LR board hopefuls to debate

4 director races on tap Saturday

Little Rock Board of Directors candidates face off against one another Saturday in the first organized debate ahead of the Nov. 4 election.

The Coalition of Greater Little Rock Neighborhoods is hosting the candidate forum at 9:30 a.m. Saturday in the boardroom on the second floor of City Hall at 500 W. Markham St. The public is invited to attend. The segment will be recorded by city staff members and broadcast several times on the city's public access channel before early voting begins Oct. 20.

Kathy Wells, president of the coalition, said the audience will have an opportunity to submit questions and that candidates will get to question each other at the close of the event.

Four Little Rock races are contested: Wards 1, 2, 3 and 6. Mayor Mark Stodola and Wards 5 and 7 incumbents are unopposed. Other positions are not up for election.

The most contested seat this year is Ward 1, currently held by Erma Hendrix, 84, who has been the ward's representative since 2007. Running against her are Herbert Broadway, 55, owner of La'Changes Restaurant and Lounge; Robert Webb, 45, a self-employed carpenter; and Grayson Shelton, 30, a systems analyst at Little Rock Wastewater.

Broadway said there's "no specific reason" voters should vote for him and that he has no main issue to focus on yet, adding that his issues "will come from the public."

Webb said his focus would be on redeveloping Ward 1. The community needs to work on a redevelopment plan that should include building structures, rehabilitating vacant homes, providing funds to current residents whose homes are in need of repair and putting residents to work fixing the ward's infrastructures, he said.

"The great thing about redevelopment is we can attack a lot of issues by addressing that. We want to always try to be proactive," Webb said. "Until we get a plan for redevelopment, we'll always be reactionary."

Shelton said he'll bring progressive ideas to the board and that he thinks several residents are frustrated with the current leadership and want change.

"I think I represent a group of people coming back to the downtown area, a younger group that really wants to get involved and kind of feel like they are not getting represented like they want to be," Shelton said.

Hendrix said she has experience and knowledge over her challengers, pointing out that she earned a master's degree in urban development from St. Louis University. She hasn't decided if she'll participate in Saturday's forum.

"I'll keep focusing on changing the image of Ward 1 by the removal of blight [and] talking with particularly minority parents on the problems we are having with our young people," Hendrix said.

In the Ward 2 race, incumbent Ken Richardson, 48, is pitted against former state Rep. Pamela Adcock, 52, who recently served as the leader of the Southwest United for Progress neighborhood group. She is not related to Joan Adcock, an at-large city director who is not up for re-election this year.

The stay-at-home mom said she thinks too many structures in southwest Little Rock are being demolished and should instead be salvaged. She also wants to be on the board to make sure that Ward 2 is protected if the city has to make cuts in the promised allotment of sales-tax funds since revenue is coming in lower than projected.

"We have a lot of infrastructure needs. I'm willing to get in there and fight to keep what is rightfully ours," Pamela Adcock said.

Richardson, director of program services at New Futures for Youth, said he wants to continue focusing on public safety.

"One of the things I've recognized in my professional work is that crime and gangs are strongest where the sense of community is weakest, and I think that community building is one of the ways we can address urban safety," Richardson said.

Former state Rep. Kathy Webb, 64, is running against Geoffrey Yamauchi, 43, for the open Ward 3 seat. Incumbent Stacy Hurst is running for a seat in the state Legislature.

Webb serves as the executive director of Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance and sits on the city's airport commission. Yamauchi is the vice president of sales and marketing at Habibi's Durable Medical Equipment.

Webb said she'll focus on public safety, infrastructure, budgets, economic development and quality of life, particularly on removing the perception that Little Rock is a high-crime city.

"I think the voters will be able to look at me and look at the fact that I have a lot of experience in dealing with the issues I've mentioned. I have a lot of ideas because of homework I've done," Webb said.

Yamauchi described himself as a neighborhood guy who's interested in making the city better for its occupants. He was prompted to run for a board seat after dealings with the city left him unsatisfied. Once when his neighborhood offered to pay for speed-bump installation, Yamauchi said, city staff members told it they wouldn't allow it because traffic in the area didn't warrant speed bumps.

"I want to see a change. I don't want the same ol' faces doing this. Maybe someone from the business side can come up with a common-sensible way that maybe someone who has been in the system for so long has never thought of before. ... I'd like to apply that every-little-bit-helps mentality to the city," Yamauchi said.

Little Rock's Ward 6 race will see the Little Rock School District's auditor run against the vice mayor and incumbent, Doris Wright, 55.

The district's internal auditor, Sandy Becker, 53, said he has an interest in financial efficiency. Formerly the auditor and head of revenue collection for North Little Rock from 1990-99, the certified public accountant said he would focus on the city's budget and emphasize working with neighborhood groups. He serves as president of the city's Neighborhood Connection group.

Wright did not return several voice messages seeking comment for this article. She's been on the board since 2006.

Metro on 09/11/2014

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