All 20 Madison Common Council seats were up for election on April 1, and some old and new faces now represent the campus-area districts.
Districts 2, 4 and 8 are predominantly lived in by students.
District 2 represents the Langdon Street area as well as some Capitol neighborhoods. The alder race consisted of two new candidates, Matt Egerer and William Ochowicz, and Ochowicz won the race with 60% of the vote.
District 4 represents a bulk of off-campus housing in the Bassett and Washington neighborhoods. The race was between incumbent Ald. Mike Verveer and challenger Eli Tsarovksy, and Verveer won the race with 53% of the vote.
District 8 includes almost all on-campus housing and more student-heavy neighborhoods. Incumbent Ald. MGR Govindarajan ran unopposed and was reelected for another term.
The Daily Cardinal spoke to each winner about their experience within the city and their agenda for the upcoming term beginning on April 15.
This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
What is your personal background and background with the Madison community?
Ochowicz: I've lived in Madison for about 10 years… pretty classic Madison story of moving here for work or school and staying because it's a good life. I've worked with many of the alders, past and current, on housing issues, including with [outgoing District 2 Ald.] Juliana Bennett, and she encouraged me to run. I decided to actually stop being an advocate and actually have a voice in the process.
Verveer: I attended both undergrad and law school at the University of Wisconsin-Madison… and I've been a practicing attorney for many years since. I have been thrilled to represent thousands of UW students in City Hall for many years now.
Govindarajan: I was in ASM [Associated Students of Madison], that's what brought me into working at the local side on the Madison city council. I'm the [current] District 8 alder, and I have had this position for two years now.
What platform did you campaign on during this election?
Ochowicz: The three main things I ran on were housing affordability, transportation and climate change. For housing affordability, some of the things that I want to increase the amount of money going to the Affordable Housing Fund, [which] funds new housing that has dedicated affordable housing. For transportation, [it’s] going to be tough to get funding for everything that we need, but the bus system is a priority for me. For climate change, continuing electrification of the city's operations and making sure that we're going carbon neutral by 2030.
Verveer: Issue number one is the lack of affordable housing in Madison, especially the downtown campus area. A secondary issue that I always raise is our sustainability concerns and trying to encourage that all new development be built as sustainable as possible in terms of energy efficiency. I have a long list of priorities that I want to continue to be able to address through specific legislative ideas and others that are ongoing.
Govindarajan: A lot of the issues are just about the same. I think affordable housing is still the top issue for most students. Two years ago, when I ran, rent went up about 8.5% every single year, and now the city has managed to bring that down to about 3.5% for students. We've made some progress on housing, but rent is still going up and students are being priced out of certain areas, so that is still something that was my top priority to address.
Are there any specific action items that may be your first priority?
Ochowicz: One thing that's interesting about District 2 is that it's one of the districts that is basically illegal to build throughout most of Madison today [because] most of Madison doesn't let you build small buildings with multiple units inside. So getting our zoning code updated to reflect the actual neighborhoods that people like to live in and making it legal to build onto neighborhoods that exist [already].
Verveer: There's an exciting project that is called the Madison LakeWay, which would beautify 1.7 miles of the public lakeshore around Lake Monona downtown and connect the downtown to Lake Monona in a much safer way than is currently possible. Construction on that will begin this coming October but will go in several phases over several years.
Govindarajan: My main goal this upcoming year is to get more student engagement… getting more students appointed to committees, get folks to know what's happening at the local level so they can engage themselves. Local government is where everything happens that really impacts folks on an everyday level… and I think people should engage with [local government] more.
What message do you have to voters or those who may be moving into your district?
Ochowicz: I'm really excited to be an alder and make a difference. I won't know everything that's going on, so if you see a problem in the district, please reach out to me, send an email to district2@cityofmadison.com.
Verveer: I do want to thank from the bottom of my heart the residents of downtown for showing their faith in my leadership and for reelecting me as their representative. I will do everything I can to continue to make life better for them, and we certainly have a lot of unfinished business and a lot of challenges ahead in our community. I encourage any downtown residents, including the many students that live downtown, to please reach out to me if they think I can help them in any way possible.
Govindarajan: I've joked around saying, ‘I've adopted all of you [students] as my constituents,’ because the truth is, I do try to represent all of the students on the city council. I encourage people to keep in touch. I try to be as accessible as possible, especially to students. My main form of communication with folks is on Instagram, @mgrfordistrict8_, because that's where students are.
Vanessa Gavilan is the city news editor for The Daily Cardinal.
