ATHENS, Ohio – At the Athens Mayoral Forum Tuesday night, incumbent Steve Patterson, a Democrat, leaned on his record despite criticism from challenger Damon Krane. An independent democratic socialist, Krane also focused on the importance of student engagement in city politics.
The forum was the first of many local electoral forums and meet-and-greets organized by the League of Women Voters of Athens County. The forum was recorded and is available on the city of Athens YouTube channel.
Patterson’s record
Patterson and Krane largely agreed about the importance of issues from housing to racial equity and defending the community’s LGBTQ+ population. However, they frequently disagreed over how Patterson’s administration and the city have handled these issues.
Patterson, who has served as mayor since 2016, spoke proudly of his accomplishments in office, saying he has delivered on his initial vision.
“When I took office, my vision was pretty simple,” Patterson said at the forum. “I wanted to see greater diversification of our economy. I wanted to see that we were improving our infrastructure. I wanted to see that we were creating greater outdoor recreational spaces for people. I also wanted to make sure that we were becoming the best city we possibly could when it comes to diversity, equity and inclusion in the city of Athens.”
Patterson emphasized accomplishments in infrastructure, pointing to the Richland Avenue pedestrian passageway, the roundabout on Stimpson Avenue and investments in water, sewer and sidewalk infrastructure. He also spoke to city investments in solar energy.
Patterson also pointed to his role in advancing small government collaboration as president of the Mayor’s Partnership for Progress; the quality of healthcare the city offers employees; and his work to attract businesses to the area, including with the Athens County Economic Development Council. He specifically noted the four-story hospital Memorial Health System of Marietta plans to open on Columbus Road.
Krane, in contrast, argued that Patterson’s career in politics has been fraught from the start.
He pointed to Patterson’s formal censuring by Ohio University in 2012, when Patterson was a professor; Patterson’s leaked comments at a 2021 meeting of the Athens County Republican Party; and the city entering into a $91,000 contract for the National League of Cities “Race, Equity and Leadership” training program while Patterson was on the council for that program.
Krane alleged that Patterson faces an investigation by the Ohio Ethics Commission over the latter issue. Susan Willeke, the commission’s education and communications administrator, said the commission has no record of a settlement agreement involving Patterson, that no other investigative records kept by the commission are public under Ohio law, and that it can neither confirm nor deny whether an investigation is ongoing.
Patterson brushed off Krane’s litany of critiques as “alternative facts.”
“Non-results-based, negative hyperbole jammed into a two-minute sound bite — that’s easy,” Patterson said. “You know what isn’t easy? Being a strong leader. … My track record shows that I have been a strong leader for the city of Athens for eight years.”
Patterson said the training offered through the National League of Cities program shows his commitment to racial equity. As additional examples, he cited his role in establishing the Athens Asian American Alliance and the hiring of city diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility director Lacey Rogers.
Krane, meanwhile, said Patterson and the city have made insufficient progress on racial equity. He again criticized the city for renewing its police union contract in Dec. 2020 prior to its pledged review of racial equity in city policy. Krane also questioned why that review hadn’t yet been completed.
Krane said he would work to increase police oversight and accountability. He also called for the city to “shift some of the money we’re spending on policing and move it to other things to improve the lives of community members.”
Patterson and Krane both agreed on the importance of housing.
“We’re experiencing a housing crisis,” Patterson said, referring both to affordable housing and the availability of housing stock, particularly for non-students. He said the city needs to ensure more housing is available while maintaining accountability for landlords amid an increase in OU’s student population.
“We know that we need to increase the number of rental inspection officers for the city of Athens in order to accomplish the inspections of the rental units,” Patterson said.
Krane said he would strengthen the city housing code and housing code enforcement, including hiring more code enforcement officers. He also said he would crack down on “predatory landlords.”
When asked whether “landlords who habitually violate the city housing code should continue to be granted rental permits,” Patterson said: “Simple answer: no.”
Krane repeated Patterson’s answer adding, “But for real.” He went on to discuss landlord Joe Krause, who drew scrutiny from advocacy organization United Athens County Tenants (to which Krane belongs) over a 2022 roof collapse at one of his rental properties. UACT found and WOUB reported that Krause’s properties routinely fail rental inspections.
Krane criticized Patterson’s administration for allowing landlords like Krause to continue to obtain rental permits. Krane also took issue with Krause’s serving on the city’s Board of Zoning Appeals, which Patterson oversees.
Krane also criticized the city’s handling of towing policy, citing “predatory, overcharging towing companies” and the city’s failure to enforce its caps on towing fees, an issue about which Krane has long been outspoken. It’s part of a broader pattern, he said, in which “the city administration chooses to arbitrarily ignore the city code.”
Patterson punted the towing fee issue: “It’s in council’s hands.”
Youth engagement
Since launching his campaign, Krane has emphasized youth turnout in local elections and the importance of engaging youth in local politics.
At the forum, he emphasized low student participation in city politics, pointing to the slim percentage of eligible voters who participate in city elections. He also noted a massive dropoff in the total number of eligible voters registered in the city between 2018 and 2022.
In a submitted question, an individual pointed out that only 2,771 voters participated in the 2019 Athens mayoral election despite a population of nearly 24,000. (According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 92.3% of the city’s population are adults.)
In response, Patterson encouraged forum guests to keep in mind that many OU students are registered to vote elsewhere in Ohio and beyond. As a result, he called Krane’s statistics on voter participation, which also rely on total population count, “a real fallacy.”
“How do you know that they’re not voting in their home municipality or voting absentee in their home municipality?” Patterson asked.
Krane said that he would rather see students vote locally.
“We obviously want them involved where they are spending most of their lives,” Krane said. “This is where they’re affected by housing policy, by parking, by towing, by policing, et cetera. … Of course, we should be trying to engage them in this community.”
Krane argued that Patterson has not done enough to boost student engagement. He said that Patterson has declined to participate in an on-campus debate, as well as other debates to which they were both invited, including one proposed alongside a drag show.
Patterson said he is already meaningfully engaged with the OU student body, including regular meetings with student organizations along with engagement efforts in the broader community and at the state and national levels.
“My approach has always been to meet people where they are and to engage them — to have the citizenry help solve problems here in the city of Athens — because the mayor’s role is not to sit there and dream up solutions all day long,” Patterson said.
The voter registration deadline to participate in the Nov. 7 general election is Oct. 10. More information about the upcoming election, including a local voter guide, is available at vote411.org.
