Provo's Mayor and City Council Elections

Tonight, I had the opportunity to attend the Provo Mayoral and City Council Debate. I unfortunately was late to the Mayoral debate, but from what I can tell, between John Curtis and Steve Clark, that I prefer Curtis. Clark was talking about 2.5 emissions that cause the flu during this cold weather, which from what I can see by a few quick google searches, is bull. I unfortunately don't have much to share.

As far as the City Council goes, it was a wonderful debate. I fortunately was joined by a friend who helped understand a bit more of the issues, which greatly helped me.
But, from the debate today, here is the rundown: You have three city council positions up for vote; The District 2, District 5 and the City wide seat.

The debate overall for the city council was fairly played, everyone had their time at the mic and there was not political mud-rucking, except for District 5. In District 5 you have Sterling Beck and Cindy Richards. Cindy Richards, unfortunately, could not be there as an emergency occurred with her husband, so a supporter of hers filled in for her. But even so, it seems that Sterling Beck is just running to slam the city council for past mistakes (real or unreal), and especially to slam on Cindy Richards. He didn't say anything that really stood out, as he was always pointing out stuff that Cindy Richards has maybe failed to do, and his proposals to do so. He doesn't sound like someone I'd really want to vote for, especially after implying that the many on the city council are elitist. Honestly, from reading his web site and listening to him, he sounds like a wannabe, toned down, Superdell.

From what I have heard about Cindy Richards though, is that she isn't for students. Her representative talked about putting families in homes and cleaning up homes, but although that sounds good, basically it implies converting homes that college students live in to be family houses. So I don't agree with her on that.

For District 2, there is David Acheson and Rick Healey. Both seem like really good, experienced dudes who will do their best to improve Provo. Acheson appeals to me more in demeanor I think. So unfortunately for those of you who live in District 2, I don't have much information for you. Although, Acheson did say something that greatly caught my attention; he proposed to work with the student governments of BYU and UVU, get them involved in decisions that affect the city and students. I think that is a great idea. The city council should totally do that.

Now, for City-wide council there is Coy D. Porter and Laura Cabanilla. Both are well experienced for the position, Porter highlighting his strength in budgeting while he was a firefighter, getting grants and stuff for fire engines without asking the city for money. However, in terms of parking, he proposes a one bed to one car ratio for apartment complexes. He clearly favors overnight parking fees.
Cabanilla, on the other hand, is more assertive and appears to be more of a people person. She looks beyond budgets (well, made the joke about budgets being boring after Porter spoke) and wants the community and students to be more involved.

And, overall, they were all vague on how they want to improve downtown Provo. They all want it be historic, preserving the history of the city, but inviting business in. So I'm unsure how they want to accomplish that.

That's about as far as I can remember from tonight's debate. You all should check out their respective websites, and vote on Tuesday!