Letter to the Editor: Students have opportunity to affect local election
To the Editor;
Mount Pleasant is electing three City Commissioners Tuesday. That election could determine if next spring, when you are looking for a place to live a landlord can rent you a home or a lovely closet with dual occupancy. One of the major issues the Mount Pleasant City Commission will be facing is re-writing the the City's Zoning ordinances. They will address what can be built and where it can be built .
The ordinances determine whether a home requires 500 square feet per occupant or 200. Last year I overheard two construction workers, complaining about putting broken appliances into new apartments. they had been told, "don't worry about it, maintenance will take care of it, install them anyways."
Students will have an opportunity to change this. This election will be ignored by most people, not just students. In the last two competitive city commission elections, only 7.5 percent of voters showed up in 2013, and in 2009, the last time seven candidates vied for three commission seats, less that 6 percent voted. Had only one additional student out of every hundred CMU students gone to the polls, they could have changed two losing candidates into two newly elected City Commissioners.
There are the seven candidates.
Rick Rautanen is the current Vice-Mayor and the lone incumbent.
Three candidates have the best interests of Mount Pleasant's residents, both town and gown: Allison Quast-Lents, manager of Motorless Motion, Lori Gillis, a computer science and business instructor and research Attorney Nicholas Madaj.
The other three candidates have either the backing of rental unit owners and developers or could personally benefit from rules that favor landlords over renters: real estate broker Keith Cotter, Lisa Ferden, who is supported by local rental owners and rental housing owner Petro J Tolas.
Tolas and Cotter had refused to disclose who is backing them, until Isabella County Clerk Minde Lux told them that they could not ignore Michigan State Election Law. Complaints were filed with the state. No partisan politics here as Clerk Lux, Cotter and Tolas are all Republicans. When they finally complied with the law it was disclosed that Tolas has self-funded his campaign, $2,334 so far.
Cotter has taken the opposite approach and has yet to invest a single dime of his own money into his campaign. Cotter's campaign is completely financed by those involved in student rentals: Joe and Nancy Olivier contributed $1,000, Richard and Julianne McGuirk contributed $500, Brandon Labelle gave $500 and $250 came from Todd Olivieri.
For more, check out a YouTube video on Mr. Tolas, including his support for building a Hooters restaurant next to a Mount Pleasant residential area, or read The Morning Sun's, "Mt. Pleasant City Commission candidates share their views," in which all candidates were asked about "college student problems" and whether student density is to blame. And there is the Central Michigan Life article, "City commission candidates talk student issues."
If you believe that a four bedroom apartment or home is meant for 4 people, not eight, you should take the time Tuesday to vote. Being just one in a hundred could be all it takes to make it better for you.
City commissioners should be concerned about the future quality of life for all Mount Pleasant residents and not the profits of developers and landlords. With so few people voting, your vote will rarely carry as much weight, and lines at the polls will rarely be so short.
I-Ride will be offering free rides to and from the polls all day.
— Matt Mertz, Mount Pleasant
