Jones: Seeking the student seat
Campaigns are about offering competing visions for the office the candidates seek. I think our current aldermanic race is a good example of this, as my two opponents and I seem to have different conceptions of the Ward 1 alderman’s role.
Ward 1 is overwhelmingly populated by Yale undergraduates and was clearly drawn to give Yalies a voice on the Board. This being the case, I believe that this seat is our chance to have Yale student voices heard about the issues that matter to us. Additionally, I believe the Ward 1 alderman occupies a unique position as the liaison between Yale...
Mike Jones, candidate for YCC president!
Mike is right. NOBODY in this race has experience...and nobody should! It's a student seat.
interesting ideas.
of course students should get more involved in new haven, but is creating more offices staffed by yalies really the solution? i think most new haven residents would say that putting more yale students and recent grads in control of staffing the city is NOT the change we need.
also, i think it is far from clear that "Ward 1 [...] was clearly drawn to give Yalies a voice on the Board." that redistricting happened at a time when town gown relations were not at their finest, and i don't know a lot more about it than that, but i think it's just as likely that the ward was drawn the way it was so that yalies wouldn't be creeping their influence into more than a single ward.
So this is your excuse for only investing in New Haven when the seat opened up?
Maybe you should start to realize the decisions you make are going to affect a lot of people outside of the bubble, and you should have some knowledge of what's going on out there.
I am skeptical about the sentiments expressed here. Nobody has experience in this race -- including Mihn who seems to be running his campaign with the idea that somehow he is the candidate with experience. False. No one does.
And it is great that Yalies want to get involved in city politics. But Jones' approach is totally misguided. The Alderman is not a Yale based position. It is a city based position which takes into account the yale voice. His priorities are messed up. And yes, it does sounds like he is running for YCC president #2.
how does representing constituent needs make the position of ward 1 alder unique exactly?
like every alder, ward 1's is charged with involving residents in local government. i don't think jones can legitimately claim exceptionalism on that point, nor should he be allowed to offer up the uniqueness of ward one as an excuse to avoid discussion of citywide issues.
Let's be clear. There are 29 other people on the Board of Aldermen. Whichever candidate wins, he or she will in all likelihood only serve one term. If you want to get anything done in that one term, you have to differentiate yourself from the other aldermen. Katie and Minh have not done that. Mike has.
And in response to the comment above, it doesn't seem like Mike is avoiding anything. On the contrary, Minh's column from earlier this week talked absolutely not at all about policy, and the YDN profile of Katie made it clear that she doesn't know what she's talking about when it comes to city issues.
The things Mike is proposing aren't things the YCC president can do. They require a strong voice in city hall. Mike isn't running for YCC president, but it sometimes sounds like the others are running for mayor.
fighting homelessness isn't a citywide issue? building safer streets isn't a citywide issue? making our government more transparent isn't a citywide issue? building the infrastructure to allow the board to work more effectively isn't a citywide issue?
some of these comments are ridiculous. don't attack mike because the other two candidates think that they're running for mayor.
Dream on little dreamer.