OPINION: It's time for an independent city council
Independent candidates Damon Krane and Iris Virjee at the Ohio University Student Senate candidate forum in Sept., 2021. Photo by Emily Zeiler.
Bryce Hoehn is a senior studying political science and an opinion columnist for The New Political.
Please note that these views and opinions do not reflect those of The New Political.
This year's City Council election is set to be one of the most competitive local races in recent years. Recently appointed Councilmembers Ben Ziff and Micah McCarey are now running to keep their seats alongside incumbent Democratic Councilmember Sarah Grace. This means that there will be three at-large council seats open. Two independent candidates will also be on the ballot: Former mayoral candidate, local activist Damon Krane, and recent Ohio University graduate and current bartender Iris Virjee.
Where the candidates stand:
Student Rights:
As mentioned in my previous column, Athens students are often disenfranchised from local politics. Since the Democratic Party is the only political party on the ballot, the outcome of most elections is determined in the primary rather than the general election. In the recent electoral upset where Alan Swank defeated incumbent candidate Chris Fahl for the 4th ward council seat, the race had an astonishingly low turnout of only 9.5%. In fact, the two most heavily student-populated precincts in this ward (which collectively encompass East Green, Mill Street, and Riverpark) contributed only a single vote in this election despite having 1,097 registered voters.
After this story was published, Krane personally contacted me in agreement with my points on this issue and proposed a local candidate forum to engage students with the council candidates. The forum was hosted by the Ohio U Student Senate last month, and every candidate was invited. All three Democratic candidates then announced that they were unable to attend, and more information about their statements can be found here. The only candidates in attendance were Krane and Virjee.
Krane's engagement with student organizations demonstrates a level of student engagement that none of the Democratic candidates have shown. Since then, the Democratic candidates have announced they would participate in two additional on-campus events, but neither Krane nor Virjee were invited. While the Democratic candidates may have been busy for the first general forum, they have shown no interest in rescheduling another general forum. Similar forums were planned where only Democratic candidates were invited, so it is clear the issue is not scheduling, rather the democratic candidates simply do not want to debate the independent candidates.
This is unfortunate for students because they may not realize that other candidates are running, some with whom they may agree more. There is value in having inter-party debates during a primary election, but at this point in the race, independent candidates should not be excluded from the discussion.
Independent candidates are also a great way to empower student voters. In my story on student voting, I mention that the primary election date is completely inaccessible for students. This year, it fell on May 4, right after students moved out of their dorms and apartments. Many of these students are either leaving town for the summer or moving out entirely, often within hours of their final exams. The last thing on students' minds is local politics. The process becomes even more complicated as many students' voting addresses will have changed by election day, and the deadline to update registration has already passed. Unfortunately, since there is only one political party running in Athens, this usually means that local elections have already been decided before most students get the opportunity to vote in the November general election. By the mere act of running as independent candidates, Krane and Virjee have both made this council race one where students have a say.
Racial Equity:
Racial equality has been one of the top issues for local governments since last year's protests against the murder of George Floyd. Three weeks after Floyd's death, Athens responded by passing a resolution declaring racism a public health crisis. It called for Mayor Steve Patterson to establish a task force to conduct a racial review of the city's code and policies. So far, the task force is planning on investigating the city code for discriminatory language. While removing discriminatory language is helpful, it does nothing to address the more urgent issue of police brutality. Last summer, no one was protesting the wording on obscure city documents, they were marching in the streets because their lives were being threatened by law enforcement due to the color of their skin.
Krane has been pushing the City Council to conduct a racial equity review of the Athens Police Department, but so far it has fallen on deaf ears. Last December, Athens City Council renewed a three-year police union contract without any racial equity review of the police. Given the events of the past year, I hoped that the City Council would at least investigate problems within their department before renewing their contract, but it seems the Council was only interested in performative gestures.
