The Associated Students of Madison Legislative Affairs Committee encouraged students Monday night to show support for a change in city leasing law and planned for the gubernatorial candidates to speak on campus.
The Landlord and Tenant Issues subcommittee will meet Feb. 25 at 4:30 p.m. to discuss and possibly vote on an ordinance that would not allow landlords to lease properties until February, according to Vice Chair Sam Polstein.
Chair Adam Johnson said even if students do not want to speak out it is important for them to show up.
“It would be really great if we could get a bunch of students to come out to this meeting,” Polstein said. “I think that it’s important that students show up and voice their opinions.”
Polstein added several big property managers attended the last meeting on the ordinance and spoke out against it, saying it would be bad for students if the leasing period was pushed back.
He said he believes it is really important that property managers do not speak for students. “Whether students are in opposition or in favor of this amendment, it needs to be students speaking for students,” Polstein said.
Johnson added a lot of city officials have never seen a student come to a meeting and it makes a big impression when they do.
“In the city they really think students have no interest in these things and that is what we are trying to change,” Johnson said. “Showing up is the first step because decisions are made by those who show up.”
The meeting will be in room LL130 in the Madison Municipal Building.
LAC also discussed inviting the major candidates in the gubernatorial race to campus to talk to students this semester and then host a debate on campus next fall after the primaries are held in September.
The candidates would speak to students in one of the large lecture halls on campus sometime in early April, according to Vice Chair Kyle Woolwich.
If they can get their schedules to match, they would like to have all the candidates in one day, or at least in the same week, so students would have a chance to see them all, Woolwich said.
LAC wants to partner with the non-profit group We The People, which includes the Wisconsin State Journal, Wisconsin Public Television and Wisconsin Public Radio, in hosting a debate on campus next fall.
We The People hosted two debates in the gubernatorial race in 2006, according to Woolwich.
LAC member Adam Wollner said they have contacted several student political organizations, including Society and Politics and Wisconsin Student Lobby, who have both showed interest in helping sponsor the event.
There is a possibility other student political groups will be involved.
“It will be good for the campus to get them here and it will definitely help us out later if the event is successful,” Woolwich said. “We think they will be more willing to come back in the fall if they see we are really organized and we get a lot of people to come.”
