And they’re off ‘n runnin’! (15)

(15th in a series of posts on City Government)

Gadfly got a chance to hear some of the candidates for City Council last night making brief 2-minute presentations at the Bethlehem City Democratic Committee meeting.

We hope we will be hearing more from them on the pages of Gadfly as they make their cases.

Gadfly goal: we want to be the most informed voters that we can be!

Running for City Council that we know of so far are:

Incumbent J. William (Willie!) Reynolds (’08)

https://thebethlehemgadfly.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/bcdc-011419-reynolds.mp3?_=1

Running for his 4^th term, JWR thanked everybody at BCDC for their great organizational work and pointed to his Climate Action Plan, Northside 2027, and Open Data initiatives. His campaign kick-off is Feb 21, 5:30-7:30 at the Brew Works – “All Democrats are invited!”

Incumbent Paige Van Wirt (’18)

https://thebethlehemgadfly.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/bcdc-011419-van-wirt.mp3?_=2

PVW pointed to the fresh new energy and perspective she has brought to Council, emphasizing accountability and transparency, and ethics reform as her focus for the upcoming year. She too thanked the BCDC, indicated that she learned a lot from JWR, recounted a collegial atmosphere on Council, and sought a voice of challenge and a voice of concern in new candidates.

New candidate Grace Crampsie Smith

https://thebethlehemgadfly.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/bcdc-011419-crampsie-smith.mp3?_=3

GCS comes from a public service background and pointed to current family members in political positions. Her focus is on socially responsible economic development and her strength advocating for all citizens. Gadfly will be publishing her press release soon.

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Incumbent Michael Colon was ill and did not attend.

Basilio Bonilla is also running, and he will speak at the next BCDC meeting.