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Students barely manage to outnumber candidates at lackluster Temple forum
When only half the City Council at-large candidates show up for a public panel, busy schedules can be blamed. But what to say about the near-empty university auditorium where the forum was held?
Students barely manage to outnumber candidates at lackluster Temple forum
(From this week's "Million Stories" section)
When only half the City Council at-large candidates show up for a public panel, busy schedules can be blamed. But what to say about the near-empty university auditorium where the forum was held?
Last Thursday, Temple University's Democratic and Republican groups hosted a forum with the at-large candidates on the university's main campus. While the communications director of the College Democrats, David Lopez, said the organizations reached out to all 23 candidates, only 13 said they would attend ; three later changed their minds. Candidate Isaiah Thomas showed up only briefly.
But the more conspicuous attendance number was the public's — the target audience being, in this case, students. Sure, the attendees outnumbered the candidates. But not by much.
No more than 20 people filled the seats, including students, professors and former Mayor John F. Street, who teaches urban politics and policy at the university.
Lopez admitted turnout "could have been better, " but he said, "It was nice to see students" attend a local-election event. He added that the two campus organizations are making efforts to inform students about the elections and help them to register.
Whether they can actually get students interested in the most fascinating local election in years is yet to be seen.
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On the Issues (after the jump)
Asked about his position on limiting city council members’ to three four-year terms, Frank
Rizzo said he didn’t support the legislation, citing “seniority” as a way to get things done. Councilman Bill Green, on the other hand, said he favored term limits. Candidate David Oh seemed to be on the fence, saying he would not introduce the legislation but would instead leave it up to a referendum.
Regarding the controversial police "stop and frisk" policy, candidates Dennis O’Brien, Steve Odabashian and Ralph Blakney all agreed that there were other ways to increase city safety.
As the moderators questioned the candidates’ viewpoints on city council members’ budgets,
candidates Michael Untermeyer and Malcolm Lazin agreed that current budgets are too high.
Oh said he supported the current budget but noted that pensions for city council members are too high. Rizzo also supported the current budget.
“The budget of city council is well-managed,” said Rizzo.
On the topic of the city’s public education system, the general consensus was that something had to be done to fix the system. But what, exactly, changed on a candidate-to-candidate basis.
All members agreed that education should be the last to to be cut in the state’s budget and that
voicing concerns to Harrisburg were of importance, but some candidates proposed specific ways
to help the system.
Odabashian suggested running the city like a business and linked the system’s shortcomings to
its leadership - Superintendent Arlene Ackerman, who, he said, is overpaid.
“One thing we can look at right away is the superintendent of our schools [who] makes more
than the governor and the mayor combined. And she received a bonus,” Odabashian said. “These
statistics here, this 9.2 percent proficiency in reading, 2.6 percent proficiency in math, that’s
what earns a bonus? There’s no accountability because she’s not accountable to the citizens.”
Lazin called the public education system an “utter disgrace,” agreeing that Ackerman’s salary is
too high.
Blakney said the problems in the public education system were due to a “lack of leadership,”
adding thats he would like to see new courses such as parenting programs and middle-school
classes focusing on critical thinking and conflict resolution.
Oh and Untermeyer agreed that the public should have some power in electing a school board,
while Elmer Money suggested finding ways to increase parent involvement. During the question-and-answer period, a student asked how the candidates would encourage businesses to come to - and stay in - the city.
Before leaving, Green was the first to answer.
“What we have is a very high rate, narrow-based net income tax,” Green said. “I propose to
eliminate our net-income tax and replace it with a one-half of 1 percent gross receipts tax.
What that does is completely level the playing field for Philadelphia businesses.”
Candidates Untermeyer and Odabashian disagreed with Green’s taxation idea, which Odabashian
said would unfairly burden some companies that have high revenues.
