There were seven faces, some new and a few familiar. Flint's mayoral candidates gathered this morning to lay out their plans for turning the city around.
"I respect Mr. Walling and his qualifications, but his inability to lead has been shown," candidate Scott Smith said.
Candidate Jung Ho Kim said positive dialog is needed now. "We don't have time to point fingers at each other. We have to get up, talk about it and brainstorm."
The most prevalent topic was cutting down Flint's escalating crime rate.
"The Michigan State Police was willing to increase their police force by the 12 they have currently on our streets by an additional 12 if we had opened the jail," said candidate Don Pfeiffer.
Candidate David Davenport says he would search for cash. "I would look for all grants possible to equal out protection in the city right now."
"We have to change lives in order to break this long cycle of violence," Mayor Dayne Walling said, "and, of course, we have to operate within the budget."
Also up for debate was how to find money for the cash-strapped city.
"Blending our services with the county in regards to code enforcement, residential and street plowing and other items which can save anywhere, I believe, between $8.4 to $8.6 million a year without laying anyone off," said candidate Darryl Buchanan.
"The land bank is sitting on 6,000 houses in Flint," candidate Eric May said this morning. "We're going to give them back to people for $1 because when you put property back on the tax roll, it increases property tax revenue."
"We have over $30 million committed to the Buick City cleanup. Those are real dollars that affect jobs, that will improve our economic tax base and will allow us to provide services," Walling said. "Half of what you've heard up here from candidates here today, those don't even affect the general fund. They're not even often city of Flint revenue streams."
The primary is still over two months away, but just from talking to many of the voters at the White Horse, they say that this forum did help them sort through a rather crowded field of candidates.
"This is helping a lot because I'm not a party voter. I just want to hear what people are going to do," Daniel Kuhin said.
Rob Klaty says everyone has good intentions. "I'm not sure if any one person can solve all the problems, but I feel that everyone here at least has that desire."
The Flint Mayoral Primary is August 2. The top two vote getters will move on to the general election in November.
