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COLUMBIA — The Wednesday night lineup at the Blue Fugue included performances by local musicians and a campaign speech by mayoral candidate Sean O’Day.
O'Day held a rally to promote awareness of the campaign and his platform, not to raise money, O’Day’s campaign manager Phillip Berrong said.
- Columbia Mayor Darwin Hindman casts his ballot Tuesday afternoon at St. Andrews Lutheran Church. "I was excited to vote for the school bond and propositions, as it is truly important for the city," Hindman said. "But when it comes to the vote for mayor, I missed seeing my name there. It was really a final act before becoming fully aware that my tenure as mayor is truly over."
“We’re trying not to spend a lot of money. It’s more helpful to have donations of time,” he said.
The rally started at about 9 p.m. and the first of three musical performances began at about 10 p.m.
“We have a nice variety of music to attract a lot of different people,” Berrong said.
The musicians who performed at the event — Bartholomew Bean, Farout and Abstracked and Explodacon — are all local and donated their time for the rally. O’Day is a member of Explodacon, in which he sings and plays the bells.
O’Day spoke at about 11 p.m. and discussed his platform: civil liberty, transparency and sustainability. O’Day said he wants to keep people in Columbia and make it easier for them to live and hold jobs in the city.
“We have three schools in this town,” he said. “There is no reason students shouldn’t be setting up shop here.”
He said he wants to improve transportation hours and routes. He also said he’d like parking meter times extended to encourage people to spend more time and money downtown.
“You just can’t watch a movie in two hours anymore,” he said.
He also said he’d like the city’s recycling program to move away from using plastic bags, but he is hesitant about the start up costs for recycling bins. Instead, he said using stickers on old trash bins might be a good, sustainable and affordable alternative.
Milton Payne, an attendee of the rally, said one of the reason he’s supporting O’Day is because he doesn’t want cameras downtown.
Another supporter, Peter Bermudez, agreed.
“I know Sean values personal liberty and accountability a lot,” Bermudez added.
O’Day said he’s focusing now on upcoming forums and debates, but he will be eventually out knocking on doors and holding other events.
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