LEWISTON — Three candidates think they have what it takes to represent Ward 5 on the City Council.

“I’m not promising people that if they vote for me, this is what I’m going to do,” candidate Richard White said. “I’ve been doing it.”

White said he’s worked with the Neighborhood Housing League, going door to door to provide notices of nearby building demolitions, lobbying for safer demolition practices and visiting with people affected by this past spring’s fires.

“We went around reaching out to people, making sure they were OK and letting them know they weren’t alone,” White said.

Candidate Kristen Cloutier said she worked with all aspects of the city. Working out of Bates College’s Harward Center has given her access to the school’s best and brightest students, downtown activists and residents.

“I think having these relationships with people is important and knowing who the players are gives me a good sense of the needs in the community,” Cloutier said.

Charles A. Soule said he’s lived his life downtown and has run for city office numerous times. It’s given him a unique perspective on city issues.

“I know all the key players at City Hall,” he said. “I know about the troubles the inner city has, especially the troubles with policing.”

Soule said some of his most important initiatives would involve the Police Department. He’d like to see the city rechristen an active constable program, allowing citizen patrols.

Soule said he’d also like to establish a commission to oversee the Lewiston Police Department.

“They’ve had troubles in the last year, and I think it would be good to have a citizen group to look at them and watch what they do,” he said.

For White and Cloutier, housing is the biggest issue for Ward 5. Both said they had qualms about the Volunteers of America Northern New England plan to build housing on one of the city’s burned-out lots.

“I didn’t agree with the whole deal, with property taxes taken off,” he said. “I thought any tax breaks should go to local landlords. There are those who want to reinvest in their properties and give people safe, affordable housing. But they can’t afford to because of their property taxes going up.”

Cloutier had a similar idea, but she said there are other considerations.

“We want to support local landlords first, and I think that’s important,” she said. “But we don’t have a system in place now to do that. And at the same time, we need to provide safe and affordable housing. In an ideal world, we’d provide tax breaks to local landlords first. But we don’t have that system and we can’t ask human beings to wait for a safe place to live.”

Cloutier said it’s important to get landlords and tenants talking and working together.

“I’m not someone who thinks it’s all the fault of landlords or tenants,” she said. “There are good and bad landlords, good and bad tenants. So opening up a dialog and getting people to talk to each other and really listen is important.”

Ward 5 is the smallest ward in Lewiston geographically and makes up most of the residential downtown. The first section runs roughly from Park Street west to East Avenue, jogging along Webster, Walnut, Bradley, Sabattus and Ash streets. The second section is bordered by Webster, Farwell and Sabattus streets, East Avenue and a small section of Sylvan Avenue.

Ward 5 voters will cast ballots at Longley Elementary School, 145 Birch St., on Nov. 5.

staylor@sunjournal.com

Election coverage:

• Kristen Cloutier
• Charles A. Soule
• Richard L .White
• Lewiston candidates