With the April 3 election less than three weeks away, Jefferson City Council Ward 5 candidates spoke Wednesday about issues of importance, including downtown parking and affordable housing, during the Jefferson City News Tribune's candidate forum.
With the Section 8 housing waiting period growing and more people looking for affordable housing, Ward 5 candidate Jim Crabtree said there is a definite need in Jefferson City. He added since the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development is experiencing cuts, the city should look at income-specific housing.
Ward 5 candidate Ashley Jones-Kaufman concurred there is a need for more housing in the city and recommended the city analyze the current affordable housing options and speak with residents before discussing the solutions as a full council.
Ward 5 candidate Jon Hensley said going only through state and federal options would be difficult so the city needs to focus on working with private groups on the local level to help those in need get affordable housing and encouraging private landlords to offer affordable options.
As part of the affordable housing conversation, Hensely said the City Council needed to focus more on improving homelessness and poverty in Jefferson City, adding both impact households as well as the community and schools.
"The consequences of that trickle all the way through our system," he said. "The problem is evident in our community. Kids who walk by our house twice a day, who when you see them in school, they're also often not dressed for the weather, they're not eating right at home. They're also not reading at grade level, doing math at grade level, and oftentimes, it can create behavioral problems in the classroom, which impacts the rest of the learning environment. If we can find greater success with addressing those issues, the benefits would be numerous not just on the housing side but in our community and even in our schools."
Jones-Kaufman said she thought the city needs to pay more attention to distinguishing historic districts in Jefferson City, adding research shows designating historic districts can lead to more traffic and tourism. She said the city must loosen the requirements for local historic districts to make it easier for them to be established.
"We have a beautiful city - we're more than just a city between Kansas City and St. Louis," she said. "We are the capital, so making it easier to apply to have distinguished historic districts, I think, needs to be looked at further."
A city issue Crabtree thought deserves more attention is the downtown parking deficit since it hurts businesses and deters future growth. He said he would be in support of looking for a spot for another parking garage and suggested the city reach out to public and private entities to discuss other ways to expand parking.
"For businesses like Madison's (and Carrie's) Hallmark, when there isn't a place to park downtown and you can't find a parking space, you move on and you don't frequent that business," he said. "We're trying to entice people to locate downtown with businesses or loft apartments, and there's about 40,000 square feet of empty space in the downtown core and about 30 potential lofts that could be developed. But it's going to be difficult to bring those businesses in, those residents in if there's no place to park."
Hensley and Jones-Kaufman agreed there is an inadequate amount of parking downtown and it must be addressed, especially since renovations at the Capitol have limited parking even more.
Hensley said he did not want to construct a parking garage solely in response to the Capitol renovations. He instead encouraged promoting public transit.
Jones-Kaufman said she would like to promote alternative options like carpooling, ride-sharing and bicycling. She added not only would this help with the parking deficit but also promote healthy living.
The full 5th Ward council candidate forum is archived on the City of Jefferson YouTube page at https://youtu.be/QIqhM55yO1g?t=1m58s.