Candidates Go Unchallenged at Dunedin Forum

For most of the evening Dunedin city candidates answered questions but their opponents were not given the same chance to respond Wednesday.

The candidate forum, sponsored by the Dunedin Chamber of Commerce and moderated by the League of Women Voters, drew a crowd of roughly 200 to the Hale Senior Activity Center.

All four candidates — Dave Eggers and Bob Hackworth for mayor and David Carson and Heather Gracy for Commission Seat 3 — were present.

Each delivered a prepared opening and closing statement, and responded to questions related to the contract with the Toronto Blue Jays (which expires in five years), their level of support for the Dunedin Fine Art Center and the Dunedin Historical Society and what challenges the city faces over the next few years.

After the first round of questions, candidates were given two minutes to respond individually to questions pulled from a bowl at random. The candidate's respective opponent was not given an opportunity to respond to the same questions.

Here is a glance at how the candidates responded to their individual questions:

Carson was asked questions relating to public safety and whether it was appropriate to give direction to city staff rather than the city manager, to which he said his only complaint was about Pinellas County Sheriff's Office deputies often appearing to sit in their patrol cars idly in parking lots, and that the city manager had always permitted an open door policy for his department heads, but he's open to whatever policy Rob DiSpirito wants to put in place. 

Gracy fielded questions on her vision for Dunedin's future development, to which she responded that developers should be sought after aggressively and that she'd rely on the city staff to make sure they follow zoning and building codes.

Eggers was asked how Dunedin should be developed without putting it at risk for losing its charm, to which he said the past few years have been dedicated to creating clarity in the city codes so as to preserve Dunedin's charm for when developers do decide to build in Dunedin.

Hackworth fielded questions about a potential domestic partnership registry and what kind of interference or guidance is necessary for the city's advisory committees, to which he promised to put Dunedin's lesbian and gay community issues on the agenda should he be elected and also criticized the appointment of Tom Anderson to the Board of Finance.

The forum is available for viewing in its entirety on Dunedin TV.