Many issues will be addressed in the November elections. Updating city codes, building and development, productive growth, transportation and safety are among the primary concerns of Athens citizens and students. Voters will have the opportunity to elect people to three Athens City Council at-large positions. Dale Tampke, Jim Sands and Edward Baum currently hold the three at-large chairs and are running for re-election. Christopher Crews is attempting to beat out one of them for a position.

Incumbent Dale Tampke Democrat

Democrat Dale Tampke is running to keep his current position.

After receiving his undergraduate and graduate degrees from Texas A&M University, Tampke went on to earn his doctorate from the University of Illinois. He has lived in Athens for six years. Currently, Tampke is the director of housing for Ohio University. Soon he will make the transition to the director of program assessment.

The new housing code or "porch couch referendum" is one issue voters will see on the ballot in November. Tampke was on the council that rewrote the code.

"If voters want safer and better looking housing in the city of Athens, they will vote for it," Tampke said.

City development is another concern. More quality housing is crucial to the growth of Athens, Tampke said. He said it is important to question what developers are doing and if what they are doing fits in with the character of Athens.

"Things either grow or they die," Tampke said. "Athens is going to grow one way or another."

Tampke said he believes city issues cut across the three groups in Athens - the community, students and OU.

"Everybody wants the trash to get picked up; everybody wants good housing; people want the streets fixed. That is what city government does," said Tampke. "The common ground among all of those groups are those issues."

In the end, Tampke said he feels that to be part of a community, one must acknowledge he or she is connected to the other people in the community.

"Everything we do in our community either directly or indirectly has an effect on somebody else," he said.

Incumbent Jim Sands, Democrat

Democrat Jim Sands will defend his current position in the November election.

Sands grew up in Athens and attended Ohio University. After graduating in 1969, he entered the military and went to Vietnam. After the service, he spent almost 13 years in the Washington, D.C. area. He has been back in Athens for 15 years and owns the Athens Flower Shop.

Sands also was part of the council that wrote the new housing code. He supports it.

Many of the current codes have not been revised since the late 1960s and early 1970s. Sands said he believes updating out-of-date codes is important in regard to directing development in Athens.

"Development projects will continue to come to city council for approval, and we have to look at un-individual cases - the appropriateness of that," he said.

Sands said he believes communication is the key to bringing the Athens community, the students and OU together.

Sands said recently the university has begun to involve itself in the community. "They are beginning to realize the tremendous effects their actions have on all the rest of us."

In closing, Sands urged the student population to vote. "The wider representation of the electorate, the better it represents the will of the people," he said.

Incumbent Edward Baum, Republican

Edward Baum is the sole Republican defending an Athens City Council at-large position.

Baum moved to Athens in 1965, but from 1965 through 1969 lived in Nigeria on an OU AID contract. Baum has lived in Athens for 30 years. He received his undergraduate and graduate degrees from UCLA. Currently, Baum is a political science professor emeritus who specializes in public administration.

Baum said he believes in the amendments City Council has proposed for the housing referendum. He voted for the amendments and was one of the people who worked on them.

"I think overall that they provide an improvement in quality of housing and safety for people who live in the housing, particularly renters," he said.

A major concern of citizens and students is development. "I think the first thing Athens needs is a better idea of where it wants to go. The whole strategic planning idea and concept is one we have been kicking around for a while," Baum said.

Baum also suggests possibly bringing in a professional planner on a contract basis to aid in strategic planning for where Athens wants to go.

Better modes of communication are what Baum suggests as a way to bring community, students and faculty together.

He said he believes what the students want is a clean, safe town to live in. "I think the City Council - the last four years that I have been on, and I am sure before that - and the administration have been working toward doing that," he said.

Christopher Crews, Independent

Running as an independent is Christopher Crews. Crews is trying to get elected rather than re-elected.

Crews is a fifth-year senior and has lived in Athens since his freshman year. After spending the first year in a dorm he moved into the community. Volunteer groups consume much of Crews' time, he said. Currently he works with Buckeye Forest Council Student Group and Amnesty International. He helped start Healing Our Mother Earth and College Greens.

Crews said he feels the housing referendum is a touchy issue. He was active in holding off the city council vote on the new housing code until the students returned from Winter Break.

"It is a frustrating situation because I see both sides of the argument," he said. "I think it would be very easy for City Council to go back and amend those three or four issues the referendum basically deals with...then everybody would be happy with the new housing code."

In Crews' opinion it is a lack of foresight by past city officials that has made development such an issue.

"There is no guiding vision of how Athens could be developing sustainably or not. That is something I am really hoping to bring to the City Council...a vision that is sustainable," Crews said.

Crews said he thinks it is important for the local economy to play a bigger role in Athens' economic development.

Crews also would like to look into the possibility of more public transportation. "I would like to see Athens become more bike friendly or bus friendly."

To bring the community, the students and OU officials into a better working relationship, Crews thinks people must destroy the barriers between the three factions.

"My challenge to students, especially my generation of students, is let's prove to the political structure out there that we do give a damn," he said in closing.