<8th Ward Candidate Forum <Pamela Taylor thirteenroses at yahoo.com <Mon Apr 4 13:52:25 CDT 2005
<I would like to get some feedback on the 8th Ward Forum held this past <Saturday at Sabathani. Was one candidate better at answering questions <than another. Were issues addressed? Thoughts, please. I was there for the Q&A. First of all Sabathani is looking better every time I go there. It�s such a great treasure and resource for our community and we should all try to support it any way we can. The forum was fairly well attended with over 100 attendees, I�d estimate. It was attended by many long-term senior residents of the ward. It was especially nice to see Clorasteen Wilson back in an activist role, MC-ing the event, despite recently coming out of the hospital. There were also some candidates and elected officials there, including State Rep. Neva Walker who paid for the event. 10 candidates present included something like 7 democrats, a republican, a green, and an independent. One of candidate Titi Bediako�s sisters, my friend Matthea Little Smith, did a great job of organizing the event. She even did some large print for middle aged folks like me. Publicity was sent to all DFL delegates by Neva�s organization outlining the goals and agenda for the event which was basically how could the candidates meet the needs of youth and seniors. In terms of who answered questions the best, I guess it depends upon your perspective. My personal biases include DFL, Labor, Stonewall, and anti-war preferences and some others I suppose. I�m supporting Marie in the 8th Ward race but I won�t make this a campaign ad. There was probably something good from each candidate, even the Republican! The crowd cheered loudly for statements from Titi like, �I�m the one, I�m the one, I�m the one,� demonstrating that the venue was heavily packed with Titi supporters. Although this appeared to be set up as a Titi-friendly venue from the beginning, all the candidates got their chance. Marie was able to address substantive questions on gentrification and hit on some issues that would call for needing stronger DFL majorities at the legislature (and in the governor�s office of course!). But with ten candidates each getting two-minutes there wasn�t time for more than 3 or 4 questions plus a couple aimed at specific candidates. Overall, I�d say these forums are well worth it. David Finke Central Neighborhood P.S. Kudos to the strict timekeeper. (& greetings to Pam Taylor-welcome back to town!)-df REMINDERS: 1. Be civil! Please read the NEW RULES at http://www.e-democracy.org/rules. If you think a member is in violation, contact the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[email protected] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
