I made the trip to City Hall for the Anderson mayoral debate. I was late. I drive up to see the parking lot filled and I think my jaw dropped at the sight, I walked in and the auditorium looked packed to standing room only. I found a place to sit on the floor with the laptop. I know I missed opening statements but I think I got there just in time for the first question.
What follows is my attempt at capturing the debate. I ought to put quotation marks around debate. There was no rebuttal, no interplay between the candidates. Call the thing a candidates forum. I stole that from Tom Chaille but he is probably not going to see this and complain.
I do not claim to be anything but a mediocre typist. I did not get every word perfectly but I think I got the gist of everyone's statements.
I got to say that the crowd seemed evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans with a few supporters of Mr. Jozwiak. Tye Bibbs was not there. He had a seat and a sign.
I give Mr.Jozwiak credit for running and showing up for the forum. I ran into him at the nearest Speedway and thought he was a one note candidate. That note being illegal aliens. I got to say now that he has three notes: illegal aliens, Hamilton County, and both political parties. All are bad, by the way.
About Smith and Ockomon, let me make a disclaimer. I have known Kevin Smith since high school and I worked on his campaign in the 1999 primary. Kris Ockomon, I have known through the Anderson City Court and I have had no problems with him.I like both fellows. Some of my fellow Democrats, I do not disparage Smith. I am not happy that he switched parties but knocking him just for the sake of knocking him allows for underestimating him.
Which lead me to a mistake. I have been thinking that Ockomon was going to be lead to slaughter. He came out swinging instead. Perhaps I expected the dislike expressed by most Democrats to rub off on our candidate. We got a live one in Ockomon.
Who did best? Anyone living here who thinks about Anderson know the problems fall within certain lines and the resources are limited. That does cut down the chance for a dramatic debate. I see no major differences between Smith and Ockomon – both want to improve Anderson and work on marketing the city to get more and better jobs. The differences lie more on what they would emphasize. The details show the real differences.
Outside of illegal aliens, I did not see much that excited Mr. Jozwiak,
So much for the sober summary, here comes my notes (and some comments intermixed). I apologize for the crudeness of the following. The italicized parts are my comments.
Since I worked on this last night, the Herald Bulletin published Mayoral candidates debate issues to packed crowd in City Hall.
The first question - how to attract new jobs and keep jobs?
Jozwiak came out swinging with complaints against NAFTA and both political parties. He talked about joining/creating a regional something to attract jobs. He talked only about manufacturing.
Smith: talked about increasing foreign investment. How that has changed since he came in.
Ockomon: who is responsible to bringing jobs to Anderson. The community but also the mayor. Agrees consultant necessary if demand is there. thinks economic director can do the same job. promises to do the sales himself. talked about education and public safety both contribute to economic development. says crime is high and manpower low. Teachers work hard, wife is an educator. they need help and thinks city government can help the mentoring programs. make educational system good, improves city
2d question: what would your priorities be for infrastructure improvement
smith: thinks demonstration of infrastructure across the board. paved streets across town. went onto telling story about recruiting biz during the first year, showed off flagship. He was asked about the road to flagship. Late 2005 - early 2005 - they were able to tell companies that road would be improved. that company was Nestle. point that we had a place but water and street needed improving then he pretty much sti down
Ockomon: we need to a city ready for anything. talked about belvedere subdivision. 2007 finally getting area improved. emphasized aging water pipers. need a managed program , stay on top of areas, and ready for anything. wants us to strive of the best.
Ockomon sounding very good. Kevin no smirking.
Joziwaik - more tepid in answering. east meadowbrook needs attention. make smart decisions, live within budget. went back to jobs, emphasized about job and went to criticize gambling. if we are going to create jobs then we do not need illegal alienns doing the jobs.
Got to say that Kevin and Kris both were not phased by Joziwaik. He got some applause about the illegal aliens doing the job
Audience question: what programs will be implemented that will provide a safe, secure, and productive community for seniors in Anderson
Ockomon: senior watch, talked about programs taken away. been inundated that the triad and other programs valuable seniors forgotten weed and seed brings back crimewatch. seniors need to fell safe in their own homes.
Lot of applause - good turn out for Ockomon
J: senior link program, guess he wants to bring that back. weed and seed is good. crime - get the drugs of f the street faster. related that to elderly. says if a neighbor complains about drug dealing - nothing being done quickly. wants to put the house under surveillance, pull the car over , and then go immediately into the house.
Am I missing something about drugs and crime here? Solid but not very broad applause. I think the candidate forgets that the county prosecutor has a say in all this.
O: announces that the chief is here. Says we got crimewatch and senior watch. have had them for 4 years.' dealing with vacant housing. abandoned property 500 + abandoned houses. lowered property taxes.
S: tomorrow new buses start. new routes. have evaluated the routes. lot of applause
I start wondering why no rebuttal time. There are some comments here I think that Ockomon and Smth would like to make. Not that you can tell from their faces.
q: how would you got about promoting Anderson as a great place to work, live and have fun in.
