Colorado Springs City council and mayoral candidates talk to voters at public forum

The upcoming municipal election for Colorado Springs is now just about a month away with three seats open on the city council and Mayor John Suthers seeking to hold onto his seat. A forum was held Thursday night where the candidates got a chance to talk about some of the issues.

All four candidates four mayor and all 11 candidates for city council took the stage to convince voters why they should be elected. The candidates were asked a variety of questions but they mostly centered around two issues; marijuana and homelessness.

For the mayoral candidates, three agreed that marijuana has brought problems to the springs. Current mayor John Suthers said, “The vast majority of Colorado Springs has turned against recreational marijuana.” Mayoral candidate Juliette Parker said, “It’s very important that things like that stay out of the hands and bodies of our minors.” And John Pitchford said, “We have made a serious mistake when marijuana was legalized.” Lawrence Martinez was the only candidate who said recreational shops should open so the tax money could be used.

As for city council candidates, they were more split on the issue. Current councilmember Tom Strand said, “Marijuana the availability of it with young people ruins lives.” Former councilmember Val Snider who is running again said, “It should not be sold here within the city limits from the retail side.” However, others said the tax revenue could help if approved by voters. Incumbent Bill Murray said, “the taxes that could come in could be used for educational purposes.” Another candidate Dennis Spiker says it could fund our parks and police officers.

As for homelessness, everyone was pretty much on the same page.
Randy Tuck speaking for most of the folks on stage said, “They just like living outside, it doesn’t bother them. At the same time, they are still breaking the law when they move to areas they are not supposed to move into so we have to figure a way around that cause it’s costing us thousands and thousands of dollars to clean up after them.”

If you want to see what each of the 15 candidates had to say at the forum, click here.

Or watch below.