Council candidates address key issues

It’s almost election time.

On May 3, four Bloomington City Council districts will have contested Democratic primary elections. The candidates have spent recent months knocking doors in their districts and campaigning for the issues they think are most important.

The Indiana Daily Student asked each of these candidates what they think the biggest issue facing the city or their district is and how they plan to solve it if elected to the city council.

DISTRICT 1

Chris Sturbaum, incumbent
“I think the most important issue is to keep having good, experienced leadership to answer questions that come up. I’ve been in for eight years, and you never know what the issues will be. We’re going to deal with transportation issues, and the current issue of the day is — let’s enhance our bike friendliness as a community. The way the city works is, issues keep coming up ... So the most important thing is for us to keep experience on the council.”

Greg Alexander
“It’s transportation. I would try to make it so that, you know, gas prices are nearly four dollars and they’re going to keep going up, and so when people say ‘I’m not going to pay it today, I’m going to bike or walk or do something else,’ I want to make sure that people using our roads don’t find them to be a hell hole because of all the cars.”

DISTRICT 3

Gary Charbonneau
“I think the most important issue is that we’re probably going to be facing some severe economic difficulties down the road, and there’s not much the City of Bloomington can do to solve that. The only thing we can do is try to adapt to that if we can. While we have the ability, we should be investing in some critical infrastructure kinds of things in the neighborhoods.”

Ron Smith
“It seems like right now it’s the economy, and if we have an unemployment rate that’s eight-point-something percent in Bloomington, which is better than the state average and national average, it’s kind of easy to overlook that. So having some smart economic development is a good idea ... One of the concerns I have also is that we need to make sure we have enough funds allocated toward social service programs. If you have more jobs, you have more people working, more taxes and higher revenue, so that helps even down to the social services.”

Brett Rorem
“Keeping Bloomington strong and supporting our core economic values within the city and supporting our neighborhoods and keeping them safe.”

Martin Spechler
Spechler was unavailable for comment before deadline.

DISTRICT 5

Darryl Neher
“Residents want to know the infrastructure of the city is safe and functional and that public safety remains a priority. How do I address these issues? By being available to the constituents. I’ve pledged to be available to help constituents find the answers and solutions they need by being accessible and making local government responsive to their needs. Accessibility should always be the first priority of a City Council member serving a district. As I walk District 5, I hear more and more residents concerned about affordable housing in Bloomington. While the quality of life continues to improve for many in our community, we need to recommit to our efforts for identifying programs and policies that promote safe, secure and affordable housing to the citizens of Bloomington.”

Megan Hutchison
“One of the things that’s really huge is the fact that local governments and local communities are facing a lot of budget funding cuts from the state and federal level. The government has also been slashing public education funding. Most recently something called Community Development Block Grants has been cut, and that funds a lot of social services in Bloomington. It also supports infrastructure improvements in poorer neighborhoods ... I think we need to look at the priorities the city government has, and that is looking at our budget and seeing if there are ways we can better support low income folks in the community.”

DISTRICT 6

Sandi Cole
“I think one of the issues for me in terms of my candidacy is that this is a district, not an at-large seat, and I think that makes a real difference in terms of how you look at the issues and talk about the issues. There are three things I think are really critical to the councilperson’s role for District 6. The first is to have responsive representation. The person who sits in the seat on the council for District 6 has to understand issues for the different constituencies for District 6. That requires that the person be visible and accessible for those different persons and listen and learn and act on those ideas. The second major issue, and this is a huge issue, is greater collaboration between the city and the University. What I’m proposing is that the city establish a commission on the status of core neighborhoods. One of the most important pieces of that would be to have student representation and student voice on that commission. The third issue is dealing with trash, graffiti and infrastructure in the district.”

Stephen Volan, incumbent
Volan was unavailable for comment before deadline.