The debate on Wednesday night (Oct. 7) was wonderfully stimulating. While Mayor Stewart was big on details and exact plans, Candidate O’Brien was big on promises and unsupported claims. Tim O’Brien again defended “senior tax relief” (videos 7 and 9) without being able to produce any evidence that such a program is needed. Paul Carver, candidate for Board of Education, called out the Democratic Council (video 10) for repeatedly allocating funds for such a program without ever creating the program to distribute those funds. The issue of blight came up (videos 20a and 20b) and Mayor Stewart explained the new “Clean and Lien” program that is being implemented across the country with great success. Tim O’Brien, on the other hand, suggested raising the taxes on blighted properties and also advocated for continued use of the outdated and ineffective program he created while on the City Council, the same program that has a proven track record of failure.
Over all there is a lot of information in these videos. And while the sound quality and camera work are not professional or the best, it is definitely worth watching. More isolated clips will be presented over the weeks to come to highlight the most important issues of this campaign.
