College Democrats support Kruzan’s efforts to preserve green space, arts

As election day draws near, members of the IU College Democrats have been increasing their efforts to raise support for their candidate, Mayor Mark Kruzan.\nTo ensure his re-election, members perform what they describe as minute but important tasks, such as envelope stuffing and making phone calls. In addition they have held informative events, including a candidate forum for local democratic candidates. \n“I find it very important that he is willing to listen to students like us,” said Andrew Hahn, political vice president of the College Democrats. “He came out to our candidate forum for an hour and a half and answered our questions. It showed that he is available for student concerns, because we do make up half the population. Even though not all of us vote here, our lives are still affected by decisions that are made at the city government level.”\nAnna Strand, president of IU College Democrats, said she was impressed with Kruzan during the candidate forum and throughout the mayoral race. Kruzan has shown great awareness for issues present in Bloomington and has done a good job addressing many concerns college students often overlook, such as trash collection, recycling and noise violations, Strand said. \nCollege Democrats consider Bloomington’s arts to be the most important issue for students in this election, said Alexa Lopez, financial vice president of the group. Lopez said art in Bloomington is a strong tradition and that the current democratic leadership has a passion for furthering the arts. \nIn addition to fostering local arts, Hahn, Lopez and Strand said Kruzan has been doing a good job of making more green space in Bloomington, dealing with parking and balancing the mix of students and year-round residents.\nSabbagh has criticized Kruzan on various issues, such as the fact that Kruzan drives an SUV, has not dealt with the issue of parking and does not adequately foster local business. The members of the group dispute these claims.\n“It’s a balancing act,” Strand said. “You talk about wanting a green city, making Bloomington beautiful, but then you complain about our parking situation. Maybe you have to walk onto campus everyday, but you get to enjoy campus more, and that goes for the rest of Bloomington as well.”\nSome local Democrats have joined “Democrats for Sabbagh,” but Hahn and Strand said the group is not as large as media coverage of the group suggests. \n“I think the existence of that (group), if nothing else, is evidence of a vital democratic process in Bloomington, but isn’t necessarily detrimental to his election,” Hahn said. “Nor do I think it is very indicative of what the majority of Democrats in Bloomington think.”\nGroups members said they hope Kruzan’s democratic and progressive leadership, combined with his deep roots in Bloomington, history as both an IU student and year-round resident and his incumbency will help him on Nov. 6.\n“It’s good to have someone that’s been in Bloomington for a while and that knows the people in the community really well,” Lopez said. “He has a passion for Bloomington.”