Akronites have not elected a new mayor since 1987 but they will this year. Two Democratic candidates vying for the open seat faced off in a debate today (Wed) sponsored by the Akron Press Club. ideastream’s Mark Urycki has details.
Councilman Mike Williams and Summit County Clerk of Courts Dan Horrigan have a lot in common – one is they both really want to talk to you, in a friendly, civil way. They both say it’s time for Akron government to be more open than it was under powerful mayor Don Plusquellic, who resigned this year.
Councilman Williams, who challenged Plusquellic 4 years ago, says he wants to put the citizens back in charge.
“We’ve come out of a period where that gotten flipped around. I want to return the citizens to the top of the organizational chart and put them in a position where they can engage their government in a meaningful way and set the priorities for the city.”
Both Williams and Horrigan say they want a stronger police auditor who can watch over the department. They both want to engage with young people, and they both want to put more development emphasis on neighborhoods than downtown.
The two did have a disagreement over Plusquellic’s plan to create a city-owned construction company to employ citizens in a huge sewer construction project about to start. Williams was against it when it was proposed.
“That idea needed to be shaped and presented to the public in a way that they could understand exactly what was transpiring. It may be the best methodology for insuring that Akron residents get jobs."
Horrigan is against the idea.
“Owning and running a construction company – I’m not so sure that fits in the philosophy, and also takes away resources. That doesn’t mean we can’t fight for the residents to get those jobs on the project. We can.”
To make up for cuts in state and federal aid, Horrigan says the city needs to be “bigger, better and stronger.”
“We need to grow our economic base- that’s also from the supply side. We also need to grow our population. I think those two things go hand in hand. Better, in how we treat our residents and how we operate. And we also need to be in a stronger financial position.”
Both men expressed some concern over recent cutbacks at the University of Akron, particularly the elimination of a manager at EJ Thomas Performing Arts Hall. They said the city and school need to collaborate and both said they might support construction of a basketball arena in downtown Akron.
When given a chance to attack each other the two former council colleagues demurred. Instead they mentioned how they watched each other’s children grow up. Horrigan and Williams go head to head in the primary election September 8 th The winner will face Republican Eddie Sipplen in November.