Crime, levees and quality of life were among the concerns of three Yuba City City Council candidates speaking at a Sutter County Taxpayers Association forum on Thursday.

There were no attacks and no major criticisms of current city government from Councilman John Miller, Planning Commissioner John Dukes or disc jockey business owner Tony Blackwell. The candidates are running for two City Council seats.

But there was plenty of work to be done on the issues of crime and levees.

Miller said he brings business experience to running the city as well as an interest in quality of life. He said that levees are one of the city's biggest issues, as well as crime and violence.

"Quality of life in Yuba City is what it's really all about as far as I'm concerned," said Miller.

Dukes said the City Council needs to work together.

"In the past, there was a lot of fighting between board members," said Dukes.

One of the biggest issues board members need to address is levee repair, said Dukes. He said he supported a strong police department and district attorney's office, and would be an advocate of free enterprise.

Blackwell said he would listen to the community. While he didn't have all the answers, he would jump in to attack the issues.

"I'm going to be listening," said Blackwell. "I listen a lot to everybody."

Gang crime was an issue raised by candidates and was an audience member's question.

Blackwell said kids need a community center, and he pledged to start a boys and girls club. He said he would look to prevention as well as crime suppression efforts by the police and district attorney.

Dukes said gang crime was a failure of the family unit, which calls for more mentoring of young people by older people.

But there also has to be enforcement from the police and district attorney's office, Dukes said.

Miller said he wished the city had $500,000 to hire more police. But the city still needed to do something to counter the shootings and violence over the last six months. So Yuba City is contributing two officers to a gang task force.

The city needs to stay tough on crime, said Miller.

Contact Appeal-Democrat reporter John Dickey at 749-4711 or jdickey@appealdemocrat.com.