Last night was the first Mayoral Town Hall or Debate sponsored by WDEL. This forum played to a standing room only crowd (they did indeed stop people from coming in after awhile). All of the known candidates were there except for Bovell and Bobby Marshall. I was there with some friends and here’s what I think of the field so far.
First thing to know is that my friends (to of my neighbors) wanted that hour back at the end of the debate. The audience was mostly partisans of the various candidates, with people from Pastor D’s church and people supporting Williams the largest contingents. There were a few politicians (including Theo Gregory who was campaigning at someone else’s event, Karen Weldin Stewart style), and media folks around. Alan Loudell did a great job in moderating this. The overarching theme was crime and law enforcement. There was also alot about providing better services/opportunities for young people. There was little about living with the reality of a city budget that will be in deficit when the new mayor takes office.
Derrick Johnson — in the main, Pastor D is running not to govern the City of Wilmington, but to run the Hope Commission. Seriously, he had a litany of programs and outreach that he wanted to do with kids and people in trouble which got him alot of cheering. He made a point of noting that he could connect with criminals and that this is a role that the WPD still counts on him for. He wasn’t especially interested in broadening out his answers to discuss more of the city’s problems.
Kevin Kelley — he did better than I expected. He owned his message and did not indulge in some of the graceless bully-boy stuff indulged in by Johnson and Williams. He was clear about the message of cops in neighborhoods on a routine and persistent basis (rather than a reactive one) and clear about bringing neighborhoods into the mix for not just fixing Wilmington but making the city a place that attracts more residents who can support the businesses and arts that the City has been focused on. He talked about fixing city government so that it would work for people in neighborhoods without spending a day finding someone who can help you. He was the ONLY candidate who talked about the kind of issues and solutions that people are talking about in neighborhood meetings — which is telling to me. He did note that many of the initiatives that the City is taking credit for came from City Council (and I’ll note that the single thing that people have been advocating for — Community Policing — is completely ignored.
Bill Montgomery — he did much worse than expected. He routinely lost his audience, and if he is going to spend his campaign defending Jim Baker and city workers, he will be regularly communicating that he Just Doesn’t Get It. His approach to the crime problem was muddled and unfocused. He did note that he was leading a delegation to High Point where Professor Kennedy had been working a different strategy. The thing that people in the city know is that this Administration is pretty unresponsive to its citizens. Showing up to complain about how hard it is to govern while ignoring your citizens is just more arrogant hubris.
Scott Spencer — out of his depth. Plainly. He wants to substitute a good deal of corporate speak for workable ideas that will move the City forward. He comported himself well, but his ideas for this city are about as deep as the corporate speak he was throwing around.
Dennis Williams — He did worse that I expected. He clearly did not have a good grasp of what is going on in this city. His approach to crime is summarized by this:”I have a plan, a very bold plan. It’s called offense,” state Rep. Dennis P. Williams, D-Wilmington North, said in his opening statements. “We will hunt the bad guys down. We will deal with them. We will get the guns off the street. Not a whole lot of talking, not a whole lot of rhetoric.” Sounds good, but this is what we have already — a reactive department who has a difficult time making headway because it is completely reactive. It is why neighborhood people were focused on Community Policing. This also doesn’t sync up with his previous statements that the WPD needs to be a police force, not an occupying army. But Williams decried the arrogance of the current Mayor and then proceeded to put his on display. But in the main, he dodged most of the questions in order to do his bully-boy shtick. The other thing about his discussion — lots of emphasis on some Business Roundtable, but I think he said neighborhoods just once.
All in all a less than illuminating evening. Am hoping this gets better as we go along. Probably the clearest thing that came out of this is that no matter who the new Mayor is, Chief Szczerba is out of a job.
Did anyone else go? Let me know what you thought in the comments.