[media-credit name=’BRYAN FAUST/Herald photo’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]Prior to serving on the Madison City Council, Ald. Robbie Webber, District 5, had not had much political experience aside from voting in every election since she was 18.

"If I don't vote, I don't get the right to complain," Webber said, emphasizing the importance of student involvement at the local level. "Students don't realize how much influence they can have on the city they're living in."

Webber said students are infamous for not voting but that Madison "makes it very easy for citizens to get involved."

And this ease is what encouraged Webber to establish her position as the fifth district alderperson, an area serving Lakeshore and south Camp Randall students.

When the previous alderperson retired, Webber found her friends telling her that she should fill that position.

Three years later, Webber still dedicates herself to the future of Madison and its land use and transportation issues.

"We all see the cranes all over town," she said. "Madison has to decide 'What do we want to look at?'"

In the past few years, redevelopment has enveloped a large portion of the downtown.

Webber stressed today's decisions are "very important" for the future of the city and the way the city grows "influences a lot of other things."

Webber sees transportation throughout Madison as one impacted factor.

She said Madison's isthmus location forces a city of its size to treat land constraints as a larger city may. Lakes Mendota and Monona often affect transportation planning in the city.

"I am always urging that we build our cities so that it is easier to not have to drive," she said.

For a city heavily populated with student traffic, Webber believes it is necessary to continue to be able to provide the best public transportation possible.

Students like Polly Pfeiffer, a freshman at University of Wisconsin, will never have the option of having her own car on campus and uses alternative forms of transportation.

"I am from Washington, D.C., and it is impossible for me to bring a car to school," she said. "I depend on the buses to get to where I need to go."

An effective public transportation system, according to Webber, will help relieve costs to maintain a vehicle on campus.

"School is expensive enough," Webber said, adding students should not have to worry about such an issue.

Webber said land use and transportation is at the height of her platform, as she sits on three city committees pertaining to the constant issue of construction and development.

The decisions made in the following years are changes that will impact the city for a long time to come, Webber said.

"[The local level] is really a great way to get started shaping politics … You can have more impact locally than nationally," she said. "I hope more people get involved, especially on the campus."