On the surface, the two latest additions to the race for Lewiston City Council couldn't be any more different: Bob Blakey is an established 58-year-old financial adviser, while Jesse Maldonado is an 18-year-old headed for his first classes at Lewis-Clark State College this fall.
But the men - who officially announced their candidacies this week - share several values. They each want to take a nonideological perspective to the council; promote growth through urban renewal; and find a way to improve or rebuild the city's aging high school.
Maldonado said that while his youth might make some question his decision to run, young adults have a vested interest in becoming a part of the political process.
"My generation is the future of the city, the future of the state, and the future of the entire country, for that matter," Maldonado said. "If we sit back and let everything play out in front of us, pretty soon it's going to be too late. I wish I wasn't the only 18-year-old running for city council."
A Lewiston native, Maldonado said a nonpartisan message will be central to his campaign.
"So I'm not going to come to the table with a political mind-set," he said. "I'm going to come with what's right for the city."
As a recent graduate of Lewiston High School, Maldonado said he knows firsthand the shortcomings of the current Normal Hill campus, which he joked was built before the advent of sliced bread. He hasn't yet taken a public position on whether he favors remodeling that facility, or building from scratch, but he said improvements need to be a top priority for the city.
"I went through three years at that high school, the water dripping on me, no air conditioning, not enough room to eat lunch," he said. "Something needs to be done."
And a modern high school will not only improve the educational environment for students, it will help attract families and businesses to what was a stagnant city, he said.
"Economic development is huge in my book," Maldonado said, describing swaths of land that would be prime for growth if the city could only build the infrastructure to serve them.
He said Lewiston needs to seize on offers like the recent proposal by Bedrock LLC to foot half the bill for extending Nez Perce Drive to Gun Club Road, and not close any of its Lewiston Urban Renewal Agency areas. He points to the revitalized downtown area around the new Lewiston City Library as an example of what urban renewal can accomplish.
Blakey is reserving judgment on closing any urban renewal areas until he is more educated on the issue. But he said the districts are one of the best tools that cities have to foster new development, attract jobs and broaden the tax base.
"The city of Lewiston is ready to grow," he said, pointing to Bryden Avenue as an area that could benefit from the assistance of the urban renewal agency.
Blakey goes further than Maldonado on the subject of Lewiston schools, stating his desire for a completely new high school. He has served on various levy and building committees since he moved to Lewiston in 1990, and said the school district needs to move soon, while interest rates are low.
He said renewed focus on professional and technical education would also serve the city's youth, suggesting Lewiston form a consortium with surrounding school districts to create a joint vocational education center to complement a new high school.
But Blakey said his true passion lies in improving the places and spaces where Lewiston residents can play and get fit.
"We have limited recreational resources," said Blakey, who coached junior high and high school football for 10 years. "We have lots of river and lots of land to hunt on, but we need to continue to make opportunities available and develop our recreational resources and facilities."
He said tackling that issue will take money, and the voters will ultimately decide if they want a city council that will spend their tax dollars toward that end. The overwhelming support he's seen for the new library is evidence that they will, he said.
"I want Lewiston to be a place for my grandkids to live in," said Blakey, a vice president at D.A. Davidson & Co. "Lewiston has been good to me. I built a very good practice, and a very good business. I always felt that at some point in time I wanted to give something back in some way."
And like Maldonado, Blakey said he wants to take a measured, middle-of-the-road approach to city government.
"I'm not anti-anything," he said. "I'm open to looking at both sides of an issue, and then making a decision."
Maldonado and Blakey join two incumbents who have already declared council runs, Kevin Poole and Dennis Ohrtman, and newcomer Ryan (RJ) Johnson. Four seats will be contested at the Nov. 5 election. The filing period for candidates begins Aug. 26.
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Mills may be contacted at jmills@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2266.
