Politics & Government

Election 2011: Meet the Candidates to Air on Cable

A public forum held on Thursday at the Westfield Activities Center in Trenton is set to air on cable television.

The candidates of the 2011 Trenton election spoke to a partially filled room at the Westfield Activities Center Thursday during a public forum held by the Trenton Democratic Club.

The candidates now have the opportunity for their message to reach thousands more Trenton residents.

The forum was taped and will air at 12:30 p.m., 5:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. on public access channels on Comcast and WOW from Oct. 24 until Election Day on Nov. 8.

Find out what's happening in Trenton Grosse Ilewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Summary of the Forum

At the forum the two mayoral candidates, incumbent Gerald Brown and challenger and former City Clerk Kyle Stack, began the evening by speaking to residents for five minutes on their background, experience and plans for Trenton.

Find out what's happening in Trenton Grosse Ilewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Stack said she would like to bring more businesses into Trenton and plans to use the people currently working for the city at her disposal to get up to speed with current issues facing the city.

"I've been a part of this community for a lifetime and I love this community," Stack said. "I feel that there are areas that I'd like to see improved upon such as new businesses being brought into this community along with working on relationships with our residents, our schools, our businesses and our organizations to make this community the best."

Brown, who spoke second, said he has saved the city $18 million dollars since 2001 by attrition or a reduction in city staff.

"Those are the kinds of things we have been faced with these last ten years," Brown said. "These last five years have been a struggle for (Trenton) city government."

Stack said she would like to put an economic development coordinator into place that would help her develop the entire community and not just the downtown area. She added she was unsure where the funds would come from, but that she would do her best to find the money necessary to make it happen.

Next up were the candidates for city council and each had a chance to speak to the audience.

There are three seats available for city council and four candidates, which made each moment in front of the microphone important for all four men and women.

The candidates are incumbents William LeFevre, MaryEllen McLeod, W. Dan Gillespie and newcomer Robert Howey.

Each candidate discussed bringing businesses into Trenton, and some were more optimistic than others.

However, the candidates were all united in the fact that they do not intend to tear down the Trenton Historical Museum--no matter the cost to the city.

Check back with Trenton Patch starting tomorrow and continuing all week for one-on-one question and answer sessions with all of the candidates.

Patch asked each candidate these three questions:

Why run for the position you are running for? What can you offer that no one else can?

What do you think is the number one problem facing the city of Trenton? How do you intend to resolve the problem?

With the budget getting more and more difficult to balance each year, what are you willing to cut to keep the city’s budget balanced? What aren’t you willing to cut?


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