2011 IC Council General Election

Iowa Citians — 14.77 percent of registered voters, at least — went to the polls yesterday and elected three new city councilors and one incumbent. Michelle Payne, Rick Dobyns, and Jim Throgmorton, who previously served on the council, made the final cut along with current mayor Matt Hayek. Falling short were local radio station owner and media personality Stephen Soboroff (who effectively ended my hopes of working in radio when I was 14; that is a totally different story), my boy and urban chicken enthusiast Jarrett Mitchell (he garnered the fewest votes, which was predictable), and former UI student and budding hotelier Raj Patel joins a long line of young ’uns whose hopes lived and died with the student vote.

Needless to say, nobody I voted for was elected. I cast one vote for Mitchell and then wrote-in my dad. I was not thrilled with any of the other candidates, and I can think of no one more trustworthy than The Quiet Papa. I had voted for Hayek in last month’s primary, but have to admit it was mostly from social pressure; though I knew little about him, everyone seems to love the guy. He won easily without my support.

I did not cast a vote in either the District A or C races. (Throgmorton ran unopposed in District C, so the result was a foregone conclusion; he received 95 percent of the total vote.) I live in District B — I think. I dare you to find an easily readable and user-friendly map of IC’s council districts. All I could find was what looked like a picture of a pinned-up map in city hall; the names of streets serving as boundaries were blurry and unreadable. Regardless, why cast a vote for a district I do not live in? Frankly, I was amazed I could vote for those races in the first place.

A lot of people were gaga over Raj Patel. It probably had a lot to do with his youth; he is 20 and a former UI student liaison for the council. His parents are building a hotel on Sturgis Corner Drive, which he and his brother will manage; this, along with the fact he and his brother bought a house in the city, was to assure voters he was planning to be in the community for the long-term.

Student candidates always generate a lot of hope and excitement. It probably has a lot to do with the prospect of adding a young voice and supporter of college-aged debauchery (namely underaged drinking) to a council full of townie fuddy-duddies. I suppose I supported student candidates when I was in college, but, having passed the legal age long ago, I could not care less now.

Actually, I do care, but in a very different way. The students obviously form a large contingent, and I think they deserve a role in the city’s democratic process. Despite that, however, my attitude toward the students since returning to the near-downtown area is vacillating between welcoming/respectful and contemptuous, considering them just wealthy transients who care little about the city. I cannot help regarding student candidates with cynicism, and such were my feelings toward Patel.

First, there was his opposition to the 21-only ordinance last year. (Apparently, 21-only has proven to be futile, but that is a different story.) Then there is the fact his parents are building a hotel in the city, which he will manage. (Would he serve as a puppet for his parents’ business interests?) Then there were the odd circumstance surrounding his resignation as the student liaison to the council, his withdrawal from the UI, and his brother essentially bribing fraternities to register as many of their members as possible. (He apparently said he would donate $10 to their respective charities for everyone they registered, which is illegal under Iowa law.) Then there was his appearance at the City High football game, when he arrived with an entourage. The good vibes everyone else was feeling evaded me, so I did not vote for him. He missed the cut by 232 votes.

His campaign’s death knell? The coveted student vote. It once again did not materialize. As with last year’s election involving the 21-only ordinance, the student turnout was utterly pathetic. It was worse than pathetic. It was nonexistent. There are 3,003 registered voters at the UI’s Main Library precinct, which, I assume, includes the east side dorms. How many votes were cast there yesterday? A grand total of 32. Across the river, at the Quad precinct, 57 out of 2,843 registered voters made the effort. At the courthouse: 54 of 2,339. The Rec Center: 80 of 2,876. The Senior Center: 112 of 2,776. Horace Mann: 193 of 2,118. Patel destroyed Payne, who nipped him for the last at-large spot, in absentee votes, but the total absence of student voters was his downfall.