The Oak Park Candidate’s Forum was a homey venue to see and hear local candidates up close last night, including Fran Pavley and Todd Zink, running for the state Senate. The Community Foundation of Oak Park’s Barbara Schwartz, put on the event beautifully, packing more into 2 hours, than I thought possible! At the very end of the evening, I got to speak for 2 minutes, along with 2 other Calleguas candidates, and was happy for that, because now we will soon be in the video at www.OakParknow.com, for voters to check out.
Program started out with the Pavley/Zink debate, followed by 4 candidates for the Oak Park MAC presenting, including Mike McReynolds, Robert Von Schneidau, Manju Venkat, and Jeremy Barnett. Then, candidates for the Rancho Simi Rec and Park board had 2 minutes each to speak, including Kate O’Brien, Elaine Freeman, Omkar Ranade, and Mark Johnson. I followed them, along with the other 2 other Calleguas, Dist. 2 candidates present, Scott Quady and Gary Pipes, while the 4th candidate, Darin Henry was not present.
A highlight of the evening was the presentation of the Golden Acorn award to Mike Paule, for his outstanding service to the community. Congratulations, Mike, and thanks to the Community Foundation for an enlightening evening. The photo of me, was taken by Brett Garrett of www.OakParkUpdate.com. The second photo is of the audience, before the program starts, and the third photo is of Fran Pavley, as she was being introduced.
Barbara Schwartz // Oct 6, 2012 at 5:35 PM
All the best with your campaign — you have my vote! David Maron was a great, great moderator. I was so impressed with him. I also determined a couple of other ways my vote would go from the evening’s forum. It was helpful and beneficial and hope voters will take time to hear everyone’s comments on the Oak Park Now website.
Omkar Ranade // Oct 9, 2012 at 2:39 PM
I want to thank the community of Oak Park for hosting such a wonderful event. It was great to speak directly with members of the community!
Editor: Omkar is a candidate for the board of the Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District.