Election forum at Mancini Bowl

Modesto voters can hear what the candidates for mayor and City Council have to say about solving homelessness, bringing well-paying jobs to the city and other vital issues Saturday at Mancini Bowl in Graceada Park.

The Latino Community Roundtable of Stanislaus County, Chamber of Commerce and King-Kennedy Memorial Center board of directors are putting on the candidate forum, which is from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

King-Kennedy board President Jeremiah Williams said the five candidates for mayor and eight running for three council seats are expected to attend. He said the candidates will make opening and closing statements and take questions from him and the two other moderators – chamber CEO Cecil Russell and roundtable President Maggie Mejia – as well as from the audience.

Williams said the three organizations are holding the event on Saturday to give voters who normally cannot attend forums held on weekday evenings a chance to see the candidates. He said an added bonus is all of the candidates will be on hand. Because Modesto elects council members by district, forums typically are limited to the candidates of a particular district. But Williams said it’s valuable for voters to see all the candidates because the council makes decisions that affect the entire city.

Besides picking a mayor and three council members, voters will decide the fate of two measures when they go to the polls Nov. 3 – a sales tax increase and an urban growth boundary.

Measure G is a half-cent general sales tax increase, which city officials say they intend to spend implementing Modesto’s Safer Neighborhoods Initiative. The initiative calls for spending nearly all of the tax increase on public safety, such as hiring more police officers, and the rest on other efforts to strengthen neighborhoods, such as dealing with blight and graffiti.

Critics say that because the measure is a general tax, there is no guarantee the city will spend the money as intended.

As a side note, the city has included a flier about the measure and the Safer Neighborhoods Initiative in utility bills. Some residents have complained that the flier crosses the line and the city is advocating the tax increase. The city is required to be neutral when it comes to the measure.

Bob Stern, former general counsel for the California Fair Political Practices Commission and former president of the Center on Governmental Studies, said the flier is clearly one-sided, but he did not see it as violating the law. He reviewed it at The Modesto Bee’s request. The flier can be viewed by going to www.modestogov.com and clicking on the Safer Neighborhoods Initiative link under the Spotlight header.

Measure I calls for placing an urban growth boundary around most of Modesto and requiring a citywide vote before development could happen beyond the boundary. Measure I’s leaders include farmland advocate and former Councilman Denny Jackman. The effort to put the measure on the ballot arose partly out of Wood Colony residents’ and their supporters’ frustration with the council’s decision to include the farming community west of Highway 99 in the city’s growth plans.

Jackman has said the boundary would protect prime farmland while allowing development in east Modesto along Claus Road, where the farmland is of lesser quality. Development along Claus would not require a citywide vote. The boundary also carves out more than 1,000 acres in north Modesto for development. A project there would not require a citywide vote unless it was a standard single-family subdivision. More information is available at www.stampoutsprawl.com.

Critics says Measure I will limit the city’s ability to attract jobs by not having more development along Highway 99.

This story was originally published September 23, 2015 at 11:43 AM with the headline "Election forum at Mancini Bowl."