Although it’s nearly a year before the national elections, the future direction of Ames will be determined in Tuesday’s election.

Half the seats on the City Council are up for grabs, including the seat for Ward 4, which covers nearly every student living on campus.

The other contested seats are those for Ward 2, which covers northern Ames (including Schilletter Village, University Village and Frederiksen Court), and an at-large seat that deals with the entire city.

Here are the candidates’ thoughts on the major issues in this year’s election:

Economic development

of Campustown

Most candidates agree the most pressing is the economic development of Campustown.

“We need more variety of sustainable businesses, and businesses that can welcome both students and the rest of the community. Stomping Grounds is a good example of the business that we want, as it draws people from the whole community,” said Brian Phillips, president of the Government of the Student Body and senior in political science.

Challenger for Ward 4:

Andy Bock

I think businesses that attract people should be allowed to continue – particularly the tattoo parlors. I see the tattoo parlors as the one place where different groups do get together. Finding out what led to the success stories is what we need to start with, then find out what types of activities are lacking in particular and figure out if there is a way to attract those types. We need to start with what is working now, and build on that, and not try to pick and choose what should be viable in Campustown.

If it would be possible to attract a national clothing chain or something, I think that would be a benefit. But I think we have to make a lot more incremental steps before we get to the point where that is a possibility.

Incumbent for Ward 4:

Riad Mahayni

Campustown has a bad reputation in the sense that it functions only when the sun goes down and it’s basically serving the students. Aside from Stomping Grounds, people who do not live close to the campus have no reason to go to Campustown. So here you have a commercial area that functions only at night, for nine months of the year, serving a specific clientele. We need to address that issue.

About a decade ago, the city invested in a major face-lifting operation effort in Campustown. They hired a consultant by the name of Sasaki. They generated a plan. The outcome is the tower that you have in the middle of Welch and Chamberlain, and the nice light poles. In other words, they tried to make it more attractive. And I think this is the wrong approach.

Challenger for at-large seat:

Pat Brown

It used to be that you had a viable retail market down there. As the neighborhood around the retail area deteriorates, you’ve lost your retail market. The other thing that really concerns me is what kind of showcase is that for the university to have Campustown look like it is?

Picture a parent coming in with kids. Is this what the university and the city want to show? Think about bringing in new professors, or other staff people, and this is what they’re looking at.

Incumbent for at-large seat:

Matthew Goodman

Personally, I’ve done a great deal in terms of economic development with the gyro and Superdog stands, but I don’t think the council, in my four years, has done a great deal to impact economic development in Campustown. The business leadership in Campustown has a hard time staying organized – I’ve been a part of it before.

Every college town has bars; every college town has some haircut places and restaurants. Ames does have a great deal of good restaurants in Campustown, more so than any college towns I’ve visited. But what would be great is to somehow create some other retail opportunities in Campustown. The business model for retail is changing, so that’s really hard to do – it has to be a pretty unique endeavor to be successful.

Incumbent for Ward 2:

Jami Larson

I’m thrilled that students are thinking about Campustown and making it more vibrant and other than just a place with bars. I’ve been in Ames for almost 35 years, and I used to spend a lot of time in Campustown when I was a student. Ever since then, we haven’t been able to successfully get Campustown to redevelop and be something where students and the rest of the community can get together and get to know each other. I think the city’s doing a better job than it has been, though.

New mall

“Most students see this as a positive step,” said Maggie Luttrell, Government of the Student Body ex-officio City Council liaison and junior in history. “This will create a lot more economic opportunities for the city and job opportunities for students. We just have to continue growth.”

Major site plans for the East Prairie Lifestyle Center have also been approved, which could eventually lead to Ames having three malls. Will this help get more money and people into the city, or is this too much competition?

Bock:

Because North Grand is ready to get started in January, if it’s clear that construction won’t start soon for the lifestyle center, I think we’ll see more activity in the North Grand area. They’ve already invested $87 million with the purchase of the property. I don’t have a crystal ball to know which it will be that comes ahead, but either will certainly add some new economic development to the city.

For the lifestyle center, there’s a scaled-back proposal, so we’re not going to get the full build-up that we anticipated. It’s clear to me that the developers were not ready to handle the original scale that was proposed. We’re waiting to see if the financing and the purchasing of the land and the commitments from other retail operators will come through.

