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Candidates name litter, noise as top concerns

Two competing Democrats contending for Athens City Council’s First Ward seat faced off yesterday in an open forum to discuss their stances on key issues and constituents’ concerns.

Incumbent Kent Butler and challenger Andrea DeMott, an Ohio University professor, both identified litter and noise as primary concerns for First Ward residents during the open forum at the Athens Public Library.

Athens’ First Ward includes most of the city’s western section, the area between West Union and West State streets, parts of OU’s West Green and the Convocation Center.

“I had been hoping for progress at the last election, and it didn’t materialize,” DeMott said.

DeMott said she is focusing her platform on positive changes and fixing dilapidating properties in the First Ward.

“Our neighborhoods are deteriorating, and we don’t like it,” she said, adding that she hopes to ease contentions with students and west-side residents. 

Athens’ west-side population density has increased, causing many of the problems residents are having, said DeMott.

Population density is a concern in all of Athens, Butler said, which creates difficulties for developers on how and where to build new properties.

“We have a city planner now. He’s a bright, capable man,” Butler said.

He added that Mayor Paul Wiehl is aware of the noise and litter concerns that affect the west side. The city has worked to alleviate this problem by hiring a litter control officer, he said.

Both candidates support the current noise ordinance policy that many students oppose and support Athens Police Chief Tom Pyle’s policies.

Butler said he was content with where the policy stood and did not approve of the proposed changes.

This is not a case of the city versus students, Butler said, because anyone can make excessive noise.

“I think the issue is overblown and don’t like the divisiveness it has brought up,” DeMott said, adding that should Pyle accept the proposed changes presented by OU Student Senate, she would be behind him.

DeMott added the excessive litter and noise on the west end is due to absentee landowners with inadequately maintained properties.

Butler, on the other hand, said that students who live off campus have actually eased contentions with permanent residents, as he has seen many attend neighborhood association meetings.

“I feel I have a better sense of student issues and have remained in touch with the students,” said Butler, once an OU student himself, adding that he hopes to maintain a positive relationship between the city and university.

rs181308@ohiou.edu

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