City Commission Candidates Set Stakes High

Sixteen people sat on a stage Tuesday, 25 October. They ranged from students to professors, from small business owners to those impoverished. The one thing they all had in common is that they were hopefuls for Kalamazoo’s City Commission, at the Fetzer Center to answer the questions of WMU students. The sixteen contenders are seeking one of seven seats in the City Commission election 8 November.
 
The candidates spoke a lot about the potential for Kalamazoo’s future. Don Cooney, a WMU professor and incumbent candidate said “We want to be the city that changes this country,” while Nicholas Boyd cautioned after the debate that should Kalamazoo not make careful choices, it could quickly become the next Flint.
 
Each candidate was asked how the City Commission affects WMU students by moderator Gordon Evans of WMUK. Antwon Hunter, a student himself, touted safety as a concern, especially prudent in light of recent high-profile instances of violence. WMU undergrad Nicholas Wikar highlighted that despite Hunter’s concern the current commission has looked at dramatic cuts in public safety and metro transit – services he says are essential to students.
 

Robert Cinabro said “We have to maintain our compassion,” however acknowledges that the city has a budget deficit, and promised to promise nothing that he couldn’t deliver in terms of support for students.
 
Barbra Hamilton Miller responded to a question about the cuts to essential services with the compassion Cinabro suggested: “Essential services are essential,” she responded. Therefore, she reasoned, that small cuts across the board would be more desirable to any sweeping reform in one particular area.
 
Miller and Jonathan Bruan, who sat on either side of Cooney, got questions on Occupy Wall Street, a topic dear to Cooney’s heart. Bruan said that he was a proponent of the movement and Miller cited some logistical concerns but said that the movement seemed both passionate and peaceful. When he finally got to speak on it, Cooney said that Kalamazoo should be viewed in a national context. He quoted Robert Kennedy: “Not to be involved in the great struggles of your time is not to have lived.” The Occupy movement, Cooney argued, is the great struggle of our time.
 
“If we want to occupy Kalamazoo, we have to occupy some small businesses,” Stephanie Bell responded to a question on sustaining local businesses. She added that she herself patronizes Kalamazoo’s businesses, as she put it, putting her money where her mouth is.
 

Several candidates, primarily Mayor Bobby Hopewell, encouraged a local-level mirror of the Pure Michigan campaign for the City of Kalamazoo itself. He called the Kalamazoo Promise one of the greatest gifts ever given and said he wants to tell the world that Kalamazoo is the city of the Promise in an effort to tout the triumphs of the city and draw tourism.
 
Andrew Worden remarked that cyclists and pedestrians are not a priority for him, “We have to have safety stuff first, then infrastructure,” Worden said, “Social stuff is great, like parks, recreation, and all that other fun stuff is great, but after we get the money to do it.” Though, he added, he is a cyclist and does support expanding bike trails.
 
Many candidates stated, as a fact, that “government cannot create jobs.” This is a notion rejected flatly by Boyd. Boyd argues that as a city prospers it has more need for staff members, public safety employees, teachers and so on, and that is creating jobs for those seeking employment.
 
Some candidates were blindsided by some questions; Hopewell was asked how he’d address the discomfort of local atheists, to which he responded that he didn’t know such a discomfort existed and the first step would be figuring out why it did. Michael Perrin asked for a phone-a-friend in regards to a question about a bill that would repeal Kalamazoo’s non-discrimination ordinance that he had not heard about.
 

There were some big laughs, as well. Bell was often discontent with her microphone, switching from one to another prompting other candidates to thank her. “Change is good,” remarked Boyd. Another moment of joviality was Wikar, who has long campaigned for environmental concerns, receiving the lion’s share of the environmental questions. And when asked about the proposal to amend the city charter to permit marijuana use, incumbent David Anderson remarked “Why am I surprised to get this question?”
 
Alexander Smith, a Senator in the Western Student Association, criticized Boyd as being very “one-note”; saying that regardless of the question, Boyd had the same answer: jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs. Smith found it uninspiring.
 
Boyd explained that this was not without intention. Employment, he said, is the key to solving a lot of other issues. “You aren’t going to hurt someone if you’re busy at work, you won’t do drugs if you have to pass drug tests,” he explained, saying that from his youth to managing the business he owns, he’s seen this work in the past.
 

Students like Dorian Broughton and O’Neil Crooks, on the other hand, were impressed with Wikar. Broughton thought Wikar had a youth and energy that was contagious and could benefit the City Commission, to which Crooks added “He could energize the city.”