A City Council campaign hit the Lakeshore dorms Tuesday with a rally for recent UW student Jason Stephany.
Stephany held the rally outside of Frank’s cafeteria to announce his candidacy against Ald. Tom Powell, District 5.
Stephany said he decided to challenge Powell because he said Powell has not given students a voice in city politics.
“Students don’t even realize that they don’t have a voice,” Stephany said. “I will stand for their issues.”
In response, Powell said he has done many things for students, including moving a polling place to the Lakeshore dorm area, blocking extra landlord fees and requiring landlords to tell applicants why they are rejected.
“It’s easy for him to say I don’t listen to students, but hard for him to substantiate,” Powell said.
Stephany’s top priorities include ensuring public safety, increasing neighborhood communication, and improving the quality of basic local services.
He said the council has wasted time debating international policy issues out of its league, and local services, including garbage collection, road maintenance and snow removal, have slipped as a result.
“The incumbent has been leading this shift in focus,” Stephany said. “What I elect a City Council member to do is take care of the local issues.”
Powell said local services are directly under the jurisdiction of the mayor’s office, not the City Council, and that Madison is known for its outstanding city services. He disagreed that the City Council focuses excessively on larger issues.
“When we discussed our position on Iraq, it was the last thing on the agenda and didn’t come until one in the morning,” Powell said. “We deal with basic issues at every single meeting. He’s pulling this out of thin air.”
If elected, Stephany said he would push for mandatory affordable housing units for all new developments and propose cheap suite-style apartment complexes for university students.
“Housing in Madison is comparable to the price of housing in New York City,” Stephany said. “We can’t all afford to pay $800 a month to live here.”
Stephany said he opposes the recently passed smoking ban, because it skews the playing field for restaurants. He also opposes a drink-special ban because he said it would push students to house parties, resulting in increases in sexual assault, battery and accidents.
“Police said they have seen no reduction in disturbances since the drink specials were removed,” Stephany said. “If people are ingesting too much alcohol, it’s not a drink-special problem.”
Stephany has taken this year off from UW and has worked as campus organizer for the Doyle campaign, national director for the College Democrats and state chair for the College Democrats of Wisconsin. He plans to switch from a pharmacy to a political science and international relations major when he returns to UW as a junior.
