Biographical information

Name:

David Colby Young

Office Sought:

Auburn City Council, at large

Home Street Address:

1167 Old Danville Rd.

Campaign Phone Number:

207 786-2129

Campaign Email Address:

davidcolbyyoung@aol.com

Facebook page:

Not yet, but I might still set one up later.

Twitter Account:

YouTube Channel:

Occupation or primary source of income:

I work at Pioneer Plastics, 1 Pionite Rd, Auburn, Maine

Education:

Dexter Regional High School class of 1972, University of Maine at Farmington, Class of 1976 BS in Education

Family:

Married Elizabeth Keene in 1976 of Danville, Maine. We have two daughter: Amy Young of Auburn & Caroline Young Coffin, wife of Dana Coffin of Auburn. We also have two grandchildren: Edith & Mary Coffin.

Public offices sought or held?

The first office I ran for was the State Legislature in 1978. I won my party nomination as a write-in the primary election. As I remember it, I had not been a register voter in Auburn every long and I may have yet to join a party when the former Virginia Goodwin of Danville put my name up as a good person who might be willing to run for public office. I was told no problem. I had less than four days to see voters in Auburn Wards 3, 4, and  5. I would need only 25 write-in votes to win the primary election. Fred Sanborn was the person who helped me pass out the pre-printed stickers used in the day.

I remember being ask by the local newspaper if I did not win the primary vote would I be running for Mayor of Auburn as there would be a special election for Mayor later that year. My answer at the time was no. I can not remember now who did run for Mayor but this was something I would learn later that Fred Sanborn would do a few times.

In 1978, I did not win the election to the State Legislature but did run for the Auburn School Committee for Ward 4 and  served that office for three terms (six years).

After taking one year off, I ran again for the Maine Legislature. This time I was on the primary ballot and I lost the General election by 100 votes.

I then ran for the Maine Legislature as a party &/or skipped the party nominations a few more times. I would finish a few times second in a three way race coming in before the man who beat me the first time I ran.

I have also sought the office of Androscoggin County Commissioner one time. At an earlier date I understand was elected to serve on a committee to work on a new County charter but the vote to change the charter did not pass. It was one of those two part questions. Not sure if one can count that one as a victory.

Civic organizations:

Former member of the Maine Old Cemetery Association, Maine Genealogical Society: serving as the Recording Secretary as few years as well as on the publication committee. Member of the Maine Track Club: serving on the board of Directors. Past President of the Androscoggin Life Underwriters; past Master of Danville Jct Grange; Past President of Androscoggin Historical Society & now serve as a board member. Past State Coordinator for the Maine GenWeb Project. State coordinator of the largest photos sharing site for running sports “mainerunningphotos.com”

Ice breakers

What is your favorite food?

I do not eat red meat as a rule. I eat white meat,

What is your favorite movie?

I make movie for my YouTube channel: Maine Running Photos.  But if I have the time to watch a movie most of anything on the Hallmark channel is worth a look.

What is your favorite book?

Now this is an interesting question as the only books I have time to read is the Council Packet. As I am a Maine author I have to say the books I have written are very interesting to me. Many are listed on the Androscoggin Historical Society web site.

What is the best political advice you have received?

You cannot wait until people to come to you. Go to the people. Try not to talk less. People want to be heard. Now I understand people have said I should talk more. But we were all given two hears and one mouth for a reason. Work on what you agree before working on what you disagree.

What Maine political figure do you admire most?

Mr. and Mrs Ted Clark. Mrs Clark was my high school music teacher. Mr. Clark was my high school history and government teacher. Mrs. Clark was a very local political figure. She might have never been elected to any office. She was in her party because she felt that change could be made by being in the party which was not in power. Your voice would be heard better there. Mr. Clark would tell us if you ever get elected to office and anything goes right take credit for it because if any thing goes wrong you will be blamed.

Local politics

What has Mayor Jonathan LaBonte done during the past two years that you agree with? What has he done that you disagree with?

This might be a loaded question. The Mayor LaBonte runs a tight ship. This change was needed but at the same time people have come to feel that they have been cut off. I think we are still working on this.

On this disagreement side, I feel that the Mayor has some ideas from the downtown & how we use Great Falls TV, the three cable channels Lewiston-Auburn owns, which need more development. The want to just the narrow term of “Downtown” is not understanding the bigger problems. I have to say has closed the gap on a few the issues but the use of political muscle has not worked that well when you are a “weak Mayor” the City Charter limits your powers. I think the problems is many of us voting city councilors might be more supportive of the Mayor direction if he would find the time to talk with us one-on-one. Now he may have done it his with a few of the City Councils but he has not found the tome to talk with me. This should be one thing I would like to work on to correct if we are both elected.

What has the city council done during the past two years that you agree with? What have they done that you disagree with?

I have agreed with the collection of our new City Manager. Most of the time things are talked out. So I might be forgetting about some of the votes I still have disagreements with. The use of Great Falls TV money to balance the budget by Lewiston & Auburn might be a mistake if in the future years it is done a 3rd time. I understand why it was done but dipping into taxes collected for one purpose to pay for other unrelated spending is not a good idea.

What has the city manager and the city staff done during the past two years that you agree with? What have they done that you disagree with?

The City Staff have not well doing what they have done with the limited staff. The South Main St. project does seem like we could have been on top of things a little better but we might not yet understand on all the moving parts on this project. It is projects like this that it looks like the ball was dropped on this & I would hope some type of corrective action would be done so we would not be looking at this same type of problem in the future.

What has the school committee done during the past two years that you agree with? What have they done that you disagree with?

The school committee should have asked for the lesser budget the 1st time. One the subject of iPads This has been more of an issue of in your face. The PR on this was bad & very little buy into the program has been gained. Now the overall question might be have the iPads works? Is there better learning. are we having better test scores, better readers, better writers, better thinkers? As I am writing this on my PC, have we already lost the face to face interaction we once had?

What is your solution for Auburn’s high school?

My stand on this is to wait until the State helps this the funding. Mayor LaBonte did not appoint me to the task force for a new EL because he had to understand where should.

Any last words?

I am an Eagle Scout, this is the highest rank in the Boy Scouts of America. If elected to stay on the City Council I will be looking to serve on a few different committees. I am looking to serve on the Auburn School Committee, I feel that 6+4 years on the ASC is enough for anyone person & the honor should be given to another.

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