City Council later approved a $91,000 racial training course. Still, without a proper investigation and documentation, the course is effectively useless as it cannot target any specific discriminatory behaviors in Athens. When the proposed training course came to City Council this August, the council unanimously suspended the rules for public comment and passed it without public input. This vote included both newly appointed Ziff and McCarey, though they had only been on council for a few months and were not there for the police union renewal. As Krane pointed out, "without the promised racial equity review, there is no way for the $100,000 course to be any more valuable than a PBS documentary on racism we could have had city employees watch for free."
Meanwhile, Krane and former Independent council candidate Ellie Hamrik took on the issue themselves by founding Athens County Copwatch - an organization dedicated to making police records in Athens County publicly accessible through FOIA requests and analyzing racial trends in the collected data. From the data they received from the past five years, Athens County Copwatch has concluded that police are 2.6 times more likely to use force against Black people than white people. Additionally, it is likely that they did not receive complete information from the department, which further shows the need for the city council to conduct its own review.
Virjee has also expressed concerns about the role of the police and is interested in alternatives for certain situations. She has called for a partnership between a crisis intervention group and the police department. In many cases, introducing armed police into a situation only escalates issues when what people need are perhaps crisis intervention specialists or essential resources like shelter that homeless people lack. This is further supported by data collected by Athens County Copwatch, which shows that less than 10% of arrests are for violent offenses.
Housing:
In Krane's 2019 mayoral run, he proposed a number of pro-renter policies in his "Operation Slumlord Smackdown" program, including cracking down on landlords who violate city code and enacting rent-control policies to keep rentals affordable. Krane was also a founding member of United Athens County Tenants, an organization dedicated to fighting for local housing justice and informing tenants of their rights.
The United Athens County Tenants sent out a questionnaire last month to all five candidates, and all expressed support for the policies such as Pay to Stay and Just Cause Conviction, except Councilmember Sarah Grace, who did not respond to the survey.
A Pay to Stay ordinance would prevent a landlord from proceeding with evictions for nonpayment of rent if the tenant pays their back rent before the eviction hearing, and a Just Cause ordinance would limit the grounds for a landlord to evict a tenant. The four candidates also supported a policy for landlords to pay relocation expenses if the tenant's unit is condemned. I am happy to see candidates supporting housing rights, which I suspect is due to the unusually high representation of renters in this race. I also find it disappointing that Grace, chairwoman of the Affordable Housing Commission, avoided responding to questions on policies that would affect renters who represent nearly 60% of the Athens population. However, this is not particularly surprising considering she is the only homeowner and landlord on the ballot.
Krane and Virjee have also advocated for a ban on source of income discrimination. This issue was brought forth by Krane and the United Athens County Tenants after Prokos, one of the largest rental companies in town, opted to stop accepting federal Housing and Urban Development vouchers that lower-income residents relied on. This measure was eventually passed in June, due in part to influence from Krane and Virjee along with other local activists.
Conclusion:
The City Council election will be held Nov. 2 and early voting is already underway. Polling locations can be at the board of elections website here as well as a sample ballot here. For the at-large council race, there are five candidates and three open seats. Being that we are to vote for our top three candidates, I will be putting Krane and Virjee at the top of the ticket and either Ziff or McCarey in the third spot.
Both candidates are renters and have similar positions on progressive issues, particularly relating to housing. If elected, they will also make City Council the most diverse it has been in several years. Ziff represents the working-class service industry as a manager at Donkey Coffee, and McCarey is Black and openly gay. However, both candidates have fallen short on the important issue of police brutality by ending public comment on the training course, and I am concerned that they may be influenced by the pursuit of more progressive policies by the party leadership. I am particularly concerned, considering neither candidate has spoken out against Steve Patterson following the recently leaked audio where Patterson praises a Republican State House member and insults both independent candidates. Until Ziff and McCarey take a stronger stance on these issues, particularly against the more conservative members of the party, I will be voting as an independent.