Iowa State students make up a large portion of the Ames population - almost 50 percent! For this reason, Iowa State students deserve to see greater levels of cooperation between their student and city governments. Nate and I are committed to developing stronger partnerships between GSB and the City of Ames to enhance the college experience for all students.
Currently, GSB has a Cabinet member designated as the City Council Liaison. This representative attends all council meetings throughout the year, serving as a direct representative of the student voice. However, this GSB representative doesn't have an official vote on City Council. Students are allowed to run for City Council, but many are discouraged due to the impracticality of serving a 4-year term while in the middle of their college career. Nate and I plan to work with the council to investigate options for making the GSB City Council Liaison a voting member of council with a one- to two-year term friendly to academic careers.
Nate and I also plan to make progress in our two semesters towards long-term goals of GSB and the City of Ames. We plan to develop partnerships to find a satisfactory solution for the DZ Triangle project. We will work to establish policies for landlord/tenant relations. We will partner with organizations such as the Campustown Student Association and Campustown Action Association to develop a plan for revitalization of the Campustown area. Several groups and organizations are interested in working to address these issues and more. Nate and I are willing to provide the personal touch needed to bring groups together and initiate productive conversations.
man, voting cc liaison would be a full time job..
ReplyDeleteevery year campustown needs revitalized! poor campustown, nothing changes.. you're always just a strip of bars in need of a second story, a floating block that serves students' needs to a degree that the rest of the entire city built around isu can't do.
"guaranteeing isu a seat on the city council seems kinda bogus to me" says city councilman jim, afraid that next duff and grand block will want a seat "we're the economic heart of isu!" and that no student will be interested enough to be fully devoted.
what's wrong with campustown?
neither one of you know anything about Greek Land or the DZ triangle. I don't think you should promise things that the Greek Community is going to be against. and I also have to agree that having a cc liaison a voting member is going to be more time consuming than anything else.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad someone's calling us out on an area of non-expertise.
ReplyDeleteTrue, Nate and I are not Greek. One of our primary goals is developing partnerships, especially in our Cabinet as we identify weaknesses in our experience and knowledge. Nate and I aren't experts in Greek affairs, but we're certainly committed to working with those who are to find the best answers possible. With regard specifically to the DZ Triangle, I'm not promising any particular solution, only that we'll work hard with all interested parties to find a mutually beneficial solution. (Don't assume we're completely in the dark, though. Just because we aren't Greek doesn't mean we don't have a decent working knowledge of things.)
Others have voiced concern about the liaison position being too time-consuming if made into a full member position. However, I'm not sure many people realize that it's already quite a time-consuming position in its current form. We see it as a good possibility for improving relationships and ties with the city and for giving students a great opportunity for involvement. We're willing to work with the city council to see if this is a realistic possibility, and are certainly keeping our minds open to other options as well.
Feedback's appreciated; it's how things get done.