North Ward Alderman Gertrude Young said people attending Monday night’s political forum, the second in less than a week, didn’t need to look far to see her contributions to the community during her 12 years in office.

“I think everybody can see the projects that I have done, including this building that we are sitting in right now,” Young, 49, who is seeking her fourth term, said at the Jackson Street Community Center.

Young is one of nine candidates seeking a Democratic nomination to a city office on May 3. About 50 people attended the forum sponsored by the Old Town Neighborhood Association, which is entirely in the North Ward.

Downtown urban renewal and housing were the main topics of the forum with some candidates offering their ideas to improve both if elected.

Warren County District 3 Supervisor Charles Selmon, 44, who is running for mayor, said he wants to create a program he calls “neighbor to neighbor” to use Community Development Block Grants to renovate dilapidated housing.

“This would help people who are not able to build or renovate their homes,” Selmon said.

Former county supervisor and candidate for mayor John Ferguson, 63, said the type of energy that was put into downtown and other areas needs to be used to fix up neighborhoods across the city.

“To rent the kind of dilapidated housing people are living in in this community is a crime. We and the city government should be ashamed,” Ferguson said.

First-time office-seeker and mayoral hopeful John Shorter, 38, said the city should also be more systematic about code enforcement. He pointed specifically to the empty Carr school building on Cherry Street and Surplus City store at City Front as examples of selective enforcement.

“If a person can’t afford to fix up their home, then what can they afford after you tear it down?” Shorter asked.

Eric Rawlings, 42, Democratic candidate for mayor, said the problem is that the money spent renovating downtown didn’t help create jobs.

“Now, all of the money is down where the administration can benefit. If I had to write a book about Vicksburg it would be called ‘Trees and Bricks,’ but we can’t eat the trees or spend the bricks,” Rawlings said.

Alderman candidates also had their say about downtown and how the current administration spent the $17.5 million bond issue. Warren County District 2 Supervisor Michael Mayfield, 47, who is seeking the North Ward alderman’s seat, said the city is wasting money on the downtown art park and water play area in a location where people won’t feel safe at night and trains pass all day.

“I will never understand how every member of the city board voted for the Laurence Leyens spray park or whatever you want to call it,” Mayfield said. “When the mayor does things like that, somebody should have the guts enough to say I don’t agree with it.”

The other candidate in that race, Rodney Dillamar, 45, also said the bond issue was misspent.

“When we borrowed that money it should have been used to help save people’s homes, not just renovate downtown,” Dillamar said.

While some of the candidates criticized spending in Kings and work on water and sewer improvements in the annexed areas, Young said voters should look at the records of the other candidates, too.

“The question you should ask is what has the District 2 supervisor and the District 3 supervisor done for you,” Young said.

She said that in the past four years the city spent $3 million making improvements in Kings and $5.2 million to complete water and sewer improvements in both wards.

“When I pulled the records on the county’s capital improvement projects over the past four years, not $1 was spent inside the city,” she said. “Talk your platform and tell what you’re going to do, but don’t tell me about what you think I’ve done.”

There are Democratic primaries for all three city seats. A majority vote is required to win, meaning May 17 runoffs are possible in the North Ward and mayoral contests. No runoff will be needed in the South Ward since there are only two candidates.

Primary winners will advance to the June 7 general election to face independents and Republicans.

The winner in the mayor’s race will face Republican Shirley Newman Smollen, 69, and independent candidates Mayor Laurence Leyens, 40, and former Mayor Joe Loviza, 65.

In the North Ward alderman’s race, the winner faces independent candidates Vickie Bailey, 36, a city employee, and construction worker Tommie Rawlings, 41. The only Republican in that race is Carl Yelverton, 58, a security guard at a local casino.

The Democrats for South Ward alderman are former Vicksburg police officer DaVon Grey, 46, and local hairdresser Pam Johnson, 39. The winner will face incumbent Sid Beauman, 57, a Republican seeking his second term.