The two candidates went head-to-head in a broadcast debate last week, but if you're wondering where they stand on certain issues, check out the five quotes below.
Panhandling:
Hamilton:Â "I hate to have people not have their generous impulses - those are good, generous impulses. But maybe we could have a voucher or some way to give support to a panhandler to let them get food or drink, if you want, rather than cash."
Turnbull:Â "It's very easy, actually. Other communities have geographically restricted it. It's come under some legal challenges in some other communities, but there are other ways to deal with it, too. It's a lose-lose for everyone. There's nothing good that comes from panhandling."
Parking meters:
Hamilton: "I have said I would not have voted for the parking meters at the time, primarily because I think it's very important when putting a new policy in place like that...it's really important as a city to say, 'Here's what we're trying to accomplish. Here's the problem we're trying to fix. Here's how we're going to solve it, and here's how we're going to evaluate whether it's working or not.'"
Turnbull: "I am in favor of it at this point. I grew up near Ann Arbor. I do think their solution is a little bit better. That is, there weren't parking meters - there's numbers on the slots and you can actually pay remotely or at a central station. I think that's a good thing."
Urban sprawl:
Hamilton: "We have to work very closely with our county friends, and not even just our county but the regional connections we have. We need to make Bloomington a leader of this region and help the development plan be not just our city. I've never said, 'Stop building downtown.' I've said, 'Build the right things downtown.' ... We need to have a diversity of housing downtown."
Turnbull: "People want to be close to amenities. They want to be close to walkable places. It's the question of, 'How does the density look?'" There isn't anything more sustainable than putting people close to where they work or where they go to school. That's the most sustainable thing you can do. I would advocate more plazas."
Crows:
Hamilton: "It's not one of our most pressing issues, but it's one we can fix. The city of Indianapolis has dealt with this a number of years. They do spend about $100,000 or $150,000 a year, so it's not like you can snap your fingers to get them out...It's an issue we can fix. It does take collaboration between the private sector and the public sector, and we can get this done."
Turnbull: "It's not hard to solve. It's embarrassing there was no action on it, and it's also embarrassing that it's on the impetus of the retailers or somebody in the community that's a businessperson that has to bring the dialogue up. People have studied it all over the world. It's pretty darn easy: you make them feel uncomfortable. You can do that with - and you have to do it with a multi approach - strobe lighting, noise, effigies."
First priority as mayor:
Hamilton: "We have terrific large employers. We have terrific small businesses in our community, but we need to keep growing private sector jobs, and that's job No. 1. I care a lot about affordable housing, education and making government work well, but all that depends upon having a prosperous economy."
Turnbull: "The first thing I would do is assemble the most diverse, the most talented and the most impactful senior management team this town has ever seen. ... You have to assemble a staff of department heads that's very effective because those are the ones that you're going to interact with as citizens, as people of the community."
Still wondering about the mayoral candidates? Watch last week's debate for more.
