I submitted a question to WHNT for the Mayoral candidates:

“Huntsville has experienced a shocking increase in crime - how would you improve public safety?”

Note: HSV crime rate has increased 33% from 2002 through 2006 (latest FBI “Crime in the United States” data available), record numbers of murders, below average number of police (2.15 per thousand residents compared to US average of 3 per thousand residents).

HSV is ranked #83 on city-data.com Highest Crime Cities list; Birmingham is ranked #13. For comparison, Gary IN is ranked #81 and Tampa FL is ranked #85. No other city in Alabama ranked in the Top 101 Highest Crime Cities.

Top 101 cities with the highest 2006 city-data.com crime index per resident

Huntsville, Alabama

BTW, I checked the city-data information against the official FBI statistics - the data used in the rankings are, unfortunately, accurate.

I plan to attend the debate at the Monaco Prive Theater, because “politics goes so good with beer” (from The Pixies).

UPDATE: 

I attended the debate at Monaco Theater - I was surprised to see a well-dressed crowd of several hundred people there, mostly 20-30 somethings, fairly diverse. The Monaco offered free hors d’oeuvres, cash beer and wine, and a very nice venue.

IMO Tommy Battle ‘won’ the debate. Mayor Loretta Spencer didn’t seem comfortable, but gave good answers to questions - reading a transcript might seem to give her the win. Jackie Reed won the audience - she got more spontaneous applause than any other candidate. Mike Polemeni seemed to ramble, but I agree with his light rail suggestion - he got chuckles when he suggested that the light rail would be great for getting drunks home from downtown.

WHNT started with their panel questions (Steve Johnson, Lisa Washington, Dr. Jess Brown). IIRC the questions were allotted a one minute response. The first question - Johnson - was about roads (mentioning BRAC): Reed said long-range planning and loop, Polemeni said City should take over where State doesn’t perform, Battle said we don’t get return on our taxes (53 cents on a dollar), Spencer said City does best it can.

Second question - Washington, economic development (mentioning VW loss): Polemeni said mass transit, Battle said infrastructure (hitting State return of taxes again), Spencer said Chattanooga offered $200 million in incentives and we need to make city appealing, Reed said slow down growth.

Third question - Brown, expanding into Limestone County: Battle said “take care of what we have”, Spencer said annexed landowners gave land for parks and schools to city as part of deal, Reed said developers aren’t paying their fair share and that to some developers “greenways mean fountains”, Polemeni said City needs to cooperate in “joint ventures” with other local Governments.

Turns out that WHNT didn’t ask any questions submitted online, even though they asked for questions.

First Monaco question - make North HSV as attractive as South HSV: Spencer said attract businesses like Lowe’s, Reed said improve schools, Polemeni said loop, Battle said equalize services.

Jackie Reed question to Tommy Battle - don’t see you at City Council meetings, when would you have time to be Mayor?: Battle said he’s divested his businesses so he would be a full-time Mayor and watches Council meetings on TV. Reed rebuttal ‘only time I see you is when you lobby for your businesses’.

Mike Polemeni to Mayor Spencer - is HSV a Sanctuary City?: Spencer said there are “no legal things” that the City can do about immigration and that Police check Drivers Licenses. Polemeni rebuttal ‘they terk er jerbs’.

Tommy Battle to Mayor Spencer - jail overrun?: Spencer said Joint Venture made sense, bad hiring decisions, lawsuits pending. Battle rebuttal wish we had that $40 million for roads and schools and police and firemen.

Mayor Spencer to Tommy Battle - TIF funding builds schools, where were you when you were a City Councilman?: Battle said dedicated sales taxes to schools and asked what are you going to do on education. Spencer rebuttal new retail and construction.

Second Monaco question - Downtown Business District (note that the questioner mentioned “affordable housing” - thereby pissing me off): Polemeni said light rail from Downtown to Ditto Landing, Battle said get downtown moving, Spencer said replace brick sidewalks with concrete, Reed said taking bricks out is not planning.

WHNT Lightning Round with 15 second answers.

Johnson asked about Empty Storefronts: Battle said speed up roads, Spencer said investment, Reed said sprawl, Polemeni said mass transit.

Washington asked about Downtown Rescue Mission: Spencer said City Council, Reed said mistake, Polemeni said bridge over Pinhook, Battle said blaming City Council not right.

Brown asked about personal vote on Sales Tax Increase (Great Question!): Reed said TIF, Polemeni said he voted for but then noted bloated schools, Battle said don’t have to increase taxes, Spencer said TIFs and new retail.

In Closing Remarks, Mayor Spencer noted her 12 years of leadership and success. Battle said past is past, look to the future. Reed praised HSV leadership, but notes “hidden agendas”. Polemeni said he’s a “pragmatist”.

UPDATE:

Thanks to Pamela Furr of WVNN for asking the Crime question on her show tonight!!!

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This entry was posted by Reactionary on Tuesday, August 12th, 2008 at 11:23 am and is filed under Crime, Huntsville, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. Please note the copyright policy.