MANSFIELD, Ohio – The Mansfield Noon Optimist Club hosted a debate between Mansfield’s mayoral candidates Wednesday during its weekly meeting at the Holiday Inn Conference Center on Park Ave. West.
Dr. Ron Abrams, who is a Democratic candidate, and incumbent Tim Theaker, a Republican, each had five minutes to lay out their platforms to club members. After the opening statements, the floor was opened for questions and debate.
Abrams, who is a former president of North Central State College and has more than 40 years of experience in the public sector, spoke first. He said his campaign is focused on four primary points: a vision for the city; growth in business, tax base, jobs, and education; having responsive leadership, and being Mansfield proud.
“Because of the proven track record that I bring with me, I can show evidence of accomplishments and progress as it relates to these four different points,” Abrams said.
He continued by adding that he was “tired of being accepting of the status quo.”
“I’d like us to get to the point that the best days of Mansfield are ahead of us – not behind us,” he said. “I hear far too often many feeling like the best days of Mansfield are behind us.”
Theaker’s opening touched on his roots in the city. Because he is a Mansfield native, Theaker said he has a vested interest in the city. He also explained that during his tenure, the city came out of fiscal emergency.
“That was a great accomplishment for my administration because we inherited a lot of frustration, problems, and issues in the city,” he said. “We worked to get those cleaned up.”
In addition, Theaker said unemployment has lowered, the budgeted number of police officers are higher, and the number of firefighters in the city have increased during his time in office.
Among the many topics addressed during the debate, the common questions were in regards to developing business and industry, the city’s appearance, and the drug epidemic.
“One of the things I’ve heard a lot from the people I’ve talked to, and I’ve heard it probably more than everything else I’ve heard combined, and that is how rundown and dilapidated this city looks – unkempt weeds and etc., Abrams said.
“The mayor talks about having torn down 375 buildings now, but what I struggle with is that I don’t see a plan about what’s going to get torn down and when and what the next use of that property is going to be.”
Razing those properties, according to Theaker, was necessary. He said when he campaigned for his last term, a prospective business visited Mansfield and left after seeing the “dilapidated areas.”
“That’s when we started tearing them down, cleaning them up – we have to do that,” Theaker said. “That is something that is happening because when that happens, then we can bring businesses to Mansfield.”
Abrams’ rebuttal was that more than $1.3 million of the city’s blight tax is earmarked for the parks and it doesn’t appear an investment has been made.
“I know this group, this club, one of your values and concerns is our youth,” Abrams said. “It struck me that we would be concerned about places where our youth have to go and play and be safe, and I just don’t see it happening.”
One Optimist Club member asked the candidates what they thought Mansfield’s biggest asset was and how each would capitalize on that asset if elected.
Abrams said Mansfield has a proud district, but he went a different direction in his response. According to the Democratic candidate, there isn’t much hope among the youth and there are two directions for them: those who can leave and those who can’t.
“I don’t think we do much to help them, I don’t think they have hope,” he said. “And if they don’t have hope, what are they doing? They’re drinking, taking drugs, and creating habits; and then they have to go out and rob people and steal things to support those habits.
“I think that the solution is to invest in our youth – because they’re the ones who will be paying our retirements – and if we don’t do something to break the cycle, I really struggle with how we’re going to save Mansfield, let alone make these the best days yet to come.”
In rebuttal, Theaker focused on the growing downtown area, using the Brickyard and the Final Friday events as an example.
“It started off several years ago with about 500 to 700 people, now you have anywhere from 3,000 to 5,000 people who attend that,” he said. “We need to look at growing the downtown even further because that is something that is an asset.”
He added that it needs to be easier for people to navigate and park in that area, which will bring in more people.
“There are people who own the (downtown) buildings, and they want to move people in, they want to have housing for these individuals, and they want to have people who live downtown, which I think is an excellent idea,” Theaker said.
On education, both Theaker and Abrams supported creating more opportunities for trade education to fill job needs in the area.
The candidates closed with their final thoughts, giving each an opportunity to solidify their points. Abrams again spoke on the need to provide hope to those who live in poverty or are unemployed.
“We’re not paying enough attention to the people who need to get out of those ruts, out of those cycles, so that they can become contributing members of our community,” he said. “It starts in our schools, it starts in our parks, and it starts in our homes.”
Theaker said when he took office, the city was “a total mess” and it took time to fix it.
“We now have the wheels on the car, and we’re going to start moving forward,” he said. “What we need to do now is to continue moving forward and go from here to make it a better place.”
The Mansfield Noon Optimist Club meets every Wednesday for lunch at the Holiday Inn Conference Center. Its goal, according to its website, is to develop optimism as a philosophy of life utilizing the tenets of the club’s creed; to promote an active interest in good government and civic affairs; to inspire respect for the law; to promote patriotism and work for international accord and friendship among all people; and to aid and encourage the development of youth, in the belief that the giving of one’s self in service to others will advance the well-being of humankind, community life and the world.
“We support Richland County, but most of the things are Mansfield based, so we thought we’d bring both candidates in to hear what their platforms are,” club president Richard Henson said of the organizing the debate.
More than 50 people were in attendance for the debate, which Henson said was about 10 to 15 more than usual meetings.
