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Source: The Eagle, Bryan, TexasOct.迷你倉 20--The three candidates vying for the Bryan City Council single-member District 2 seat are in near-unanimous agreement: infrastructure is the leading concern on the city's north side.The candidates themselves, however, offer different approaches on how to address these concerns, as well as job creation and safety in the district, which Councilman Paul Madison has represented for the past six years. Madison is being term limited out this year, and, with three candidates seeking the seat, it is the most contested city council race in either Bryan or College Station.While the issues are consistent, the experience and background of the candidates vary widely. Perry Stephney, 73, spent almost as much time in the military as either of his opponents have been alive. Stephney served for about 30 years, and has since retired from FedEx."I decided to run because I wanted to provide services for my city since I had been doing that for so long for my country," Stephney said. "I decided I wanted to give back by serving on the city council and I wanted to represent my district."His other two challengers are younger, but have both run as candidates in previous elections.Rafael Pena III challenged now-Councilman Chuck Konderla for the at-large Place 6 seat in 2012, and is now running to represent the district he lives in. Pena, 22, works as a vendor at United Realty."I'm running because I feel like I'm the best candidate for the job," Pena said. "I feel like I bring to the table no outside interests, no vested interests. There's nobody bankrolling my pocket; nobody's sponsoring me. I'm going door to door with a bunch of my friends ... to learn the needs of the community."The third candidate is Kevin Davenport, 31, who last ran against Mayor Jason Bienski for the District 3 seat in 2008. Davenport works three jobs, including as a home health aide, and is a returning sophomore at Blinn, where he studies criminal justice."I really didn't like how the last election I watched there was 200-something votes in a district of several thousand people," Davenport said. "Out of those 210 votes, how many actually knew what was going on during those three years? It's just that in a city our size that's growing, we need to be better able to communicate with people."Infrastructure needsStephney said one of the reasons he decided to run was to see through the projects his wife started when she served on council. Stephney's wife, Annette Stephney, served on the Bryan City Council and was the city's first African American councilwoman. She passed away in October 2009.Perry Stephney said that although improvements have been made, his wife was concerned about streets and sidewalks where there is heavy pedestrian traffic."There are a lot of people in my district that don't have transportation or cars to get around and they have to walk, especially those children that go to school," Stephney said. "And she was concerned about their safety and she wanted sidewalks so they didn't have to walk on the streets."Pena identified sidewalks, street improvements and lighting as the three biggest concerns facing District 2.Pena said he feels the district has a large tax base, but the funds are being diverted into other areas of the city. He said he'd work to reinvest those funds in the District 2 community."There's no lighting up, and I feel like that's a safety issue," Pena said.Pena said it was ridiculous that Old Hearne Road leading to the H-E-B was lacking sidewalks."They took a chance on us, and I would like us to take some pride in our city and let's spend some money and build some sidewalks and fix our streets," Pena said. "Let's make it safer for our children to walk to school."Davenport identified failing and aging infrastructure as one of the biggest concerns for the district. He said there's a sense among District 2 residents that their vote儲存 don't matter, leading to smaller voter turnout in that area of town. He said he can't say whether the area has been ignored by past councils, but that the council must take responsibility to create change."If you keep showing up in big numbers and you vote in big numbers, something's going to change, whether [the council] likes it or not," Davenport said.He said he thinks the current council is aware of the state of infrastructure in District 2, but that he'd be willing to drive members through the area to show them some of the worst streets. Davenport said he'd like to see Old Hearne Road repaved and widened, similar to the improvements done to MLK Street.Stephney said Waco Street and West 17th Street were in "dire need" of sidewalks."It could be in the capital improvement plan, but these things project six to seven years out, and these people who travel down Waco Street are confronted with a lot of traffic ... and they have to get off the street," Stephney said.Economic developmentDavenport said he'd like to see more jobs come to the district.He said that even though it's good for businesses to locate in Bryan and make an economic impact of 200 to 300 jobs, he'd like to see something larger in the future."I'd like to see a Toyota plant, or something like that," Davenport said. "It'd be nice if the federal government wanted to build a prison unit or an Army base, something here that would attract thousands of jobs. That might pull us out of where we're at."Davenport said he was told there were 9,000 unemployed residents in the five-county area, but he believes it's more than that."Whether you're unemployed, underemployed, or in-and-out of the workforce, I think it's more than that," Davenport said. "We need a jolt, we need a big jolt."He said there are people in the district who want to find jobs or start businesses, but don't know how. He said the city should help give guidance to those ventures."The city can't be a be-all for everybody, but they can do their best and you've got people living here, paying taxes and it's got to be some give-and-take," Davenport said.Pena said he would be in favor of growth if it required incentives for businesses, but said he would prefer businesses to come on their own, like H-E-B."I would much rather them see the potential, but if it comes down to it, I'm not going to let it slip," Pena said.As for competing with College Station for commercial development and growth, he said that ties back to infrastructure."When they drive down paved roads, and people see sidewalks and streetlights, they see that it's aesthetically pleasing and they want to come here," Pena said. "... That small thing is going to make a big difference for the city."Stephney said he'd like to see more development done on the north side of the city to grow the tax base and show off the city. He said he'd have to study the long-term effects of giving out tax breaks to businesses to locate in Bryan.Stephney said his primary goal is to work with the representative from District 1 to see mutual benefit to those areas of town."Those two districts, which have been neglected for a number of years, we need to bring those issues up front in order for them to work on it," Stephney said.Stephney said he was appalled that the work being done in Downtown Bryan, specifically 28th to 24th Streets, did not extend into District 2."It was kind of upsetting to some people in my district -- 'Why did they stop there?' You begin to wonder, is there some separation? Is there some discrimination? Why can't you come on down?" Stephney said. "That came to reality when they started developing that area, and it does show that the city is concerned, but is kind of slack and slow in picking up the pace to get things done."Copyright: ___ (c)2013 The Eagle (Bryan, Texas) Visit The Eagle (Bryan, Texas) at .theeagle.com Distributed by MCT Information Servicesmini storage