Forum sponsored by Times, AAUW gives attendees closer look at
city council candidates
Morgan Hill – More than 80 Morgan Hill residents gathered Monday evening to get a better look at the candidates running for mayor and city council during a forum sponsored by the Morgan Hill Times and the American Association of University Women.
Inside City Hall’s council chambers, the candidates answered questions from the audience, presented to them by moderator and former Times reporter Carol Holzgrafe.
Sitting at the dais in clockwise order were Christopher Borello, Al Tervalon, Marby Lee, Alex Kennett, incumbent Greg Seller and mayoral candidates Dennis Delisle and Steve Tate.
“Tell us about yourself, your vision of Morgan Hill and why voters should elect you,” Holzgrafe asked.
In two minutes, the candidates gave their rehearsed responses.
Then Holzgrafe asked the mayoral candidates to give the audience their view of the mayor’s job, how much time does it take and how different it is from being a council member?
“Our words sound the same, but our philosophies are different,” Delisle, 58, said. “I want a new direction.”
Tate, 62, said he thinks Morgan Hill is generally on the right track after a roller-coaster eight years on the city council that saw tremendous financial gains for the city’s coffers and followed by the collapse of the dotcom bubble.
“We’re going in a positive direction. There are no wholesale areas that need to change,” Tate said, adding his two terms both on the council and on the planning commission give him the edge over Delisle, a longtime local businessman in the accounting field.
The candidates were also asked their thoughts on the Redevelopment Agency’s life and possible extension, how should RDA money be used and which facilities should be built with the funds.
Other questions queried the candidates on growth control, residential growth downtown, eminent domain, city finances, city services, San Jose’s proposed urban development of Coyote Valley and business development.
Each of the candidates seemed weary about proposed use of eminent domain in the city’s redevelopment agency, with Tate denying suggestions by Lee that he previously supported the idea at council meetings.
But both Sellers and Tate said working with property owners can be a daunting challenge in redevelopment.
Borello suggested using zoning to make under-used properties more valuable, thus making owners more likely to sell.
Each of the candidates said Morgan Hill should have a more vibrant downtown filled with shoppers and new residents. But some of them also saw potential problems with the expedited mixed-use development of 100 extra units that Measure F would allow downtown if passed by voters in the upcoming election.
“My only concern is, where are we going to put the 100 units?” said Lee, a freelance graphic designer who’s competing for her first city council seat. “We are going to need more parking. We need to be very careful in planning it.”
Kennett, also competing for his first city council seat, said he wants downtown to be a local version of Santana Row, the popular shopping attraction in San Jose designed like a Tuscan village.
About 30 Live Oak students attended the forum as part of their civics class requirement.
Senior Rachel Biagi, 17, thought the forum was interesting because it allowed her to see how the candidates “interpret” Morgan Hill issues.
Live Oak student Dustin Toto, 18, however, said the forum was boring because most of the candidates avoided controversial topics and “there’s not much of a choice” in the mayor’s race.
