photo by: Eric Ayres

Carl Carpenter is one of six candidates running to be Wheeling’s next mayor, casting himself as the “clear alternative” to the rest of the pack.

WHEELING — He is the candidate that is “unknown, unconnected and unfunded,” and in a six-way race for the seat as Wheeling’s next mayor, Carl Carpenter may have merged into an unobstructed lane all to himself.

Carpenter, 68, is an Ohio Valley native. He was born in Moundsville and over the years has lived throughout the country, but he has resided in Wheeling since 1991. He has been married since setting roots in Wheeling, and he has two children and three grandchildren.

“I was fortunate, always, to be part of a large, affectionate family,” he said.

The West Virginia University grad earned his bachelor’s in mechanical engineering in 1978.

“I wasn’t happy being an engineer,” he said, noting that he only spent a couple of years in the field before switching careers. “I spent most of my life as an industrial worker, working in a factory.”

For the bulk of his time as an industrial worker, he was employed in a can factory in the Half Moon Industrial Park in Weirton. He served as president of his local union. In terms of his interests in public service, he ran for Marshall County Assessor in 1984, but did not win the seat. Otherwise, this year’s mayoral race is his first venture into the political arena.

“Over a year ago, I just said, ‘I’ve had enough.’ I was fed up,” Carpenter said. “I told myself that the next time there’s an election, I’m going to run for mayor.”

One primary factor that pushed Carpenter into the race for mayor was the ongoing Downtown Streetscape Project and how it’s been unfolding.

“This deliberate and unnecessary destruction hasn’t been going on for a day or a week or a month or a year — it’s interminable,” he said. “Even though they say that portions of it — maybe — are going to be done this summer, I don’t see how it can be worth everything that Wheeling has suffered and that I have suffered.

“When you get in the car in the morning, you don’t know if you can get to where you’re going, and then you’ll have a difficult time walking to where you’re going if you find a place to park,” he continued.

Carpenter has said a campaign motto he champions is “Make Wheeling Paved Again.”

While the North Park resident could have thrown his hat in the ring in the race for the 1st Ward council seat, he instead decided that if he’s going to try to make a difference, he might as well go big.

“There’s no elected office in Wheeling that really has a lot of authority or power, but I thought that had the most,” he said of the position as mayor. “I believe that I can bring practical, common sense to the table.”

Carpenter noted that Wheeling has changed over the years, but he indicated that many people have tried to reinvent the city in an attempt to revive its glory days instead of embracing the city for the smaller community that it is today. He said that in the mid-1950s, Wheeling’s population topped 50,000 people. In the 2020 census, they counted just over 27,000.

“I miss Wheeling, too,” he said. “I miss downtown. I miss Wheeling the way it was, but you can’t close your eyes, click your heels three times and bring it back. There are delusions that Wheeling is still a grand city. But the industrial economy is no longer here. I think that Wheeling could be a nice small town and a good place to live.”

Carpenter indicated that he did not agree with the previous council action to push a User Fee or City Service Fee on working people in the city in order to fund its public service building after a ballot issue to fund new police and fire facilities failed to reach the required 60% for approval.

New multimillion-dollar facilities today serve about half the number of residents Wheeling had when the City-County Building was constructed, yet departments somehow “outgrew” their space despite the fact that the population declined so dramatically, he noted. The sprawling new facilities will require costly maintenance and upkeep in the future — additional costs that will all fall on the taxpayers, he said.

“As a resident of Wheeling, I don’t feel that this benefits me or anyone else,” Carpenter said. “It’s like a landlord who collects your rent while your roof is leaking, then he takes your money and goes to Florida while you still have a leaking roof. I think the city of Wheeling is a bad landlord for the people who live here.”

Residents most likely won’t see campaign signs, political commercials, a website or even a social media page dedicated to his campaign. His status of being “unfunded” and “unconnected” isn’t something he expected to change between today and election day. However, Carpenter said he does plan to participate in public forums and debates coming up ahead of the May 14 election.

“There are at least two, three, four or maybe five other candidates who would be good candidates if you want to keep going the way we’re going,” he said with a grin. “But if you agree with me that enough’s enough, I think that I’m the one clear alternative.

“I’m an outsider, and I intend to stay that way. I really haven’t agreed with a few of the things that council has done lately.”

Specifically, Wheeling’s passage of its new ban of camping on public property rubbed Carpenter the wrong way, especially since there was no designated place for homeless individuals to go when it was passed by a majority vote.

“I think that homelessness is a serious, nationwide problem,” Carpenter said. “Wheeling can’t solve it, and I can’t solve it. But I think that what they did this winter was cruel and callous, and the way they treated those people was as wrong as they could have treated them. These people need to be treated with compassion and in a way that preserves their dignity and self respect. I think the city of Wheeling robbed them of that.”

He said the city’s action “shamed” and “practically criminalized” homelessness in Wheeling.

“I think that everyone who is a resident of Wheeling needs to be treated with respect by their government,” Carpenter said. “I just hope to restore practicality and common sense to city government. And I want to pave the city’s streets and roads as a high priority.”

Looking at everything from overdue infrastructure projects to the purchase of the former Ohio Valley Medical Center property and demolition of a parking garage while building a new multimillion-dollar parking garage at the same time, the city seems to be “ignoring the basics” and freely spending money to double down on poor decisions, Carpenter noted.

“You have to live within your means, and I don’t see the city doing that,” he said.