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Date: 8/29/2023
SPRINGFIELD — Two contested City Council ward races — Wards 4 and 6 — will be seen on the Nov. 7 election ballot. To allow candidates an opportunity to share their thoughts and views for the city if elected, a debate took place on Aug. 22.
The event was hosted by Focus Springfield and sponsored by Western New England University.
The debate was moderated by G. Michael Dobbs and included a media panel — WNE Student Senate President Sean Alvord, Reminder Publishing Executive Editor Payton North, Jonah Snowden of The Republican and Elizabeth Roman of New England Public Media — that was responsible for asking the candidates questions.
The first debate was between incumbent Ward 6 Councilor Victor Davila and his two opponents, Shanequa Fryar and Humberto Caro.
Dobbs explained that there would be no opening or closing statements, but rather that the debate would focus on the positions and answers emphasized from the candidates. Each panelist would ask a question and then the candidate had one minute to answer it, repeating this for two rounds.
Dobbs began with the first question, asking candidates what they think the single most pressing challenge in their neighborhood is.
Fryar said the biggest issue she has heard and noticed are the blighted properties. “Blighted properties are a concern because they drive down property value, they drive down our neighborhood integrity and living in the Forest Park historic area — you know — we want to maintain the integrity of our historic district and one of the questions is how do we do that?”
Davila shared that the biggest concern he hears from residents is rising property taxes. With the increasing home values, property taxes continue to rise and is something that has been on his mind. Another concern he often hears is trash and litter throughout the city.
Caro said, “The most pressing issue [for me] right now is we need a community center in the area to deal with kids, the youth, bring some programs up to them [and] the elderly community as well.”
Caro agreed with Davila that property taxes have been an issue, however, he said, “Victor has been in City Council for the past four years, yet we still have raising property taxes.”
Alvord asked the candidates what strategies they would pursue to make housing more affordable for constituents, including students and young professionals, considering the rising costs of living in Springfield.
Caro said the city could fund some properties that are not being used and create dorms for college students, along with working on a tax exemption for the historic area.
Davila noted that people should first and foremost be paid a fair wage for a fair day’s work, as he said this has been a problem within the city’s neighborhoods.
Fryar said the deficit between someone’s income and someone’s rent or mortgage is “great.” A suggestion she had is to create funding or programs that the city is incentivizing for housing and other programs.
North’s question pertained to the issue of litter — particularly in the Forest Park area — that was previously mentioned by the candidates. In May, the Advisory Litter Committee shared a report that included ways to address the issue and Davila asked for help from state delegates on the upkeep of highways, on-ramps and off-ramps. She asked Davila to share the status of this and the other candidates to share what they would do to address this issue.
Davila said that the committee did follow up with the state delegation and they are fully in support of this effort. After meeting with representatives from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, the committee discovered that they were short staffed and they cannot cover the miles of highway that Springfield has. Davila said there will be a follow-up to this and assured that action is being taken. “I’m [going to] get that highway clean one way or the other — even if I have to go out myself with a broom, we’re [going to] get that clean,” he shared.
As the lack of employees is an issue, Fryar said this is an opportunity. “We could employ people to do this particular job to get rid of the litter [and] offer incentives to get the job done.”
Caro agreed with Fryar that it is an employment opportunity, but he believes the community and local organizations need to get involved. He added that the businesses should be held accountable as they are the ones who produce the most litter.
Snowden asked the three candidates what they would like to accomplish within their first 30 days of service. Fryar shared that she would like to accomplish building partnerships and relationships with other members of the City Council and within City Hall. Davila said he would continue to expand on the Advisory Litter Committee recommendations and continue implementing the fine system for illegal dumping in the city, particularly in Forest Park. Caro shared that he would reach out to the entire community and associations and create a liaison to bring the needs back to City Hall.
With the recent uptick in violence, Roman asked the candidates what feedback they have heard from the community and one solution they have to curb this issue.
Fryar said residents have expressed concern and want to see change. A suggestion she has for this is having a gun buyback program.
Davila noted that he has supported every request from the Police Department when they come before the City Council asking for more funding for special details and equipment critical to fighting crime. He added that there needs to be a continued approach of getting guns off the streets. Davila said the city also needs to be paying more attention to mental health and drugs.
As Caro has been visiting and knocking on doors, he said there is a lack of patrol, but with more of it, violence is preventive.
Ward 4
Abdul-Kareem Kibodya is running for Ward 4 City Council against incumbent Malo Brown. Brown did not attend the debate, so panelists asked Kibodya eight questions, to which he had a minute to respond.
Snowden asked about his experience working with U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Cambridge) and U.S. Rep. Richard Neal (D-Springfield), and how he plans to apply that in his role if elected. “I am the only candidate in this race that has experience working at every single level of government — starting in City Hall as well as Beacon Hill and Capitol Hill. That background has given me a deep understanding of how our system works and how policy and legislation can be used as a tool for empowerment, for oppression or just maintaining the status quo,” said Kibodya.
Referring to the empty chair next to him, Kibodya said the first thing is showing up — making sure that he is listening to the needs of the community and being responsive to those needs.
Roman asked a similar question as she did with the Ward 6 candidates regarding violence in the city.
“As a resident living in Springfield, the increase in violence is not only concerning but it’s also scary,” Kibodya said.
He shared that he has heard the shots at night and has seen the violence directly affecting the community. “I want to make sure that we are working to bring all stakeholders to the table to address these issues.”
He went on to say that common sense gun reform should be brought to the table, along with making sure community members are being connected before these crimes and issues are happening.
North referenced Kibodya’s candidate profile with Focus Springfield, particularly when he said that Ward 4 has not received the investment, resources or funding necessary for the community to resolve issues it has to build out, along with being disappointed in the rollout of American Rescue Plan Act funds. She asked if they could go back and redistribute those funds, where would he focus on placing that money to build the community back better.
“First and foremost, we need a grocery store in Mason Square. We need a full-service grocery store with high quality food. We need to make sure we are improving our transportation system [as] well as advocating for [East-West] Rail,” which he believes are economic drivers of change in the community.
Next, he said he wants to make sure they are addressing the economic needs of the community. “I am happy that many Black and brown businesses were able to receive funds from the ARPA dollars but that isn’t transformative change … That isn’t what we need in order to sustain us going forward,” Kibodya shared.
He said that ARPA was supposed to build back better, not only over the next one or two years, but over the next five, 10, 20 and 50 years for the city, and that is what he wants to focus on — what the city looks like moving forward.
To watch the full debate, visit Focus Springfield on YouTube, youtube.com/@FocusSpringfield.
The preliminary election for Ward 6 will take place on Sept. 12.