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Become a fan of DFMCBloomington City Council District 5: Optimism vs. Pessimism
Before I start, I want to make it clear that I am speaking for myself, not for Democracy for Monroe County.
I was at the Democratic Women's Club Luncheon last Tuesday (April 17) to hear the Democratic candidates running in contested primary races (districts 3 and 5).
Two of the candidates running for District 5 projected important differences in their approach to the issue of poverty in Bloomington. Jack Baker said that he didn't that it is likely that we would be able to reduce poverty in Bloomington. All we could do is reduce the effects of poverty. This struck me as an awfully pessimistic point of view. I visited his web site to make sure that I didn't misunderstand him, but there it was on his Issues page under Community Programs the following statement: It is unlikely that we can reduce the amount of poverty but we can reduce the consequences.
Isabel Piedmont, on the other hand, took an optimistic, can-do approach. This is reflected on the issues page of her web site where she states in the section on Reducing Poverty: We have great social service agencies in Bloomington, but what we really must do is reduce the number of people who need these services. We need to stop poverty at its roots through improved education, job training, and an increase in the number of living-wage jobs.
This is why I am supporting Isabel for City Council. I only wish that I lived in the fifth district so I could actually vote for her.
- Chaim's blog
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Hi, Craig Harvey here, just
Hi, Craig Harvey here, just wanted to answer Chaim's question. Just so you all know I wasn't asked this question at the lunch.
Poverty is a complex problem that is caused as much by issues of self esteem as well as an uncaring community and in some cases just cause thats the way they want it. I don't believe that the uncaring community is evident here in Bloomington. So I believe that the best means we have in Bloomington is to find ways to match up a person in poverty with one of the many programs available. I also want to see groups like DFMC increase its grassroots efforts. One of the chief benefits of a grassroots outreach is identifying persons who will volunteer, maybe not just for a political purpose.
Clarification
Just as a point of clarification, I didn't ask any question to any of the candidates. My post was based on the remarks Isabel and Jack made to the attendees of the Democratic Women's Club Luncheon and the related information on their web sites. As I recall, Craig did not address the poverty issue in his remarks, nor does he on his web site. I'm glad to hear Craig's take on this important issue, and I think it would be good for him to add it to his web site. Having read his ideas, however, I'm sticking with my support for Isabel.