BLOC Party senators not up for grabs

It is UISG election season, and there is a big decision to make today because the candidates in this race could not be more different from one another.

Our names are Lindsey Rayner and Connor Gronski, and we are senatorial candidates on the BLOC Party. This ticket is composed of 38 Hawkeyes dedicated to improving the student experience here at Iowa. We were brought together by two of the most qualified and devoted leaders on this campus — Rachel Zuckerman and Lauren Freeman. They are our executives, and they are running for the positions of president and vice president of UISG. We are writing to assert our support for them, and only them, to lead UISG next year.

Our opponents, the Yes Party, are running without a platform or a ticket of senators. The Yes leadership has continuously expressed a desire to use the BLOC senators and platform next year if elected. This gesture may appear to be flattering, but it is unacceptably insulting. The BLOC platform was created after months of hard work by our presidential and vice presidential candidates, with the help and input of BLOC senators. Without Rachel and Lauren, there would be no platform to work from. As an institution, we value academic honesty, and claiming ownership over the hard work of others is nothing but incongruent with our core values as a university.

Yes constantly claims it works for results, but in order to create real results, next year’s student-government leaders must be ready to collaborate with BLOC senators. The Yes executive ticket does not have the knowledge or experience to lead the BLOC team. Heck, they do not even know most of our names. On the other hand, Rachel and Lauren recruited each and every one of us to the ticket, they have worked with us on various projects, and they understand our strengths and passions.

We, the BLOC senatorial candidates, are not up to be “claimed” by Jon Langel and Elliott Smith. We have the utmost faith in Rachel and Lauren to lead the students. We are working hard on this campaign to ensure these two passionate, committed women are the ones to lead us in UISG next year. We chose to run on this ticket because of our belief in the collective team that is the BLOC Party.

This team would not exist without the dedicated leadership of Rachel and Lauren.

Lindsey Rayner and Connor Gronski

Landlords abusing privacy

A large proportion of Iowa City residents are renters. And in spite of this, there seems to be a significant lack of understanding of the civil code (federal or otherwise) and its implications for the relationship between renter and landlord. This isn’t surprising for Iowa City considering recent suits brought against a local property-management company. I am a Ph.D. student, and my wife and I live in University Apartments. We have each had significant issues with depression and anxiety that at times have left us functionally disabled. Our pet rabbit Hitchens has been a great support to us over the years. But moving into University Housing meant that we would have to find another home for Hitch, which was out of the question. Most adult rabbits taken to a pound end up being put down. So I applied for and received permission to keep her as an emotional-support animal. But this permission came with a clause that requires an “inspection” of our home once a month, which pretty much defeated the purpose of the animal designation, considering that much of our anxieties stem from past violation of personal space by landlords and property managers, one in which our home was entered while my wife was home alone taking a shower. Allowing staff to enter a few times a year was no problem. But at what point is it all right to enter private home 12 times a year? Should it not matter that by law, renters have the same rights as owners? It’s troubling that civil code clearly limits the rights of the landlord to invade a renter’s privacy but as a general rule, property-management companies frequently completely ignore it.

Ryan Daly

Affordable housing or rent control

Builders and landlords have a choice here in Iowa City: affordable housing or rent control.  I am for the former, but the latter will suffice.

I read the story of how Rose Oaks — née Lakeside Apartments — has given tenants 30 days’ notice to vacate. This is heartbreaking because affordable housing is almost impossible to find in Iowa City or the surrounding areas, because most of it has been gentrified with the help of TIFs.

TIFs have come at the expense of taxpayers to fund million-dollar projects by developers who refuse to add affordable housing to their developments.  They have been getting away with murder: homelessness can lead directly/indirectly to death.

Now developers have a choice: affordable housing or rent control.

Light manufacturers on the South Side along Highway 6 and along Heinz Road also have an investment in ensuring affordable housing in the Iowa City area.  They need low-paid workers to continue to make their businesses profitable.  If workers cannot find housing for themselves and their families, they must move to other locations too far away to make working in IC possible.  Please act like you have a vested interest in the problem of affordable housing in the area.

Finally, it’s disgraceful to have human beings homeless or close to being homeless in the riches country in the history of the world.  We Americans are not rugged individuals, as the neoliberals would have us believe.  We are humans.

Mary Gravitt