Twelve of the 18 candidates running for Richmond City Council shared their vision for the city’s future at a candidate forum hosted by the Richmond Crusade for Voters on Monday evening, drawing a crowd of around 60 people to Third Street Bethel AME Church.

Eight newcomers and four incumbents answered questions collected from the community before the event, with journalist Antoinette Essa serving as moderator.

Candidates Zac Walker, Katherine Jordan, Sarah Abubaker, Stephanie A. Lynch, Willie Hillard Jr. and Reva M. Trammell were absent.

With a wide range of questions on topics such as funding priorities, affordable housing and more, a focus on offering a new way forward for city politics versus continuing the work already in place repeatedly emerged.

“We need to do an overhaul at City Hall,” said Tavares Floyd, a candidate running for the 6th District seat. He participated in the forum alongside fellow council newcomers Andrew Breton, Paul Goldman, Kenya Gibson, Maria Carra Rose, Eric Sundberg, Frank Wilson Jr. and Stephanie Starling.

“We need to have people that will stand up and do the right thing for the city. If it’s broken, we need to fix it.”

Recently, concerns have been raised over affordable housing, education funding and homeless services, as well as concerns about employee misconduct in the City. These issues created openings for new candidates to present alternative approaches. Others shared their personal experiences of City operations as residents, or promised to use the full power of City Council to effect positive change.

By contrast, many of those already serving on the City Council worked to balance acknowledging the failures of the past while touting the accomplishments and progress made by the City. The Affordable Housing Trust Fund, Office of Community Wealth Building and regular funding increases for Richmond Public Schools were among the policies and initiatives cited as examples of City Council performing their duties well or setting the groundwork for success.

“We have a great city, but a lot of people have been left behind,” said 6th District Representative Ellen F. Robertson, who joined incumbents Ann-Frances Lambert, Cynthia Newbile and Nicole Jones at the forum. “My whole tenure working on City Council has always been to represent those families and those people that are left behind and I will continue to be that faithful leader.”

There were commonalities among some of the responses candidates offered. All present supported changing the rules for public comment during council meetings, as well as replacing the city’s chief administrative officer and finance director. Accountability and transparency also were frequent refrains among the candidates.

Brenda Cureton, a managing partner for the Commonwealth Facilitation Group, was disappointed that Abubaker wasn’t present to make her case to represent the 4th District, where she lives. Still, she said the forum was a welcome chance to assess the candidates.

“I think overall, the candidates as a whole presented their cases appropriately and respectfully,” Cureton said. “I do think that the candidates who really seem to have a commitment as far as education and housing are the candidates that I’m leaning more towards.”

Former RCV President Charles Chambliss, while disappointed that the audience present wasn’t able to submit questions to the candidates was glad to see the organization providing this service to the public.

“It’s good that the Crusade is still holding forums like this,” Chambliss said. “Overall, this went pretty well.”

The RCV will hold a final forum focused on School Board candidates on Thursday, Aug. 15, and announce their endorsements Tuesday, Aug. 20.