The Contra Costa Times have put up their video of the Brentwood City Council candidates forum and it gave some nice insight on the options Brentwood residents have this November. Gene Clare in my opinion had the best showing while Erick Stonebarger gets the nod for the two spot.
Its a shame that the Times decided not to endorse Clare who clearly has ideas while they instead endorsed both Erick Stonebarger and Robert Brockman–as I wrote last week, the Times editorial board failed to do any research or look at history as part of their decision. If Brentwood starts paying attention to the history and Brentwood’s upcoming budget problem, Carissa Pillow could be a sleeper in this race.
Here is a very brief recap of the 30-minute video.
Is law enforcement the appropriate top priority for the city and why and why not. What other areas are in need of some investment.
In fairness, this question was a softball for Brockman and Stonebarger because they had all the facts. Clare answered nicely while Pillows and Becnel clearly struggled to come up with a solid answer.
How should the city improve North Brentwood in blight and upgrades without re-development?
None of the candidates really answered how the City should improve Brentwood. It was a lot of explaining what needs to happen with developers fronting the money. I was somewhat taken back by Ms. Pillow answer when she stated the following:
“Well you know I know where I spend my money and the fact of the matter is a large number of our demographic looks like me. I go and I look for quality items and I don’t think you are going to find that quality in certain big box stores,” said Pillow.
While she was clearly talking about Walmart, it would have helped her cause if she had named it by name rather than coming off sounding somewhat of an elitist.
Stonebarger admitted Brentwood missed the boat, but is in favor of doing a priority list and creating incentives.
Fire Services: If elected, what would your strategy be to get a sustainable long-term plan in your area.
- Pillow: Need a “fresh group of people on fireboard”. Re-drive campaign for a tax at a lower rate and take a look at pension reform.
- Becnel: Funding is fatally flawed.
- Stonebarger: I support Prop 13, but there was a fatal flaw in not allowing adjustments.
Forum Scorecard:
Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Closing | |
| Clare | 3 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Brockman | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| Pillow | 1 | 2 | 4 | 4 |
| Becnel | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Stonebarger | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 |
Totals
- Clare – 18
- Stonebarger- 15
- Brockman – 11
- Pillow – 11
- Becnel – 5
You can view the video yourself at the Contra Costa Times. It’s about 30 minutes long.
5 comments
How you have Stonebarger at 2 is crazy. He did not impress me much and certainly has failed Brentwood along with Brockman. Becnel looked arrogant in the video.
Some biased towards Clare is obvious. I thought Carissa Pillow did fine, she has my vote. I think all the candidates came off poorly.
Anyone who builds a fortress downtown at that cost should be voted out. Stonebarger did vote no, but he also was not persuasive enough to encourage others to vote no. He needs to go!
It was painful to watch Becnel and Pillow. Pillow is out of her league and Becnel is a joke. If Stonebarger was a little more mature and not so arrogant he would be a stronger candidate, but he lost my support a long time ago. This is almost as bad as the Mayors race.
Should we flip a coin to see who has worse candidates? Oakley, Brentwood, or Antioch?
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