Mayoral debate at Scott Park campus

Independent Mike Bell and Democrat Keith Wilkowski faced off in the Scott Park auditorium Monday night. On the table were issues like neighborhood stabilization and crime and safety.

Bell said, "Do we have the appropriate number of police officers? No and the one thing that we would do is bring those Toledo officers back immediately."

Wilkowski agrees. He says if he's Toledo's next mayor, he'll put laid-off police officers back on the job as well.

On education, both candidates believe city schools should partner with other organizations to help children learn. But here's where they differ.

Wilkowski promises new projects for economic development, while Mike Bell seems hesitant.

Wilkowski said, "I've got a plan. It focuses on what I believe are our core wealth-producing industries: manufacturing and transportation and construction. No one but Toledo is going to be able to tell us when Xunlight is ready to expand."

Bell said, "I am very focused that we realize that we do not have an unlimited budget to be able to allocate funds across the board for every project we have. We need to figure out how much we have and approach it in a strategic way."

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