By Anis Shakirah Mohd Muslimin
Iowa City City Council candidates headed to Oaknoll Retirement Community Wednesday night to hit on a broad set of topics affecting the community.
Five out of the eight candidates attended the forum: District C candidates Scott McDonough and John Thomas, at-large candidates Councilor Jim Throgmorton and Rockne Cole, and District A candidate Pauline Taylor. Throgmorton is the incumbent in District C.
Councilors Michelle Payne and Rick Dobyns, as well as candidate Tim Conroy, were absent.
One major topic of discussion was making council activities more accessible to residents.
“One thing that I would like to do to promote that sense of being included would be to bring city town halls up into the neighborhood, so that people don’t have to go to City Hall to talk to City Council or city staff,” Thomas said.
Taylor, who is a nurse at the University of Iowa Hospital and Clinics, said her good listening skills and ability to be a team player will aid her in hearing out the opinions of the Iowa City community.
John Neff, the host of the meeting, led a Q&A session that allowed audience members the opportunity to ask candidates about issues directly related to Iowa City.
The topics that were bought up by the community included affordable housing, climate change, and mental illness.
All candidates agreed Iowa City lacks affordable housing and the must be addressed immediately.
“The inclusionary zoning is a very useful way of generating affordable housing because it will be built right into project that are built in the Riverfront Crossings area,” Thomas said.
He said the council would need to boost not only affordable housing but also the diversity of housing in general by changing zone codes to encourage more affordable housing stock.
“Another thing I would propose to the staff to urge them to look into ways to have the private market generate and produce more housing that is affordable,” Throgmorton said.
In addressing the issue of climate change, Thomas said the council should work on making Iowa City a bicycle-friendly city and provide better bike networks as an alternative to using an automobile.
“We need to provide a leadership role in climate change,” Cole said.
Cole said the council should look to make Iowa City more walkable by going back to the basic principles of mixed-use commercial development.
“We should focus on preserving what we have, and to look toward our past,” he said.
Cole said the City Council should collaborative with nonprofits to provide shelter and food to the needy.
“We can use public dollars to catalyze the private sector to provide any sort of services; we are an amazing and resilient community, and we can do that,” he said.
