It was a sunny Thursday afternoon on July 26 and the air was filled with humidity and question. The doubtful joined the optimistic in front of the Adam Clayton Powell Jr building on 125 street and Malcolm X Boulevard. Those who were there had come to take part in the debate being held. The Democratic candidates running for mayor took their seats in front of the audience and prepared to try to win the crowd. All were present : the Speaker of the House , Peter Vallone, the Public Advocate, Mark Green, State Comptroller , Allan Hevesi, and Frenando Ferrer . Even assistants and other people involved in politics showed up like : Arnie Segaro , Assistant to Denny Fererr and Ann Klepel, Chief Advisor to Congressman Charlie Rangel.

As the crowd listened to each candidate speak it became clear by the look on most people's faces that they had heard it all before: promises of better commitment and service to the people. For a few, the promises were good enough, but for some it was just baloney.

The audience was not a big one. Many seats were empty for a while before people started wandering in ,which meant that much of the Harlem community did not know about this meeting. Some took that as an insult , like Ms. Baily, a school teacher who had just come out of the train station and saw the crowd .But she did not come without a question ; she wanted to know about why Chancellor Levy started a new teacher's fellowship (which is a procedure to recruit teachers) without African American teachers involved in it. She was told by someone that an outside agency was handling it and that there might not be enough space, but that answer was just not good enough for her, so she came looking for a better answer.

Many came looking for answers to problems that the city seemed to be ignoring. Zulu, a resident of Harlem for over 32 years , had three main complaints. One was that in all of Harlem , where there are over 3000 people who have wheel chairs,there is only one wheelchair accessible train station. Another complaint was the fact that the police department was towing cars to other streets without telling the owners. The last complaint he had was the fact that the police had thrown him and other African American street vendors off 125th street and still allowed other people to sell their goods.Looking at the candidates up front , Zulu said "One thing is for sure ; the Harlem community must choose wisely who they want for mayor or we will suffer later."

Since most of the Democrats running for mayor attended the meeting. , so many speakers started talking that the audience couldn't deal with all of them. Like Sylvia ,another New York City school teacher, who stated, "I can live with all of them, but mostly Peter Vallone because he has African Americans on his advisory committee plus he knows how city government is run . I can live least of all with Mark Green because I feel he brings the least skills to the job." Still others couldn't help thinking that the candidates might be better politicians than they were administrators.

At one point after the show , when people got a chance to come face to face with the candidates, they overwhelmed them with specific questions which tested their sincerity. Mark Green , at one point , found it hard to get away when a Harlem woman started questioning him about his perspective on selling personal property. While there seemed to be no real support for any one specific candidate, there certainly were many questions for all of them , not just from the moderator, but from every concerned citizen there . Who will get your vote?

Peter Vallone & Info on 125th Street