RICHMOND, Va. -- In a two-hour forum Monday night, the Richmond Crusade for Voters hosted city council candidates from all nine districts. Twelve of the eighteen candidates running for council were present at the event to address issues ranging from affordable housing and homelessness to utility bills, taxes, and schools.
Several Richmond voters, who attended Monday’s event at the Third Street Bethel AME Church, say the mounting challenges of inflation and the cost of living, along with government spending, are key reasons they are concerned about this November’s local elections.
Candidates Andrew Breton, Zachary Lee Walker, Paul Goldman, Councilwoman Ann Lambert, Kenya Gibson, Maria Carra Rose, Tavares Floyd, Councilwoman Ellen Robertson, Councilwoman Cynthia Newbille, Eric Sundberg, Frank Henry Wilson, Nicole Jones, and Stephanie Diane Starling were all present for the forum.
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Who is running for Richmond City Council?
A majority of the districts have competitive races, with the exception of districts 2, 4 and 5, where Councilwoman Katherine Jordan, newcomer Sarah Abubaker, and Councilwoman Stephanie Lynch are running unopposed.
Watch: CBS 6's Jake Burns breaks down each candidate for Richmond City Council
The conversation Monday night focused heavily on some controversial issues that have made headlines over the past year, including government transparency, accusations of credit card misuse by city employees, the meals tax debacle, and salaries tied to key administration officials. The concerns about homelessness and available shelters also sparked debate.
8th district citizen, Barbara Starkey Good, says she hopes council candidates are listening to the voices of voters, who are concerned about the misuse of government funds.
“They mentioned the fact that the CAO with the city was being paid over 300,000 a year,” Starkey Good says, “He has no experience and comes in to run a city as big as the city of Richmond. That’s absolutely ridiculous, uncalled for, and with the meals tax and everything else, we have to get a city government that is focused on the needs in the city of Richmond.”
Some other voters in attendance, like Brenda Steppe Cureton and Karl Cureton, say they want to see more growth in school programs and economic development that creates more opportunities for graduates and young adults.
“Even though they touched on some things like homelessness, they touched on affordable housing, they touched on education, as far as real concrete outcome-based strategies, I didn’t hear a lot of that,” Steppe Cureton says.
“I mean, this is our capitol. How can we get investment dollars to actually create programs and possibilities that allow people to go from learning to earning,” Karl Cureton says. “What I didn’t hear today were concrete plans about how we actually can invest our dollars to make that happen from a programmatic level.”
A forum for Richmond School Board candidates will be held from 6-8 p.m. this Thursday, August 15th at Third Street Bethel AME Church located at 614 North 3rd Street.
This is a developing story. Email the CBS 6 Newsroom if you have additional information to share.
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