Cast your ballot
November 4, 2003
Steve Goodhue
Second Ward
Q. What are three issues you want to tackle as a City Council member?
A. 1. Manage growth communities. We need to have some additional growth balance with strong quality of life.
2. Land use — as we are reviewing land use policy plan, we have to make sure there is land available for residential, commercial and industrial growth.
3. Implementing community vision in making Ames a world leader in food safety and supply. The challenge is to implement the vision.
Q. Why should people vote for you?
A. I’ve served on council for four years, the zoning board of adjustment for two years, [and] have been involved with community development and economic development work for 15 years in three communities which included Spencer, Ames and Kansas City, Kan. I believe I have a good background, and I understand city policy and priorities. I believe I can provide leadership in that area.
Q. If you don’t win your seat, who would you like to see win?
A. I’m anticipating being re-elected.
Q. What color is your couch and have you ever put it on your porch or lawn?
A. I have a couple of couches that are generally tan and taupe. No.
Matt Denner
Fourth Ward
Q. What are three issues you want to tackle as a City Council member?
A. 1. I would say that relations between students and the rest of the city must be improved.
2. Preserve our environment — We need to improve the air quality in Ames, and we should look at other methods of environmental protection such as recycling and waste disposal.
3. To continue our growth in a way that keeps neighborhoods strong and preserves local businesses.
Q. Why should people vote for you?
A. Although I am young, I have lived in Ames most of my life, and know how this city can improve. I can bridge the gap between students and long-time residents while coming up with innovative ideas to bring Ames into the future.
Q. If you don’t win your seat, who would you like to see win?
A. I’m not sure I want to answer that question, I’d rather just win. If I get kicked off a runoff [election] then I’ll answer that question.
Q. What color is your couch and have you ever put it on your porch or lawn?
A. I have a couple of couches, one is blue, none of which have been on the front lawn or porch.
Riad Mahayni
Fourth Ward
Q. What are three issues you want to tackle as a City Council member?
A. The top three issues are the ones we would be facing as soon as we get in.
Those are what I shared with the Chamber of Commerce on their questionnaire, and those would be land use, the mall and also relations with the students.
Q. Why should people vote for you?
A. Because I have quite a bit of experience that I can contribute to a healthy dialogue and a healthy future for Ames. My experience in Ames city government and also professional experience in my field of community and regional planning.
Q. If you don’t win your seat, who would you like to see win?
A. That’s an unfair question … because I’m going to win.
Q. What color is your couch and have you ever put it on your porch or lawn?
A. I have two. One is brownish-greenish, and the other is greenish and brownish.
No, they’re too heavy.
Joe Viles
Fourth Ward
Q. What three issues do you want to tackle as a City Council member?
A. Unresponsive government, expensive government and property taxes.
Q. Why should people vote for you?
A. Because I’ll speak up for them.
Q. If you don’t win your seat, who would you like to see win?
A. There is no second place winner.
Q. What color is your couch and have you ever put it on your porch or lawn?
A. The couch is gray. It has never been on my porch. I did have a chair from Goodwill that was made out of wood and had two cushions and was weather resistant. I used to sit on the porch and read paperbacks. It’s gone now.
Joe Paulson
Fourth Ward
Q. What are three issues you want to tackle as a City Council member?
A. Student and permanent resident relations. I would like to see more good jobs in Ames. Deal with the land-use policy.
Q. Why should people vote for you?
A. I’ve been in Ames for 26 years. I’ve just got a lot of good ideas that I think would be beneficial to Ames.
Q. If you don’t win your seat, who would you like to see win?
A. I don’t really have an opinion there.
Q. What color is your couch and have you ever put it on your porch or lawn?
A. My current couch is multicolored — blue and burgundy. [The current couch has] never been on my front lawn. As a student, I had a couch on my lawn, but I took it in at night. We took it out sporadically.
