‘Pat’s or Geno’s’ and other important questions from the mayoral debate

On Monday, Oct. 19, shots were fired, shade was thrown and policy was debated at the Temple Performing Arts Center. A small crowd filled up about half of the intimate venue located in the middle of campus.

Mayoral candidates Jim Kenney (D) and Melissa Murray Bailey (R) fielded questions from two moderating staff members of the Philadelphia Inquirer and challenged each other for about an hour and a half.

Issues such as the city’s struggling infrastructure and an underfunded public pension program that is $5 billion in debt were center pieces of the debate. Both candidates acknowledged the problems facing the city, but approached them in different ways.

Bailey stood for reform and direct action toward the pensions, suggesting to change the age of retirement and suspend some of it’s current funding. Meanwhile, Kenney believed that the public workers deserved to get the money that was initially promised to them before any reforms were made.

Both candidates laid out their visions for their city. Kenney, a member of Philadelphia’s city council since 1991, wanted to build on Philadelphia’s port and use the area by the water to establish Philadelphia as a trade city. Bailey, who has lived in the city for roughly three years, sought to help develop businesses in the city’s struggling neighborhoods, pipelining college students into the work force, and attract companies to do more business in Philadelphia.

Sophomore Hannah McComsey appreciated that the candidates had college students in mind.

“It was important that the candidates were recognizing college students,” she said. “They said they will fight to get us adequate jobs after graduation, because that is a big struggle right now.”

When asked about his opponent’s bold plans for the city, the councilman said, “I’m here to talk about things that are doable; I’m not going to critique any other candidate.”

“I thought it was interesting how the two candidates refrained from being too critical of each other . At one point they outright refused to critique the other’s proposals. I think this spoke a lot to their character,” said Paige Hill, a sophomore at Temple.

Both candidates were asked about the upcoming presidential election. Neither Philadelphian chose to endorse a presidential candidate. Bailey, who has been a Republican for less than a year, complimented her party on it’s diverse candidates, in terms of race, gender and background. Kenney complimented front runners Hilary Clinton and Bernie Sanders on their campaigns so far.

In classic Philadelphian manner, the question of Pat’s vs. Geno’s was asked in a humorous manner and the debate ended promptly ten minutes before kickoff of Monday Night Football between the hometown Eagles and the rival Giants.