Tuesday, March 3, 2009

After a night of watch party mingling, it's time for candidates to get back to the campaign trail.

District 1 Council Member Lavonta Williams was appointed to her seat when Carl Brewer became mayor. She looks to make sure the community stays engaged as she fights to keep her spot on the council bench.

"We want to go forward with our completion of the streets. We want to go forward with new projects. We want to make sure we keep the community in touch with what's going on," said Williams.

Her opponent will be businessman James Barfield. He criticizes the council for giving too much money to private developers. He says he wants the city to get back to the basics.

"Which is good public service, smooth streets and adequate sewers. Just getting back to the basic services," said Barfield.

In District 6, two former park board members will face off. Janet Miller, a community volunteer and Taskforce to End Chronic Homelessness member, greets volunteers at her party. She says she wants to keep her message on the bright side.

"My message is always that Wichita is a fabulous city. We have so many good things happening in this city and I want to help us capitalize on those and help us keep moving forward," said Miller.

Supporters surround Bob Aldrich at his party. As he moves forward he has a long list of views he wants to share with voters starting with how to jumpstart Wichita's economy.

"We are facing very difficult times right now. The city is looking at possibly getting $27 million from the state through stimulus money and I think we need to use that wisely," said Aldrich.

The candidates now have five weeks to go until the April 7th general election.