by Michael
Coffman
(Posted 3-13-03)
This year's city council election is very
competitive, with five candidates running for the
chance to represent Ward 2. Two of the candidates,
Jim Sellers and Susan Johnston, spoke to the Oklahoma
Gay and Lesbian Political Caucus as well as the
Central Oklahoma Stonewall Democrats. Another
candidate, Sam Bowman, also spoke to the Central
Oklahoma Stonewall Democrats. Although all three have
their own view of the priorities the city council
needs to address, each of them took the time to speak
to the GLBT Community about how their agendas will
benefit the Ward 2 area.
Jim Sellers and his
wife, Diana, have been Oklahoma City residents since
1985. Throughout his life he has had a series of
successful food service businesses, from small
restaurants to his current catering company. He also
runs the food service program at Oklahoma City
Community College. Though he has a vested interest in
small businesses, Sellers's main goal is to develop
tourism for Oklahoma City. He would like to see the
city revitalized so that businesses will feel
confident in investing in currently rundown parts of
town. As the businesses start to invest, Sellers
says, the city will start to clean itself up. Hotels
will move in. The city will look more pleasant,
drawing more money from tourism. However, as Sellers
points out, if the city fails to bring in the needed
revenue, like any other business, the city will fail
to grow. So in Sellers's view, tourism is best
channel through which to pursue growth.
Sam Bowman moved to
Oklahoma City in 1970. Since that time, he has been
involved with various pro public school efforts
designed to aid the public school system. Bowman says
that public schools, next to churches, are the city's
most important institutions. Along those lines, if
the public school system does not evolve, the city
itself will not evolve. Bowman would like to work
through MAPS for Kids to help develop a better
learning environment for the children of Oklahoma
City. Now that his children are grown, Bowman says,
he feels he can be heavily involved in revitalizing
public schools without focusing on his own children,
but rather on all the children of Oklahoma City.
Susan Johnston is a
lifelong resident of Oklahoma City. She and her
husband, Don, are the owners of an automotive repair
shop downtown. She is a 1976 graduate of Northeast
High School, and says that she learned many of her
life skills from her public school education. For the
past eighteen years, Johnston has been involved in
many civic organizations, including the Denniston
Park Neighborhood Association (President), Oklahoma
City Beautiful, the Jesus House (Board Member), and
the Oklahoma City Public Schools (Volunteer). In
addition, she has been watching the weekly city
council meetings since 1998, so she says she is
familiar with the proceedings and has a working
relationship with all current city council members.
Johnston mainly feels that the city needs to be
accountable with the citizens' tax dollars. In her
view, there are too many city ordinances that are not
consistently enforced throughout the city. Also, she
believes that if the city government would be more
aggressive in pursuing federal grant money, they
would not be forced to cut essential budgets such as
schools, police, and fire departments. Johnston says
that the cutting of such programs is also the cutting
of our quality of life.
There were several
questions asked of these three candidates at both the
OGLPC and Stonewall Democrats meetings. Something
that seemed to be an issue in both meetings was the
city's subsidizing of the Bass Pro Shop in Bricktown.
Sellers was in favor of the subsidy because, as he
says, Bricktown needs an anchor to attract business,
so that other businesses will have customers. Bowman
says that there is room for subsidizing business, but
the city should subsidize businesses equally, not
concentrate on just one business. Johnston, however,
felt that the people should have been allowed to
vote, since it is the people's money. She went on to
say that in her door-knocking campaign, she found
only one person who agreed with the city's decision
to subsidize Bass Pro Shop, and that one person was a
landowner in Bricktown.
There was also a
great concern over several declining neighborhoods in
Ward 2. Sellers says that he supports the realignment
of I-40 so that those who pass through the city will
not be forced to look at the rundown areas. This, he
says will lead to more tourism, which will lead to
more money, which can then be used to rebuild the
neighborhoods. Bowman says that redeveloping failing
neighborhoods is essential to the growth of the city.
Johnston cited much of her work in the local civic
organizations that coordinate workdays to pick up
litter around schools and the surrounding
neighborhoods. Also, she says that if the city would
enforce many of its ordinances, they would be able to
tear down unused and unusable buildings to make room
for new developments, which would add to the asthetic
appeal of the city.
More than anything
else, there was a great concern over how assertive
the candidates would be, if elected, in defending the
rights of the GLBT Community. One member of OGLPC
stated that, in the past, some of the candidates were
very supportive of The Community before being
elected, but backed down once they took office. Jim
Sellers says, "I am sorry, but I cannot keep my
mouth shut." Sam Bowman says that he always has,
and will continue to "stand up for the little
guy." Susan Johnston, whose campaign slogan
reads, "Your Voice at City Hall," says,
"We are all taxpayers. We all deserve to have
our voices heard, and right now it just does not
happen."
Voters will have a
difficult decision to make in this upcoming election.
With three phenomenal candidates running for office,
this election promises to be historic. The election
is on Tuesday, March 18th, and everyone who is able
to is encouraged to vote. There is likely to be a
runoff, given the number of candidates, but all of
the candidates were very vocal about every citizen
exercising his or her voice. "Regardless of who
you vote for," Johnston said, "please get
out and vote."
