Hey there Bloggees! Did you attend yesterday's old-fashioned neighborhood debate instead of being outdoors? I wonder how many of you "Anonymouses" were in the crowd. I sat next to a Sheila Simon's campaign worker Bill Rose, whom I know from business dealings. He didn't know I wrote this blog. I didn't know he worked for Sheila Simon -- who, by the way, was the first person to shake my hand. It's hard to say who 'won' the debate. As a teacher, I'd give them both "A's" but I'd like to hear what the rest of the 70-100 people in attendance think. One clear winner was City Clerk Janet Vaught, whom both candidates praised for her efficiency in getting information to the public. (And I can add my praise to theirs. The Carbondale City Clerk has always provided me with needed information quickly and helpfully.)
The debate was organized by The Arbor District, with D. Gorton (editor of the newsletter) and Sandy Litecky running the show. They deserve high marks for allowing so many questions and interaction between the candidates. Will the Arbor District be making an endorsement?
So who do you all think came off more Mayory, Bloggee? Did either candidate impress you one way or the other?
To me, Sheila won hands down -- or rather hand outstretched -- since she asked me what was "new and exciting." Yet Cole scored many points in the debate -- including the fact that he's working at the job full-time, and Sheila wants to do it part-time, and hire someone else to do the salesman job that Brad is already doing very well.
How about you, Bloggees? Would any of you like to a "Cole - Our Mayor" sign or "Simon Mayor" sign for your yard after seeing the debate?
4 comments:
Cole came out on top. Clearly in command of his facts and priorities. I may not put his sign in my yard, but I will vote for him.
What's the picture she's holding up?
What's the picture she's holding up?
Those are pictures of run down properties. She was making a point about the lack of code enforcement in town and asking why those houses have not been improved to meet code or demolished.
On this score, Cole pulled a "Bill Clinton." Sheila proposes a single new code inspector to be paid for by a $5 code inspection fee on property owners. At the last debate Cole opposed fees for code inspection, and at the debate yesterday he came out with a plan to hire 6 additional inspectors and charging $25 for the first inspection and $75 for the follow-up inspection if violations are found.
Pandering at its finest. Cole's had four years to do something about the sorry state of code enforcement in this town and he's done nothing.
He proposed a moratorium on multi unit apartment complexes and had the audacity to argue that no new apartment complexes had been built in Carbondale in the last three years, despite the presence of TWO new complexes on Grand across from Lewis School, both of which have gone up in the last year.
To think that he is serious about code violations and enforcement at this point is laughable. Why would he bite the hand that has fed him all this time? His base of support comes from the huge landlords in town. He's not going to do anything to anger those folks. If nothing else, he'll need their votes when he runs for state office in the not very distant future.
Even if Cole wins the Mayoral race, his long term interests aren't with Carbondale. Why people expect that he'll do what's best for this city in the long term puzzles me.
Cole did not say that there weren't any new housing developments yesterday. If he did, I didn't hear him say that, and obviously he knows it isn't true. And no one called him on it. I don't think anyone else heard that either.
It sounds like is this Anonymous Simonite is mad that Cole has proposed a better plan than his candidate?
Now what is the real reason why these properties are in such a poor state? Her campaign manager (retired City Planner Tom Redmond) who was paid $70,000 a year to supervise the code department for over a decade and didn't do anything (apparently).
Can you appreciate the irony? I wonder why Mr. Redmond was so quick to order the Bank of Carbondale to "repair or demolish" the old Stage Company, and yet those old houses were neglected for so long. Just wondering.
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