AHS Debate Team Big Winners at The Great Debate

A veritable Who’s Who of Arcadia turned out to the luxurious Santa Anita Inn Wednesday evening for the last face to face meeting of the 6 candidates vying for 3 seats on the city council ahead of the April 13th election.
Sponsored by Arcadia Weekly and researched, planned and masterfully executed by the Arcadia High School Constitution Team, the debate featured discussions on a wide variety of issues facing the city including development around the coming Gold Line light rail station, the Shops at Santa Anita, campaign finance and special interest endorsements, to name but a few.

While the candidates debated the issues in an attempt to separate themselves from the wide field of ballot choices and stand out as the night’s star, the real winners of the evening were the thirty members of the Constitution Team who raised over $5000 towards their upcoming trip to Washington D.C where they will compete for the national title.
Another first for the evening was the participation of Monrovia’s KGEM-TV community media production outfit. Volunteering the time of an entire production team to cover the event on video was no small task, but the leadership of Travis Gray, Lance Mungia and Mark Clark of Community Media of the Foothills provided for a such a remarkable level of professionalism, that even the most outgoing candidates seemed a bit shy before the litany of television cameras and professional sound equipment generously donated by Pasadena’s JD Audio/Visual.

Said Editor John Stephens from his desk, to himself, circa 1:00 a.m. Thursday morning, “To discover the real winners of the night’s debate is a simple task: The AHS Gov. Team rose to new heights as they were able to raise not only community awareness of their fantastic efforts and achievements, but some much-need cash as well.”
“What’s more,” Stephens was not heard to say aloud to the empty newsroom, “is that the other true winners of the night were the citizens of Arcadia who were given a chance to see the future of their city be discussed in an open forum hosted by some of the brightest young minds in the world.” Yes, the world.
Thanks to the volunteer efforts of KGEM-TV and an agreement reached between the City of Arcadia and Arcadia Weekly, a full recording of Arcadia’s “Great Debate” will be available to the public via the city’s cable access channel starting next week as well as online at www.arcadiaweekly.com and www.kgem.tv. The full-length video will be aired until the city elections, slated for April 13.

Don’t take one word of summary or synopsis from a deadline-driven, dreary-eyed journalist. Instead, watch for yourself. For as someone surely said at some time or perhaps another, “It is the voters, not the candidates who make the decisions about our future; and even the most faultless candidate’s war chest or war stories are no match for the inexhaustible power of an informed and engaged electorate. No matter who wins, we run this town.”
Photos by Terry Miller

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