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A couple of recent filings for the Greensboro City Council election this fall:

District 1: Reginald Woodard, manager of the Woodard Funeral Home, filed to run against first-term incumbent Dianne Bellamy Small. You can read more about him on the funeral home's website (An aside: Funeral homes have websites now? I think I've seen everything.), but Woodard told me he filed to run so District 1 could have a representative more in touch with the community. According to his voter registration, he's 40 years old and a registered Democrat.

Woodard said he grew up and has spent most of his life in Greensboro. But he mentioned that his home on Wilpar Drive was recently annexed into the city, something that drew him into city politics.

Prediction: Given that Woodard is a mortician, at some point in this election, Councilman Don Vaughan will refer to the District 1 race as a "dead issue."

Note: He is a different Woodard than Bellamy-Small faced in the primary in 2003. That was Greg Woodard.

District 5: Todd Schmidt, a 28-year-old Democrat, filed to run against longtime District 5 rep Sandy Carmany. I haven't had a chance to talk with Schmidt at length, so I can't tell you much more about him. He lives at 1607 Morton Street.

At-large: Current District 4 rep Florence Gatten filed for the at-large race, as promised. Gatten issued a press release (you can read it here) detailing why she chose to make the switch.

Here's an excerpt:

When asked about this decision to leave the relative safety of a district seat, Gatten laughed and remarked "change was good for Greensboro; in the past many people have stayed too long in office and kept other citizens from having the opportunity to serve."

A note about "relative safety." Gatten won re-election in 2003 by eight votes over challenger Bob Skenes, one of the closest elections in council history.