Each week, The Badger Herald editorial board will sit down with an individual who impacts the lives of students. This week, the editorial board met with the candidates in the two contested student districts in this spring’s election. Here are excerpts from those conversations.
City Council — District 5 candidate Tom Powell
Badger Herald: Why are you running when you said that you weren’t going to?
Tom Powell: When the county redistricting was approved and I saw that I really got the shaft I thought it would be good to run for City Council for 2 reasons. One, I realized my area of specialty has been fair housing and affordable housing and the City Council has a lot more jurisdiction over those areas than the County Board does. Second was that being one of the three rookies — Brenda Konkel, Todd Jarrell and myself — we found for 3 little rookies we were starting to redefine what the agenda of the Council was. Before, the Council never talked about affordable housing.
BH: Why did you vote against soliciting plans for the State Street Redesign Project?
TP: If we’re facing those sort of dramatic cuts that will dig deep into needed services, we’ve got to look at every major project — not just the State Street project — and just say “Hold on, hold on, hold on.” Even though you just start the planning process, once you get at the end of that stage the momentum that project has generated makes it hard to stop. And we’re only talking a delay of a month or so.
BH: What do you think about the city’s policy regarding drinking?
TP: The drink-specials ban is ridiculous for a number of different reasons. First, I don’t think it would fly legally. Plus, I can remember being an undergrad and wanting to go somewhere I could have a few drinks and not bust the bank — students need to go somewhere that is economical. What you’re doing is creating an incentive to push drinking into the homes where it will be unregulated instead of in bars where it will be regulated.
City Council — District 5 candidate Ron Rosner
BH: Do you think you can represent student interests?
RR: What I can offer students is an independent, reasoned voice on City Council. I think I can represent student issues more effectively because I can build the support necessary to move things through the council.
BH: What issues do you think are important to students?
RR: The health and vitality of State Street is important to student neighborhoods, because that’s where you go for employment, for entertainment, for shops. I think safety and security are important issues to students. Problems with property and landlords are an issue, and I would be willing to help students on that issue.
BH: What priority is State Street for you?
RR: I do think it’s a long term project that shouldn’t make demands on the current operating revenues of the city and harm things like public safety. But I will fight for it pretty hard because State Street is not in my district, but it is an important piece of territory in my district and I am committed to it.
BH: What do you think about drink specials?
RR: If the concern is consumption, we don’t want to increase consumption by price specials. It would have to come up before it would be an issue. I think the drink-special thing should be part of a global program for dealing with excessive drinking, so I wouldn’t single it out.
BH: What kind of guarantee can you give students that you will be as responsive as someone who lives down the block from us?
RR: The only answer I can give is that I have the time — I am retired. I plan to give my whole attention to this as much as it takes. I don’t know if my opponent can make that same commitment, as he already has two official positions. I would be willing to do it. I’m not going to choose my neighborhood over your neighborhood, because it will all be my neighborhood and I will treat it with the same respect.
County Board – District 5 candidate Ech Vedder
BH: Now that the student radio tower is built, why should students care about the Country Board?
EV: The county has a role to play in ensuring that students have advocates defending their interests — for example, we fund the Tenant Resource Center and that is something we need to keep on funding. The concerns I’ve been hearing from students is that developing occur in a responsible manner. It’s also important that our fair-housing laws are enforced.
BH: Why should we tell students to vote for you?
EV: We have a Parks Department that preserves green space and park space. Another thing I’ve been working on really hard is the feasibility of light rail into the Isthmus that provides another means of transportation for people to rely on other than Metro, and that opens up new options for housing for students and will have a good impact on reducing traffic congestion.
BH: Would you say this election is more about the long term than the short term?
EV: If you look at all the things the county has authority over, the places are few and far between where we have direct authority over everyday student issues. One place is, I secured money in the budget to work on sexual-awareness efforts on campus — you can find ways to tap into some of the resources creatively to directly affect students, but it’s kind of a chore. You have to be able to work with all of the folks on the board and that’s kind of an interesting concept, working with some of those folks on the board.
BH: Why do you serve on the board?
EV: I think a lot of social change comes from energy from campus, so I think one of the roles I have is to harness the energy coming from students and to use that in a way that you can actually accomplish things that are important.
County Board — District 5 candidate Ion Skillrud
BH: Now that the radio tower has been taken care of, why should students care about County Board?
IS: A big issue is always going to be affordable housing, more housing options. Currently people keep butting heads about getting housing options, but in my opinion you just need to increase supply and let economics work itself out. Trying to dictate where people can build and when they can build and who has to live in their buildings isn’t going to help anything. Things like price ceilings don’t work; it just drives the price up.
I also think realistic leadership from students is really important. I feel students don’t feel like they have a real voice in politics. I think students want to be represented, want to have their issues heard.
One thing I want to do is get more direct funding for things like the Rape Crisis Center, something that directly affects students.
You can make all the promises in the world, but you have to realize the limitations of the County Board. I think students want realistic leadership, someone they can relate to, so that if an issue does arise, they feel they have the right person in charge.
BH: So what makes you the right person?
IS: I think I have a lot more in common with the average student; I’m a more realistic person than my opponent and feel that I would be taken seriously on the County Board if I’m elected. I don’t feel my opponent is. Just because his progressive party is the vocal majority on campus, I don’t feel they are the actual majority as far as students’ belief systems. Just because there are people that protest Starbucks doesn’t mean the whole campus feels that way, but I think that’s the way students are looked at right now from the outside and it’s really hard to get things done because we’re not taken that seriously. I’m truly independent; I’m just a student that wants to do something, and I’m giving it a shot.
