Meet the Candidates Forum: Tonight!

NEAT will be hosting a "Meet the Candidates" forum Tonight, Wednesday, October 14th at 7 pm at the Green Street Arts Center. It is open to anyone and will be a great chance to meet some of the people running for local office and asking them questions that are important to you.

We have roughly 85% of those running for office confirmed for attendance, including both mayoral candidates.

The format will be informal (no panel, no debate), so you'll have a chance to speak with the candidates that you are most interested in. Local elections affect your everyday life in real and important ways. From how your school is managed to trash pick-up, it is important that you vote and are educated about that vote.

It is important that we show our elected officials that we care so that they care about us! PLEASE come and meet the people who will serve you.

NEAT's goal in this event is to create a chance for everyday residents to interact with the people who will serve them.

As director of NEAT, I am able to do that on a regular basis and find the interactions extremely telling. The point of the event isn't to "catch" the candidates on issues -- we do that enough already. It's to get a sense of who the candidates really are.

To be clear, other groups are hosting debates and panel discussions and we encourage our members to attend those for a different perspective. We wanted to offer something different for the residents of Middletown. So, if pinning a candidate to the wall on an issue is what you'd like to do, this is a great chance to do it in a more personal setting. Or, if you know nothing about the candidates and would like to go to one place to meet them all, this is a good chance for you, too.

Our goal is to encourage a well-educated citizenry. Between other debates and our event, we hope to achieve it.

We will serve dinner and will offer childcare.Call NEAT for more info: 346-4845 or email neat@neatmiddletown.org