Kennedy, Phelan to square off in first debate

LYNN – The city?s election season takes on midsummer momentum next Wednesday night, when Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy and City Council President Timothy Phelan square off in a Lynn Community Association-sponsored debate.?They?re both planning to be there,” said Association President Mary Trahan.Billed as a forum with questions directed at the candidates, the debate is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Temple Ahabat Shalom, 151 Ocean St.Kennedy and Phelan are scheduled to face off again on Wednesday, Aug. 21 at the mayoral debate sponsored by LynnCAM, the local community television access and media organization. The debate will be televised from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. as part of “The City Voice” program broadcast on LynnCAM to Comcast viewers on channels 3 and 22, and to Verizon viewers on channels 37 and 38.The Lynn Community Association has already held July candidate forums for City Council at large candidates and School Committee candidates. Trahan, in a statement, said former Association board member and Lynnside Edition blog publisher Tom Sheehan will moderate the mayoral forum.?The LCA has been sponsoring debates of this kind going on four years now. The format that seems to work best is to solicit questions from the general public via the press and Internet. Once we have an idea of the pressing issues on people?s minds, we?ll take what we think are the most penetrating questions and ask them of the candidates,” Sheehan said in an Association statement.According to the statement, questions can be submitted to Lynn Community Association, P.O. Box 856, Lynn, 01903 or [email protected] Association is hosting a ward councilor candidate campaign forum on Aug. 21 at 7 p.m. – the same night as the LynnCAM mayoral debate. LynnCAM?s “The City?s Voice” program has debates scheduled for Aug. 7 with ward council candidates and Aug. 14 for School Committee candidates.Voters go to the polls on Sept. 17 to cast ballots in a preliminary election centered on whittling the three-candidate race for the Ward 5 council seat down to two finalists. Seth Albaum, Dianna Chakoutis and Jake Keo are running for the seat.Voters also cast ballots in the preliminary to endorse or reject a request for the city to borrow money to pay to build a new Marshall Middle School. The project?s current price tag is $88 million and city officials say state tax dollars will pay for most of the school.The City Charter requires borrowing approved by the City Council in excess of the $4 million to be approved by voters.Voters return to polling places on Nov. 5 to pick a candidate in five contested ward races and to whittle the council at large field from eight candidates to four councilors, and the School Committee race from nine candidates to six committee members.They will also decide if Phelan or Kennedy will be Lynn?s next mayor.