My Opinion: Watch A Candidate Forum

The first of the televised Mayor and Council forums was held last Thursday evening, October 8, 2009, by the West End Citizen’s Association. If you missed it, you should take the time to watch it on demand from Rockville Channel 11, or if you have cable check the schedule for air times.

Although responses were brief, the forum provided a good introduction to the candidates. You could get a feel for their personalities and priorities. The questions indicated which topics are of interest to voters in the West End, which is my neighborhood. Since this was the first formal candidate forum, I was keen to find out what would be considered important in the election.

In the opening 40 minutes between the mayoral candidates, Susan R. Hoffmann and Phyllis Marcuccio answered questions concerning the success of the Town Center businesses, the budget for Fiscal Year 2010, funding for the arts, the lack of protection for Chestnut Lodge, the parking fees for Town Center, the plans for the Victory Housing and Beall’s Grant II affordable housing developments, the increasing failures at busy intersections, the hometowns of campaign contributors, and the deficit from the Redgate golf course.

The city council forum allowed each candidate John Britton, Carl Henn, Trapper Martin, Tom Moore, Mark Pierzchala, Bridget Newton, Virginia Onley, Waleed Ovaseand, and Max van Balgooy to briefly introduce themselves and say a couple of summary sentences. Councilmember Piotr Gajewski had a prior longstanding work commitment and did not attend. The candidates were asked to speak about the changes occurring over time in Town Center, the massing of affordable housing and zoning regulations, the salary increases in the FY 2010 budget, the best way to solve the parking issues for Town Center, and the preservation of green space as it pertains to the Victory Court location.

Obviously, this is only a summary of topics and you should watch the forum. I found myself curious about what exactly the candidates meant in their brief responses. Some issues needed a longer dialogue. There seemed to be a definite disagreement on whether the budget was actually balanced. Candidates had differing views on development. Some offered concrete suggestions about the Town Center parking issue and possible new programs.

Lately when I try to talk about the election to people who are not involved with city issues, their eyes glaze over. This is true! I hope many more people become interested before the election. If you have cable, listen to the forum while you do something else around the house. Run it on demand from your computer or laptop while you straighten up, clean, or cook. The City is spending your money! Make sure you know what’s going on and whether your elected officials are voting the way you would. I can’t emphasize enough that there are definite differences between the candidates and the direction they will take our City.

Rockville Central will be having our own candidate forum on Saturday, October 24 at 9:30 a.m. in the Thomas Farm Community Center. I strongly encourage everyone to attend. On the 23rd, you’ll only have 11 days until the election on November 3, 2009, when we all need to vote.

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