The first of two Cranston Herald political candidates forums will take place tonight, Thursday, Oct. 18 starting at 6:00 p.m. at the Central Library.

All six Citywide City Council candidates – including Council President Republican Michael Farina, Democrat Steve Stycos, Republican Ken Hopkins, Democrat Sarah Lee, Republican Amy Ricci, and Democrat Gail Harvey – will all be in attendance and answering questions from both moderator Pam Schiff, a Cranston Herald reporter for over 10 years, and audience members.

The forum will begin with opening remarks from Library Director Ed Garcia and Cranston Herald publisher John Howell, followed by an introduction of all of the candidates.  Then there will be opening remarks from the six candidates, followed by a question-and-answer session.

A variety of questions covering many citywide and local issues have been sent in by Cranston residents over the past few weeks and have been vetted by the Cranston Herald team. 

In addition to those questions, there will be index cards in the back of the room during the forum for anyone in attendance to write their own questions.  Those will be handed into the moderator during the event and asked after all of the pre-submitted questions have been asked.  There will be a break in between these two portions of the forum.

The forum will end with closing remarks from each of the candidates. 

Next Thursday, Oct. 25’s forum, which will include candidates for Ward City Council and for School Committee, will follow a similar format. 

Attendance of the two events at the Central Library’s Jim Giles Program Room, which holds over 100 people and is located right when you walk into the library to the right, is encouraged.