April 7, 2008Questions for candidates?We start our endorsement interviews for Blacksburg Town Council today, and Roanoke mayor and city council candidates tomorrow. Salem Council candidate interviews start tomorrow, too. (We've already begun interviewing Pulaski and Vinton town council candidates.) Any questions in particular you think we should be asking? |
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April 7, 2008
Questions for candidates?
We start our endorsement interviews for Blacksburg Town Council today, and Roanoke mayor and city council candidates tomorrow. Salem Council candidate interviews start tomorrow, too. (We've already begun interviewing Pulaski and Vinton town council candidates.)
Any questions in particular you think we should be asking?
Comments
[April 7, 2008 10:42 AM]
Hank BostwickQuestions for Candidates:
What purpose does it serve for the Roanoke Times to endorse candidates? Should the local newspaper, which has a duty to present its readers with an objective perspective on local events, engage in the process of endorsement? If the candidates endorsed by the Times eventually "fall from grace," is the credibility of the Times compromised?
There still seems to many of us to be a racial divide in the city of Roanoke? Do you perceive this divide to be growing or shrinking? What steps can the City Council and the Mayor's office take to foster genuine dialogue on the issue of race (and its impact on school policy, decisions about how to best allocate resources to crumbling rebuild infrastructure, and appointments to committees) in the Star City?
Can the school start-time changes for high school students be mitigated by increased cooperation between Valley Metro, the Roanoke City School Board, and City Council?
Would the candidates for both mayor and city council commit to the possibility of enacting a one cent sales tax within the City to start a super-fund to begin the process of rebuilding the City's crumbling infrastructure particularly in the more impoverished sections of town?
How do candidates plan to address the concerns raised by RAM House and other community action groups who feel that the City Council has stalled or failed in its efforts to solve the problem of homelessness in the Star City?
Those should be good for a start.
[April 7, 2008 12:18 PM]
BUDFor City of Salem candidates:
1)What benefits do the Salem residents obtain from the city running its own Electric Dep't?
2)Salem pays its employees a higher rate than other neighboring municipalities--Salem feels this allows the hiring and retention of the best. Obviously the worst police officer/teacher/whatever position employee in Salem cannot be better than the best in other localities. Isn't Salem guaranteeing the highest payroll on the taxpayer dime as a result?
3)Given the median home price of a house sold in Salem dropped about $2,000 in 2007, do you condemn or condone the nearly 6% jump in assessed values and the increase in real estate taxes as a result?