Arts & Events

Berkeley Mayor and Council Candidates Debate on Sundays

From Nigel Guest
Friday September 28, 2012 - 05:22:00 PM

The Berkeley Neighborhood Council (BNC) is a recent off-shoot of the long-established Council of Neighborhood Associations. They are inviting the Berkeley mayoral candidates to a debate at the Community Campaign Center, 1551 University Avenue on Sunday, September 30th, and Councilmember candidates at the same venue on October 7th. 

The plan is to ask the mayoral candidates to explain their positions on each of the ballot measures as well as the Downtown Area Plan, the amount that UC pays to the City annually, the City's overall financial health and the West Berkeley Project in its entirety. If time allows, questions would then be taken from the audience in attendance. BNC will make a table available for each candidate to participate in an open-house from noon until 5 pm, and would hold the formal debate from 2-4 pm. 

The Councilmember debate will follow a different format. Each candidate will be given 3 minutes to introduce themselves and state why they are running for a council seat. That will be followed by the question period and finally they will be given 2 minutes for a closing statement. It will start with District 2 at 2:00pm, then move on to District 3 at 2:50pm, and finally end with District 5 starting at 3:25pm. Each candidate for Councilmember has received a list of questions they may be asked. The first question is obligatory and requires a simple answer, and any one of the others may be asked by the person who is chairing the debate. The rest of the questions will come from the floor in written form. 

Any questions should be emailed to Nigel Guest at neighbors@sufb.org .