With Anne Kinzel’s recent announcement of her candidacy for the Ames City Council at-large seat, the position will now pit Kinzel against Amber Corrieri for the seat.

Kinzel announced her decision to run for the at-large City Council on last Tuesday, while Corrieri announced her candidacy last spring.

Kinzel is one of the program coordinators  for CenUSA Bioenergy at Iowa State’s Bioeconomy Institute, and Corrieri is the director of development at Mainstream Living.

Corrieri believes her past experiences working in the community is something that will set her apart from her competitor.

“I guess that one thing that I think sets me apart from her and from a lot of people who want to run for City Council is that I do have relationships with a broad cross section of the community,” Corrieri said.

“I feel like I’ve been able to build those relationships through the volunteer work that I’ve done, through my job obviously.”

Kinzel highlights her passion for diversity and the quality of life as some of the things that would help her serve as a strong leader in the at-large position.

“I think that one of the things I can bring in is an appreciation for diversity, for quality of life as something that drives our economic growth,” Kinzel said.

Kinzel would like to see Ames continue to grow. As an at-large representative, one of the things Kinzel plans to advocate for is affordable housing in the Ames community.

“I’d like to be sure that there’s a strong voice on the council for affordable housing, young families, strong neighborhoods, that kind of thing,” Kinzel said.

Corrieri said she’d like to see continued development in Ames, as well as making sure the community is getting the resources it needs to grow.

“Some of my areas, or I guess priority areas, are continued land development and housing, examining our social services … making sure that we’re meeting the means of the community, and really just enhancing our quality of life here,” Corrieri said.

Both candidates agree that it is important for the community to get involved in the decisions the council makes.

“It’s a better community when both the government and the citizens are involved with each other, and that way the decisions have a better chance of being good decisions for the vast majority of people.” Kinzel said.

“I want to see everybody at the table, I want to see students, I want to see families.”

City Council elections will take place on Nov. 5 from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Students can vote on campus at the Union Drive Community Center.