Serving on the City Council is harder than it may appear. Knowledge, much of it gained from experience, is critical.

The race for Boulder City Council in the November election is staggering. A total of 22 candidates on the ballot are vying for seven open seats. Only two incumbents are running, and one has been in office for a matter of weeks.

It is possible that Boulder could elect a City Council whose institutional memory resides in only two office holders. Those facts helped frame this newspaper's endorsements, which are partly based on interviews with 21 of the 22 candidates (the 22nd did not appear at the agreed-upon time).

Matthew Appelbaum is a City Council veteran, having served from 1987 to 1995. In addition, he has served on a host of civic boards and committees. Appelbaum does his homework, easily dissecting the eye-glazing minutia of local policies. He advocates sound approaches to community sustainability, greenhouse-gas reductions and transportation. His ability to base decisions on verifiable facts and sound logic complement his long experience in city affairs. And his willingness to offer dissenting views is needed.

Shawn Coleman is making his third run for City Council. In his first campaign, in 2005, he showed youthful enthusiasm. But he had not spent much time in the political trenches. Since then, he has demonstrated a sincere interest in local politics, volunteering his time on the Downtown Management Commission while working as a sales and finance manager and performing with the Wyoming Symphony. Coleman appears to be in touch with the interests of the business, recreation and working communities and would be a welcome addition to the council.

Angelique Espinoza is a relative newcomer to Boulder politics but shows valuable breadth of experience and depth of perspective. She is an information-technology professional who consults for Intercambio de Comunidades and spends time working on ethnic-diversity and education causes. Espinoza also displays a solid grasp of the issues facing Boulder, particularly on thorny questions of population density in established neighborhoods.

Crystal Gray is the only long-serving incumbent on the November ballot. She's been on the council since 2003 and has performed much civic and other volunteer work. In addition, her work as parks director for Adams County deepens her understanding of local governments. Gray brings an important, managed growth perspective and is a strong advocate of open space, neighborhoods and social services.

Lisa Morzel is, like Appelbaum, a council veteran, having served from 1995 to 2003. And like him, she displays a broad and deep understanding of local affairs. While she is a committed environmentalist, she has effectively forged compromises with business and other interests. Through experience and work, she has shown an ability to craft workable solutions to difficult problems, which will be in no short supply in the coming years.

Susan Osborne is a former Boulder planner who now serves as co-chair of Historic Boulder and adjunct professor in environmental design. She, too, brings a wealth of knowledge of environmentally sustainable planning, historic preservation, parks and recreation and affordable housing. As she notes, the need for careful planning is arguably greater now than ever, given that the city is approaching its limits.

Ken Wilson is the only other incumbent running this fall, but he was elected only this summer in a special election held to fill the seat of the late Tom Eldridge. Wilson, an engineer now studying microbiology, previously served on the city's Water Resources Advisory Board. He displays a good grasp of local affairs and, more importantly, shows a penchant for well-reasoned analysis and civil discourse. These are assets on any government body.