At a candidate open forum, city council candidates — Amber Corrieri, Rob Bowers, David Martin and Gloria Betcher — answered questions on numerous city issues.

These issues ranged from from Campustown expansion to relationship between the city and Iowa State University. With election day coming up Tuesday, here are some of the questions they answered. 

What can the city do to continue Campustown expansion while maintaining the balance between local and national business?

Corrieri: I alluded to it a bit earlier when i spoke about non-formula retail, which is basically the premise that we would help incentivize development for retail locations that were considered non-formula, that had less than 10 stores around the country. I do hope that we revisit that option.

Bowers: I think that a gathering space in Campustown is vital to the development, the continued development of Campustown … I also think we need to follow and support the Campustown Action Association in some of the things that they want to do to help them keep Campustown cleaner and keep it safe. Campus and Campustown are going to be be important and I think all those things will help to spur money coming to Campustown, including local money, which will be the development in that area.

Martin: I grew up in the Campustown neighborhood and it’s always struck me as a, from the retail and commercial point of view … it’s not a bastion of national chains and so I think the established path in Campustown has been pretty good and I would very much like to see it be it’s own thing rather than a replica of carefully engineered town squares with the same old formulas that you might see in other cities.

Betcher: I do hope that we can return to that [non-formula business] conversation There was a recent chamber of commerce visit to Columbia, Missouri and one of the things that struck us about downtown Columbia was that there were a lot of local businesses and when we asked the downtown director, ‘how did you do this?’ She said ‘we have a vibe and people who like that vibe, locate their businesses here,’ and right now, I think Campustown is in a vibe void.

How do plan to move Ames forward?

Corrieri: I think when we talk about vision it’s important to define what we mean when we talk about moving Ames forward. Personally, for me it means ensuring that we have adequate job opportunities, that we have a diverse workforce, and that we are providing a variety of housing and a variety of price points, as well as addressing critical amenities … In order to do that, [City Council] really has to come together and prioritize.

Bowers: For me I would talk about private sector employment. I think that’s key to the development of the city and the development of our economy. A strong, more diverse workforce is important for the growth and it helps the economy, it helps the school system and it also then helps the development of the amenities that help keep employees here because it’s the jobs that get employees here, not the amenities. Amenities keep employees here, and the way that we do that is we work with the research park and the cultivation corridor and take advantage in the leverage the research that is being done at Iowa State in the life sciences, the biosciences, [agriculture], veterinary medicine to attract industry here.

Martin: One way to bring Ames back into the running as a connected community is by using [fiber optic internet]. This is a new type of technology that could radically change the reliability and service availability and speeds of internet for Ames residents and businesses. So we need to convene the task force of leaders including business participants, work at home people, including those at Iowa State, the Ames community school district, the incumbent providers and city staff to find a path forward for this sort of technology … West Ames is thin on retail businesses and I think it would help Ames tremendously to develop in that direction.

Betcher: One of the things that I’ve championed since 2014 coming onto the council is the creation of the campus and community commission which is finally been created this year and I want to see that move forward as a means for us to address issues in the community that are related to those 36,000 plus students that live here. As well as capitalize on the opportunities that those students bring for … innovative ideas.

What ways would you want to improve the relationships between the university and the city?

Corrieri: Well I think we are at an important turning point right now. Obviously, we will have a new mayor being elected, as well as a new university president. This is why the mayoral role is so critical to the future of Ames and our relationship to the university … The mayoral role is critical in that piece and will be important for whoever’s in that seat to foster that relationship.

Bowers: In many ways, I think that’s a huge task and part of the reason why I think that’s a huge task is if you really step back and look at it and talk to people around the country like I have … We already have an amazing relationship between the city and the university. My colleagues at the police department, we work very closely together and when I talk to people from facilities at the university and people from their counterparts in the city, they work very closely together … I think we just need to improve upon that and build on that relationship.

Martin: I also support regular meeting between the university leadership and the city leadership, but also I want to mention the Iowa State research [park] because that’s sort of a nexus of collaboration between the university and city … That’s really an enabling institution and one that we have to support.

Betcher: So I mentioned the Campus and Community Commission and I’m going to keep mentioning that because that’s one of the ways that I think that we can move forward with our relationship with Iowa State … We have a great relationship between the city and the university compared to a lot of university communities … We [Iowa State and Ames] are married whether you like it or not. We have to decide how that marriage is going forward and I would like to see us continue working on the relationship … I wanna see us move out of being comfortable with the great relationship we’ve already got and actually do some new things to revitalize that marriage.