Dramatic differences emerge leading to lively exchanges

Four candidates are running to shape the future of Friendswood.  Running for Position 2 are Lonnie Moffitt and John LeCour.  

Contestants for Position 5 are Kitten Brizendine and Chris Peden.   

All candidates’ positions were stated at the well attended forum at Village on the Park Friday, April 15.  

Fifteen issues, raised by the audience, were addressed.  The program provided concise, descriptive statements of their positions showing sharp differences between various candidates’ liberal and conservative positions. 

The issues soliciting the most divergent opinions were taxes, City-funded development, zero-based budgeting, and the candidates’ vision for the City. 

On the topic of sales and property taxes, Candidates split along their liberal and conservative leanings.  Liberal candidates supported the current increased spending programs and sought to maintain the status quo.  Conservative candidates supported reduced taxation, reduced spending, and a requirement for increased accountability.
 

LeCour expressed strong support for a three percent tax cap, even if it has to be implemented locally.  

LeCour contended that documented government waste must be cut to maintain services while lowering taxes.  He expressed great opposition to increasing sales taxes, believing that will drive business out of town.  

He was vigorous in his opposition to the controversial economic development and conservation taxes the City has previously proposed.

The discussion of the Main Street Initiative (redevelopment of the City center) and Whitcomb Property Development, further contributed to disparity of opinion between the candidates.  Brizendine and Moffitt took the liberal view, favoring an attractive, City-funded Main Street development, as part of Vision 20/20, which they claimed would bring Friendswood up to par with other beautiful cities.   

LeCour and Peden, both fiscal conservatives, strongly opposed the City investing taxpayer money in risky development projects that they felt will subsidize businesses and penalize taxpayers.  Peden stated that he did not want to see another Mercado del Sol in Friendswood.  Mercado del Sol is the failed shopping complex the City of Houston built unsuccessfully with millions of tax dollars. 

The audience expressed dismay that zero based budgeting, the process of justifying each item in the budget, has been disregarded by the City for the past 9 years.  This led to hotly contested differences between the liberal and conservative candidates running for office. 

Brizendine said she did not support zero based budgeting citing its labor intensiveness.  She felt the City had been frugal in their budgets, and she should know, having been on the Council for 12 of the past 13 years.   

Conservative Peden vocally disagreed.  He said he could never concur with simply adding a percentage to large departments’ budgets every year, without assessing their effectiveness.  He said this amounts to automatic expenditure increases without controls or justification.   

LeCour also expressed intense concern about budget over-runs, unproductive spending, and poor planning.  At a minimum, he wanted to see zero based budgets every 5 years.  Moffitt agreed. 

Several questions were asked of candidates as to how they would improve the city.  

Brizendine stated she would like palatable development and claimed that Vision 20/20 is what the citizens want to see (80 percent residential, 20 percent commercial). She said she would most certainly consider raising the commercial percentage.  She suggested the City should develop its last 2500 acres carefully.  

Moffitt also advocated further spending and would like to make Main Street more beautiful.  He cited as an example the utility company putting in more attractive light poles.  

LeCour stated that people want to come to Friendswood for a variety of reasons.  However, he strongly asserted that the City should not be in the business of competing with private business.  

Peden noted that Main Street has attractive and unattractive businesses but that some of the unattractive businesses were built unattractively due to City regulations (which have since changed).  He sided with LeCour and strongly expressed the belief that the City must not be in the business of using taxpayer dollars to invest in businesses, as is currently being done. 

Barbara Murray, moderator and President of the Bay Area League of Women Voters, stated that numerous school finance questions were raised but were not brought to the candidate’s attention because the issues are not the purview of the City Council.  She told the audience that the questions can only be addressed with members of the Friendswood Independent School District (FISD) Board or at a forum for FISD Board candidates (elections will again be held in the fall).   

All candidates praised the EMS and Fire Department volunteers and supported increased funding for the Police Department.  There was also general agreement on the need to bring businesses into Friendswood.  All stated their fondness for the City and their desire to make it great for future generations.   

Moffitt firmly stated that he is not skeptical of our current City government.  He stated there are some things that a City Council member can’t effectuate.   

LeCour, on the other hand disagreed, saying he was running for lower taxes and the families of Friendswood.  He said that he wants to make City government friendlier to business.  To continue to do otherwise, he said, leads to ruin and a crushing tax burden on families. 

Brizendine closed by stating her experience working with two Mayors and previous City Council members.  She thanked the audience for their attendance.   

Peden reaffirmed that he was running for the same reasons as LeCour, lower taxes through efficient government and family-friendly business development.  He stated that the City does not own the last 2,500 acres, private individuals do.  Their property rights should be respected.   

Kitten Brizendine, previously served on City Council (1992- 2004) but was forced to sit out due to term limits.  For the past 20 years she has worked on numerous charitable boards and committees.  Chris Peden has served on the Hope Village board for nine years.  Lonnie Moffitt, a long-time Friendswood Youth Basketball Association official, has been on the City Parks and Recreation Board for the past year.  John LeCour has been a Hope Village Sunday School teacher and Deacon at Westminster Presbyterian Church for the past 20 years.