Krane and Patterson clash in Athens Mayoral Forum

Editor’s note: The word “heel” was misunderstood and has been removed from this story

This week, the League of Women Voters for the city of Athens held an Athens Mayor Forum where the candidates running for mayor this year would be able to answer questions coming directly from the residents of the city.

The two candidates participating in this forum are the incumbent, Mayor Steve Patterson and Damon Krane, the sole challenger. Patterson is running as a Democrat and Krane is running as an Independent, though his politics can best be described as democratic socialism. 

While many questions and issues were brought into consideration, the forum focused on two pressing issues, one being the housing crisis in Athens and the other being engagement with the community.

On the housing issue, Krane was quick to point out that Athens’ housing code enforcement is understaffed. 

“United Athens County Tenants, of which I am a part of, had done a public records request for 14 years of city code enforcement records,” Krane said. “We found that 25 percent of the time after they had found violations they weren’t coming back to do the follow-up inspection.” 

Krane added that landlords are able to dodge inspections by failing to show up to them and would receive a $25 fine in response. These landlords could go years without proper inspections and get issued a rental permit by the mayor’s office regardless. Krane accused Patteron’s administration of allowing landlords to continuously dodge their responsibilities to their tenants. 

Patterson responded by gesturing to conversations with Athens City Council to raise fines for being reinspected. He also acknowledged that the large number of students who would soon be living off-campus requires a greater number of code enforcement officers. Patterson also pointed out that his administration was making moves to incentivize landlords to update their properties to become more energy efficient by working with the Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). 

“I’ve been working with USDA and EPA to see if there is a way in which we can access the Inflation Reduction Act funds to create number one, energy audits for rental units and number two, to incentivize the landlord,” Patterson said. “Because at the end of the day who is paying the utility bill? The renter’s paying it.” 

On community engagement, Patterson pointed out that his job is built on engaging with the city. 

“You know,” Patterson said. “I should probably just give you my Google calendar and you’ll see how I’ve been engaged with the city’s population.” 

Patterson referenced his meetings with various student organizations such as the Graduate Student Senate and African Students Union, as well as mentioning that he’s been going door-to-door as a part of his reelection campaign, not just to convince potential voters but to learn what the city thinks is important. 

Krane echoed these statements, bringing up his campaign’s focus on younger voters’ issues and his desire to build a stronger relationship with Ohio University. He expressed his desire to have a forum or debate on campus grounds to fully engage with the student body as he views the younger generation to be the future of the city. 

“Three-quarters of the population are OU students,” Krane said. “We need to be reaching out to them, particularly if we want our community to have the biggest progressive impact on the wider world that it can.” 

In the closing statements, Krane criticized Patterson for not agreeing to participate in previous forums and inviting him to have another forum before election day on OU’s campus. He also criticized Patterson for not pushing hard enough for more progressive policy. Patterson ignored Krane’s criticisms and chose instead to highlight his accomplishments as mayor for the past eight years and his strength as a leader. 

Though there were several issues brought up throughout the forum, Krane was determined to make one thing clear: his campaign was about bringing more people to the polls and encouraging them to vote on Issue 1 and Issue 2, which would protect abortion access in Ohio and legalize marijuana respectively. 

“Registered Democrat voters outnumber registered Republican voters six to one,” Krane said. “So, whether somebody turns out to vote for me or against me, chances are they’ll vote yes on Issue 1 and 2, and that’s very important.”

Meanwhile, Patterson was determined to remind the public of his record and promised to continue a trend of policy that would benefit the city. Mostly, he cited his experience with organization and bringing people together. 

“I view the role of the mayor is to reach out to all sectors within your community and engage with them, establish relationships, have our whole population help serve problems that are going on,” Patterson said. “But doing it in a civil way.”