How can you tell if someone running for local office will do a good job? How can you ensure that he or she will improve your town's economy—and not get your community further into debt? How can you figure out whether this candidate for mayor or city council is going to uphold Strong Towns principles and take a thoughtful, incremental approach to your community's problems?
Below, we've put together a list of 10 questions you can pose to someone running for office in your town to see whether he or she is worthy of your vote. You could raise these questions in a public forum, at a personal meeting, or even informally, if you happen to run into the candidate at the grocery store.
1. Do you think our main street/downtown is healthy and successful? If not, what would you do to change that?
What To Listen For: First ask yourself what you think could be improved about your main street. Is it safe to walk there? Are businesses thriving? Do people spend time there? If so, then this might be an easy question for your candidate to answer. If not, then think about the small steps that could be taken to make Main Street safer: narrowing lanes of traffic, installing benches, planting trees, hosting pop-up shops in empty storefronts to encourage business activity, etc. Does the candidate mention these sorts of initiatives and understand the importance of a healthy downtown, or does he/she just talk about moving traffic or increasing parking?
2. What’s more important for our city right now: building new homes and commercial space or rehabbing/expanding/better utilizing our existing homes and storefronts?
What To Listen For: Depending on what sort of community you live in, you probably have a sense of whether your town has vacancies and endless subdivisions on the edge of town, or whether you truly have a housing shortage. But even if you are one of the rare cities that falls in the latter category, you likely still have plenty of underutilized properties that could be renovated or expanded to accommodate more people and businesses. Your candidate should respond with a balanced perspective that focuses on the need to better utilize existing buildings and only build when truly necessary with an eye toward adaptability and keeping costs down.
3. How do you feel about the transportation options currently available in our city? Can all of our residents affordably get where they need to go? If not, what will you do to improve transportation in our city?
What To Listen For: Keep an ear out for a candidate who understands the real cost of car dependency. They shouldn't just give lip service to other transportation options, but actually demonstrate a familiarity with the issues facing bus riders, cyclists, and pedestrians. Also note whether the candidate advocates for an incremental approach to improving transportation options (thumbs up) or advocates for top-down megaprojects (thumbs down).
4. Some people in our community say that we have traffic problems. What do you think? How would you mitigate those concerns or change the situation?
What To Listen For: Chances are, you don’t actually have traffic problems. In fact, congestion is often a good thing because it means more people passing by local businesses. Check out this article on the causes of congestion for more info. If your candidate starts suggesting things like adding lanes and building new roads, that's a major red flag. Concerns about traffic should be redirected toward making neighborhoods more walkable, putting businesses and homes in close proximity and other tactics to create “complete neighborhoods” that don’t require a ton of driving.
5. If you could change one thing in our zoning code, what would it be and why?
What To Listen For: Your candidate should demonstrate an awareness that greater zoning flexibility will allow for profitable development, business success and a broadened tax base. They might propose removing parking minimums or legalizing the next increment of development for single-family homes.
