Despite the SGA and the NAACP’s unsuccessful effort to host a forum for the city electoral candidates on the Sunday, the College Democrats and the College Republicans held its own forum Tuesday.
The forum, which served as an opportunity for students to address local political issues, attracted three mayoral and 10 city commissioner candidates. Candidates briefly discussed their plans for the city, which ranged from economic development to more minority businesses within the community.
Seat 2 commissioner John Paul Bailey, who is running for mayor, mentioned plans for a university park that will contain a research and technology center for students from FAMU, Florida State University and Tallahassee Community College.
“We want to get the universities involved in the research and technology fields so that we can bring hi-tech research companies here,” he said.
Another area of concern among some candidates was high rent and utility bills of Tallahassee students. Drew Postell, candidate for city commission seat 1, mentioned that students pay the highest rent in the city. Postell and Andrew Gillum, candidate for seat 2, seek to address these issues if elected to office.
Malcolm Glover, the president of the FAMU’s chapter of College Democrats and one of the organizers of the forum, said he was impressed with the vast candidate turnout.
“We publicized this event a lot,” said Glover, 20, a broadcast journalism student from Bouie, Md. “The student turnout was good, but I would have liked to see Perry Paige packed. I think that we (students) need to start supporting other student organizations more in their efforts and stay true to what we say.”
“Each one, bring one.”