League of Women Voters Forum
Last Wednesday night the League of Women Voters, in connection with Chomp the Vote, hosted a forum for the candidates for the Gainesville City Commission at Emerson Alumni Hall. I counted 200 seats before more than a handful of guests arrived, and by the time the program was underway, very few seats were empty.
The League of Women Voters has informed me in the past that they do not allow recording of the event because they have that covered, and they have a proprietary interest. But they do let me record it as a form of note-taking, so long as it doesn’t end up here. They also told people not to take pictures during the forum, which I saw flagrantly violated by others with camcorders. This is a difficult rule to enforce nowadays.
During the first debate between Robert Agrusa and Thomas Hawkins, Jr., a Santa Fe student leaned over to me and said, “They look so young.” I told him that I believed they were both in their 20s, and that such young candidates usually go down in flames, but that this time, obviously, one of them was going to win.
At Large Race
The first question was about the possible $3.1 million revenue shortfall if Amendment 1 passes. Specifically, it was about what would be cut. Hawkins mentioned the possibility of recapturing these taxpayer savings with a higher millage rate. He was reticent about cutting anything, only citing examples like the ice skating and holiday decorations that went under the knife recently. e said he would take a strong stand to defend youth recreation programs, and that savings would be sought carefully through “greater efficiencies”. Agrusa found at least one substantial cut to put his name on: the city owned Ironwood Golf Course. He said the course cost the city $1 million per year, and that it should be sold.
The next question was about balancing infill development with the need for green space in the city. Agrusa says to send that development East. He cited the Hatchet Creek development, which had been postponed by new demands by the city in October of last year, as a good example. He also said that we need to spread development around and stop allowing it to spread west. Hawkins stuck to dealing with development within the city, suggesting that we are able to make our city denser and more urban and that we can encourage more “multi-modal transportation”, another way of saying we need more biking, busing, and walking.
The third question was about what to do about University Corners, the infill development that flopped. Hawkins suggested that the Community Redevelopment Agency might make a bigger financial commitment, or that perhaps UF could buy the lot and build an educational building on it. Agrusa was dead set against using public dollars to buy out a developer. But he was not against giving more unidentified incentives to a new buyer.
The next question was about the proposed GRU biomass plant. Agrusa says he is glad the city struck down the coal plant. He is all for biomass: burning waste wood for fueling a power plant. But he says that the experts say that by 2012 we will not be able to make enough electricity at home, so we need to look for places to buy it in the future. He also wants to help homeowners retrofit their homes with solar panels. Hawkins was largely in agreement, although he brought up the looming possibility that a lack of available waste wood in the future might make it necessary to burn municipal waste, with all the possible release of the attendant toxins. He thought that nothing should be off the table, except coal. He could even go along with partnering in a nuclear plant.
Two questions were chosen from the audience. The first was about dealing with underage drinking, and how such a youthful commissioner would approach it. Hawkins wanted to tinker with bar closing times to modify behavior and educate young drinkers. Agrusa suggested we were not doing enough to help drunks get home safely. He also thought UF could help with tougher sanctions on students for DUI.
The second citizen question was about homelessness and how they would approach that. Agrusa wanted to prevent homelessness by teaching kids trades before they became homeless. He also wanted to better support NGOs like Vetspace and St. Francis House. Hawkins said that homelessness was an affordable housing issue, and that it was imperative that the city government help people to stay in their homes when they were in financial trouble.
District 2 Race
The first question was about what social services the city should provide. Bonnie Mott was first and said the city should provide “a plethora” of services, including a safety net to keep people from becoming homeless, medical care, and parks and recreation. Lauren Poe countered that social services are within the county government’s realm, but that rental assistance was still needed to curb homelessness, and that parks and recreation were also important. Bryan Harman stuck with police and fire protection as services that are for everybody.
The next question was about energy conservation and whether it works and if GRU is working hard enough on it. Lauren Poe said he is all for conservation, but thinks that GRU is way behind on getting people on board. He also said that conservation technologies that are developed here could be an economic windfall for us here as we export it. Bryan Harman Thought GRU had programs in place, like their energy audits, but that people were not utilizing them enough. Bonnie Mott said that conservation can work, just as it has in California, and that GRU is “working on it”.
The next question dealt with whether or not the city should give tax incentives to local developers. Bryan Harman began with stipulating that such incentives should only be given to support the development of affordable housing. He further stated that such incentives should also go to businesses with a good track record of treating their employees fairly, giving opportunity for upward mobility, and with a good environmental record. Bonnie Mott said that she preferred to give incentives to builders who were not making a profit. Lauren Poe explained the incentives he favored as rebates for what builders spent on building infrastructure (roads, etc.) that the city would have to build anyway. He said that these incentives can be given to influence where development goes so that it is compatible with our quality of life.
Next, the candidates were asked if they supported the idea of Instant Runoff Voting, in which the voters rank the candidates in order of preference, and that the winner is chosen in a single election depending on the total number of points that they get. Every candidate in District 2 was in favor of this idea.
The moderator next asked if development should have to have available water under it. (I am not sure if this is an issue within the city limits where people have city water, or if the question presumes that people have to have well water available.) Lauren Poe and Bryan Harman were both in favor of this, but Bonnie Mott never really got to an answer. Instead, she arrived at the idea that we may need permanent water restriction as a means of conservation.
The question of what to cut in case of tax revenue shortfalls came to this race, also. Bryan Harman said that it was finally time to combine emergency services, in spite of resistance from the senior management. He also thinks the city spends way too much on consultants. Bonnie Mott does not want to cut anything, only acquiescing to combining some city and county services, or “getting them on the same page”. Lauren Poe also thought money could be recovered through combining emergency services and planning.
One question was taken from the audience, and it was from a landlord who said that taxes and insurance have gone up, but that rents have hardly moved. What can be done to ease the suffering of the landlords? Bryan Harman said that some sort of assistance should be given to landlords of affordable housing only. Bonnie Mott told them they took the risk of investing in rental property, and now they will have to do the best that they can. Lauren Poe likewise tried to explain that there was an oversupply of apartments, and that this was simple supply and demand. His only words of comfort were a reminder that if their rents have not gone up, at least their property values have.
District 3 Race
Unfortunately, I don’t have all of the notes because I thought I had my recorder on when I didn’t. At best I can give you my recollection of the issues. What was most noteworthy was the lack of animosity between Jack Donovan and Armando Grundy. They were decidedly more cordial than the previous meeting I had seen, other than one cheap shot by Grundy at the very end when he loudly declared that “We cannot afford Jack Donovan!”
What I recall as enlightening was that neither Donovan nor Grundy were enamored with the idea of combining emergency services. They seemed to think it was a panacea that wouldn’t really change anything in a meaningful way.
Neglected in previous dispatches were any references to the third candidate in this race, Chris Salazar, largely because he has not shown up, and he is a late entry. He is a student and he wants to help more students get involved in their local government and wants to get solar panels for all the city’s buildings to lead the way in energy independence and conservation.