Monte Parrish
At-Large
Q. What three issues do you want to tackle as a City Council member?
A. The first one is growth. That’s kind of all-encompassing and the two big sides of it is economic development on the one hand and quality of life on the other and how do you do economic development that is needed to fund quality of life. The economic development department obviously has the mall and the developing situation. On the other side, you have the rec center.
Number two is the student resident landlord problem, and number three … is parks and culture. I don’t want it to get forgotten just because there are a lot of other pressing issues.
Q. Why should people vote for you?
A. I suppose people should vote for me because they get to put me to work, and I would work pretty hard at this. I would be pretty fair. A lot of candidates say they don’t have agendas or special interests, but I really believe I don’t have any either. I’ll tell you another thing with that, too — I would make every effort to represent students they way they ought to be represented.
Q. If you don’t win your seat, who would you like to see win?
A. I’m not going to pick a person.
Q. What color is your couch and have you ever put it on your porch or lawn?
A. Taupe, and don’t worry, we’re not going to put it on the porch. Not in any foreseeable future are we going to do that, although it’s kind of a sectional, so we could if we wanted to.
Mary Ann Lundy
At-Large
Q. What three issues do you want to tackle as a city council member?
A. First of all, economic development, because in order to do some of the other things I want to, we have to keep our tax base stable. … Second of all would be to maintain or improve our quality of life. That has to do with things like access to healthcare, education, cultural activities, recreation, environment — protecting all those and making this a good place to live. The third thing I really do want to see something significant about affordable housing. It always makes me feel bad to see young couples come in excited to get a job, and they can’t afford to live here …My short-term is we have to work with the land use plan, and we have to try to get relationships with the different parts of the community working together better.
Q. Why should people vote for you?
A. I think they should vote for me because I’m going to be listening to people. I make a balanced decision after listening to all sides of the matter … I just want to serve the community. I think they should vote for me because I have good knowledge of the community and would make a sound decision.
Q. If you don’t win your seat, who would you like to see win?
A. Probably between Matt Goodman and Monte [Parrish] … I think Nathan is good, but I have a feeling that he probably will want to go on to law school.
Q. What color is your couch and have you ever put it on your porch or lawn?
A. It’s a nice mixture of colors; it’s kind of a garden print with burgundy, navy blue and kind of a sage green in it. No, I haven’t. I have deck furniture that I keep out there that is able to stand the weather. I can see why people might want to do that — take it out on a nice warm day.
Nathan Johnston
At-Large
Q. What three issues do you want to tackle as a city council member?
A. The community relations among students and residents. The budget — having tighter constraints. Dealing with land-use policy planning. Keep a balance as far as growth.
Q. Why should people vote for you?
A. People should vote for me if they believe in me. I put a lot of passion into what I do.
Q. What is your weakness as a city council member?
A. The fact that I’m a student. This is a transition period of my life. I have had the position as a liaison — I already put that time in. There have been times I’ve had to move a test because of a City Council meeting. It’s not like it’s more time.
Q. If you don’t win your seat, who would you like to see win?
A. I would say Mary Ann Lundy.
Q. What color is your couch and have you ever put it on your porch or lawn?
A. Khaki colored. I live in an apartment complex, and I’ve never placed my couch on my lawn.
Matthew Goodman
At-Large
Q. What three issues do you want to tackle as a City Council member?
A. Improving student/permanent resident relationships, increasing the supply of affordable housing in Ames and ensuring the success of the vision of Ames.
Q. Why should people vote for you?
A. I believe I am in a great position to represent the entire community of Ames. Being a recent ISU graduate and running the gyro stand in Campustown, I have developed a great relationship with many students. At the same time, owning a home and being a long-term resident, I can also identify with many of the concerns of the permanent residents. This combination of roles makes me uniquely suited to serve the entire Ames community.
Q. If you don’t win your seat, who would you like to see win?
A. Monte Parrish.
Q. What color is your couch and have you ever put it on your porch or lawn?
A. Maroon, green and green plaid. Yes, once when I was moving. Couches can be very heavy.
