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Some highlights and impressions from last night's event for Districts 1 and 2 and mayoral candidates at the historical museum:

District 2 challenger Lance Jones far exceeded incumbent Goldie Wells in energy and force of personality. I could tell he really impressed some people in the small audience.

To me, however, he has this strangely benign view of criminal gangs, which he also expressed in our editorial board interview last month.

Children drawn to gangs, Jones said, "lack love. They found love and community among them (gangs), and for that I applaud them."

Love among the gangs?

"What's the difference between the NAACP and the Crips? The activity," Jones said, making the point that the activity must be changed. At some time in the future, he'd like to be able to compliment the Crips or Bloods "for that housing project you built."

I guess I see that differently. More than activity separates the NAACP from the Crips -- although that activity is pretty darn significant. The distinction is what determines the activity -- ideals. The NAACP is committed to the ideals of equality, justice and opportunity. Gangs are committed to furthering their own interests at the expense of others. They'll kill, steal, intimidate or whatever to get what they want. If the Crips or Bloods built a housing project, I'd question where they got the money.

It seems to me Jones envisions a role for these gangs that's something like what Hamas has taken among the Palestinians. Hamas is popular because it provides services to the population, but it's still a terrorist organization. In Greensboro, we'd be better off without gangs, period.

Among the District 1 candidates, Charles Coffey and James Carpenter showed the most passion. Carpenter stressed his youth (he's 27), and Coffey his experience with the Lee Street Merchants Association and his involvement with the Guilford Center in working to create a much-needed drug-treatment program.

In kind of an odd statement, T. Dianne Bellamy-Small told the audience, "You need to have a change agent" on the City Council, apparently putting herself in her role. But she's already been on the council for four years, and her four opponents say that's where the change is needed.

Tonya Clinkscale stressed the importance of having a "team player" on the council, someone who can work well enough with others to round up five votes to get things done.

Luther Falls Jr. touted his relationships in the business community and deep roots in the district as assets in his cause.

There was an interesting discussion in response to a question about vacant, dilapidated housing. Why can't the city take possession, fix them up and sell them to people who would make good homeowners and improve the neighborhoods?

Falls said the owners should be given incentives to sell. Clinkscale said slumlord properties should be subject to eminent domain "if it takes going to the Supreme Court."

Bellamy-Small, however, presented a different perspective. Many of these structures are "heir housing," she said. They could be "your mother's house." Mother passes away, leaving the property to children who may live elsewhere or don't have the resources to fix it up. Should the city take it away?

She also talked about self-help: "We've got to get our folks to invest in our community. It can't just be a handout."

Mayoral candidates Yvonne Johnson and Milton Kern again showed few differences of opinion. In fact, they almost had a love-in. Kern seemed to purposefully associate himself with Johnson, who's expected to be very strong in East Greensboro. "Whoever you elect will come in and try to help," he said at one point. "Whichever one of us wins, the black community will win, too," he said in his closing statement.

A questioner challenged the next mayor to do something about kids who drop out of school, saying her neighborhood is "flourishing" with 13- and 14-year-old "potential gang members. ... That's one reason we don't have jobs," she said. "They don't finish high school, they walk the streets, have babies."

Neither Kern nor Johnson brushed that one off as the school system's job. Johnson decried "too much fragmentation in government," saying the city should build better relationships with the county and school system to address these issues. Kern said one of his reasons for running is to deal with this ":disconnect. We just don't talk. If it's in the best interrest of our children, we need to get involved."

"Milton is right," Johnson affirmed. She'd invite commissioners and school board members to a town hall meeting. "If they don't come, you ought not vote for them."

Both expressed strong support for completing the Civil Rights Museum. An audience member asked why the downtown baseball park could be built while the museum sits unfinished.

Johnson pointed out that private foundations raised the money for the ballpark. Should they have done the same for the museum? "I can't answer why that's not an equal priority," Johnson said. "I have some ideas."

Kern pledged to "go back to the same people" and ask.

I think that's an interesting comparison. Clearly Action Greensboro and the supporting foundations placed the highest priority on the ballpark. Given its success, it's hard to argue. But, will the museum be just as successful, or more so, and more distinctively significant?

Maybe an older woman in the audience identified the problem. Rather than actually ask a question, she launched into a mini-speech that began with her assessment of the museum situation: "We need leadership we trust. When we get leadership we trust with the money, the museum will be built. If we could trust the people in charge, we would have the museum."

Neither Johnson nor Kern touched that one.