The three candidates for two vacant College Park City Council seats in District 2 said restorative justice for the Lakeland community and affordable housing will be their priorities if they are elected.

At an Oct. 23 candidates’ forum hosted by College Park Here & Now, Chris Gill, who lives in Oak Springs, Kelly Jordan and Holly Simmons, both from Berwyn, also said they would push for more walkable neighborhoods.

WTOP radio’s Shawn Anderson, who lives in College Park’s Yarrow neighborhood, moderated the forum.

“I’m just really pleased to be able to serve the community,” said Jordan, who works full-time as an IT consultant and serves as the co-president of the Berwyn District Civic Association (BDCA). “I want to move forward in doing this in the city council role now.”

The candidates are running to fill the seats of former councilmembers Llatetra Brown Esters and Susan Whitney, who are not running for re-election. District 2 is the only part of the city with a contested race.

Although all city council seats are up for election on Nov. 4, College Park residents may vote only for the candidates running in the district where they live. In addition, all residents may vote for mayor. Incumbent Fazlul Kabir is running unopposed.

Simmons, who works as the deputy zoning manager for the city of Rockville and serves as acting treasurer of BDCA, said during the forum that reparations for the Lakeland community are important. Lakeland lost 104 of its 150 homes during urban renewal in the 1960s and ’70s.

“I remember [at] one of the events that I attended for restorative justice in Lakeland, a gentleman said, ‘I want my 40 acres and a mule,’” Simmons, who has served on the city’s Old Town Historic District Local Advisory Committee, said. “And I know that urban renewal is not the same thing as slavery. However, I think that the reparations are very important.”

Gill and Jordan agreed.

Gill, a member of the city’s Vacant and Blighted Property Tax Committee, said anything that achieves justice for Lakelanders in the short term is a priority. Jordan added that restorative justice will be a group effort for the council, not a project just for District 2 representatives.

She added that the impact of urban renewal is felt the deepest by Lakeland’s oldest residents, who lived in the community during urban renewal.

All of the candidates agreed that affordable housing is among the city’s greatest problems to solve.

Jordan, who has been an officer of BDCA for five years, suggested that each new housing development should be required to incorporate some affordable housing units. Simmons suggested the city should look at a Montgomery County program that requires apartment buildings with more than 20 units to designate a portion of them as moderately priced.

The candidates said they were unwilling to commit to supporting or rejecting any proposals for College Park to create its own police force.

Gill said he worries that if the city establishes its own police force, officials might neglect safety improvements like adding lighting and sidewalks, assuming people can simply call the police when they feel unsafe. Simmons said she would like the city to study the issue further before the council decides whether to move from Prince George’s County police patrols to its own. Jordan endorsed a request by Kabir for additional county police in the city.

“I think that underlying that question is that is the arrangement [with the county] we currently have working?” Jordan asked. “And I would say it leaves some things to be desired.”

The candidates said they would be reluctant to vote for a property tax increase to fund development, although Gill noted that sometimes that is a trade-off.

Kabir, in a formal conversation with the moderator before the forum began, said he is most proud of his work toward the completion of Phase 1 of the Route 1 renovation project. But he said he wishes he had the opportunity to vote against a measure to raise salaries for the part-time council and mayor.

The mayor may vote during council meetings only to break a tie.

“I know the reason why council members need to have a good compensation,” Kabir said. “However, this is not just another job. This is the job people take for the love of the community, and that is a primary thing. It’s not to make money. It’s to serve the community.”

Residents can vote for mayor and council on Nov. 4 at City Hall or participate in early voting on Nov. 2 at Davis Hall in North College Park.