Last night’s 5th District candidate forum was fairly bland, with some candidate style revealed, but very little substance. The moderator reminded everyone that it was a forum and not a debate at the beginning of the affair, and while that may have helped civility, it did not do much for discussion.

Part of the problem seemed to be rather nebulous questions about ‘engagement’, Councilperson Agelasto’s controversial move and subsequent resignation, environmental protections for the James River Park, and helping small businesses. For the most part, specifics were lacking. And while the candidates gamely did try to give some different answers and stand out from each other, they were not exactly inspirational either. Their answers tended to be very conventional, at best, vague, at worst. ‘Supporting better transportation’ seemed to be the fall back position for many of them. Surprisingly, when it came to small businesses, no one tackled excessive taxes or fees. Lots of talk on ‘finding money’ in budgets, but very little on how to raise it other than going to the General Assembly.

As the evening went on, some candidates seemed to recognize that their comments on parking and the City’s permit office were not making up anyone’s mind and tried to interject other topics- Williamson brought up VCU encroachment in relation to Oregon Hill, Taylor briefly mentioned Monroe Park’s loss of trees, Richardson focused on the heart wrenching effects of drug addiction, and towards the end, many of the candidates tried to drum up some real passion for fixing Richmond public schools. But it was interesting that no one mentioned the Put Schools First movement by name, or would touch on the corporate welfare boondoggles that have historically taken so much money and attention from the schools. The coliseum scheme, the biggest story in Richmond politics right now, came up, but seemed to be just mostly hovering in the background.

In contrast, the Richmond Crusade for Voters forum on Tuesday sounds like it was a much livelier and informative event. George Copeland Jr. covered it in this week’s Richmond Free Press:

Whether because of the nature of the topics selected for the forum or the solutions raised by the candidates, the impact of the special election was frequently brought into focus.

Most notably, when asked how they’d vote on the $1.5 billion proposal to replace the Richmond Coliseum and develop parts of Downtown, five of the seven candidates said they would vote against approving it.

Mr. Richardson and Mr. Williamson were the exceptions, opting to not giving definitive answers because of what they said is a lack of information about the proposal.

…

While the forum drew a modest turnout of around 80 people, it also featured a number of former and potential elected officials, including former 5th District Councilman E. Martin Jewell; former Delegate Joseph “Joe” Morrissey, who is running for state Senate in November; Viola Baskerville, who formerly served on City Council, in the House of Delegates and as state secretary of administration; and Sheila Bynum-Coleman of Chesterfield, a candidate for the House of Delegates.

…

When candidates were asked if they would run again in 2020 when the term of office ends, Mr. Richardson was the only one to say he wouldn’t…

Hopefully, there will be more chances in the near future to question candidates and get more detailed, insightful answers before the election.