I want to thank everyone for coming out last night to the debate. I hope people were able to learn more about the candidates to inform their votes. Remember, you can vote for two candidates and I hope you vote for myself and Brian Buddell. The room was full with a few folks having to stand in the back. But if you weren't able to be there in person, a recording of the debate is available here:
https://ci.clayton.ca.us/city-clerk-department/city-council/live-streaming/09-24-18/
My take away from the debate was that there is a clear choice that voters have. With Mr. Shuey and Mr. Wolfe, voters can choose more of the status quo. I've previously gone into detail regarding why I think that is not the right direction for the city and will continue to do so in subsequent posts.
And while I do believe it is critically important for people to come together as a town and as neighbors, it's also important that people are able to have a view, find areas they agree on, and agree to disagree on areas where they don't. This is something that has been lacking among the Council and was reiterated last night. Mr. Shuey and other members of the Planning Commission believe erroneously that they are not able to state a position on key issues like whether they want to have a three story memory care facility take over our downtown. They say they must remain neutral, but then they do things like vote in favor to negotiate to sell the property and move forward with development.
I told Mr. Shuey last night that his belief that he must remain neutral is mistaken. This has been reinforced by various court cases which I will detail in a subsequent post. To be clear, if elected, I will always be open and forthright on my positions regarding the issues that matter to the residents of Clayton. We may not always agree, but the voters will know where I stand.
