Candidates in the race for Athens City Mayor’s race — Athens City Councilman Steve Patterson (D) and OU student Andrew Looker (R) — will be holding an open forum Wednesday afternoon in the Front Room to answer questions from both the press as well as students and Athens residents.
Two very different Athens mayoral hopefuls will be sitting down in Ohio University’s Front Room on Wednesday to address student and resident concerns for the first time.
Democratic Athens City at-large Councilman Steve Patterson and Republican OU student Andrew Looker will hold an open forum Wednesday in Baker Center’s popular coffee spot to answer questions from students and residents from 5 to 6 p.m.
“Since I don’t have a primary this year, nor does Andrew Looker, we thought this (forum) would be good,” Patterson said.
Patterson, who is also an associate psychology professor at OU, said the idea came from the six students who are working on his campaign.
“We kind of crafted this open forum to be exactly like the forum that the (Athens County) Junior League of Women Voters puts on for elected officials,” he said.
Both Patterson and Looker hope the forum will help strengthen ties between the city, OU students, faculty and administration.
“I want to provide a voice in the town for the student base, because many of them call Athens home for four years and some stay here after they graduate,” Looker said. “The city has the responsibility of serving the residents here which includes the students at Ohio University.”
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Looker said his role as a student will help him achieve those goals.
“Being a college student, I know the pressures of college,” Looker said. “I hope to make college living easier from the standpoint of the city, whether it be by connecting students with jobs or helping businesses to keep their prices low.”
While Looker hopes to improve and emphasize ties between students and city legislators, Patterson said he’s looking to work on connections with OU president Roderick McDavis.
“One of the biggest points I want to emphasize is continued engagement between the city of Athens and Ohio University,” he said. “Lines of communication are there, they’ve been established … I want to increase and enhance those lines of communication between president McDavis and his staff with the city’s staff.”
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Looker said the route to closer communication might lie in more face-to-face interactions with university officials.
“The university is one half of the town that goes largely ignored,” he said. “I would support OU in any way the city can … I want to meet with President McDavis at least once a month to go over issues.”
Beyond questions about city and university interactions, both candidates anticipate questions about the run-ins students often have with the Athens City’s Code Enforcement office for violations of the noise ordinance, the trash ordinance and the nuisance party ordinance.
“I want the city to be more student-friendly through a variety of aspects, such as with code enforcement reform,” Looker said.
Patterson and Looker will go head-to-head in the Nov. 3 elections.
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