Mayoral Candidates speak out on Shrinking Population at Forum
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In a packed out room in the downtown library, mayoral candidates took turns speaking out on issues.
The declining population in Montgomery was one of them. Mayor Todd Strange says it was because of a previous settlement with the town of Pike Road.
“We traded 1500 population for about 1.8 million annually going forward. Some of that is because of lawsuit,” said Strange.
Artur Davis says losing people to Pike Road is a reality that could happen again.
“Because a chunk of people in our community don’t have confidence in our schools, they don’t have confidence in our safety. And if we don’t get a handle on our schools, don’t you think in four or five years Deer Creek will think they can run Park Crossing better than we do?” said Davis.
Dan Harris agrees education is a main factor in why residents are leaving.
“We’re not going to keep people here in the city until we do something about public education and crime problem,” said Harris.
Some residents we talked to say are a little disappointed in what they heard at the forum.
McGregor Hodges tells us, “They all seem to focus on education when the mayor’s office really has no say so on education really, just donating funds.”
Ella Bell says she definitely wants to improve education, but she says there is another reason why people are leaving.
“First and foremost, we do not have jobs or the plans to locate and bring new companies into our community that will offer them at least a semi-livable wage,” said Bell.
One young, Montgomery native says that is the problem she has with coming back to the city after college.
“For a young, well educated person or even a person of color, specifically, there is really nothing in Montgomery aside from recreation. I don’t need the Alley Bar or the Riverfront. I need to know what jobs are available for me,” said Layne Doctson.
A Buena Browder representative said that Browder did not receive the invitation to participate in the forum.
City elections are Tuesday, August 25th.
