With elections for City Council taking place next week and Proposal B placards cluttering the sidewalks, the time to sit down and assess the candidates has now arrived.

Before an evaluation of each candidate and discussion on his or her policy stances, however, applause is due to all students involved in this year’s campaign efforts. Whether running for a seat themselves, tabling out on the Diag in support of a city initiative or working on any one of the campaigns behind the scenes, the enthusiasm and support students displayed for citywide issues should serve as notice to city officials that the student vote cannot be ignored in Ann Arbor.

In the 1st Ward, three candidates are vying for a seat on the city council: Democrat incumbent Bob Johnson; Green party candidate Robert Haug and Independent Rick Lax

Although Johnson and Haug are both very qualified candidates, Haug’s main platform issues, ideas about new city initiatives and perspective as a University student give him the edge in this upcoming election.

The incumbent, Johnson, possesses the experience and ideology that makes him a very worthy candidate. Taking strong stances supporting the Greenbelt and against the PATRIOT Act, Johnson is in line with many important issues. However, his seen-it-all attitude on what can or cannot be done exposes a cynicism that he believes real change toward issues like rent controls or low-income housing are intractable problems.

Johnson’s experience is overshadowed by the freshness of the third candidate for this ward, Green party candidate and University student Haug.

The main platform issues of this Green Party candidate are affordable housing and retail space, forging a sound agreement between the University and the city and instant runoff voting. He is interested in seeing new residence halls built on campus and retaining many of the city’s beloved artists, musicians and unique flavor as well as improving basic infrastructure such as bus services.

Haug supports the idea of the greenbelt while realizing the need to put in some guarantees for affordable housing. He has been working with the workers’ union at Borders and supports their unionizing efforts, understanding that they deserve a living wage allowing them to reside in Ann Arbor itself and not just Washtenaw County in general. He would also like to encourage more city residents to take advantage of the buses offered by the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority and supports an increase in these services to aid this effort.

Lax, the independent candidate for City Council supports efforts to expand low-income housing, opposes the expansion of the Washtenaw/Hill historic district and has the ability to represent the student perspective with regards to these and other local issues. Lax is a Daily arts writer on leave.

However his lack of experience and concrete initiatives show that he is not at this time the ideal person for this contested seat.

Because of Haug’s views, alongside his genuine desire to help forge a better working relationship between the University and the city, The Michigan Daily endorses Robert Haug as the strongest candidate running in the the first ward of the Ann Arbor City Council.

The intensity of competition and caliber of candidate running for the seat of the council’s 4th Ward parallels the intensity and caliber belonging to the election for the council’s first. In this election, the Ann Arbor community is again offered a choice between an experienced incumbent and enthusiastic students and recent graduates anxious to step up their involvement in city politics.

The best candidate in this lineup is Green Party candidate Scott Trudeau, a recent University graduate and former computer specialist at the Student Publications Building where the Daily is located, is familiar with student perspectives, community politics and the views of residents.

He supports the Greenbelt in its current form, hoping to see it become a mechanism for more cooperation in the region and also supports instant runoff voting and more creative approaches to affordable housing. Trudeau is also an advocate of creating a better relationship between the city and the University and has been involved in the past with the unionizing efforts of Borders workers. Although his campaign is low-key, his dedication and knowledge about local affairs places Trudeau in a position as the ideal candidate to win this upcoming city council election in the fourth ward.