Thanks to all who came to the debate last night

The debate is over. In the eyes of Ypsilanti Mayoral Debate Committee, the Ypsilanti Mayoral Debate is a success.

• Read the article in today’s Ann Arbor News.
• Audio from the debate is now available in high and low bit-rate mp3 form and also as a multi-part suitable for burning to an audio cd. Find it at Sam’s Thoughts.

YMDC wants people to know that it will continue to post questions received via email. The primary is fast approaching, and there are many questions that the candidates need to read and think about their answers and solutions to.

We’ve posted the questions that YMDC asked during the first part of last night’s debate. Notice, as well, that there are several questions we wanted to ask, but given our 60-minute time limit for the first part, we were unable to get to these.

Also posted on the blog are most of the questions submitted by audience members at the debate. Questions written by audience members and asked of the mayoral candidates are categorized separately from those questions we simply didn’t have time to get to, but both are included in the blog.

We knew Ypsi was packed with concerned citizens, but we on YMDC found ourselves commenting often on the concern, insight, and passion contained within the submitted questions, as well as in the comments. There is no apathy in Ypsi. We learned much over the past month as we prepared for the debate, but if we learned one thing above all else, it is that the city of Ypsilanti is even more than we believed (no small feat, given how many of us believed in Ypsilanti quite a bit before the YMDC began meeting).

As you may have noticed, www.ypsivotes.com is not “ypsivotes2006″ dot com. It is, rather, a site that will stick around, although its future utilization–as well as its actual domain name–is uncertain at this point. The community gathered much positive momentum from last night’s debate. It already had momentum, but when over 275 citizens pack a ballroom because they are concerned about their city, the message to the mayoral candidates needs to be clear: Candidates Take Note: the questions asked, the concerns raised, and the voices that you’ve heard will not go away once you take office.

Thank you,

YMDC

Going to the Debate Tonight?

Hello again,

YMDC would simply like to see, among those who visit the blog, by a show of comments to this post, who might be in attendance at tonight’s debate. No names necessary. Just a quick “I’ll be there” will suffice. Just for fun.

We’re hoping for a pretty good turnout, and we notice that there are quite a few people visiting the blog (there are many who will be in attendance who might not have much access to the blog, so this is a late-in-the-game straw poll of possible blog-reader debate attendees, if you will).

Therefore: (1) you’re reading the blog; (2) we assume because of this you care about your city; (3) we hope that this translates into attending tonight’s debate, from 7 to 9 p.m., in EMU’s McKenny Union.

Let others know, too. Bring friends and family. Let’s keep the citizen involvement in Ypsilanti and its future moving forward.

Remember, post a comment here. Even if you’re not much of a commenter, a simple three-word comment in this space is all we ask.

Thanks,
YMDC

48 Hours Until Debate

Hello,

Those of us on the committee planning the debate just wanted to thank all of you who are contributing these great questions. If there were a way, we’d ask them all on Thursday night. Unfortunately, the hour that we have allotted for the first part of the mayoral debate won’t make it possible for us to ask more than a dozen or so. (The first hour will be dedicated to these presubmitted questions. The following half hour will be dedicated to questions from the audience, as they are submitted on cards. The final half hour of the event has been set aside for those running for City Council and County Commissioner to introduce themselves.)

The good news, however, is that this site will not come down after the debate. We’re going to keep it up, and we’re going to keep accepting questions. What’s more, we’ll ask all three of our mayoral candidates to come to the site and leave their comments. Our hope is that they join us here and join in on the conversation.

Again, your participation is greatly appreciated. The questions are great, and our job of choosing which ones get asked is not going to be easy. Hopefully, however, we’ll be able to select ones that accurately reflect the concerns of the community, across all demographics.

- YMDC

Less than a week to go…

YMDC posts the questions in the order in which they are emailed to us. Regarding posts from drop boxes around the city, we collect them as we have time (we’re an all-volunteer organization!). Please continue to visit the blog, because we have plans to get more questions from the drop boxes around town up on the blog by the end of the weekend – if not then, for sure by next Monday or Tuesday.

A few other things:

- Those of us on the YMDC encourage all visitors to the blog who have concerns about any of the issues to please comment on that question. We want to hear from all visitors. While we know that some visitors have more to say than others, what every citizen in Ypsi has to say about these questions is valid and important. In fact, as the YMDC considers which questions to choose for the debate, we will be taking the comments on questions into account, as well.

- We’ve said it before, but it doesn’t hurt to chuck it onto yet another post: While YMDC hopes for questions that can be posed to all three candidates, and while these will be the kinds of questions asked at the debate, we realize that there are significant questions that need to be asked of each candidate. YMDC does not plan to remove those questions from the list of questions we receive. Where we draw the line, however, is with clearly confrontational, accusatory statements. The committee reserves the right not to post such items.

Thanks for all of your participation in making this debate a success! We’re excited.

YMDC

Welcome to the Blog

The YMDC will post your submitted mayoral debate questions on this blog.

About the Ypsilanti Mayoral Debate:
Eastern Michigan University’s McKenny Union hosts the debate on Thursday, July 27, 2006. The event starts promptly at 7 p.m. will run until 9 p.m.

The first 60 minutes of the debate will be devoted to candidate answers to questions submitted to the YMDC. Ypsilanti city residents and interested parties are encouraged to submit questions.

The debate’s next 30 minutes will contain questions submitted in writing at the event itself.

For the final 30 minutes there will be two-minute addresses by candidates running for other city races (city council and county commission).

Questions that concern ward-specific issues will be chosen as will issues concerning the City in general.

A sampling of debate questions received will be posted through this website in a blog format. We welcome your comments on the questions. The YMDC will not inform the candidates of the actual questions to be used in the debate, however.

Each candidate will be asked to answer all questions asked, and will be given a maximum of three minutes to respond to each question. The moderator is given the authority to keep time and to gently inform candidates when their answer-time has expired.