Editorial: Re-elect Ward to Gainesville City Commission
The Gainesville Sun editorial board
Next month's Gainesville City Commission elections will be one of the last times that they are held in March, thanks in part to one of the candidates running.
City Commissioner Harvey Ward long pushed for moving commission elections from the spring to the fall cycle, in order to increase voter turnout and lower costs.
It is among several "good government" reforms that Ward has supported. Currently he is advocating for the creation of an independent ethics review board, as a shield against corruption in city government.
Ward is now running for re-election in District 2, which covers parts of northwest Gainesville. David Walle, who works in commercial real estate, is running against him.
At a recent candidates' forum co-sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Alachua County and The Sun, Walle rightly raised aggressive panhandling, the city's over-reliance on the Gainesville Regional Utilities transfer and a lack of affordable housing as issues deserving of more attention from the commission.
But he was short on specific solutions. We are more confident in Ward's ability to address these and other issues due to his track record.
At the forum, Ward cited the preservation of 715 acres that is now Four Creeks Preserve as one of the biggest accomplishments during his tenure. He also noted that the commission approved up-to-date contracts for the first time in years with the police, fire and bus drivers unions during that time.
Ward grew up in Gainesville, attending Howard Bishop Middle and Eastside High schools. He formerly chaired the board of the Gainesville Community Redevelopment Agency, which has since been reconstituted with a goal of increasing spending in east Gainesville.
We hope those experiences cause him to continue to advocate for a renewed investment in east Gainesville, even though those neighborhoods fall outside his district.
His district does include the Pineridge neighborhood, where crime, substandard housing and a lack of access to services also are problems. Ward has worked with residents, landlords, law enforcement and others on a collaborative effort to address these problems, and hopes to expand the city's First Mile, Last Mile transit service to the area.
Many of the the 2,000-some city properties that remain on septic tanks also are located in District 2. Ward is rightfully pushing to move them to the GRU wastewater system in order to improve water quality, hopefully with the help of state funding.
Ward has voted against electric rate increases in the past two budgets, but we would like to see him more forcefully advocate for keeping rates in check.
Ward has been an advocate for using a variety of methods to increase the availability of affordable housing locally. We hope he will prioritize building the support needed to see several of these changes passed during a second term.
For these and other reasons, we endorse Ward in his re-election campaign. We encourage voters in District 2 to support him during mail-in voting that has already started, early voting that begins March 6 and on election day, March 17.