The Candidates' Forum: District 4 Bowie City Council

Editor’s note: As a reader service, Bowie Patch is providing excerpts from Thursday’s City Council candidate forum sponsored by the Greater Bowie Democratic Club at the Kenhill Center. Below are parts of the discussions between the two District 4 candidates. Excerpts from the forum for the other contested race, At Large, will be published shortly. Here are and . District 1 and the mayor’s race are uncontested in the Nov. 8 city elections.

DISTRICT 4

Challenger Carl Brown, 51, is executive director of the Center for Minority Business Development at Prince George’s Community College. His background is in management, human resources and economic development. This is his first election run for Bowie City Council.

He said, “… we need a little more energy and effort on the council to look at the things in a different way. No longer do we have the budgets that we had before… I’m an innovator, a creator, I’m a forward thinker, and I spend a lot of time in the community listening to folks and hearing what they have to say. I try to put legislation together to make their lives easier.”

Incumbent  Isaac “Ike” Trouth, 64, is a renal care specialist with Abbott Laboratories. He was first elected to the council in 2007 and re-elected in 2009.

He said he is proud that he has been able to set aside his net council salary for charitable donations, including a $10,000 donation for playground equipment at Pointer Ridge Elementary School.   He emphasized that his greatest accomplishments on the council have been helping youth and seniors, including major renovations to the Church Road park and the creation of the senior summit. “I ask that you please check the facts, and check my record of service. I’m committed to working for the citizens of Bowie and District 4 by going out and listening to what they have to say.”

Moderator: What is your plan to bring economic development to the city, specifically filling the space at the former Border’s bookstore?

Brown: “I would think some of the empty space that we have available, like at Borders, could be made into offices so that small home based businesses can move into that space, become bigger than they are and offer their services to the government and hire more people. That’s the type of initiative we ought to look at…I’ve partnered with the Bowie business incubator at Bowie University.  I think what we do at the center for minority business development will compliment the Bowie business incubator.”

Trouth: “The county executive has commented on numerous occasions about Bowie being a model for economic development and bringing in businesses. The city council just recently passed the Economic Development Incentive project, making us one of the few cities in the state to have such a fund. We’ve also instituted the business incubator program…One of the things we have to do is constantly market ourselves, which we do through our economic development committee and our economic development department but also by working with the county.”

Moderator: With respect to the Marketplace shopping center, the marketplace owner is neglecting this retail space. It is big, dark and in need of repair right now, otherwise it will become an incubator for crime. What are you going to do to make the owner of this space make it a safe, active area and upgrade it to Bowie’s high standards?

Brown: “I believe any business owner should be a partner not only with the citizens of Bowie but also with the government of Bowie. This would be no exception. If we find him non-responsive, what I would do is make the site improvements, and then charge him for those. If I don’t cut my grass, and the city cuts my grass, they send me a bill. This would be no different.”

Trouth: “We have an economic development committee in place where we have constant talk with the owner of the Marketplace so we can get it up and running just like we did with the Pointer Ridge Shopping Center…We’re looking at it as a multi phase approach…We also have the business economic incentive fund which is not only to attract new businesses but retaining businesses that are already here.”

Moderator: Do you support having a homeless shelter in Bowie, and if so, which district would that be located in?

Brown: “That’s a hard one. It is extremely difficult, especially in these times, when good people are losing their homes, because of no fault of their own. I met a lady who told me her next door neighbor had just walked away from their house, had just abandoned it…What are we doing to help these people?”

Trouth: He noted that the city works closely with the volunteer Bowie food pantry, which has seen requests for food skyrocket. Regarding a homeless shelter, “that is something I’d have to take under advisement in regard to whether they need to have a homeless shelter in the city of Bowie…Foreclosures are down in the city. There were at 275, now they are 200. Is that acceptable? No, it’s not acceptable. We really need to have volunteerism, faith based organizations and states and local governments together to help those in need.”