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Posted on Sat, Jun 19, 2010 : 2:46 p.m.

With a puppet moderating, Ypsilanti's mayoral candidates hold their first debate

By Tom Perkins

With the help of a puppet, the Ypsilanti mayoral race kicked into full gear Friday evening.

Mayor Paul Schreiber and his challenger, Council Member Pete Murdock, both Democrats, met for their first debate on the Dreamland Theater’s stage during “Dreamland Tonight,” a monthly puppet show hosted by local blogger Mark Maynard.

mayoral debate 1.jpg

Mayor Paul Schreiber, left, and Council Member Pete Murdock debate, with "puppet Mark Maynard" as the moderator.

Tom Perkins | For AnnArbor.com

Murdock and Schreiber were each given two minutes to respond to questions posed by the puppet version of Maynard, then 30 seconds for a rebuttal. Bizarre as the setting may have been, the two candidates, whose race will be decided in the August primary, seriously discussed the biggest issues facing Ypsilanti.

On the question of the Thompson Block, Murdock said the plan developer Stewart Beal presented to City Council did not provide an acceptable timeline for redeveloping the property or provide safeguards ensuring the project would go forward.

“My suspicions is they don’t have the resources to do anything, therefore delay is to their advantage,” he said.

Schreiber said safety was his primary concern, and he felt that the plan City Council voted down 4-3 leading to the litigation was acceptable.

“Anytime you go to court you never go know what’s going to happen,” he said.

When asked what they have done to move Water Street forward, Murdock and Schreiber both pointed to successes the city has had in securing grants to clear the property and ready it for development, but differed on how to attract that development.

Schreiber is a proponent of employing zoning changes developed by the planning commission. He contended that the council needs to provide city staff and developers with a vision of what it wants to see happen on the property.

“Council needs some control of what goes in there,” he said.

Murdock disagreed. He argued that the city needs a quick process for developers to get their projects built.

“Zoning, by its very nature, is restrictive,” he said.

Local musician Charlie Slick sang a question to the candidates. He asked how they proposed attracting young families to the city when the school district is closing down buildings.

Schreiber said he is part of the countywide Eastern Leaders Group, which is exploring how to specialize county schools so they are no longer competing with one another. Each would have their own niche to attract students to the county’s districts.

Murdock said maintaining city service levels is key to attracting young families, as is ensuring that the city keeps on top of fallout from high foreclosure rates.

“There’s nothing like an abandoned building in the neighborhood to start the decline of that neighborhood,” he said.

The puppet Maynard pointed out that 25 percent of Ypsilanti residents live in poverty and asked what the candidates could due to address the issue.

Schreiber said attracting small business to the city is essential to boosting the local economy.

“The fact that were having a renaissance downtown is a very good thing, and we need to keep promoting that,” he said.

Murdock said the city needs to focus on the declining industrial base that once provided a steady living for many residents.

“We need to encourage the education of the community and also create job situations for people that may not currently have those kinds of skills to make a decent wage,” he said.

Both candidates said the state’s funding issue is having a significant impact on the city's budget. Murdock said the City Council has so far been successful in staving off a crisis by trimming over $1 million from the budget without too deep of cuts to public safety.

mayoral debate 2.jpg

Puppet Mark Maynard

Schreiber said other municipalities are now in the position Ypsilanti has been in, and the city has been successful in communicating its situation to residents and state legislators.

“We have gotten good at having a tight fiscal budget,” he said.

Slick sang a song asking why the two candidates would want to be mayor during such tough economic times.

Murdock responded that the next four years will be challenging and he enjoys being part of the solution.

“The challenges are there and it’s rewarding to see the progress that’s made,’ he said.

Schreiber called helping the community through legislation “rewarding.”

“There are a lot of little things that you can do,” he said. “Sometimes you get complaints, but when you add it all up, it’s a great experience.”

The debate got a little lighter during the “lightning round” at the end. In it, the candidates had five seconds to respond to questions such as the best thing to happen to Ypsilanti in the last ten years, their worst mistake as mayor (Murdock served as mayor in the ‘80’s), and renaming Ypsilanti “East Ann Arbor.”

To the last question, Schreiber suggested “Ann Arbor-tucky,” while an audience member offered up “Waterville.”

The puppet Maynard then asked the candidates to look into each others’ eyes and say something nice about their opponent. Murdock said he appreciated that Schreiber is committed to serving the community.

Schreiber took it a step further.

“I love you, Pete,” he said.

Comments

Rasputin

Mon, Jul 12, 2010 : 10:55 a.m.

Thank you for the great story.

Patti Smith

Mon, Jun 21, 2010 : 12:30 p.m.

Awww, thanks Some Guy in 734! Right on. There are problems everywhere, of course but that wasn't the point of this article (neither was voting or not voting for Democrats, but I digress). I grew up in the stereotypical, boring, white bred, boring (did I say that already???) suburbs and something like this never would have happened. Be grateful that we have folks like this to make this corner of the world more interesting.

Some Guy in 734

Mon, Jun 21, 2010 : 8:35 a.m.

Angela--I won't presume to speak for Patti, because I know for a fact she can speak for herself, and well. But do note that she didn't say that there were no problems, because clearly there are. Anyone with successive copies of his property tax assessments could tell you that. According to the article, it does seem that both candidates were focusing on rebuilding Ypsi, by addressing poverty, small business, and development. Yes, a debate moderated by a puppet is kind of goofy. I'm sure anyone involved would agree on that point. But myself I'm less concerned about the means than the end. If this is what it takes to catch people's attention, that's great. If that attention, once caught, can translate into action, then I'm all for it.

jjc155

Sun, Jun 20, 2010 : 7:51 p.m.

A puppet moderator?????????? Seriously? I am now utterly suprised that Ypsilanti is even remotely close to the situation that it is in!!! (

eDWeiRD

Sun, Jun 20, 2010 : 10:56 a.m.

This is why I chose to buy my home in Ypsi!

angela

Sun, Jun 20, 2010 : 9:45 a.m.

Ypsi is in such great shape why not keep the Democrats in charge. I will never understand how a city can be in such turmoil yet still keep voting in the same party. Purhaps we should aim our focus on rebuilding Ypsi and less on puppet shows. They ladie who said there is some cool stuff must not live here, unless she thinks drug addicts homeless people and boarded up buildings are cool

AndyYpsilanti

Sun, Jun 20, 2010 : 9:31 a.m.

FYI, the last I heard the plan was to get this episode of Dreamland Tonight, or at least the part with the debate, up on community access tv as soon as possible, so everyone (wiht cable) will have the chance to see it.

Richard C

Sat, Jun 19, 2010 : 11:34 p.m.

The title of this article brought me here to read about some ridiculous staged debate and have a guffaw or two. The jokes on me. This is the kind of debate (or at least presentation) of the issues I wish I could see at the State and Federal levels too. A puppet moderated debate? With questions sung by the audience to the debators? Ha! Ha! The jokes on me! And I'm glad. Thank you all!

Patti Smith

Sat, Jun 19, 2010 : 9:20 p.m.

There is some cool stuff in this area...and this is one of the coolest!! :)

AndyYpsilanti

Sat, Jun 19, 2010 : 7:31 p.m.

I like that both Pete and Paul wore "Keep Ypsi Rolling" shirts. Nice to see that no one is using transit as a political football. Maybe we could get more people to watch debates if more were hosted by a puppet. Or Homer Simpson.