowledge. There are a great many issues to be addressed and projects being planned that require continuity of leadership to stay on track. At the same time, I am very open to new creative solutions and initiatives.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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What is the biggest challenge facing your town\/county? The biggest opportunity?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Lowering the cost of housing is our greatest challenge. This is a national problem, but worse here than in most places. We need to look for creative solutions on a local level, and be open to new concepts. Our greatest opportunity is that we have been a city that invites innovation and fresh ideas from a very engaged community.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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If you could change one thing about how the town\/county functions, what would it be and why?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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I would like to see greater co-operation on a regional basis. There should be more interaction between the city and the county government, and with the leadership of neighboring communities. Too often, Belfast is tasked with managing problems that are actually county or region wide<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Do you support more development \u2013 i.e. more housing construction and business building in your town\/county? Why or why not?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Yes, new development is critical, in both the housing and retail areas. Belfast is underserved in shopping and dining opportunities, in part because businesses can’t find employees due to working people being unable to afford housing here. In addition, more development will expand the tax base and provide relief to property owners.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":13943,"template":"","meta":{"voter_guide_candidate_first_name":"Neal","voter_guide_candidate_middle_name":"","voter_guide_candidate_last_name":"Harkness","voter_guide_candidate_suffix":"","voter_guide_candidate_race_id":13936,"voter_guide_candidate_age":71,"voter_guide_candidate_hometown":"","voter_guide_candidate_occupation":"Retired restaurant worker","voter_guide_candidate_bio":"","voter_guide_candidate_education":"Graduated East Detroit HS (MI) Attended Eastern Michigan University","voter_guide_candidate_years_in_state":0,"voter_guide_candidate_years_in_municipality":21,"voter_guide_candidate_time_in_area":"","voter_guide_candidate_website":"","voter_guide_candidate_headshot_url":"","voter_guide_candidate_date_filed":"","voter_guide_candidate_incumbent_years":"","voter_guide_candidate_is_clean_elections":false,"footnotes":""},"vg_party":[1073],"vg_residence_municipality":[346],"class_list":["post-13941","candidate","type-candidate","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","vg_party-democratic","vg_residence_municipality-belfast"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/preprod.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates\/13941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/preprod.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/preprod.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/candidate"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/preprod.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/candidates\/13941\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/preprod.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/preprod.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"vg_party","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/preprod.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vg_party?post=13941"},{"taxonomy":"vg_residence_municipality","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/preprod.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vg_residence_municipality?post=13941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}