The competition for the fourth ward seat is by far the most interesting contest in today’s election. We have two ISU professors, a landlord (actually, my landlord), and an ISU student rounding out an extremely diverse group of candidates. I’ve had a chance to talk with each candidate one-on-one.

Joseph Viles is an associate professor at Iowa State. His campaign slogan is “Students are Real People.” Obviously, he is relying on a strong student backing to win, but I doubt he will receive it.

Criminal records aside, professor Viles had some good ideas, but nothing that would put him ahead of incumbent Riad Mahayni. He made excellent points in reference to how students need to unite to combat unfairness, but failed to sway me in regard to issues important to the functioning of our city.

If elected, Viles plans to repeal the zoning ordinance, which is a questionable way of resolving problems with overoccupancy.

Joe Paulson is my landlord — you probably recognize his name from the numerous campaign signs that populate the fourth ward. Paulson has resided in Ames for 26 years as a student and family man. He has been a realtor for 15 years.

On permanent resident issues, Paulson sides with Mahayni. The differences of opinion rest with student issues. Paulson is strongly against the overoccupancy ordinance. He believes a peaceful coexistence between students and permanent residents can be achieved through communication rather than the enforcement of ordinances.

This is his main voting issue, and to some degree his motives can be questioned. After all, not only would some students benefit from a repeal of the overoccupancy ordinance, but he would as well being a realtor owning property in areas zoned residential low. I live in such an area. Despite this, I found Joe to be sincerely concerned about how students are being treated by the permanent residents.

I had heard incumbent Riad Mahayni was anti-student and I was ready to expose him, but it’s amazing how quickly my opinion was turned around. I found Mahayni to be a genuinely caring, good-natured person — not the student-hating monster he was purported to be. In fact, this image couldn’t be further from the truth.

Mahayni hasn’t turned his back on students. Simply, the issue of overoccupancy has been confused. He said the overoccupancy ordinance is not bad in itself. If an area is zoned residential low for one reason or another, controls must be in place to assure the area is used accordingly.

Mahayni feels some landlords have rallied support from students by deceiving them. As I stated before, landlords stand to monetarily gain from a removal of over-occupancy restrictions — it’s no wonder they would attempt to incite student anger toward the city. On a side note, Mahayni pushed for deferring overoccupancy fines for students.

Mahayni is well versed in the workings of the city. He co-authored the Land Use Policy Plan and had been active in the community long before he was appointed to the city council. Mahayni has been teaching at Iowa State for 25 years and is by far the most qualified candidate.

Matt Denner has been active in politics since the tender age of 8. Denner is currently the president of the ISU Campus Greens. I asked all of the candidates what the main voting issues would be, and he was the only one to list pollution.

While I liked the ideas Denner had to protect the environment, I think he’s shooting himself in the foot by pushing it so hard. We live in a city that does not have a serious pollution problem. This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be concerned about it, but I don’t think it should be a main voting issue.

As for overoccupancy, Denner feels it was inappropriate to start enforcing the ordinance without warning and claims a lot of landlords were unaware of their violations. Denner believes the issues of overoccupancy, drinking, and outdoor furniture can be solved by attacking the real problems instead of restricting all possible offenders.

Denner believes if he is elected he will be able to make residents excited about Ames. Since Ames has been rated the second most-livable small city in the United States by the “New Rating Guide to Life in America’s Small Cities,” he wants to promote our city and make it more attractive to graduating students and new businesses.

I think Denner’s biggest asset is the fact that he is a student. The main voting issue all the candidates cited was student-resident relations and I think Denner is in the best position to bridge the gap.

It was impossible to fit all of the candidates’ ideas into one column, but I hope by reading this you have a better understanding of where the candidates stand on student issues. Please, take the time to go vote today — a large student turnout will be a victory for students.