One hundred or more people turned out for a standing-room-only public mayoral forum sponsored by the NAACP at Club 533 on 3rd Street. The candidates pulled few punches in a civilized but sometimes blunt back and forth on the issues.

The candidates words below are summaries unless in quotes. Please comment below if you feel a mistake was made or have a differing take on what was said.

Opening remarks…

Robert Grey: I am a product of Northside, public schools. To vote for me is “to continue the change that you voted for 4 years ago”: a move away from cronyism, high crime, city leaders being indicted, school system taking a nose dive. Sees himself as continuance in the break with Richmond gov. of the 80’s/90’s. — need to invest, not cut, bus service

William Pantele: in saying that he enjoys going door-to-door, this next maor is your mayor, should be serving you; the people say that they want proven experience, which he says that he has; helped get full staffing for the police; anticipate the mayor this winter having to answer for citizens that need to either heat or eat; “the people’s mayor”

Dwight Jones: “Richmond is a good city but Richmond can be better”; taxes are too high, schools are dilapitated and inadequated, “cesspool of curruption has become cesspool of confusion”; someone who will lead for the entire city, not just the elite and who will be for everyone.

Lawrence Williams: We have a lot of lawyers and we have a lot of preachers, we need to move on to a new … professionals. A product of RPS public schools, UVa, Harvard. Vows to finish Jackson Place. Calls for 3 middle schools (MLK, Chandler, Boushall). You can choose a preacher, butler, concierge, council person, or you can choose a leader. (WTF?)

Paul Goldman: Everyone touts experience, but it is judgement that matters (from the White House to City Hall). None of the other candidates stood for an elected mayor. Grey’s change means taking away your write to elect a school board. We have the most expensive * in the state. Only one person has come up with a plan for new schools - me!

A timed Q&A followed…

Your assessment of the Wilder administration:

Grey: What did we have before? Crime, a poor school system. Regardless of what you say, he has brought change to this city. He has always stood up for the people. (to mutters and murmers from the crowd).

Pantele: Wilder came into office rising the wave of our hopes. Problems were lack of regional coopoeration, issues with our relationship with general assembly. His behavior has shamed the city. Not leadership aimed at the benefit of the people.

Jones: There is evidence that not all of the i’s have been dotted and not all t’s have been crossed for the new form of adminstration; Wilder legacy will be tremendous strides in public safetly, but no progress on schools and lack of harmonious relationships.

Williams: Put it in historical perspective of an evolving system, he was a trailblazer. We need new generation of leaders, of professionals.

Goldman: I’m not going to judge Wilder. We need new modern schools, blame whoever you want. Our finances are a mess, the council and mayor can’t agree on what the budget is. Find money for busses! Maybe we should cut what we’re payin the lawyers.

Do we have a city budget?

Goldman: I’m the only one Masters in Public Adminstration. We have an acting CAO, 2 budgets acting as the city budget. The fact of the matter is we don’t have cooperation. The 80% coalition that got you the right to elect a mayor, that got Wilder elected: I can do that.

Williams: The lights are on, the trucks are rolling, people are getting paid: we have a budget. Doug has found a way to make us look at the budget a 3rd time. As a mayor, I will get the budget taken care of early in the process.

Jones: No, we don’t have a budget because of the confusion and lack of cooperation between the council and the mayor. High-handed. City council has done ok considering the circumstances.

Pantele: Of course we have a budget. Wilder wanted a lawsuit. We know that he is in the wrong, but it was in the best interest not to file a lawsuit.

Grey: This is not a time to play games. The budget is the budget that was submitted by the mayor.

Economic development?

Grey: Economic development is dependent on developing good educational systems. We need technical schools. Invest in the next generation, that will change the formula. Everyone will benefit.

Pantele: Cites his work on the Neighborhoods in Bloom program. Strengthen the neighborhoods and they can support economic development. Northside has too many vacant buildings, but ought to be thriving. We need an economic development department that has people dedicated to work with neighborhood business districts to help bring them back into prosperity.

Jones: I love what is going on on Broad Street and Main Street and Cary Street, but I will ensure that attention is given to 25th Street, Hull Street, Brookland Parkway.

Williams: 20 years experience in the trenches. Was the architecht for some of the houses on North Ave.

Goldman: We need more jobs instead of focussing on making more condos. Lets cut the business license tax, to encourage more businesses. Encourage more technical education, lets get money for vocational technical education. Lets give a tax break to small businesses. Lets ensure that anyone working for the city (or contractors) gets paid a living wage.

What is your strategy to improve our school system?

Goldman: Lets look at the skills of the children when they graduate. I will create a Richmond Unity Council to represent the different communities to work together, it is a community thing.

Williams: I want to make Richmond the most livable city in Richmond. This city is still seperate but unequal — look at either end of the MLK bridge. Lets move the Master Plan into the neighborhoods. We need to get the culture straight in our neighborhoods.

Jones: Says that schools are “teaching to the test” 90% of the time. We need to think “outside of the box”, nothing is “off the table”. Let’s turn to the higher ed institutions in the city to run laboratory schools.

Pantele: The recent collaboration between City Council and the School Board is relatively recent. Our school system is upside down: there is too much money being spent on administration, and not enough in the classroom. City should be a partner, not adversary, to public schools.

Grey: We have the highest dropout rate, lowest scores, lowest graduation rates… We need to lead our schools to a better place. Lets hook up technical schools with business incubators. Lets get creative and bring all of the resources of our community to bear on this.

What will you do to about the disparate distribution of wealth in this city?

Grey: The government is here to provide services, not change wealth disparity. What can, though, is a strong educational system. The way out of poverty is through education. Cites himself as an example, and him now coming back to bring back to the community.

Pantele: We have pockets of 30% unemployment in this city, while areas of Henrico are unable to find enough employees. (Something about pizzas and law firms.) We have to involve minority business in the prosperity of the region.

Jones: I would never sign a letter taking away the vote for the school board. We have come too far. Black elected leaders for 30 years, but only 27 minority business to get lauded? We need political *and* economic power.

Williams: We need to get something done. I am an architect. I understand things from a hands-on POV and from city hall. We need to find ways to work with minority businesses.

Pantele: I’m not going to lead, I want to make it easy for you to do your job, for your kids to learn, for the police to fight crime. It is time to create jobs in the city.

Closing statements…

Goldman: I am tired of Richmond defined by its divisions. We’ve gotten past some things, we can now elect our own mayor. I want to fix schools, fight crime, create jobs, and empower the people of Richmond.

Williams: I understand city hall. I am a product of RPS, UVa, Harvard. I am hardwired to think outside of the box, I am hardwored to care. I want to make Richmond the most livable city in the land. We have 4 years to make things work.

Jones: Thank you to the NAACP for having us all together. I am passionate about this city. I came here to go to VUU, and I feel that I owe something to this city that has done so much for me. We can do better in education, health, community development, for our senior citizens, housing, in terms of bringing our city together. I have the capacity to bring the region together.

Pantele: I’m running to be the People’s Mayor, to be your mayor. We can do so much together. I have the experience and knowledge to move this forward. Cites a photo in his office from 1935 that shows Broad & 5th or 6th Street, the bustle of all kinds of people on the sidewalk and in the street car in the background. (I think that he was going for the idea of an active urban center, but it kind of brought to mind segregation for a moment. Be more clear, Bill. - john m)

Grey: The choice you have is between maintaining the statis quo, or change that will move Richmond forward. People have had a good time in using me as a pin-cushion. The school board letter was a suggestion, a way of moving the dialog forward. I supported having an elected mayor, the 2 20-year experience candidates did not.