Mesa mayoral candidates speak at MCC to answer questions from students and city residents
The Mesa Promise Program, city budget cuts and homelessness were among the topics discussed by the two primary mayoral candidates at a forum held at Mesa Community College on Wednesday.
The Associated Students of Mesa Community College put on the Your Mesa, Your Voice Mesa Mayoral Candidate Forum for city residents to hear from their future leaders and discuss issues that matter to the community college students, according to Ethan Hammons, executive vice president of ASMCC and organizer for the event.
Moderator Brian Dille, a political science professor at MCC, introduced the candidates after Hammon’s opening and a land acknowledgment from Miss Native MCC.
Both of the candidates at the forum were Republicans.
The candidates were Mark Freeman, a self-proclaimed bolo tie and cowboy hat-wearing former fireman and current District 1 city of Mesa council member, and Scott Smith, an MCC graduate and former mayor of Mesa from 2008 to 2014.
Dille started the discussion by asking the candidates their opinions on the Mesa College Promise Program and how they would expand opportunities for higher education for all residents.
Smith and Freeman agreed on the matter, saying that as mayor they both would keep the program alive because they believe in the importance of education, along with the benefits of the initiative.
“I believe that what the city is doing now, I applaud those efforts. I applaud the successes, and I would love to expand those and look for other innovative ways we can expand our cities involved in ensuring that all of our citizens have the opportunity to continue on to receive the certification, whatever level the degree, whatever level they can do,” Smith said.
“Mesa (College) Promise is a great program that enables more of our citizens to take advantage of that education,” added Smith.
Freeman followed up with his role as a councilman in expanding the program for adult learners to gain their college education this year.
“The Mesa College Promise Program started in 2021 with 88 first students that came here and that was with the mayor going out and getting contributions, philanthropic contributions to the programming, none of this done by general fund dollars, so I fully supported that,” Freeman explained.
“Today, I think there’s over 260 students participating in the college promise program and that’s phenomenal because that program has now extended to adult learners,” Freeman added.
Later when questions were opened up to the floor, The Legend asked the candidates to explain what they would do to help with MCC’s budget crisis, along with the financial plans they had for community colleges and education as a whole.
“You know, obviously as the city we don’t manage budget or issues with MCC because you have a board of directors, but as a city we do have to understand budgets as well as and we’re going to experience some budget cuts also,” Freeman responded.
“And so with that, we have to look at how we can manage that and appropriately keep education as one of the forefronts,” he continued.
Smith again had a similar response to Freeman.
“Community colleges and cities are all subject to the whims of the state legislature, a state legislature that for whatever reason has, I’ll be honest, despise the cities and have a lack of appreciation for higher education,” Smith said.
After the event, Freeman followed up with The Legend to clarify his response to the question and add on what he believes students should do to help with MCC’s budgeting specifically. Freeman said that he believes only the students will make a difference.
“What I would put together, what I’d call an advocacy group and go visit with your legislatures…So I do have pull, but they need to hear from you as well,” Freeman stated.
Smith reflected on the impact of student advocacy when ASMCC requested candidates to share how they would seek young perspectives in the government.
“The reality is, in anything in the community government, people aren’t going to invite you to be part of something. You’re going to have to show up. You’re gonna have to be the one that says, “I don’t care if I’m not, I want to be part of this,” Smith commented.
While the moderator was attempting to wrap up the event and ask for one more question, Justin Harris, a freshman at MCC, stood up and interrupted to say, “I’ll do it. Let me do it.”
Harris questioned the two men on what they would do to combat homelessness in the city of Mesa, as he believes it is a pressing issue.
“It’s just a topic that’s extremely important for every city across the United States,” Harris expressed after being asked about his question.
“When someone says, ‘I’m going to solve homelessness,’ no, that’s not life,” Smith commented. “The city is not a social agency, should not be a social agency, but whether we like it or not, the city is involved in the homeless situation every day,” he said.
Later in his three minutes, Smith said he expressed his thoughts that it would take “many” to help with the homeless issue in Mesa, not just the city.
However, Freeman took a different approach, explaining that the city programs, including ones he volunteered with, helped combat homelessness.
“I just served last week at Paz de Cristo and I think it’s important that we reach out and get people out of the cycle of homelessness and provide wrap-around services. And we can do that,” the candidate said.
Harris wasn’t the only student this subject was vital to. Patrice Suarez Garcia, another MCC freshman who attended the event said the homelessness topic was one she felt was important to discuss.
During the event affordable housing, housing availability, and post-pandemic challenges were also discussed, which attendees followed up on during the meet-and-greet portion of the event.
In the end, Executive Vice President Ethan Hammons was happy with the event and the estimated 80 or 90 people in attendance.
“I think it went great. We had a great discussion with our leaders today and I couldn’t be more proud in this event and how many students, how many faculty, how many community members showed up,” said Hammons.
Correction, 10/8/2024. This story was updated to reflect that both of the candidates at the forum were Republicans.
