Mayoral candidates take on transportation, housing and safety at forum hosted by MSA

The Missouri Students Association hosted a mayoral forum on March 12 to highlight key issues for University of Missouri students, including transportation, housing and safety, ahead of the Columbia mayoral election on April 8.

Three candidates were present at the forum: incumbent Barbara Buffaloe, Blair Murphy and Tanya Heath. Certified write-in candidate Lucio Bitoy IV was not present.

Buffaloe’s message focused on sustainability and emphasizing Columbia’s initiatives for diversity and acceptance despite state and federal government policies on immigration and LGBTQ+ rights. She discussed her experience working as Columbia’s first sustainability manager in 2010, her work to steer the Climate Action and Adaptation Plan in 2017 and her contributions to the conversation around MU’s influence over sustainability in mid-Missouri.

Murphy highlighted public safety, particularly in downtown Columbia, as a key issue of his campaign. After opening with the story of two MU first-year students who found themselves amid gunfire in downtown Columbia — one of whom sustained injuries from gunshot wounds to her leg — he emphasized the need for more police officers and increased police presence throughout the forum.

Heath said she wanted to facilitate conversations with everyone in Columbia to solve problems collaboratively, describing residents as each having “a piece of the puzzle to solve.” She emphasized her background in strategic communication as a quality that would give her the skills to connect with diverse groups of people.

Public transportation in Columbia

Moderators asked candidates about increasing walkability and major obstacles surrounding public transit and its accessibility.

All candidates pointed toward a shortage of bus drivers as a hurdle to making bus routes more efficient and useful for Columbia residents.

Buffaloe emphasized the importance of making the profession attractive to hirees.

“I think we need to create more flexibility in the position right now … We do need to find ways to really incentivize and get more drivers on there,” she said.

The candidates also pointed toward the necessity of developing more functional routes and service hours for the bus system. Heath suggested a collaboration between the city and private companies.

“What I would do is find the private sector experts and I would then team them up with our city staff and then I would [have] everyone working together to come up with a better solution so that our city bus system can run in a more functional and successful way,” Heath said.

Buffaloe’s bus plan centered on MU students. She discussed the importance of having students use public transportation more frequently.

“If we were to have just the slightest of student fee that could go into the bus system, it would help us increase our availability to stretch our service hours and our routes for what we need to do,” she said.

All three candidates supported an increase in bike paths across the city.

“Our current transportation plan maps out existing routes and envisions new connections, and I am 100% in support of this,” Murphy said. “I want our pedestrians and bicyclists to have a safe, smooth route all around Columbia.”

Student access to housing

Another key forum topic was student access to housing in Columbia, including questions about tenants’ rights and affordability.

Moderators referred to the Kansas City Tenant Bill of Rights, a document that outlines protections for tenants including prohibiting discrimination and ensuring the right to privacy, the right to safe housing and transparency about utility costs. Moderators then posed the question of what could be done to protect renters.

Heath emphasized the importance of communication between tenants and landlords.

“I think we need the education and I think we need the feedback and we need to have the goal of excellence,” Heath said. “When we are going through these all the time and there’s not enough communication, both the owner and the renter are dissatisfied.”

Heath also suggested making changes to ensure lease readability, ensuring leases are written in plain language and are “thoroughly understood” by both parties, as well as offering classes for students on home maintenance to cut down on repair costs.

Murphy’s position was also supportive of improving conditions for renters.

“Growing up with a single mom, we lived all over town in apartments and mobile homes,” Murphy said. “Some of them were not so great and neither were our landlords. That’s why we moved a lot.”

Murphy said he would reexamine current city regulations with the goal of reducing costs to developers, proposing implementing a sliding scale of front-end costs to save on construction.

Buffaloe suggested that solving communication issues could reduce unsafe housing and neglectful landlords.

“The big thing is communication about where people have these opportunities to make these complaints, where they have the opportunities to know what their rights are,” Buffaloe said.

Additionally, Buffaloe suggested expanding fee waivers for the development of affordable housing to multifamily homes and working proactively with students to ensure they know what qualities to look for and questions to ask when renting.

Student health and well-being

The final segment of questions revolved around student health and well-being, specifically surrounding issues of women’s safety, LGBTQ+ protections and immigration enforcement.

On the topic of LGBTQ+ protections, Buffaloe referenced a 2024 ordinance that made Columbia an official safe haven for LGBTQ+ communities. The ordinance set guidelines for law enforcement surrounding gender-affirming care laws.

“One of the biggest things being pushed by the state was what we would do to enforce [restrictions for] people who were seeking gender affirming care … That is our lowest priority when dealing with law enforcement,” Buffaloe said.

Murphy’s advocacy for public safety measures led him to a similar perspective.

“I want our police focused on stopping violent criminals, not messing with peaceful people’s personal lives,” he said. “I want to make Columbia a place of opportunity where we can all work together,” he said.

Discussion of immigration led candidates to discuss the Columbia Police Department’s Policy 428, a procedural policy that outlines when law enforcement officers are permitted to detain people guilty of immigration violations.

“Officers do not detain someone for a civil violation, such as overstaying a visa after being lawfully admitted,” Murphy said. “However, officers can detain someone for a criminal immigration violation, such as unlawful entry into the US.”

Heath supported upholding current policy while making sure methods of support are accessible for immigrants of all statuses.

“I believe what we need to do is we need to make sure we have a way to communicate with people who are here that might need medical help [or] might need other kinds of support,” she said.

Buffaloe’s plans revolved around uplifting diversity in Columbia and maintaining the community’s values.

“It is about continuing to be a vibrant, welcoming community,” she said. “When the state was starting to attack things like diversity, equity and inclusion … Columbia still did the Columbia Values Diversity celebration that week, because that is what we support.”

The idea of an “angel shot” was at the forefront of the conversation. “Angel shots,” while not real drinks, are something that can be ordered at a bar or restaurant to signal to the bartender that a customer needs help.

“I totally support expanding the angel shot concept,” Murphy said. “The city should be supportive 100%, but the effort can only succeed with support and participation also by the bar owners and staff.”

Heath also expressed support for establishing more guidelines for safety in bars. “We definitely need to have safety protocols in place so that if anyone, for any reason, has a safety issue, that there is a known protocol that each restaurant, bar [and] business can have to help that person,” she said.

Murphy also brought up a broader conversation about consent.

“It is up to men of all ages to behave like gentlemen,” he said. “No means no, and that’s something parents and peers must teach and follow. If someone says no, back off.”

The mayoral election is on April 8. Voters can attend the Boone County Election Forum at the Daniel Boone Regional Library on March 18 to hear from candidates. Information about polling places can be found on the official website of the Boone County Clerk’s Office.

Edited by Maya Dawson | mdawson@themaneater.comCopy edited by Natalie Kientzy | nkientzy@themaneater.comEdited by Emilia Hansen | ehansen@themaneater.comEdited by Annie Goodykoontz | agoodykoontz@themaneater.com