Anniston, AL Mayor Questions

By Nathan Young on July 31, 2012

Update: I plan on contacting all 11 mayor candidates on these questions below. People are confused on who to vote for and they need straight answers on who is the best candidate to serve the people of Anniston. If you do respond to the questions you will get a post on Geek Alabama with all of your answers. I hope all of the mayor candidates will respond to the questions below by August 21st. Thank You!

Today I am going to share with you all the seven questions I hope each mayor candidate will answer and participate on Geek Alabama. The City of Anniston is in big trouble. The troubles began when Fort McClellan closed down in 1999. Then the PCB pollution from Monsanto Company led to Anniston being called the “most toxic city in America” by 60 Minutes. Then the destruction of chemical weapons at the Anniston Army Depot was a hard time for Anniston but it’s now completed. Today the City of Anniston is still in the news but in a bad light. Crime in Anniston is way too high and it led the police chief saying Anniston has the “4th highest crime rate in the country for a city its size.” City government in Anniston has been a mockery as well. Three city councilmen have been arrested for various crimes; and with the fighting going on in city government this leads to nothing being done to move the city forward.

The Anniston City Schools are something that brings this city down. The kids are failing in school and eventually drop out. If anyone has the means too they send their kids to neighboring school districts. Some citizens living in Anniston (including me) have been unemployed for a very long time; and without change in Anniston no one will consider locating a business in Anniston. Speaking of business; with all of the problems in Anniston who would want to consider locating in downtown or along Quintard Ave? This region of Alabama has great people who wants to do great things to move Anniston and the region forward. But without dramatic changes in Anniston happening soon; the troubles in Anniston could harm and bring down the entire region! When someone considers our area they are going to look at Anniston a lot more than Oxford. And when they read all of the bad news that comes out of this area; I don’t blame them that they move on.

These seven questions I have made are things people in the area have been talking about. I hope you take the time to answer them. With 11 mayor candidates for the mayor seat in Anniston people are confused. They need clear answers so they can make the right choice at the ballot box. I hope the people in Anniston will vote in the right person for mayor and city council to move this city forward!

Seven questions for the mayor candidates of Anniston Alabama:

Ralph Bradford
Pollie Goodman
Mike James Contacted
Brant Locklier Contacted
John Norton
Roosevelt Parker
Curtis Ray
Gene Robinson (incumbent) Contacted
George Salmon Contacted
Vaughn Stewart Contacted
Ann Welch Contacted

1. With the extremely high crime rate in the City of Anniston. What are you willing to do to help lower crime in Anniston and to keep police from leaving Anniston?

2. What are your plans to help the Anniston City Schools from failing the kids? What are your plans to keep kids engaged outside of school?

3. What are your plans to clean up corruption in city government? What are you willing to do to make the departments inside city government-run more efficiently?

4. What are your plans to recruit new jobs and businesses into Anniston? What are your ideas to transform the downtown area into a place people would want to visit?

5. How do you plan to bring the people of Anniston together? What are your plans to keep people and neighboring communities engaged and working together?

6. There are talks of transforming Anniston into a eco-tourism hotspot. What are your plans to promote biking, hiking, and other outdoor activities in Anniston?

7. What are your plans to help improve infrastructure in Anniston? What will you do to our streets to make pedestrians, cyclists, and other people safe?

This where you can add any remarks and make a statement on why the citizens should vote for you on August 28th.