Mahayni:

We went through a similar experience to the lifestyle center about 15 years ago. At that time, I was on the planning and zoning commission. Target wanted to move from that commercial area we have downtown where the Hastings store is, and that was a bit controversial at that time, too. People were saying that if Target moves, then we are ruining that commercial center, it’s gonna die, and we are putting it way out there, etc. Well, now that center is prospering, and also Target is prospering. So, after a period of adjustments, I think both the new mall and lifestyle center will be able to prosper.

There is equivalent to about $160 million of new assessed value up there for the new North Grand property. When you consider that the average price for a home now is around $100,000, you are adding an assessment of 1,600 homes. It would be a big shot in the arm for the city.

Brown:

I don’t like government dictating economic growth. We’re not very good at it, really. You want to have entrepreneurs, you want to have markets, and what the government does do is designate areas of commercial growth or industrial growth that are land-use-compatible with the area around it.

Let the people who’ve got the money put up the dollars – they’re risking their money. The government should be concerned with compatibility and with the aspects that people can’t handle, like electrical plants [or] water.

I don’t understand thinking that says we can’t support two malls. It’s unfathomable to me. Furthermore, when you don’t have competition, you end up paying a lot more for things than you should.

Goodman:

We make plans available for development. We don’t worry about whether we need a certain retail opportunity or don’t need a certain retail opportunity. If the market decides that they want to add a retail to this market, then that’s what they do. Some of our land-use policies allow certain commercial and regional areas to expand, and if people find the financing to do that, then they do that.

I like the council to be smart about the way we choose to develop, and I like the council to use existing infrastructure to increase the tax space.

For example, let’s say we have a new store that’s better on South Duff than if it’s on ag land because we already have roads, water, sewer, police and fire being provided to South Duff, and none of that is provided to new land. That’s the way we want to develop to keep property taxes low and make Ames financially strong.

Larson:

I think of Ames as being a regional draw far beyond just the citizenry of Ames. When parents come back, and alumni come back, we’d like the community to offer the services that they’d like to see. A lot of times people come back for a football game. Maybe some would go to the game, but some others would want to go shopping, and we don’t have that right now.

A lot of people from smaller communities would very much like to come to Ames to shop – places like Webster City, Marshalltown, Fort Dodge – rather than going to Des Moines. We have a regional medical facility, regional education, we’re becoming regional with retirement, we’re drawing people back to live here, but we aren’t really as regional as we could be in the area of retail.

Student involvement

in the city of Ames

Bock:

I’ve been meeting with students once a week at the Union Drive Center during my campaign, and I’ve valued the opportunities to discuss with people at the Union Drive Center. Identifying the issues where students may have an interest in being involved is a critical way to inspire involvement.

Mahayni:

When I came on the council, we didn’t really have much of contacts with students. Since then, we have established a student liaison, and I think Maggie is the fifth one we have had by now. They have been excellent choices by GSB.

I would love to see the mayor hosting new students, giving them tours of the city and the facilities of the city and things that the city can do for them. Can we do more? Yes, we can. But, at the same time, I expect the students to be a party in that.

One issue that I think the students could do much to deal with is to join neighborhood associations. They are residents of the city. They live in neighborhoods. We have active student neighborhood associations, and I think the more links they establish with their neighbors, the better off the city will be.

Brown:

I think the step the council took with Maggie Luttrell is excellent, and I’m very impressed with this young woman. The work it takes to be on a board or commission, it’s hours. And students have lives of your own, social lives, big study loads, they want to be students. You can’t get adults involved in running for City Council. Why are you gonna get a student? It’s artificial. But where they want to be involved, and where you can find natural fits, should be allowed and encouraged. And I think that the Campustown planning process would be a natural.

Goodman:

It takes city leadership to search out students. For instance, whenever we have board positions available, I communicate with my employees, see if any of them are interested.

I think I am in a decent position to do that, with the amount of students that I come into contact with. But I think it’s really about relationships with students, and saying, “Hey, this is a really cool thing and we want your perspective. It’d be a great experience for you, you should come do this.”

Larson:

I wish we would figure out some way to get students more involved.

The city is trying to figure out, through interaction, how council and staff can get more involved and create an interest.