Candidates Meet Again In Debate

At last night’s Forum for City Council Candidates—the third such event in the past two weeks—candidates answered questions on all the big issues of this year’s election ranging from traffic control to improving the quality of Cambridge schools.

Sponsored by the Cambridge Town Meeting Association (CTMA), the forum drew all the incumbent candidates except Mayor Anthony D. Gallucio, as well as eight of the 12 challengers.

So many Cambridge residents attended that a room partition in the Cambridge Senior Center had to come down to accomodate the crowd.

The state of Cambridge schools—which might turn out to be the biggest issue of this election—drew some debate, as candidates sparred over the extent of the council’s jurisdiction.

“There are some turf issues between what’s run by the school committee and what’s run by the city council,” said current Councillor Marjorie C. Decker.

Current School Committee Vice-Chair E. Denise Simmon—a candidate widely favored to win a council seat—disagreed.

“The city council has no decision-making authority [over schools]” Simmons said, adding that, if elected, she aims to bring the two decision-making bodies together more frequently.

“What happens right now is that the school committee and the city council only meet at budget time,” Simmons said.

On the subject of the recent rezoning of the City, challenger candidates questioned the decisions made by the current council with respect to traffic control.

“I think to some degree, the city’s lack of attention to [traffic control] has brought this problem upon us,” said challenger John Pitkin, who is regarded as a contender in the election although far from a sure thing.

Current councillors resolutely stood by the zoning enacted under their watch.

“It’s much more difficult to build something than it is to tear something down,” said Councillor David P. Maher, who as co-chair of the Ordinance Committee has worked on much of the recent zoning.

—Staff Writer Lauren R. Dorgan can be reached at dorgan@fas.harvad.edu.