[media-credit name=’JEFF SCHORFHEIDE/Herald photo’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]City transportation was the main topic of debate Thursday night as mayoral candidates Dave Cieslewicz and Ray Allen met at Madison Area Technical College downtown.

According to current mayor Cieslewicz, Madison will be facing additional traffic concerns in the future, as 100,000 more cars will drive across city streets over the next 20 years.

Cieslewicz said a mix of alternatives would be needed to solve the potential traffic issue, including repairing current roads and improving and expanding the bus system.

"We have spent over $150 million on repairing streets in the last 40 years," Cieslewicz said. "If you look at the overall rating compared to what it was 40 years ago, it is better today — that is why we need to continue to invest money into the streets."

Cieslewicz added the city should look at a variety of alternatives, including forming a plan to construct a streetcar system in Madison — an idea Allen is strongly opposed to.

"I won't support the trolley — I think that it is too high of a cost and provides too narrow of a service," Allen said. "We need to look at options for express buses to come from the far east and far west, down into town and back, so people don't have to make an hour-and-a-half drive."

Public safety, which tied in with the proposed Alcohol Density Plan, was also a hotly contested issue, as the candidates presented two different approaches to solving the problem of rising crime rates.

"When bars empty out at the same time, you can get some real volatility," Cieslewicz said, adding the program was heavily lobbied to him by the Madison Police Department as the better alternative.

Allen has been vocal about his opposition to the proposal.

"We need to work with the community and our bars to encourage responsible drinking," Allen said. "Capping the number of bars is not necessarily going to cap the amount of drinking."

Cieslewicz said in order to increase safety, more officers have to be on the streets.

Police officers should also be able to use mobile surveillance cameras that, according to the mayor, have worked well in the past.

Allen has voiced concern over the use of the cameras, which are part of Cieslewicz and the MPD's $100,000 Downtown Safety Initiative.

"In lieu of cameras, I would like to have more policemen on the streets," Allen said. "Officers downtown can be (crime) deterrents themselves, and it's proven that it works."

Some debate attendees, however, thought simply adding more officers on the streets is not the solution.

"I'm in the mayor's camp when it comes to safety," Madison resident Rosemary Lee said. "The panacea is not a whole bunch of more officers, especially considering that cameras can be useful tools for the police."

Poverty was also an important issue in the debate, as poverty rates in Madison are on the rise.

"We need to address the root causes of homelessness," Cieslewicz said. "We should prevent it as opposed to building more shelter beds."

While Allen agreed poverty has to be addressed at its root, he also emphasized that building better communities by using rent and household economy advisors would prevent homelessness in the first place.

"Poverty is a fundamental concern to everybody," said Marsha Rummel, who attended the debate. "Ray Allen's plan to provide daycare and a childcare program, I think, is important, and I think it makes him more proactive in trying to reduce the poverty rates."