DES MOINES, Iowa — Des Moines residents are a little less than six months away from electing their next mayor.
On Tuesday, voters had the chance to see a side-by-side comparison of the three declared candidates.
The Iowa Unity Coalition and Indo-American PAC-IA cohosted the candidate forum, giving Josh Mandelbaum, Denver Foote and Connie Boesen the chance to answer voter's questions.
One question was on what these candidates would focus on to curb gun violence in the city. Mandelbaum, a current council member representing Ward 3, highlighted some of what he's pushed for while on the city council.
"I introduced a policy to ban trigger activators, bump stocks and high capacity magazines in [Des Moines]," Mandelbaum said. "Unfortunately, I couldn't get the council to act and then the state preempted us, but I didn't stop then. After I introduced that and reached that setback, I looked at a consensus of what we could do. Then we started talking about violence interruption."
Boesen, a current at-large member of the Des Moines City Council, stated her support for tightening restrictions around firearms.
"I think that we need to get rid of any of the assault rifles," she said. "We need to make sure that people who have had domestic abuse [charges] do not have rights for guns. We need a waiting period. We have a lot of things we need the state to implement. But then we need to get to the root cause of why we're having violence. We need to get with youth to understand their needs and show them a different ways and give them opportunities."
Foote, a local activist, said they believe in preventative measures like working closely with the school board to reach youth.
"I think we need to open our public buildings to hold 'Stop the Bleed' trainings, gun safety trainings," Foote said. "I also believe we do not need domestic abusers to have guns in their hands. We need to work with people in our city that represent districts, like our [representatives and senators] to have those conversations of what the state of Iowa should look like."
Another question asked the candidates about how they would protect natural resources and work to ensure Des Moines residents had clean drinking water.
Foote highlighted the issue as a "a huge struggle", calling Des Moines Water Works' effort to create wells for drinking water is "a band aid on a bigger issue."
"I believe in renaturing the land, putting carbon back in the soil," Foote said. "I believe in holding MidAmerican accountable to the 24/7 Carbon Free Resolution that was passed that I helped organize and lead with Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement. I also believe that we need to [make] partnerships with cities upstream to take on Big Ag, to take on corporations that are polluting our water ways."
Mandelbaum called on his experience as both an environmental lawyer and a council member to highlight what he thinks needs to change.
"We have 20,000 lead surface lines in the city of Des Moines. We need to work with partners to replace those 20,000 lines..." he said. "We need to address our storm water and work upstream on best management practices. We need to be smart when we develop... there is no reason that we shouldn't be a leader in standing up for water and best management practices."
Boesen echoed many of her opponent's calls for actions, while also acknowledging the power the mayor holds in appointing members of the Des Moines Water Works Board
"We need to make sure that we appoint people that align with our beliefs and our goals to make sure that we provide the best water service and the clean water that we all deserve," Boesen said.
Candidates also discussed how to provide equitable funding to address food insecurity in Des Moines. To watch the full forum, click here.
Local 5 has reached out to Mayor Frank Cownie multiple times to ask whether he's running for reelection. We have yet to hear back.