Seven of the 22 candidates vying for seven open seats on the Boulder City Council gathered Friday afternoon to talk about why they're running and how they'll deal with the challenges of a growing city.

The organizers at PLAN-Boulder County have put together four forums so their members can hear from all of the 22 candidates running. Friday's was the third.

Philip Bradley, Angelique Espinoza, Andrew Harrison, Phil Hernandez, Kathryn Kramer, Susan Osborne and Eugene Pearson attended Friday's forum.

Bradley, 24, said he's running so he can provide a down-to-earth perspective on the problems facing the city. "I'm a Boulder native. I was born here, and my parents were born here... I love this town," he said. "I think it's very important that we have a wide range of views on the council. I think we need to have a number of different opinions coming together so we can share this community well."

Espinoza, 39, said she wants to serve on the council to help make sure Boulder finds the right balance between economic growth, keeping a diverse community and making sure the city stays green.

"I think it's pretty obvious those three things go together," she said. "I hope to bring common sense for the common good. I'm a business person, a community leader and a volunteer, and I'm a mom."

Harrison, 24, said he wants to add a fresh voice to the council.

"I think there are some very important issues that aren't being discussed right now that really should be," he said, citing the need to bolster the city's goal of making10 percent of the housing supply affordable. "It's an admirable goal, but I think we should do better Ñ I think we can get it up to 15 percent in 10 years." Hernandez, 64, said he wants to make sure older Boulder residents are looked after, but said he's open-minded.

"Except for my concern with the elders, I don't come with an issue," he said.

Kramer, 62, said that she wants to serve because, as a native, she wants to protect the things that make Boulder special.

"I'm running for City Council because I feel my hometown is losing its identity," she said. "It just doesn't seem like Boulder, Colo., any more, and it's distressing to me."

Osborne, 63, who serves as co-president of Historic Boulder, said she decided to run after the City Council earlier this year agreed to allow a property owner to demolish a historic building despite previously agreeing not to do so.

"It was a watershed for me because it said we have a council in place that not only had issues of not being concerned with historic preservation, but didn't understand the importance and sanctity of development agreements," she said.

Pearson, 24, said he wants to apply the lessons he's learned working in the University of Colorado's student government and elsewhere to help the city.

"I have a breadth of experience in nonprofit and the human services," he said. "I'd like to help us find green solutions Ñ solutions that are good for our pocketbooks and good for the economy and good for the environment."

Moderator Eric Karnes asked the candidates whether growth in Boulder pays for the costs it imposes on infrastructure, and, if not, how to lessen the impacts of growth.

Espinoza said reaching some important goals Ñ such as affordable housing Ñ requires building more places for people to live.

"When I look at this question I say, all right, if we don't have any growth, we'll continue along the path of just having the very, very wealthy and the very, very poor in our city," Espinoza said. "And that's not sustainable. It's not sustainable environmentally, and it's not right."

Harrison said growth is fine — as long as it's thoughtful.

"I think we need smart growth," Harrison said. "It needs to be well-planned out. Communities need to make sure we have enough open space. We need to grow in such a way that our human services capabilities aren't diminished."

Hernandez said he has no doubt growth will have consequences. But the alternative is worse, he said. "We're going to have to have growth within the city if, in fact, we want to be able to provide services for the citizens who are living in the city," he said. "It's going to come at a cost. It's going to come at a traffic cost. It's going to come at a density cost."

Kramer said growth has cost the city the small-town charm that she grew up with.

"Some of the growth has been very good. I understand you do have to grow. You can't keep Boulder in a box," she said. "But I think our city is losing its identity. I don't think the interests of the citizens are being represented."

Bradley said growth has "stressed" the city's infrastructure, and said elected leaders need to remedy that problem.

"Boulder has experienced growth within the last 10 years that we didn't anticipate," Bradley said. "We have not grown our infrastructure commensurably. We need to address that."

Osborne said Boulder has to grow. The issue, she said, is how to do it intelligently.

"It's a question of thinking about our community holistically," she said. "Housing costs have gotten so expensive that the middle class is having a very difficult time buying here. Our boundaries are limited, so as we grow, it's critically important that we keep in mind an array of important objectives Ñ affordable housing, adequacy of parks and open spaces and roads."

Pearson said encouraging the right kind of higher-density growth within urban boundaries is important because it will discourage driving and help fight global warming. He cited an Urban Land Institute study released this week that found that carbon dioxide emissions would be cut by 7 percent by 2030 if 60 percent of growth occurs within American cities' limits.

"Boulder needs to be at the forefront of this," he said. "We've had great urban planning and growth... We can continue that by taking a regional approach, by making sure we have a strong transportation network."