Robert Day, Stephanie Stullich face challengers in District 3 debate

Standing room only at the mayoral and District 3 debate in City Hall on Oct. 28, 2015.

Candidates for the mayoral and District 3 council positions debated Wednesday evening, outlining their platforms in front of more than 70 residents less than a week before the Nov. 3 election.

The council chamber was packed with residents, who stood and crowded into the corners of the room to listen to this year’s candidates. The council and mayoral race is the most competitive in more than 20 years, with every seat contested. District 3, which encompasses Old Town, is the most highly contested with five candidates running for two open seats.  

The District 3 candidates — incumbents Robert Day and Stephanie Stullich, as well as John Rigg, Robert McCeney and 2015 university alumnus Ryan Belcher — discussed student, landlord and resident relationships during the debate. Each expressed a need for improvement, but also a sense of accomplishment on the progress made thus far.

READ MORE: District 1 forum focuses on amenities rather than development

Belcher referenced the implementation of on-campus tailgates sponsored by the Interfraternity Council and advocated more “registered” events by “moving the noise on-campus.” He said it’s a “win-win” for residents and students. 

“We need to build a culture of trust,” Belcher said. “While no one is perfect, we need to set standards and be clear and concise in how we can work together as neighbors.”

To address this problem, the city should “come down with a stronger hammer” on noisy houses and increase punishments for offenses, Belcher said. 

“I have seen a lack of follow-up to make sure these houses are meeting these standards,” Belcher said.

Rigg said the noise control board should be more assertive in its enforcements and has “sometimes” given passes to houses with violations. 

If elected, Rigg said he would create a committee of students to work with property owners and improve student-landlord relations. He also said he wanted to look for “opportunities to create incentives” for “good” landlords and change “bad” landlords’ ways. 

“I would like to establish a student tenants’ association to balance the powers of property owners and give a voice to students at the table,” Rigg said.  

Stullich addressed specific ways residents and students can work together to prevent noise issues in Old Town.

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“There are three main avenues for dealing with noise,” Stullich said. “First, is making sure residents understand what they can do about noise problems when they occur. Second, informing students and other residents during the back-to-school period, which is often the most difficult time. Finally, building relationships between students and long-term residents.”

Day also recognized noise issues and a need for improvement. He emphasized the importance of immediately reaching out to students when they move into the neighborhood and establishing a dialogue.

“We have attacked some problem houses,” Day said. “We’ve turned two of the number-one problem houses around to being no issue, but we have a lot more to go.”

Although much of the debate centered on the relationship with the university, few students were present during the debate. University and city officials are hoping for a larger voter turnout this year than in 2013. That year, when Matthew Popkin, then a university graduate student, ran,  just 600 students registered to vote and only a fraction of them cast a ballot on election day. 

READ MORE: College Park’s mayoral election will make history, regardless of outcome

Graduate student Taylor Robey was one of the university students attending the mayoral and council debate. 

“I was interested about how the mayoral candidates were going to address growth in the city,” the first-year student studying urban planning said. “I wish there were more university people here. A lot of the debate was talking about the university’s influence and the relationship it has.”

McCeney said he understands the “integral” relationship between the city and this university and wants to give professors a financial incentive to move into the city. 

If elected, McCeney said he would like to have more community events for residents that include “reaching out to students and making sure they can come together to understand each other so someone that has to work in the morning isn’t disturbed at 3 a.m.”

In addition to the District 3 council candidate debate, mayoral contenders District 4 Councilwoman Denise Mitchell and District 1 Councilman Patrick Wojahn shared their visions for the city’s future. 

READ MORE: College Park candidates for mayor and District 4 seats discuss plans for city

The mayoral candidates focused on the city’s future business and housing development as well as the city’s relationship with this university. Wojahn described the current relationship as “strong,” but both candidates agreed that the city must work independently on its own issues as well.  

“We have worked with the university and Loh has been a breath of fresh air,” Mitchell said. “We have worked lavishly on programs we both want to see pushed forward. But as a city we need to work together in regards to our own identity.”

Wojahn and Mitchell addressed student-landlord relations and agreed the city, property owners and students need to work together.

“We put aside years and decades of tensions between landlords, students and long-term residents to bring everybody together at one table and think, ‘How can we tackle these problems?’” Wojahn said. “We came up with nearly 70 strategies to address these problems. That’s what you can expect from me as mayor — bringing people together.”

As the mayoral debate came to a close, District 3 resident Richard Ellis, 71, said he thought the debate was “fairly vanilla.”

Senior Nathan Sparks said he wanted to represent student residents in the upcoming election and wanted to hear more of the candidate’s thoughts on housing for low-income students.   

“I just registered to vote in College Park; living here for a year, I felt like I’m more of a resident now that I’ve lived [here],” the environmental science and policy major said. “My biggest issue is sustainability [and] that includes housing for low income students. There wasn’t a lot about that [in the mayoral debate].”

Molly MacLaren, vice president of the Calvert Hills Citizens Association, said she was glad the forum drew “a full house.”

“I was so happy that so many people came out on such a dreary night,” she said. “It may not have been as fiery as the Republican debate that’s going on right now.”