Denton City Council candidates focused on transportation and neighborhood preservation Thursday night during a forum sponsored by the Denton Neigh­bor­hood Alliance.

More than 40 people gathered at City Hall to ask questions of the 10 candidates running for four council seats, including the mayoral position. The election is May 10.

Justin Bell

Mark Burroughs

Mayoral candidate Justin Bell found himself at odds with other candidates on several issues throughout the two-hour event, including the importance of public transportation and whether he would work to encourage bicycle riding.

“As far as public transportation, that costs money, it costs tax money,” said Bell, 30, a business owner running a “back to basics” campaign focused on essential city services. “And I’m here to tell you that over the next decade there’s going to be some harder economic times. … In that aspect, I think the money needs to stay in the citizens’ hands.”

Bell, who lost a mayoral bid in 2006, then asked audience members to raise their hands if they rode bikes to the forum.

Perry McNeill

Darac Favre

“A whopping zero hands went up,” he said. “So the demand for both of those simply are not there.”

But another mayoral hopeful, lawyer Mark Burroughs, 50, called public transportation key to reducing air pollution. A former three-term council member, Burroughs is the city’s representative to the Denton County Transportation Authority board and former representative to the Regional Transportation Council.

“My role has been substantially involved in transportation when I was on the council and thereafter in air quality issues,” Burroughs said. “We are in desperate need to improve our air quality issues, and we can’t do it by paving over every square foot that’s available to allow more traffic to occur. What we have to have are alternatives.”

Swimming pool technician Darac Favre, 20, another mayoral candidate, said the city could encourage bicycle riding by having more police officers on bikes, making it safer to ride on streets, promoting existing trails and consolidating trail maps.

Incumbent Mayor Perry McNeill, 71, a retired professor and engineer, called supporting bike riding “a no-brainer,” but said a public education campaign would be needed to encourage the practice.

Bell also stood alone on the panel in refusing to entertain the idea of a publicly financed trolley system connecting the University of North Texas to Bell Avenue along Hickory Street.

“A trolley costs millions of dollars to institute,” he said. “And once again, it’s going to be subsidized by the government and take more money.”

Candidates each expressed a commitment to preserving Denton’s neighborhoods.

Rudy Moreno, 61, an escrow officer running for District 2, was among several candidates to call for more neighborhood meetings between residents and developers.

John Ryan, the other District 2 candidate, called for more staffing in the city’s code enforcement office to prevent neighborhood decay. Ryan and Moreno are running for the seat being vacated by Pete Kamp, who is seeking another council position.

“In ’95 because of budget cuts we cut code officers,” said Ryan, 43, a real estate businessman. “We’re just now back to the number of code officers that we had then, and with our growth we should be well above that.”

At-large District 5 candidates Kamp and Mike Sutton and at-large District 6 incumbent Joe Mulroy and challenger Jerry Mohelnitzky also participated in the forum.

The event was the sixth annual candidate forum hosted by the alliance, a group of neighborhood associations.

“I was happy with the variety of the responses,” said Patrice Lyke, alliance chairwoman. “And I’m always happy to see new people running, young people running.”

LOWELL BROWN can be reached at 940-566-6882. His e-mail address is lmbrown@dentonrc.com .

Thursday night’s Denton City Council candidate forum will be replayed on Charter Cable Channel 25 before the May 10 election:

* 8 to 10 p.m. Mondays (April 14, 21 and 28 and May 5)

* 8 to 10 a.m. Wednesdays (April 15, 22 and 29 and May 6)

* 10 a.m. to noon Fridays (April 18 and 25 and May 2 and 9)

* 10 a.m. to noon Saturdays (April 19 and 26 and May 3)

SOURCE: Denton Neighborhood Alliance

A number of upcoming public forums will feature Denton City Council and mayoral candidates:

* 7 p.m. Wednesday at Central Fire Station, 332 E. Hickory St., sponsored by the Denton Fire Fighters Association

* 6:30 p.m. Thursday, April 24, at Martin Luther King Jr. Recreation Center, 1300 Wilson St., sponsored by the NAACP

* 7 p.m. Monday, April 28, at Denia Recreation Center, 1001 Parvin St., sponsored by the Denia Area Community Group (mayoral candidates only)