Fresh from Thanksgiving break — those four glorious days where District residents were given a brief respite from city politics — the five candidates looking to replace D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams next year will meet for a public forum on development issues. Scheduled for tonight at 7 p.m. at Saint Columba’s Episcopal Church in Tenleytown, the forum will allow the candidates — Linda Cropp, Adrian Fenty, Vincent Orange, Michael Brown, and Marie Johns — to better describe how they will balance a fast-developing District with the need to counteract fast-falling stocks of affordable housing.

Though not billed as a full-fledged debate, this forum will allow the candidates to either redeem themselves or build on the momentum they gained from the first mayoral debate, which was held on November 9 at the University of the District of Columbia. At that debate, front-runners Fenty and Cropp failed to impress the audience with their message or delivery, while newcomer Johns confidently outlined her vision for the city while avoiding some of the petty sniping between the other candidates. For tonight, Cropp should try and appear a little less bored, Fenty should try and translate his populist appeal into a message a little less flat, Orange should try and stay away from the theatrics, and Brown and Johns should stay above the political fray. Being a forum focused on one specific issue, it should be interesting to see how the candidates outline their visions for development in the city.

As usual, DCist will be there, and will report back tomorrow with the highlights.

Picture snapped by furcafe.