| Author | Message | ||
| Jane Robinson |
The United Block Clubs of Highland Park is sponsoring two Candidates Night: one before the Primary Election and the other before the General Election. All citizens are invited to come and we would appreciate it if the block clubs would help us spread the word. All candidates running for public office have received invitations to participate. They will all be given an opportunity to address the citizens. There will be a question-and-answer period following their speeches. Candidates may also place their campaign literature on the tables for citizens to take and read. Candidates Night: Primary Election is Tuesday, September 2, 2003. Candidates Night: General Election is Thursday, October 23, 2003. Both events will be held at from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at Park United Presbyterian Church. The church is located at 14 Cortland Street at Woodward Avenue. The entrance is on Woodward. UBCHP is strict on time. We will begin promptly at 6:00 and end at the stated time. As many of you already know, UBCHP is a grass-roots organization which is non-political and non-partisan. It endorses no candidates and takes no stand on any proposal. UBCHP sponsors these candidates night as we did in June for those running for seats on the Highland Park School Board. It is a chance to hear directly from the candidates themselves. Highland Park needs an informed citizenry so UBCHP applauds the efforts of others also to let the candidates be heard. We urge all citizens to attend all of these events including ours: to listen and see in order to better decide who gets your vote. Citizens who vote for a winning candidate have a right to demand that candidate address their legitimate needs once in office. Citizens who do not vote can demand little or nothing at all. UBCHP is having difficult locating helpers for our candidates night. We need a few people to arrive early at 5:30 p.m.. We need to a few volunteers to arrange the tables and chairs for the candidate (and to palce them back when the event is over). We need others to and to circulate as Hosts and Hostesses to seat people and to pass out cards and pencils for them to write down their questions: to pick up the questions and take them to the moderator. We have red, white and blue hats for them to wear. People are so excited by Candidates Night that they don't want to volunteer fearing they will miss something. Understandable. Perhaps we should involved our youth. Perhaps some of you have 14 through 17 year-olds who would be willing to volunteer. This would be a good civic lesson in participatory democracy. Who knows - one of them might run for mayor of Highland Park one day, excited by participation in this very event. You never know. Please contact me at 865-4129 to volunteer. Many thanks. And, thank goodness for this beautiful website! | ||
| tracie armstead |
For those of you who attended the candidate's night last night, I would be interested in reading your thoughts. I personally was very disappointed as to how the forum was conducted. Many candidates were late arriving and some even left early. I did not like the fact that questions were not separated for City Council Candidates and Candidates for Mayor. These are two distinct jobs and should have questions designed for each job. Apparently the questions that were asked came from citizens. Where any of you contacted ? If so, what was the process? I also noticed that candidates were allowed to pick which questions they wanted to respond to. How can citizens learn about candiates if they can pick and choose. I understand everyone will not be diverse enough to speak on every topic but this is where each character's education, life learning experiences etc. come into play. I in no means am downing the United Block Club, I think they did a good job I just think minor tweaking is necessary for the next candidate's night. |
