Two current UT students are planning to make bids for political office soon after their graduations.
Terry Biel, a graduate student finishing a master’s in business administration, is running for Toledo City Council later this year. Anthony Russo, a sophomore double majoring in political science and economics, plans to run for mayor of his home town North Ridgeville, soon after his graduation in 2011.
Both candidates said they have big plans and ideas for their respective cities and both have issues that they wish to address and work to solve through their candidacies.
Terry Biel
Biel, 23, described himself as a Democrat on social issues, but leans a little more conservatively on fiscal issues.
Biel said he wants to be on the Toledo City Council to support his hometown.
“I’ve spent my whole life here,” he said. “I feel like I’ve watched the city stagnate over the years, and I would really like to do something about it.”
If elected, Biel said two main things he hopes to focus on are jobs and budgets in the city.
“I’m going to be focusing pretty much specifically on talking about ways to help the local economy get back on its feet and ways for us to restore fiscal responsibility in the budget,” he said. “A lot of it is bringing together different entities that are out there working towards [improving the city’s budget and economy]. The other part of it is trying to streamline permit processes and reordinances and make sure that the laws that we have here are friendly to business.”
Biel stressed the importance of changing and improving the way the city of Toledo handles the business community in general.
“I think there’s a perception out there that Toledo is hostile to business right now, and so we need to do tangible things, like streamline and cut red tape,” Biel said. “But we also just need to be out there and establish better relationships with the business community.”
In order to attract news businesses to invest in Toledo, Biel said the city cannot treat those businesses as “invaders.”
The current state of the Toledo City Council, Biel said, needs to be changed for the city to make forward progress.
“I think that it would be good for us to get new ideas and new blood into city council,” he said. “It’s clear that the leadership that we have right now isn’t cutting it.”
Anthony Russo
Anthony Russo said his decision to run for mayor was made after he contacted the local Democratic Central Committee and met the former North Ridgeville Democratic Central Committee Chairman, Anthony Nici.
According to Russo, Nici offered to act as a political mentor with the goal of having Russo eventually run for mayor.
Russo said one of the main issues he wanted to address was the city of North Ridgeville’s infrastructure.
“We have very narrow roads, terrible traffic jams,” Russo said. “There’s problems that have been identified 10 years ago that still haven’t been fixed, and it seems like the current administration doesn’t care.”
According to Russo, attracting more people and businesses to North Ridgeville is important, however “but you can’t grow a city without growing the infrastructure as well.”
North Ridgeville’s public school system is another issue Russo said he hopes to address.
“The school system’s overcrowded,” he said. “They’re putting kids in portable classrooms - basically in trailers - to teach them.”
Russo said the current mayor is not vocal enough in supporting the district.
“If I were elected, I think it’s very important to stand up for your school district,” he said.
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