Live Blog: DIA interviews 2 finalists

[thelakelander]

Donald Harris: It's close. Wanted to see their passion about Jax. They both love it.

[TheCat]

I keep referring to Hanna as Harris. I'll fix later.

The board wants one off projects so Williams and Saylor so far are on the bandwagon for Hanna.

Allegretti: I'm going to score on charisma a bit. He likes that. Hanna was focused on HUD and affordable housing. Which seemed a little top heavy.

Barakat: Charisma is important. Their skill sets are a wash. Leans towards Wallace. He felt more pumped up with Wallace. Felt that having presentation material meant he was prepared not that he could not speak off the cuff. A weakness for Wallace is that he may not have as deep of management experience as Hanna but he comes across as the winner.

Harris: I wanted to see their passion.

[thelakelander]

Jim Bailey: Liked Wallace's planned presentation. Said Hanna kept saying what they had done as opposed to what he had done. Likes Wallace's confidence. Depends on what board wants. Seems management style is a major issue.

[thelakelander]

Donald Harris: It's close. Wanted to see their passion about Jax. They both love it.

anything else or is he the committee sphinx at this point?

no. Seems like he wants to hear other's opinions before picking a side.

[thelakelander]

Paul Perez: benefit of going last is to hear what everyone else has to say. Say's he doesn't know.

[thelakelander]

Mike Saylor: Hanna talks the talk.

[TheCat]

Bailey: Wallace's personality and confidence will benefit downtown. He's floored by the confidence of Wallace. Bailey noticed that Hanna deferred to board's direction whereas Wallace seemed to want to be the leader.

The board is very ecumenical, "both could fill the role". 

[thelakelander]

Melody Bishop: talks but answers concerning. Had a number of concerning answers. Said Wallace didn't have answers that scared her.

[thelakelander]

Tony Allegretti: Need someone who can work well with council and mayor's office.

[thelakelander]

Oliver Barakat: disappointed in Hanna's answers. He had no opinions. For example, when asked about retail in parking garages, he said I'll refer to you guys.

[thelakelander]

Kay Harper: Concerned Wallace would leave Jax for a better job.

[TheCat]

Allegretti: who will be able to transcend turf wars? This person needs to be able to do that so we can see cranes.

Barakat: Disappointed with Hanna's answer in which he said he would defer to the board about one of his questions. Lakelander, did you catch which question?

Williams: Concerned that Wallace was interviewing for other positions. She fears that he could leave.

Discussions about how they actually vote for the candidate. There is a scoring process. Then after they see the scored they will vote to ratify a candidate.

[Ethylene]

Ironically, though the blood may be new the names are familiar: "Hanna" Park, aka Kathryn Abbey Hanna Park, and our dear departed retiree Steve "Wallace." Karma?

[thelakelander]

Board preparing to fill out scoring sheets. 15 minutes to score. Members will then turn sheets into Jorgenson Consulting. I have no idea if scores will be announced.

[CityLife]

These candidates should have blown the DIA board and us away as experts in their field. I'm obviously not there, but it sounds like they are voting based on which is the least weak candidate, instead of the most dominant candidate. That's never a good thing.

Lake, you were at this and the JTA hiring. Would you say that the tone was much more positive for Ford than these two?