There are three City Council seats on November's ballot, along with the Mayor's seat. I've heard of several people interested in the Mayor's seat, being vacated by Mayor Curtis, and a few for the City Wide District seat, currently held by David Sewell, who is standing for reelection. So far I haven't heard any interest in District 2. It is currently held by Kim Santiago and she has indicated that she isn't running again. I also haven't seen any announcements, other than my own, for District 5.
Two years ago, three of us filed to run for the District 5 seat. Within a couple of weeks, the two other candidates had withdrawn. Fortunately, a member of our community stepped up as a write-in candidate, so I wasn't unopposed for too long.
We need multiple good candidates to provide a real choice to our neighbors. As I said a couple years ago, "Having an opponent also gives the campaign a sense of urgency and brings it more sharply into focus...I believe that healthy discussion and debate leads to better ideas and broader and deeper understanding...and, in the end, a better representative will be elected, whoever that may be."
