Gregory Mazza

The Gaston Business Association Questionnaire

Please provide a short introduction (50 words or less) highlighting your background and achievements.

I am a student of how things work; in business, the economy, government, and personal. My engineering background and MBA training have enabled my critical thinking. As a longtime CFO and executive, I can evaluate situations, diagnose issues, create solutions, set priorities, and implement plans. Experience matters—unlike many politicians today. Belmont deserves leaders with real-world experience, to successfully face its challenges ahead.

What inspired you to run for city/town council, and what specific qualities or experiences make you well-suited for this role?

I LOVE Belmont and want its character to be maintained as it experiences the inevitable growth. This will require fiscal and management discipline to navigate in the next several years. However, we see time and again, elected officials off on tangents to appease certain groups at the expense of ignoring the fundamental community needs – often resulting in deteriorating services, higher crime and low economic growth.

As a long-time business executive and CFO, I have the experience to manage and balance the demands of complex organizations. Every decision made can impact many other areas of an organization from people to processes to products and services.  These interactions are many times overlooked by government officials who tend to be very myopic in their approaches.

In short – my platform of Get the Basics Right can also be interpreted as “Don’t Screw it Up” (while managing growth).

What are your top priorities for your city/town (specifically pertaining to the business community), and how do you plan to address them if elected?

My platform is Get the Basics Right. This means consistently delivering all the things that people in a community expect and depend upon: Safety, Services, Thoughtful Spending, Smart Growth and Development...while preserving our small-town vibe. The complexity of any town requires diligent attention to how all the elements interact and balance with each other. Mantras such as “Real Change” calls into question what the real motivation may be.  Belmont is facing increasing pressure of more and more development. Recently two large developments, representing well over 1,000 new homes combined, are currently underway and will cause increased stress on our city services and infrastructure. In addition, more large developments are in the queue with more coming, some of which have wisely been put on hold while studies are conducted to develop optimal solutions. People I have spoken with don’t want Belmont to become Charlotte – or even a mini-Charlotte. We don’t want to be Atlanta nor Asheville.  Belmont is unique and I would like to see it stay that way – in its own way.

Please select one of the following local issues, and provide a brief description of your stance on the topic: Economic Development, Public Safety, Transportation & Infrastructure, or Education.

Frankly, the topics are closely interrelated. As mentioned above, Economic Development, whether attracting new business or adding housing, demands increased attention to Public Safety, Transportation & Infrastructure and, requires multi-faceted Education as the community evolves and grows.My stance is that all the issues must be considered together in order to avoid problems seen elsewhere if certain of those elements are neglected. This all plays into the overarching goal of maintaining Belmont’s small-town character. We cannot sacrifice that character in favor of rapid growth - or what we have will turn into an unrecognizable, generic town that one might see across the mid-west with the same boring strip mall shops and chain restaurants.