J: Anderson is a great place. he grew up in Marion. we are closer than Marion to Indy. we have not market ed well to Indy. that our property taxes are low. advertise in Indy. need to get educated people into Anderson we are importing poor people. we are a great residential place to attend things in Indy. Stop taxing people on improving their homes. or not taxing them out of their homes.
Anderson as living place for IUPUI students? This is about the only silly thing I heard all evening.
smith: 9/2 us news & report - Anderson one of the best places to retire in Indiana. Chamber of Commerce community of the Year. Nationally - reputation as one of top 100 small cities. mentioned the river trail. (Finally, something about Anderson.)
O: boosted mhhs. Anderson is an awesome place to live. work - start by leading by example, stop the harassment and intimidation in city hall. (What is that about? I do not spend that much time in City Hall and I suspect for some others this was too much inside baseball). Have fun in Anderson - here's an example - go to the old k-mart on the southside.
All three manged to avoid answering the question that was asked I got to say Ockomon's people more fervent Smth's a more sedate.
q: what would you do specifically to improve and promote the westside?
S: a study in 60's about Raible ave as n-s corridor. got fed dollars to study again. study completed. asking for federal dollars to do the change. Southwest corner of Nichol and Raible. spoke about image problems. spoke about getting a developer for the area - still working on it. hopes it is soon.
o: he would have thought that the new call center would have gone in the into this area. instead we gave up taxpayer dollars for parking lots. our job is to sell the westside. we need to be more aggressive. the money is not free to give a way., happy we getting the jobs but thinks we could do a better job. Jackson Park - building, stage, he is embarrassed by it. we need something comparable to what is downtown. just because it is westside does not mean we can shortchange it.
J: loves the westside where he lives. there are problems. talking about a abatement problem. existing owner son westside got no abatements like Wal-mart and places on the east side. people on westside paying taxes to put themselves out of business. listed the establishments that left the westside. under the Democrats. give the people incentives to move/ live on the westside.
Say when did Ponderosa leave? I had even forgotten there was one on the westide.
Biggest challenge facing mayor of Anderson and how would you deal with it?
O: biggest challenge wining election. Think s we all need to honest with one another. whoever wins, whatever happens, we need to stop the nonsense of party line (to j - even your party) or we will not be successful, speaking of GM we need to swallow a big plate of crow. we need to put politics aside and put city fist. he wants Anderson successful. Put politics aside for Anderson
BIG applause. At this point, I was truly impressed with Ockomon. The end of the GM era officially arrived with the phrase “plate of crow.” I liked the talk of putting Anderson ahead of party. I think that will actually enhance the party.
J: Amen to that. biggest challenge is preserving quality of life. Again with the attacks on both parties. again against the illegal aliens. but did avoid a bit of racism there - English speaking, Hispanics, blacks and whites born here. hit on the police not arresting the illegals. He will deport the illegals.
S: Change the mindset in Anderson that we can't. that we can't bring new jobs, that we can't compete, that we can't look beautiful, that we can't compete globally. more success ahead. more leads for new jobs than ever. more than just in Midwest, nationally and globally getting the message that e can compete,do the job. doing more with less is tough. priorities have to change. so=poke about fiber optic, airport, rail access. Anderson attractive to the world.
Here is where I see the biggest similarity between Ockomon and Smith. Both recognize the times have changed.
What are your thoughts and concerns with the new airport?
J: new airport outrageous, talked about a friend who is a jet pilot. thought that airport was a good one. after all designed for gm executives. blaming Hamilton county for new airport. thinks that the airport is going to be something important to the city. Hamilton County making this decision without Madison County input?
S: facts - we got a good airport but why do we as a community scared of discussing options? government is policy. says it will 10 years down the road. why should not look at it?
O: learn a lesson Hamilton Co: value of real estate in residential real estate. do not vie away land. got a great airport, poorly staffed. says airport locked on the weekend take a look at the options to improve the airport. why turn back on a guy who will bring in high paying jobs. challenged Smith on doing this.
BIG APPLAUSE. Glad to see the airport getting recognized as a vital part of our economic development. Here, I think Ockomon showed his mettle.
FINAL QUESTION in what ways should the city be working with non-profits to provide services to Anderson residents?
S: who are we going to support as a community we no longer have the same dollars as we used to. Working closely with united way. not city's job to fund all NP's. then there is tissue of the Paramount. Paramount Theater is our downtown community center. Preserve Paramount Theater to preserve business downtown
O: Paramount thinks we can help the NP's however we have used Food & Beverage money. need transparency in giving out tax money. do they provide jobs, bring people here, what is the economic impact ton Anderson form advisory board instead of laving it to the mayor only to administer those funds to NP's. so public and know how much and why. NP's must have an open book. City must see pay scale etc.
J: concurs with S about city being a financial crossroads work with them. Paramount is a treasure that needs to be preserved. one question he asks - supposed to get a lottery dividend Racino? is this new?
Then there were the final statements and the applause and the end of the forum. I think it will a close one. Get out and vote next month.
