Sedona City Council candidates got another chance to speak to Sedona residents at a forum hosted by the League of Women Voters Greater Verde Valley and co-sponsored by the Sedona Chamber of Commerce and Tourism Bureau on Monday, July 16.

Candidates gave brief opening statements about themselves, then answered two questions from the League of Women Voters and the Chamber of Commerce.

After the main questions, the nine candidates dispersed into the crowd to give round-table talks at tables packed to the gills with residents.

The League of Women Voters asked the candidates the following question: We know that you have lived in Sedona long enough to know that there are things you like and things that you would change about living here. Obviously, some of your opinions have been presented in your campaign, but we would like to narrow the focus a little. What are the three specific things you like best about living in Sedona, and what are three specific things you would change about living in Sedona?

The following is a portion of their answers, focused on what the candidate would change.

• Janice Howes Hudson, fouryear candidate: “The three things that I would like to alter in Sedona are really those things that are in my platform. We need a sustainable tourism plan for our city that respects quality of life issues for the residents, as well as environmental and economic concerns. We need to create a range of housing alternatives for our seniors, our young families and our workforce so they can actually live here. We need to tell the state that short-term rentals are having a negative impact on our neighborhoods. We need to support appropriate economic development. If you don’t want to keep relying on tourism, we need to support entrepreneurship and
  innovation in our city.”
• Brock Delinski, four-year candidate: “Some things that I would change: First and foremost is the diversity, or lack thereof. We simply don’t have any diversity by any metric, any standard or any stretch of the imagination. The second thing that I think I would change would be the fact that we have a lack of affordable housing. There’s lots of new families that want to move here that simply can’t find a place or there isn’t anything available or they can’t afford it. That’s a problem. The third thing that I would change would be the sustainability. We are perceived as this sustainable outdoor mecca of the world, and we have very limited options for recycling.”
• Bill Chisholm, four-year candidate: “The first thing is decrying Arizona’s short-term vacation rental policies. While positive for a number of our residents, it does have some negative impacts in addressing whole homes and the erosion of neighborhoods. Second is citizen engagement. The citizen talent pool in this city is outstanding. We need to work together and engage in civil discourse to address our challenges and differences. A byproduct of that engagement will be an increase in the sense of community and an increase in confidence with the local government. Finally, third, we need to assess our sustainability footprint. Let’s draft a climate action plan if for nothing else than to get a baseline for where Sedona is at regarding our carbon footprint.”
• Jessica Williamson, two-year candidate: “Sedona should be left alone to manage our own local affairs. Local control is being undermined by the state and it’s hurting us. We need a robust and effective transit shuttle system that tourists and residents use. The city’s plan includes a shuttle system from [State Route] 179 all the way up to the canyon. I think that we also need a shuttle system in town to get tourists to the trailheads. I’m focused on changing city process and regulation to make it easier to build rental housing in Sedona for our workforce. We need to expand our ideas about what can be built here if we want that to happen. If we keep doing what we’re doing, it’s not going to happen.” 
• Sam Tardio: “We’ve allowed uncontrolled growth while ignoring progress because progress is enhancement. After 24 years, I don’t see Sedona as being enhanced. We’ve had the opportunity to embrace growth with a cohesive design plan, yet the best we could do is tell McDonald’s that they couldn’t have golden arches. I hear the word sustainability so much, and yet I haven’t seen it applied here. Instead, the focus has been on how many tourists we can stuff in and how many days out of the year we can attract them. Speaking of loss, any semblance of balance between business and revenues. The obsession and focus has been on growth with blind forethought of the consequences. There is no accountability, no transparency, no communication because our leaders, in my opinion, are fitted with blinders led by the carrot of profit.” 
• Jim Weis, four-year candidate: “The three things that I would like to change in Sedona would be the traffic, housing and the panhandling that has been happening here over the years.”
• Mike Ward, two-year candidate: “First of all, I would change the erosion of our small-town character that’s been going on over the last 10 years. This character has been boldly stated in our mission statement and our community plan. I would also change the city’s increased interest in and focus on tourism. Finally, a recent study showed that 92 percent of Sedonans were interested in fostering better stewardship of our national lands. Unfortunately, with the escalating damage of the human impact on our forest lands, Sedona is being quietly eroded away. The dramatic increase in foot and ATV traffic on the trails, there’s a proliferation of unmaintained social trails, graffiti vandalism throughout the forest and desecration of historic archaeological sites, and finally the overcrowded trailheads, and the places that we enjoyed have become like Disneyland.” 
• Noelle Julian, four-year candidate: “I’d really like to focus on the quality of life for residents so that we can make sure families can live here. I think that dealing with the short-term rental issue is really paramount so that we can attract and maintain families and keep our schools open. I’m very concerned with density and zoning changes that will allow Sedona to become urbanized. People don’t visit Sedona or live in Sedona for urbanization or for an urban community. We live here for the natural beauty of this place. Finally, in terms of transportation, I would really like to implement a ridesharing here. I think the Lyft shuttle model, which is a beta program in Chicago and San Francisco, could be readily implemented here.”
• Scott Jablow, four-year candidate: “I want to continue with my campaign pledge from 2014 to better manage our traffic problems and to be able to institute our Sedona in Motion traffic plan. I want to work with our state legislators to better manage our vacation rentals, and I want to work hard to follow our community plan and bring more environmental change to our city.”

The Sedona Chamber of Commerce and Tourism Bureau asked the question: Tell us how quality of life, tourism and the environment are linked, and what role do you feel the city and the Sedona Chamber of Commerce and Tourism Bureau respectively play in balancing quality of life, tourism and the environment?

Rebekah Wahlberg can be reached at 282-7795 ext. 117, or email rwahlberg@larsonnewspapers.com