Tuesday is Election Day. This may surprise some of you because local elections often go unnoticed. But the interesting and most important fact is that, in local elections, your vote actually counts. Syracuse University students rarely vote in local Syracuse elections, but the decisions made in our local government directly affect the lives of students.

This year, the common councilor position for District 4 is at stake. This district encompasses the campus and all the outlying, off-campus housing. In this district, the student voice matters a great deal — we are important because of our sheer population size. We all might as well vote, as we do live in this city for the majority of the year, and voting takes literally less than 10 minutes. The city has even recognized the importance of the student vote and has created a voting center right in E.S. Bird Library.

Now the question is: who to vote for? In this particular election, there is no Republican running, so now is the perfect time for a third-party candidate to be given the chance to prove himself. Howie Hawkins is the Green Party candidate, and he has dedicated more than 20 years of his life toward social issues plaguing our city. Hawkins has concrete ideas for ways to improve our economy, our jobs, our environment and the lives of students.

He proposes that the rich pay their fair share of taxes so schools and senior centers can remain adequately funded. He has been fighting for a living wage so that those who have jobs can actually support themselves and their families. He is also environmentally conscious — he wants a publicly owned power supply so we can all choose renewable sources of energy for our homes. But Hawkins has also never neglected the student community. He wants to reform our inadequate system of bike lanes and to expand and make our bus system more useful. Hawkins understands that students have been paying far too much for our utilities, and our off-campus housing areas are dominated by slumlords.

For those who sympathize or are active in the Occupy movement, consider this: Hawkins has been a working man all his life, he is an ally of the poor and underrepresented and does not accept corporate donations. He is the 99 percent and will continue his lifelong fight against the 1 percent.

Hawkins has been an activist his entire life, and he deserves our respect and our vote. Vote for the Green Party on Tuesday

Ranjana Venkatesh

Senior in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and College of Arts and Sciences

 

Published on November 2, 2011 at 12:00 pm