[media-credit name=’BRYAN FAUST/Herald Photo’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]City Council candidate Kami Eshraghi may have arrived late, missing his introduction, but he was just in time for the important debate that ensued last night at the Memorial Union against Ryan Corcoran and incumbent Ald. Austin King, District 8.
Sponsored by Associated Students of Madison and the Wisconsin Union Directorate, the candidates were each given one minute to discuss each issue, and a 30-second rebuttal. Since District 8 encompasses much of the campus, the issues were student-minded, including accessibility as a candidate, entertainment laws, the smoking ban, proposed precautions for Halloween and tenants’ rights.
“I said I would be an active and accessible representative, and I don’t think anyone can take that away from me,” King said.
Using his experience to his advantage, King shot down many of the challengers’ arguments and made several corrections, especially when the issue of tenants’ rights came up, a subject he said he is passionate about.
“If you want someone to work on tenants’ rights, then I’m the man for you. I’ve begun tackling and reforming the way we do security deposits,” King said.
His opponents, however, were far from impressed with the work King has done on this subject over the past two years.
“There needs to be a better coordination between landlords and tenants,” Eshraghi said. “There’s more housing than renters, and we definitely need more parking.”
Eshraghi added he wants to increase the amount of student housing.
All of the candidates agreed on changing the entertainment laws and policies in Madison, yet they all had different proposals on how this should be accomplished.
“Wisconsin law gets in the way of Madison being safer for underage drinkers. I want to build a rave-size music venue so that there is a place to see concerts,” Corcoran, graduate of the University of Wisconsin and front man for the band Awesome Car Funmaker, said.
Eshraghi, owner of Kimia Lounge, was less enthusiastic about an additional venue and said he would like to lobby for changing the drinking age in Madison.
“I feel that by lowering the drinking age to 19, we will see fewer sexual assaults, fewer people being injured, more people at taverns and [fewer] at overcrowded house parties. I want to work to change [the drinking age] state-wide to 19,” Eshraghi said.
In his rebuttal, King said this idea was impossible, claiming he has struggled with this issue in the past two years.
Another issue King has worked on, which has created some tension among the candidates, is Halloween. King’s proposal to keep the bars open later was rejected by the council, leading to smaller and steadier changes.
“We’re moving progress in the right direction. We just need to keep doing what we’re doing,” King said. “The main thing that helped me was the participation of students in the planning of Halloween.”
Once again, his opponents did not approve of his actions on this issue.
“Halloween has been handled very poorly. There needs to be better leadership,” Corcoran said. “I propose no free food on Library Mall and instead encourage vendors to stay open later.”
All three candidates ended the debate by encouraging students to vote in the primary election Feb. 15.