The League of Women Voters brought the two candidates running to be Mayor of Hopkinsville together in a debate forum Thursday evening.
Democrat Alethea West and Republican James R. Knight fielded questions concerning topics from across the board, from downtown revitalization, the pension system, small businesses, housing, social media and more. They spoke in detail about their top priorities if elected, with Knight saying he intends to focus on job growth and creation, and on public safety city-wide.
West says she wants to see incentives programs for local youth get them more invested and involved in the community, hopefully giving them a sense of belonging and help them avoid bad decisions.
Both candidates said they would fully support local law enforcement, with Knight saying Hopkinsville has a crime problem at the moment and he would make sure the Hopkinsville Police Department has the resources they need to address it. West says she would show HPD support and provide resources, while also working to find the root cause of the problem.
On homelessness in the city, West says a way must be found to mitigate the problem and help individuals where you can, because homelessness isn’t a problem that can be solved over night.
Knight says he would work with churches and other organizations to help people get back on their feet, and he thinks it will be a community effort to address.
West says she does support the Universal Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, or something similar, being implemented in Hopkinsville to level the playing field between landlords and renters—Knight says he would be agreeable to reviewing a possible landlord and tenant ordinance in the city, but only if it was fair to both parties.
Listen to the entire forum below:
https://www.facebook.com/lwvhopkinsville/videos/634152988122198