An informal survey of local leaders and students revealed that candidates for the Dane County Board of Supervisors will have to work hard to generate support in the downtown area due to a lack of concrete issues affecting residents.
\There's not a lot of things that the County Board can do that have much of an impact on the lives of students,"" said LaMarr Billups, special assistant to UW-Madison Chancellor John Wiley.
In past election years County Board candidates could rely on the controversy concerning the construction of the student radio tower in the town of Montrose to bring out the student vote, according to UW-Madison senior Jessica Miller, the Associated Students of Madison chair.
""I definitely think the tower was something students were pushing for ... and it was important to students that the people on the County Board were supportive of us getting it,"" she said. ""But now we have the new tower ... and now they need another issue important to students.""
Such an issue could be the county's ability to set zoning ordinances, Miller said.
""Given the need for housing on campus, given the need for the students to have access to quality off-campus housing, [zoning] becomes a very important issue,"" she said.
According to Megin Hicks, program director for the Tenant Resource Center, which receives a portion of its funding from the county, the new supervisors could help students by maintaining a healthy human services budget.
""One of the big areas where the county can make a difference in the day-to-day lives of people is through the human services budget, which funds [programs for] sexual assault prevention, it funds services to tenants and it serves case management,"" she said.
The search for issues will not be as hard for the candidates for the District 5 City Council seat.
Local leaders agreed that whoever is elected to the City Council will have a greater ability to directly affect the downtown area.
Susan Schmitz, president of Downtown Madison Inc., a local business group, said the candidates should focus on reviving State Street if elected.
""The street is in real disrepair. The street needs help badly,"" she said.
The ability to work with downtown interests in the formation of a general alcohol plan will also be a key issue for many residents.
""There's a lot [the City Council] can do with alcohol policy and drinking policies on campus, with such things as the entertainment district,"" Miller said.
Billups said he has tried to keep the current student-area supervisors informed on the issue of downtown drinking, but added that it was the City Council members who would have direct control.
""We need the alder involved in that action because if there is a licensing issue that the neighbors are concerned about ... the alderman is going to be deeply involved in that,"" he said.
