Mayoral hopefuls meet for debate

Republican Fred Prall and Democrat Mark Kruzan, both candidates for Bloomington mayor, debated late into the night Thursday.\nDuring the debate, the two candidates showed differing opinions and styles through their opinions on community issues.\nThe first main issue of the evening was how the candidates will communicate with the Bloomington community if they are elected mayor.\nKruzan said to keep communication lines open, it is important to receive responses from the community.\n"We need to ask the people's opinion and more importantly act on that feedback to improve the community," he said.\nPrall had quite a different approach as to how he would communicate with the community.\n"I am going to go door-to-door and ask my constituents what they want," he said "Then I am going to get that done," he said. \nIn their opening statements, both said they are worried about children in Bloomington.\nThe next hot button issue was the establishment of a Bloomington art district.\nKruzan said he fully supports the idea of having an art district because the town has such a diverse community and it would produce more jobs.\n"I think we need to create an art district in Bloomington because it will create jobs and bring more of a visual appeal to Bloomington," he said.\nPrall said he was completely against the project because it would only hurt the community. \n"We need to have employers in Bloomington that are going to not pay as low a wage as artists do," he said.\nCity elections will be held Nov. 4. For more information on Prall visit www.fredprallformayor.com. For more information on Kruzan visit www.kruzan.us.\n-- Contact staff writer Mike Malik at mjmalik@indiana.edu.