To further promote their campaigns for the upcoming District 2 aldermanic race, Ald. Brenda Konkel and challenger Bridget Maniaci debated Wednesday issues concerning safety, homelessness and public transportation.

Konkel, who has held the District 2 alder seat since 2001, said her advantage is her experience and engagement in existing city programs.

“I have shown that I am really committed to the downtown,” Konkel said. “I think I am the only active alder who is blogging, and I blog Monday through Friday, and I make sure my blogs have information about what’s coming up in the meetings, what’s going on in the neighborhood and other information.”

However, Maniaci said overall her leadership style is what sets her apart from her competitor.

“One thing I think I would really bring to this seat is being able to work together with a lot of different age groups and demographics,” Maniaci said. “I think where we differ is in looking specifically at what is going on in the neighborhood, and that’s where a lot of my focus will be on a variety of issues like the infrastructure and safety.”

Konkel stressed the best way to address safety issues on campus would be to encourage students to drink responsibly. She also added the city’s money could be well spent by increasing the number of police officers patrolling the streets at night.

However, Maniaci said she wants to focus on establishing better nighttime transportation by expanding SAFEride and increasing the number of buses that would run throughout the city late at night. Additionally, she wants to install security cameras on streets and near parking lots to aid in police investigations.

Aside from safety, both candidates focused on homelessness in their district. Konkel said she helped put $25,000 in the county budget that will be used to help fund job assistance programs. She added she helped the city reserve money to aid people at risk of losing their homes.

“Once people lose their homes, it takes so much more to be able to get them back into another home,” Konkel said. “So we are trying to spend our money on preventing homelessness more than just dealing with the homeless.”

If elected, Maniaci said she hopes to see affordable downtown housing that will give residents easy access to resources.

“You have to get people into stable housing, and then we can start to work on all the other issues,” Maniaci said. “We can work on education and career skills to get people into better and good, stable jobs.”

Regarding public transportation, Maniaci said she did not support the bus fare increase and wants to create bus systems between major cities, including Chicago, whereas Konkel wants to work toward implementing a commuter rail that would run throughout the city.

Madison City Council elections will be held April 7.