Overview of the 2nd District City Council race

With five men are vying for two City Council seats, voters in the 2nd District will have plenty of choices Tuesday.
Among the five is only one incumbent, first-term Democrat Kevin McCauley, a city firefighter who’s looking for the chance to kick the city’s blight fight into higher gear.
The other four contenders include another Democrat, Bruce Lydem; Republicans Ken Cockayne and Joe Geladino; and independent Mark Blaschke. None have held political office before.
Democrats are most worried about Cockayne, fearing he could perhaps knock off McCauley.
Vowing to work across party lines, Cockayne called himself "a taxpaying citizen who got fed up with the partisan politics and getting nothing done here in town.”
The other incumbent in the district, third-term Democrat Ellen Zoppo, is stepping down. She ran unsuccessfully for mayor rather than seeking another stint on the council representing Chippens Hill, the West End and Federal Hill.
McCauley is one of four councilors trying to reclaim their seats this year, angling for a chance to work with a new mayor soon.
Geladino and Blaschke are running in large part as anti-tax crusaders.
Residents are “being zapped” by taxes, Blaschke said, and city government needs a massive shakeup.
"The way the whole thing has been run, it should start over again," Blaschke said.
Geladino said that he worked for the election of some incumbents two years ago, but regrets it.
Calling the current council “dysfunctional,” Geladino said that he’s running mainly “to help the taxpayers.”
Last winter, he got so frustrated at the council that he threw a white towel on the floor at City Hall to declare his surrender. But he opted for another course of action when he jumped into the political fray instead.
Cockayne is more measured in his speech – and much less angry – but he also expresses frustration at the existing system. He said he’d like to see a city manager, a larger council and more businesslike approach to governing.
In a district where a substantial number of older houses have been turned into occasionally shoddy rental property, all of the contenders said they’d like to see a tougher stance taken on bad landlords who don’t keep up their property.
Cockayne said the housing code pushed into law by Zoppo in 2005 "was a great thing," but more is needed, including a tall grass ordinance.
Geladino said codes “should be enforced and fines should be levied.”
McCauley, the co-chair of the panel that did the work, said there’s been improvement because of the code enforcement effort but more can be done.
Lydem called the code changes "long overdue" and praised Zoppo for her leadership and vision. Blaschke said he wants to see stiffer fines and arrests for especially crummy landlords to "make them pay big time.”
Geladino, a contractor, said he once sought to buy the city-owned mall, which is unusual for any candidate. He said he made an offer, but nobody responded to him.
“To get past the smokescreen is impossible in Bristol,” Geladino said.
City councilors serve part-time for about $10,000 annually. There are three council districts in town, each represented by two council members, who can be from the same political party.

Key issues
School plan – McCauley said that “new schools are the way to go” because pumping money into old ones is “too ineffective” and costly. Lydem said, “It’s time to build new schools” and warned that trying to renovate old ones would be too expensive.
Cockayne and Blaschke said that he’d like to see more effort put into renovation instead. Proponents of the $115 million plan are "hurting the kids. They're hurting the taxpayers of this city, and they ought to start over again," Blaschke said.
Geladino said he’s concerned about the spending eyed for the school plan.
City manager – Blaschke said changing to a city a manager “would make more bureaucratic noise” and introduce even more politics into municipal decision-making. Lydem also opposes switching to a managerial form of government.
While McCauley is willing to consider the idea, both Cockayne and Geladino strongly favor the proposal. A manager would bring in "a professional person who could run this city," Geladino said.
Mall – All five candidates said they want to see the downtown site revitalized quickly, though Geladino is willing to explore selling the mall “as is.”

District 2 polling placesChippens Hill School
O'Connell School
South Side School




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Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com