A forum for community members to meet Phoenix City Council candidates drew sparse community attendance at Cosecha Co-Op Thursday night.
The forum, put on by Tomorrow We Vote, consisted of speed dates with the candidates.
“This is not a typical forum,” said Brent Whiting, co-founder of Tomorrow We Vote. “We want to make sure that when someone says to meet the candidate, you actually literally meet the candidate.”
Whiting set up the process to allow community members to have one-on-one, ten-minute conversations with candidates from City Council Districts 5 and 8.
Candidates present from District 5 were current interim Councilwoman Vania Guevara, Audrey B. Jenkins, Betty Guardado and Lydia Hernandez. For District 8, Gilbert Arvizu, Carlos Garcia, Mike Johnson, Michael J. Langley, Lawrence Robinson, Camaron Stevenson, Warren Stewart Jr. and Onesimus Strachan were present.
Although mayoral candidates Kate Gallego and Daniel Valenzuela were not present at the forum, they both had representatives present to answer questions for the candidates.
Cosecha Co-Op is a community space where people can utilize resources that aren’t accessible for everyone, such as wi-fi.
“Tomorrow We Vote wanted a neutral space where they can invite every candidate that’s running for City Council Districts 5 and 8 and (the) mayoral candidates to come and have a real conversation with the community,” said Zulema Rodriguez, the founder of Cosecha.
Before the speed dating process, the candidates were allowed two minutes to introduce themselves to the community. After all the introductions were made, community members were allowed to approach candidates with their questions.
Audrey Bell-Jenkins, a District 5 candidate, believed the forum was a great way for community members to feel closer to candidates.
“I’ve never been to a setting like this before, but I welcome it,” she said. “You get the closeness and really hear what the community is asking. It’s not like we’re up on a stage far away and being asked questions by a panel.”
Only a handful of community members attended the event, with the rest of attendees being press or campaign staffers.
The community members that did attend asked questions pertaining to different community issues. Jason Zeikowitz arrived with questions for District 5 candidates concerning Arizona’s sustainability solutions, and Shana Tompa attended to meet the District 8 candidates to discuss education in Genesis City.
District 8 candidate Gilbert Arvizu said this forum was the first for candidates from districts 5 and 8 and the community hadn’t had an opportunity to interact with candidates in this way.
“It’s a great opportunity to come and meet the candidates,” he said. “That’s the best way to have that intimacy with one another so we can try and find solutions for problems in our community.”
Contact the reporter at smedwar7@asu.edu.
Sara Edwards was the executive editor of Downtown Devil. She is a graduate student at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Sara has additional bylines in Phoenix New Times, West Valley View, L.A. Downtown News and Boardwalk Times.
Sara is also the co-secretary for the Multicultural Student Journalists Coalition.
