City Elections March 14

City Elections March 14
Joe Courter
March 2000

The local elections for city commission and the presidential primary are on Tuesday, March 14th. I'll withhold advice or comment on the presidential aspirations, other than McCain would be bad, Bush much worse, Bradley seems to be flagging, and Gore is what's left (which is not very left).

City Commission races in Gainesville are two, the at-large race and the District One. At large has two notable candidates, Tom Fox and Warren Neilsen. Fox is much more the citizen candidate, without bit money but with a good grasp of the issues and good mind to process and deal with the myriad of issues a commissioner faces. Neilsen is a very enthusiastic devotee of sustainable development, new urban planning trends, has the endorsements, and has been involved in civic affairs for many years. The spirit of the underdog has us behind Fox though.

District One is a hard call, as no candidate really sticks out among the five candidates. Chuck Chestnut received the endorsement of the Central Labor Council and Dawn "Flip" Woody is the Gainesville Area National Organization for Women's pick. Scherwin Henry handled the two forums I was at with good answers and grasp of the issues, but he may be more conservative than he appears, based on where his support comes from.