WATERTOWN, New York (WWNY) – With a week to go until the 2023 Primary Election, we’re asking three questions to each of the dozen candidates running for Watertown City Council. On Tuesday, we sat down with Leonard Spaziani and Timothy ‘TJ’ Babcock.
Ahead of the June 27 primary, we’re asking each candidate the same three questions.
1. What do you think of the job the current council is doing?
“I’d have to give them a C just because of the information that they’re given. I think if they would dig a bit more with the city manager, and ask more questions – why this, why that. And the priorities,” said Spaziani.
“I think their focus is on the wrong things. I think they should be focused on the infrastructure of the city. I know they say we’re going to be a recreational city. But a recreational city does not draw in new business, it does not bring in new residents to the city. It draws in people from outside to do recreation, but it definitely does not draw in new residents,” said Babcock.
2. What would you do differently on council?
“How do you bring civility to city council? Everybody is an individual. You have to reign two individuals in and I feel at the end of the year one of them will be gone. So if I get on, I think it will be a little easier reigning the other one in, at least bringing him to some civility,” said Spaziani.
“It’ll be looking at ways to create revenue for the city and also bring people to this area. You take the city has lost 4,000 people over the last seven years; you need to recruit some of that to increase our tax base. So that way we can manage raising taxes to where we don’t have to raise as much,” said Babcock.
3. What do you think the city’s top priority should be?
“Our water. Period. They’ve been poisoning us. People say that’s a strong word, but if they’re finding very minute pieces of plastic in the human body from drinking the water from a plastic bottle, what are we getting from our water here,” said Spaziani.
“Priorities should be clean, drinkable water, should be fixing our streets, should be getting a control on spending. Right now we have too much of the niceties and the wants, and not enough of what we truly need,” said Babcock.
We also asked each candidate how they would have voted for the Flynn Pool and Thompson Park Golf Course.
Spaziani would have voted yes for the pool. As for the golf club purchase, he admits it’s hard to say without all the information, but the end did tell council to buy it to get the issue over with.
Babcock says he wouldn’t have voted for the golf course but would have voted for a less expensive repair to the pool.
On Wednesday, we’ll ask the same questions of candidates Michael Wratchford and Doug Osborne Jr.
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