The Daily Egyptian is published by the students of SIU at Carbondale. Except during vacations and exam weeks, The Daily Egyptian is published Monday through Friday during the fall and spring semesters and TWThF during the summer semester."

More students join city council race

Four more students officially entered the city council race late last week, joining sophomore TyJuan Cratic in their bid for one of three available seats on the council.

Now on the ballot are: Justin Eckman, a senior majoring in University Studies, Taurian Harris, a sophomore majoring in political science and pre-med, Hugh Williams, a graduate student in administrative justice, and Andy Young, who is taking a semester hiatus but plans to begins classes again this spring.

The application deadline was 5 p.m. Monday, and a total of 11 people are in the race, including incumbents Corene McDaniel and Chris Wissmann. The primary election is Feb. 22, and the general election will follow on April 5.

Mayor Brad Cole previously said it is not unusual for students to run, and in his 15 years of experience, a student has run in almost every election cycle. It was unclear if a student had actually been elected, but Cole stressed the importance of fostering relationships with the student body through elected officials, which is something the student candidates feel they can do best.

Eckman and Young, both employees of Pick's Liquors, plan to correlate their campaigns since their stances on certain issues run parallel to one another. They say they hear a lot of complaints from students at work and feel they can more adequately address student concerns than someone divorced from the University.

"This town is pretty much kept alive by the University, and our enrollment is dropping," Eckman said. "While that is part the University's responsibility, it is also part the city's, and if I could help out the students in any way and attract more, that is something I would like to do."

Eckman and Young said they disagreed with certain moves by Cole, such as the proposal to offer incentives to bars that chose to go smoke-free and an ordinance to remove non-owner occupied mobile homes from certain zones, which was shot down by the council.

"Implementing the no smoking rule in bars would kill small businesses, and trying to get rid of trailers hurts a lot of students that can't afford other housing," Young said. "I just think, as students, that we are more connected to the student body and what they want."

Harris also believes there should be a "younger voice" on the council and said it is important for students to care about their home away from home.

"Most people come here for nine months a year and think it doesn't matter what goes on," Harris said. "But this is my home. I will be here, and I need my voice to be heard, and so do students and life-long residents. This is where I will be for the next 7 years of my life. I have a daughter, and she will be raised in this town, and I want to see Carbondale be as prosperous as possible."

Harris said some of the key things he wants to focus on are the high vandalism and burglary rate in Carbondale, saying police enforcement could be improved, as well as better management of the city budget. Additionally, he believes more resources should be put into primary schools.

Williams, who has a law degree from SIUC and owns a private practice in town, believes that the city council itself should be reformed. He said the election system should be changed to a ward system instead of an at-large system so council members are more responsible to the public. In a ward system, one person is elected from each division of the city as opposed to the at-large system, where anyone can run no matter where they live.

Additionally, Williams said the factory on the Northeast side of town needs to be investigated to see if the water table was contaminated and determine if residents there face health problems.

Williams also wants to focus on revitalizing the downtown area by making it shopper friendly and provide tax breaks and incentives for downtown businesses. On top of that, he disagrees with the push for a swimming pool in Carbondale, saying it is not needed and is simply a "feel good idea." Instead, he said the public should be charged a fee to use SIUC pools.

While major campaigning will be postponed until after the break, Williams believes he has one advantage: he is not a traditional student, which he feels saves him from the stigma attached to student candidates.

"I think that everybody has the right to run for office, but I question if a regular student will fill out the four-year term," Williams said. "And I think that is a concern a lot of residents have. But that doesn't change the fact that everyone has the right to office."

Young, Eckman, Cratic and Harris realize this stigma, but all assured they are "very serious" about their campaigns.

"It is something to overcome because obviously people see students as people who are here for their education, and they are," Cratic previously said. "They see them as people who don't take the community seriously, but I'm not one of those people."

 

 

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