Archives
Page 201/202
Need to know who’s running and why? We’ve got Harrisonburg’s ultimate voter guide for the Nov. 6 election
Harrisonburg voters will be selected candidates on Nov. 6 for four offices: a U.S. Senate seat, the 6th Congressional District seat, two city council positions and three school board members.
The Citizen is publishing the Harrisonburg community voter guide produced by the James Madison Center for Civic Engagement and the students in JMU Professor Andreas Broscheid’s honors political science class, who developed the questions for the candidates and compiled all the answers.
Advertisement
Hburg council candidates reveal differences over priorities, ‘unpopular’ decisions and even scooters
As the five city council candidates wrapped up a wide-ranging forum Tuesday that veered from scooters and golf courses to schools and I-81, they had to answer one last doozy: What’s an unpopular decision that must be made for Harrisonburg?
The divergent answers to the final question revealed the competing philosophies and approaches of the five, who are vying in the Nov. 6 election for two spots on the council.
Advertisement
Changing approach to jails can save money and improve lives, residents and activists say
As a crowd gathered on the corner of High and Market Streets Monday evening, Jennifer Davis Sensenig, president of Faith in Action, urged the more than 80 people to march and make their case for local justice reform.
“We’re coming in force because we think the [CCJB] has the power to make local changes,” Sensenig said. The crowd responded with cheers.
Advertisement
Citizen groups to ask local government to hire a ‘justice planner’
Community members seeking criminal justice reform are asking the city to create a new government position: Community Justice Planner. The Community Justice Planner would be a government official whose job it is to gather data and give elected officials informed advice on how to improve the way the criminal justice system works.
Advertisement
After Planning Commission vote, updated Comprehensive Plan on the home stretch
Late Wednesday night, Harrisonburg’s Planning Commission voted to recommend the updated version of the city’s Comprehensive Plan to the City Council. The Commission’s unanimous vote signaled the penultimate stage in a process that has been nearly two and a half years in the making.
Advertisement
Council candidates try to connect with JMU students
The five city council candidates tried Wednesday evening to appeal to bloc of potential voters that often eludes them—especially in midterm election years. But even the students who showed up to the Traveling Town Hall stop at JMU’s Grace Street Apartments weren’t exactly sure, at least at first, how the city council affects them.
Phillip Wong, a junior psychology major, was one of the few students to ask any questions of the council candidates: Democrats Chris Jones and Sal Romero Jr. and independents Carolyn Frank, Frank McMillan and Paloma Saucedo. The five are vying for two spots on the council.
JMU students give job interviews to U.S. Senate, 6th Congressional District candidates
Facing more than 40 JMU students in Eagle Hall’s common room Wednesday evening, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Corey Stewart offered a brief pitch, then opened it up for students to throw it right back at him.
“No softballs,” he said.
Kelly Ryan, a freshman political science major, obliged. She asked Stewart about his call for blocking federal funding to Planned Parenthood.
Harrisonburg sorts through tons of plastic, paper and pent-up demand for more recycling options
Since single-stream trash and recycling service abruptly stopped last spring, Harrisonburg officials have examined how to best spend taxpayer dollars for waste collection and recycling. For now, Patel said, an employee-managed recycling collection center is the best option, and there is no plan to bring curbside pick-up back to the city anytime soon.
Instead, the city is trying to figure out how to expand voluntary collection options.
