Bowling Green residents gathered to hear candidates for mayor, city council, and school board speak about their ability to improve the quality of life for citizens Sunday at the United Methodist Church.
The League of Women Voters of Bowling Green, along with several other cosponsors, hosted the 2015 Candidates Forum for all contested positions in the city. These positions include mayor, city council seats for the first and second wards and Board of Education seats. Residents will also see city council-at-large, third ward and fourth ward on the ballot, but candidates for these positions were not given speaking time as they are uncontested.
Residents asked first-ward candidates about the greatest points of friction between University students and permanent residents.
Daniel Gordon, a city council member since 2012 and candidate for first ward, said, “Not every young person knows how to be a good neighbor. I’ve also seen though that some older residents aren’t really good neighbors either.”
To improve relations, Gordon believes that the city needs to offer more job and internship opportunities to students, encouraging them to become more involved in the community and stay after graduation.
Tom Rodgers, a University student and candidate for Ward One, agreed with Gordon, and argued for city and University education on how to be a good neighbor. He also encouraged student representation in the city. “Half of this city is students, and there are no students on city council. And that’s what I would like to change,” Rodgers said.
City council candidates also spoke on housing when asked what city council should focus on now. Gordon said, “We’re only as strong as our weakest link.” He went on to explain that the decreasing east side property values affect the whole community. The east side includes Ward One, where the University is located and many students live, and Ward Two, where most students not residing in Ward One live.
Rodgers explained that the city does not hold landlords accountable. He said that residents live under conditions much worse than just aesthetics of homes. He accounted rising electricity bills to landlord’s use of inefficient electricity systems.
Candidate for Ward Two and ten-year city council member, John Zanfardino went on to say the city should be more aggressive towards all noncompliant landowners. Zanfardino’s opponent, University student Lyndon Adanich, was unable to attend the forum for comments.
Although candidates for mayor spoke on the Land Use Plan at a previous forum, they also spoke on housing issues in the city. The campaign of University student Dan Phillips revolves heavily around improving the quality of housing, not just in appearance, but the deeper electrical and mechanical problems as well. “We need inspections and we need them now,” Phillips said.
Mayoral candidate Kelly Wicks, local business owner, agreed with council member Gordon that the entire community is affected. He shared that in the last several years on the east side alone, property value has dropped $54 million.
Incumbent mayoral candidate Richard Edwards wants to bring outside expertise into the city for advice on how to implement the Land Use Plan and update the Zoning Code.
Complete streets, a movement towards safer streets for pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers, has been a concern with the election as well. Rodgers said the city needs to invest in repairing the sidewalks, especially in wards one and two, before moving on to complete streets. Gordon discussed the necessity for complete streets to improve the current ineffective transportation. According to Zanfardino, the city has a good start with the complete street resolution, but it needs to move forward.
Mayoral candidates also discussed bringing more jobs to the city. Edwards discussed the already 1500 new jobs in Bowling Green since the beginning of his role as mayor. Phillips said the city needs to show new companies that it has a stock of employees ready, and Wicks said to bring the technology industry, the city needs to update websites as demonstration.
Three seats for the Bowling Green Board of Education are also up for election with four candidates: Jill Carr, Barbara Moses, Ginny Stewart and Paul Walker. These candidates discussed funding, charter schools, Common Core, and developing policy to better accommodate transgender students and educate other students to be inclusive.
