A special City Council primary election will be held Feb. 19 for the recently redesigned District 5 City Council seat.
Ald. Tom Powell, District 5, Ron Rosner and Wintford Thornton are all running for the seat, which now includes most of the university Lakeshore residence halls and Eagle Heights, but does not represent students living in the Park and Regent street areas.
The special election is being held following the resignation of alder-elect Jessy Tolkan last April, after a dispute over her primary residence and the consequent one-year appointment of Powell.
Powell said that while serving on the council, he felt he accomplished a lot toward affordable housing and tenants' rights.
\We are working on having a written list of tenants' rights and responsibilities included with every signed lease,"" he said. ""Also, a bill that, if you are denied tenancy, requires [that] the landlord has to put into writing the reason.""
Powell said in the coming weeks he hopes to see an inclusionary zoning ordinance come to fruition, which would require 10 to 15 percent of a large new housing development to contain affordable housing.
""[Ald. Brenda Konkel, District 2, Ald. Todd Jarrell, District 8] and I have been very successful in changing the agenda of the council,"" Powell said.
Thornton, a UW-Madison graduate student who has interned in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Wisconsin state Legislature, said he would like to work more on mandating that the UW-Madison accept federal housing vouchers.
""Students in University Heights want to use the vouchers but the university will not accept them and I would like to see that changed,"" he said. ""African Americans are the ones who use the vouchers and I think it's discrimination.""
Rosner said he would like to address binge drinking issues with more innovative ideas, such as having all-ages nights at clubs.
""The community has to realize that students need spaces for themselves,"" he said. ""By not having other options, they are forcing parties into private homes where there's unsupervised drinking and you get into the danger situation of binge drinking and date-rape drugs being used.""
Thornton said he would like to help the student community in a number of ways.
""The student population has not been well represented and as of present, I would like to be a strong voice for them,"" he said. ""If elected, I can be a student who is plugged in and who can represent them well.""
According to Rosner, he is running for council because he has lived in the area for 33 years and would like the chance to give back.
""I've got the time and the talent,"" Rosner said. ""I have had some experience in local government from my work as tax policy director of capitol revenue as well as being state chairman of the Sierra Club in Wisconsin.""
Powell also has a history in local government. In addition to his one year on the City Council, he served four years on the County Board. He said he has a long history with UW-Madison and feels that on issues between residents and students he would be more likely to side with students than Rosner.
""Local government directly affects people's lives. They control emergency services, pave roads and work on child care,"" Powell said.
