VIDEO: RHS Civics Club Town Hall with Mayoral Candidates

The Rye High School Civics Club hosted a virtual town hall between the two mayoral candidates on Wednesday evening, ahead of the Democratic primary on Tuesday, June 22nd.

Incumbent Mayor Josh Cohn and challenger Danielle Tagger-Epstein were questioned by the Civics Club with questions collected from the Rye student body.

It was a wide ranging hour long session on an array of topics and you can watch the video replay here on MyRye.com. Here is the line of questions put forth by the civics club, and the video follows:

What are your plans as Mayor to reopen the town as safely and efficiently as possible, especially in terms of supporting main street and small businesses? (Rachel Mehler)
What are your views on the race task force implemented by the school and how do you plan to build on this in the town of Rye? (Holbrook Langley)
Rye has been notably unreceptive to LGBTQ+ issues, for example, the Drag Queen read aloud at the library which was cancelled amid protest, and the massive amount of pushback received by the movement to raise a Pride flag in town, what are your plans to create a community which is more accepting and supportive of its LGBTQ+ citizens? (Felicia Ambrogi)
Climate change is among the most important issues facing our generation. Recently the town implemented a composting program, but it remains only a temporary feature of our town. Going forward how would you as Mayor build upon and expand our town’s existing environmental policies? (Alex Yeh)
As the threat of climate change grows, weather patterns are getting more extreme and coastal communities like Rye are facing increasingly severe storms. What are your plans as Mayor to develop an infrastructure to combat the damage caused by extreme weather and prevent power outages like the multi-day one over this summer? (Claire Killian)
New York State announced that it would start legalizing recreational marijuana, could you explain your plans as Mayor about how Rye will handle this and address the growing presence of recreational marijuana in our community, especially given the town’s painful history of drugs. (Holbrook Langley)
As the Civics Club we are deeply invested in creating a more civically engaged community, what are your plans as Mayor to create a more democratic community and engage the citizens, especially high school students, in local government? (Alex Yeh)
We have left this question for last since as students, this policy change doesn’t necessarily directly impact us. What changes will you make to the existing fiscal policy over the course of your term and why do you believe these are important? (Felicia Ambrogi)