Gainesville mayoral and commission candidates gathered Wednesday night and discussed ways to improve biking, walking and commuting in Gainesville.
Current Gainesville mayor and mayoral candidate, Ed Braddy, was not present at the forum.
Chris Furlow, the president of Gainesville Citizens for Active Transportation, opened the discussion at 7 p.m. at the Santa Fe College Center for Innovation and Economic Development.
Among several topics, candidates focused mainly on safety issues.
Gainesville earned silver-star status from the League of American Bicyclists in 2004. Furlow questioned why the city fell short of a gold-star rating.
“We’ve made progress, but safety has a long way to go,” said District 4 candidate Adrian Hayes-Santos.
He proposed building a trail that would allow cyclists to pedal through all of Gainesville on bike-friendly roads.
Mayoral candidate Lauren Poe said Gainesville has a reputation of being unsafe for cyclists.
“Our goal shouldn’t be to get a gold star,” Poe said. “It should be to be a great bicycle city.”
District 4 candidate Jim Konish said high-rise development is the main barrier to all forms of active transportation, whether it be walking, biking or riding the bus.
“A lot of the zoning discussion has talked about building very tall buildings near low-density development,” he said. “Let’s face it: That is going to pinch off bicycling and walking altogether.”
Poe suggested an express bus route that could transport citizens to their jobs across town. He said the more people use active transportation, the safer the city will be.
Mayoral candidate Donald Shepherd Sr. said he’s the only candidate who would use the budget to deliver on the promise of safety.
“The money is there,” he said. “Projects that need to be getting done can get done.”
Within an hour after the event, GCAT announced its endorsement of Lauren Poe for mayor and Adrian Hayes-Santos for District 4 city commissioner.
Elections take place March 15.
