Opioids, homelessness, crime and rail addressed during mayoral debate

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Mayor Joyce Craig, left, moderator Adam Sexton and Victoria Sullivan during Wednesday morinng’s debate at the Derryfield Restaurant. Photo/Pat Grossmith

MANCHESTER, NH – The ongoing opioid crisis and increasing homelessness in the city took center stage at Wednesday morning’s mayoral debate between incumbent Joyce Craig and challenger Victoria Sullivan.

Sullivan contended in the past two years nothing has changed, that things have worsened, that the death rate from opiates is 30 percent higher than last year and that the city’s homicide rate has jumped 150 percent.

Craig countered that progress is being made, that overall crime is down six percent for 2019 although she conceded violent crime is up across the state.  She said for the past three weeks, the state has had staff at the shelter working to sign up the homeless for Medicaid and connect them to needed services.

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Mayor Joyce Craig. Photo/ Pat Grossmith

Opiate overdoses, she said, decreased by 16 percent in 2019 but Sullivan said that is because the people are not reporting the overdoses.

Through collaborating with city officials and community partners, opioid overdoses have decreased by 16 percent in 2019 under Mayor Craig’s leadership.

Sullivan, in her two-minute opening remarks in the debate hosted by the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce at the Derryfield Restaurant, said that when she was preparing for the debate she went back two years ago and reviewed footage of the prior debate.

What struck her the most, she said, is that they talked about the same things:  crime, the opioid crisis and education and how many of our students aren’t reading at the third-grade level.

“I would love to be here today and tell you we have improved on those things and are moving in the right direction but the sad reality is crime is not under control in the city,” she said.   Sullivan said she talked to parents who are afraid to take their children to the parks.

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Mayoral candidate Victoria Sullivan. Photo/Pat Grossmith

“We’ve lost 30 percent more lives to the opiate addiction this year than last year,” she said.  “Our third-grade reading scores are actually down by three percent this year.”

She said she loves the city since moving here 10 years ago and is willing to roll up her sleeves, get to work and bring everybody together to forge a stronger Manchester

Craig acknowledged the city has its challenges and she and others are working hard to address them.   She said the city and Chamber work together to promote the city but, she said, to attract businesses and families to the city it is very important “that the leader of our city speaks positively about our city.”   That brought a round of applause from Chamber members.

“Being mayor of Manchester is my dream job,” said Craig, who was born and raised in the city and is the fourth generation of her family living here.  “I get to work with our community to make Manchester stronger.”

By working on a culture of collaboration, she said the city has made meaningful progress ensuring the strengthening of schools and decreasing class size, growing the economy and improving public safety.

She said the Manchester School District received an additional $4.3 million in a tax cap budget, the most it has received in 14 years,  allowing “for the largest investment in technology” in the history of the district and the adoption “of a much-needed math curriculum.”

Craig also pointed to Manchester Proud, a group of city business leaders who have raised $500,000 to come up with a strategic plan for the school district.

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The hour-long debate can be viewed below in its entirety via Manchester InkLink’s Facebook live stream. Photo/Pat Grossmith

Her No. 1 priority is public safety, she said and noted that 15 officers were added to the police department, that there is a larger police presence downtown and that officers, for the first time, are wearing body cameras.

Sullivan said business owners she’s talked to say revenues are down four percent because people aren’t going downtown due to the ongoing problems.

One area where the candidates differed strongly was the need for rail in Manchester. Craig said she has been to Concord to advocate for commuter rail, something she said would help entice much-needed workers to the millyard, where companies are struggling to hire. Sullivan said the cost of rail is prohibitive and that she would not advocate for bringing it to New Hampshire, or to the city.

WMUR’s Adam Sexton moderated the debate, fielding questions to the candidate which covered the economy, crime, opioids, education, among other topics

The Republican and Democratic state parties both issued dueling news releases concerning the debate, in the aftermath.

“Honestly, I can’t help feeling a little sorry for Victoria Sullivan,” said party chair Ray Buckley, who attended the debate.  “When you have the damaging record that she has – repeated votes against funding to combat the opioid crisis, votes that essentially raised Manchester property taxes, and votes to defund public schools – it’s simply indefensible. There’s not enough bleach in the world to wash away the stain of that dreadful record.”

NHGOP Chairman Stephen Stepanek countered:   “In every aspect of her administration, Mayor Joyce Craig has completely failed. All of her so-called accomplishments are truly attributed to Republican leadership being delivered by Governor Sununu at the state level, all while Manchester’s city government is in completely (sic) chaos under her reign. Manchester deserves new leadership and a mayor who will face Manchester’s biggest challenges head-on. Victoria Sullivan is the right leader to make Manchester shine once more.”


Below: Watch the Facebook Live stream of the full debate:

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Pat Grossmith

Pat Grossmith is a freelance reporter.