So, I helped moderate a candidate forum this week for the District 6 City Council race in San Jose. The event was put on by Councilman Pierluigi Oliverio, and it actually went pretty smooth!
Below is a video of the forum if you care to watch a few moments or the full hour and 30 minutes and 37 seconds.
If looking for the TL;DW breakdown, the Mercury News’ Scott Herhold attended the event, held at Bellarmine Prep, and he wrote a column. We’ll reserve our thoughts on individual candidates for now, but it’s worth noting that District 6 has a strong group to choose from compared to some council races we’ve seen in recent years.
Who has the time or really cares. All we want is to see PO leave.
Josh Metro needs to buy you a new laptop. That’s the opine of this IT guy.
Thanks to PLO for arranging this forum and to Josh Koehn for cohosting and especially for videoing it. Care was taken in the production- the sound is good and the camera consistently zoomed in on the speaker. The yes/no questions and answers were a good idea and gave quick insight.
It’s clear though that there’s no need for anyone at City Hall to be concerned about having their boat rocked whichever candidate is elected. Good solid line towing progressives each one of them with a couple of minor differences on inconsequential matters. But despite having eight candidates to choose from, D6 voters who happen to be opposed to the notion that San Jose must keep building more and more “affordable housing” are, not surprisingly left without a voice. On the single most important issue- the one that has the most effect on what San Jose will be like, there is no debate. And no choice. Though housing was not the subject of any direct question, it came up peripherally and every candidate expressed the opinion that “we need more housing”, and that “the solution is to provide more housing”.
Myron and Dev are not in favor of raising the minimum wage. The rest are.
Myron, Dev, Erik, and Chris would not expand no smoking bans. Helen, Peter, and Ruben would.
Dev was the most favorable toward getting public employees on more of a 401K system. Erik was most opposed, especially for police and fire. Helen, Chris, Ruben, and Peter all claimed to be willing to consider but only with the support of labor. Myron gently pointed out the ridiculousness of this position since obviously labor would NOT agree to it.
All 7 favored firing the police officer who made the posts on Facebook.
Dev and Erik against rent control. Peter (who had to move home because he couldn’t afford to rent), Helen (whose kids live with her because they can’t afford to rent), and Ruben (who lived in his car because he couldn’t afford to rent) were most in favor of rent control.
If I lived in D6 I’d be taking a serious look at Dev Davis. She seemed pretty analytical and perhaps the least hostage to the grip of political correctness.