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Thursday, March 28, 2024
Scott Resnick for Dist. 8

Todd Stevens

Scott Resnick for Dist. 8

Every two years, Madison city government refreshes itself with elections for seats in its Common Council. Sometimes these elections are trivial—see Madison's District 4, which very well might be represented by Mike Verveer until the apocalypse, and possibly afterward. But other districts, such as campus-area District 8, serve as wonderful laboratories for democracy, with competitive races in almost every election cycle.

This is the case in 2011, with current District 8 Alder Bryon Eagon stepping down to serve in Teach for America. Much like the last District 8 election, a well-respected one-term alder is leaving his position to seek new opportunities after graduation, and a batch of new candidates featuring some familiar campus faces have jumped at the opportunity to succeed him.

However, the most important similarity is that this should be an easy decision for District 8 voters. Just like Eagon was the clear choice in 2009, the 2011 race features a candidate who is head and shoulders above the competition: current State-Langdon Neighborhood Association President Scott Resnick.

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In a recent interview with The Daily Cardinal, one thing was instantly clear about Resnick: The guy is on the ball. Having already worked extensively with neighborhood policy, Resnick is a city policy wonk in the best sense of the term. His knowledge alone is enough to demand attention from the powers that be, and he backs it up with a substantive campaign.

What this makes apparent is Resnick's appreciation of a Madison alder's duties. All too often, many candidates, particularly campus area politicians, try to paint city politics as flashier than they actually are. This is not to say city government isn't important—on the contrary, city government is possibly the best venue to make an immediate impact of the lives of the neighbors and community members around you. But many of the most important aspects of city government are the small tasks. Something as simple as fighting for properly maintained sidewalks or a street divider to decrease speeding may seem trivial, but acts like this can make a real difference in the downtown and campus community.

Resnick would excel in this aspect of city governance, as he already has numerous plans in place that could make an immediate impact on students. Simple proposals like shutting down a contaminated city well to make sure Spring Street residents have clean drinking water, and forcing landlords to change building access codes on a yearly basis to improve resident safety can be easily executed and instantly benefit students.

That's not to say Resnick does not have long-term plans as well. His plan to bring back random property inspections to force landlords to keep their buildings up to code is sensible and could do a great deal to improve campus area housing. In addition, his idea for a city of Madison job fair—designed to be much friendlier to small businesses than red tape-infested UW-Madison job fairs—would be a win for both UW students and the city that would love to keep recent graduates in town.

Resnick's opponents, former Daily Cardinal staffers Kyle Szarzynski and Christian von Preysing-Barry, clearly share the enthusiasm Resnick has for the campus area and city governance. But neither of them instill nearly as much confidence in their ability to represent District 8. 

Szarzynski's history as a polarizing and brusque campus figure makes it difficult to imagine him cooperating with Common Council members not aligned with the far left, and thus it is hard to envision him getting much done for his district. As for von Preysing-Barry, he doesn't have the vast well of knowledge that Resnick has accumulated over the years of working on city policy with the State-Langdon Neighborhood Association. In addition, when I spoke with von Preysing-Barry he made a point to emphasize his support of topical resolutions, citing the County Board's vote on university animal testing as an example. He called it leadership, but it's really just one governing body shoving its nose in a place it doesn't belong.

This race doesn't need to be about deficiencies, though, because Resnick comes out ahead even if judged solely on his merits. In close to three years of writing op-eds, Resnick is one of the most impressive local politicians I have met. And when the District 8 democratic laboratory holds its latest experiment in the Feb. 15 primary, I hope Resnick comes out ahead.

Todd Stevens is a senior majoring in history and political science. Please send all feedback to opinion@dailycardinal.com.

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