Written by: Charles Bragdon
to contact the author call 207-899-6321 or email cbragdon@charlesbragdonforcitycouncil.org
I was very pleased to have participated in a public forum on September 15, 2009 that was hosted by The League of Young Voters. The League of Young Voters was first introduced to the people as The League of Pissed Off Voters, but has since renamed itself and become a very influential political force. They have been very instrumental in the recent Peninsula Transit Study among other things. K. Harris Parnell was the official host of all three forums and the taping was being done by CTN Channel 5.
They hosted three separate forums from 5:30 pm until around 8:05 pm. The first was for the Portland Water District 1 year seat being sought by Kenneth Levinsky and Oliver Outerbridge. I was not able to be there for this section of the forum, so I will have to wait until the video becomes available on the CTN website or the League of Young Voters website.
The second segment of the forums was for the seats on the School Committee. Jenna Vendil who is running for the District 1 seat unopposed was able to be here. Anthony Zeli who is challenging Ed Bryan for the District 2 seat was here, but Ed Bryan was unable to be in attendance due to work obligations. Sarah Thompson who is running for re-election for her at large seat was also there. All three candidates were asked 5 questions by K. Harris Parnell who was the host of all three forums and also various questions that were submitted by the public who were in attendance. I must state that the room was quite full of people who had some very challenging questions. All three of the candidates gave very good answers to all the questions that were posed to them and were very forthcoming. I will not disclose the questions that were asked in this column as the show was taped last night to be aired at a future date and I don’t want to avert any viewers from watching it.
As I sat through the School Committee forum, I watched the other City Council candidates slowly filter in with more members of the public. I was the first to arrive behind Ed King the Editor for The West End News who was the only member of the press I saw in attendance. Kevin Donoghue showed up shortly after us and David Marshall followed him by about 15 minutes. Nicholas Mavodones was the last to arrive. They discussed something between them before the forum started, but I didn’t participate in this conversation as I didn’t sit near them. I sat beside Ed King in the second row back so I could listen to the School Committee candidates and hear them clearly.
When it came time for our turn to take the seats in the front of the room, I wasn’t sure what to expect as I had not participated in this type of forum before. The other three candidates seemed very comfortable as they have all obviously been in these seats before. We were seated in a row with Nick Mavodones on the far left, David Marshall beside him, Kevin Donoghue beside him and I was seated on the far right. Nicholas Mavodones is running for the re-election to the At Large seat unopposed and David Marshall is running for the District 2 seat also unopposed. Kevin Donoghue who is the incumbent is being challenged by me (Charles Bragdon) for the District 1 seat.
The one thing I did not anticipate was how bright the lights were going to be when they got us all seated. I could not see a thing during the entire forum and tried to avoid looking straight ahead as I felt like a Deer looking into a high beam headlight every time I did. We were first allowed 90 seconds to introduce ourselves and why we were running. We were then all asked 5 questions by K. Harris Parnell and each given the same 60 seconds to respond to each. We answered several questions from the public as well.
The part I was really looking forward to was when we got to ask the other candidates’ one question. Kevin Donoghue was the first one given the opportunity to ask a question and he wasted his question asking Nicholas Mavodones his cell phone number. To which Nick replied, “Kevin you already know my cell phone number, so I don’t need to repeat it here. I will be glad to share my home number with everybody, which is 774-0257.”
David Marshall also volunteered his phone number at this time. I don’t remember the questions that Dave asked Kevin or Nick asked Dave, but I do remember what I asked. I asked Kevin about the Neighborhood Stabilization monies being promised to Avesta Housing for the Adams School Project and why he felt it was appropriate to delegate the majority of the funds given to the city by the stimulus program to this one project. He responded with something like, I actually haven’t been on the housing committee, I am on the community development committee. I will answer your question though. He continued with I have promised all through my campaign last time and will continue on the same platform this time to promise affordable housing and make more available to the people. I feel this project is appropriate because it will open up 30 affordable housing units to be purchased at a moderately affordable level to the middle class. There will also be other units available for people to rent. This is why I believe this is a good use for the funds we are earmarking for it.
I didn’t get the chance to respond to him at the forum, so I will make my opinion heard here. I don’t think the units he is talking about fall within the guidelines of what I would consider affordable. I believe the purchased units will be sold for more than $350,000 each. I don’t know many people in today’s economy who can afford to buy these units at this price. I also don’t believe the stimulus money was intended to be used to build condos which I feel this is what these units will eventually be. I think the stimulus plan was to use this funding to help families and the city avoid an alarming rate of foreclosures destabilizing the local real estate market. There are many homeowners who are currently unable to afford their mortgage and who are currently facing foreclosure. I think they would agree that this is probably not the best use of this money. I look forward to hearing the public comment on this when it goes to the full council as I think many will be opposed to this use of the funds.
I will not disclose any of the other questions that were asked of any of the candidates for the same reason I mentioned above. I do not want to avert anyone from viewing this on CTN Channel 5 when it airs sometime next week. The videos will also be available on the CTN website and The League of Young Voters websites sometime next week.
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