Council, sheriff hopefuls spar at candidate forum

Increased openness and communication are required between city government and its various stakeholders, according to the Democratic candidates for the Charlottesville City Council.

Mayor Dave Norris, who is seeking re-election to another four-year term, said during a candidate forum Wednesday that the recent news of Regal Cinemas expanding its theater to have nine screens right in the path of the planned Hillsdale Drive extension showed a “communications breakdown” between city planners and the company.

“It’s unfortunate that we’re going to have to go through a little give and take,” he said.

Hosted by the Charlottesville Democratic Party, the forum was the second to showcase the City Council candidates’ views and the first to include city sheriff candidates.

The City Council candidates spent the evening discussing a range of topics, from the $30.5 million Hillsdale Drive Extended to the city schools’ dropout rate and the incomplete Landmark Hotel, whose bank has now been shut down by the federal government.

Of the hotel, all three candidates stated decisively that the city should not use its tax dollars to finish the project, now a shell of a building sitting on the Downtown Mall. Incumbent Councilor Julian Taliaferro said the city has plenty of other financial issues it is dealing with, as its revenues stagnate or decline because of the nationwide recession.

“That being said, it’s kind of bad to have a ghost building on the Downtown Mall,” Taliaferro said.

Kristin Szakos, the lone challenger seeking her party’s nomination, said it was an ongoing problem that decisions are made in the city without consulting the appropriate bodies.

“This happens a lot in the city,” she said. Szakos also said she did not want any resident to think in a year that the City Council does not care about their opinions, and suggested that the body’s twice-monthly meetings be opened up to take place in neighborhoods and other locations apart from City Hall.

“At least people would know we’re interested,” Szakos said.

But the round-table also came on the heels of an event outside City Hall at which several city residents endorsed Norris and Szakos for the Democratic nomination.

Registered city voters will be able to vote for two Democratic nominees for City Council at the party’s unassembled caucus on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Burley Middle School. All candidates must submit the necessary paperwork to run for local office by June 9 for the Nov. 3 election.

“I think this is a very important election,” said Jason Halbert, chairman of the Charlottesville Rede-velopment and Hous-ing Authority’s Board of Directors. Halbert said he thought Norris and Szakos were capable of working to get the city out of a recession.

Halbert has worked with Norris on the public housing redevelopment process, as the mayor sits on the authority’s redevelopment committee. Of Norris, Halbert said, “I think he makes decisions based on common sense and with deliberation.”

Because of the recession, the city sheriff candidates — James E. Brown III, Phillip U. Brown and Mike Baird — all said retaining officers would be more of a challenge.

Those candidates, although only one person can be nominated by the party, also discussed inmates with mental health issues, as well as how the candidates believe they would move the department forward.

“It really comes down to pay,” Baird said of retaining officers.

Both James and Phillip Brown said they did not think people entered law enforcement because of the pay. But, Phillip Brown said, “Most people come to help people, but pay is important.”