Meet Ed Childers, Ward 6

AGE: 60
OCCUPATION: Retired
MARITAL OR PARTNERSHIP STATUS: Married to Patricia for 37 years, two children
EDUCATION: University of Montana, bachelor's degree in creative writing, 1971
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE : Missoula City Treasurer, 12 years
MILITARY EXPERIENCE: None
PUBLIC SERVICE: Missoula City Council member, 8 years
PARTY AFFILIATION: Democrat
ENDORSEMENTS: Missoula County Democratic Central Committee, Missoula Area Central Labor Council, Missoula Organization of Realtors, Missoula Independent, Mayor John Engen, City Councilwoman Heidi Kendall, City Councilman Dave Strohmaier, Sen. Dave Wanzenried, Sen. Ron Erickson, former City Councilman Myrt Charney; Chamber of Commerce rating: 1.6 of 3.0.

Questions and answers

What qualifies you to be on the City Council?

“I’ve been elected city treasurer of Missoula three times. I served for 12 years on that. I ran for mayor and failed in 1997, and then I was elected to the City Council in 2000. I’ve put a lot of my acquired knowledge to use as a city councilman. I used to build SIDs (special improvement districts) and calculate splits and business licenses. I understand those things.”

What are the best and worst things the City Council has done in recent years?

“A great thing is we opened a section of England Boulevard recently. Negatives? When I got on the City Council we had a subdivision tool called the density bonus. It allowed developers to put more housing in an area than the zoning allowed. When I got on the council I thought that was simply unfair.”

What one thing would you most like to accomplish as an alderman?

“I just like things to keep getting a little better all the time. I’m really concerned we could get people elected to the City Council who don’t have that view. If that happens, we’re going to stop having new sidewalks and improvements on streets, and stop adding to the police force and having fire stations. That’s not going to make Missoula a desirable place to live.”

What can the city do to attract better paying jobs?

“We’ve got an educated and dedicated workforce. I don’t know that my goal is really to attract businesses. My goal is to keep the businesses that are here here, and let them roll.”

What should the city do to encourage more affordable housing?

“The only thing I’m aware of that’s really within our power is zoning and subdivision things that let you build smaller homes and let you build condos. But there’s a lot of opposition to that, even where the zoning says you can already do it. Do the small simple things we know help, at least for a while.”

Should Missoula endorse a troop withdrawal from Iraq? Why or why not?

“Even though everybody sends a letter in and calls individually, sometimes it’s helpful to have something come in a group form from an organization or particularly from a subset of the government, so if this referendum passes and we send it to all the powers that be, they’ll have that to look at. They’ll have that to refer to when they vote on things.”

What is Missoula’s most pressing traffic problem, and where should turn for the money to solve it?

“The worst intersection in the state I guess is Reserve and Mullan. One solution is to have less traffic on there. And it’s possible that if we ever get Russell Street done in a wider fashion, if that’s what ends up being done, that will take a little bit of demand off of Reserve, but not much.”

Should the city encourage or discourage more housing in existing city neighborhoods? Why?

“In Ward 6, the land was platted into subdivisions with rather small lots, and the zoning that’s in place allows fairly high densities. We have one that allows 12 units per acre, or 16 with some caveats, and we have some rezoning that allows way higher density than that. I want to continue to make that available to people who want to build small homes.”

Should the city limit the number of unrelated people who may share a house? Why or why not?

“We have a quality of life officer, and if you guys throw a wild party in your house and the neighbors complain, (he) would come and explain to you the negative aspects of that. That’s the kind of thing I’m all in favor of. I don’t like the idea that me and other poor old folks living in our houses that we’ve been in for a long time are going to be unduly disturbed.”

What specific problems in your ward would you like to see solved?

“Well, I would like some sugar daddy to come pay to put sidewalks on the main routes through Ward 6. We’ve got places where a lot of kids walk to Franklin School, and they use streets where there aren’t sidewalks. And there’s more traffic, particularly on Johnson Street, because of the Malfunction Junction redo, and people’s inability to follow the signs that tell them were they should appropriately go. So it’s become kind of dangerous.”