The contest to replace former State College mayor Bill Welch, who passed away in early September, is heating up as the Nov. 3 election looms close.
The candidates are Republican former State College Borough Council member Joe Wakeley and Democrat Borough Council President Elizabeth Goreham.
Wakeley has been a citizen of State College for over 40 years. During this time, he served four years as Councilman for the State College Borough Council and two years as the Borough’s President. He is the co-founder of the State College Area Family YMCA and served as the Board Chairman for the YMCA’s Board of Directors for nine years. Wakeley also founded the State College Area High School Boys and Girls swimming team and the William L. Welch Community Pool swimming team.
Wakely worked as an engineer for Penn State’s Applied Research Lab for almost 32 years before retiring. Wakeley and his wife Esther raised five children in downtown State College, four of whom attended and graduated from Penn State. He now has two grandchildren who are current students.
According to Wakeley’s campaign website, he believes he possesses a “unique perspective that bridges the ‘town and gown’ divide,” and because he has not served recently on the Council, he has “no political ax to grind,” and can therefore be impartial in his approach to the problems the Borough faces.
Opposing Wakeley, Elizabeth Goreham has lived in State College for 16 years. She has served 12 years on Borough Council and is currently President. She is also the current Vice Chair of the Centre County Metropolitan Planning Organization, a recent Board Member of the Pennsylvania League of Cities and Municipalities, and on the Steering Committee for Transportation and Infrastructure for the National League of Cities. She has also served on the Board of Directors for the State College Community Land Trust and helped to establish the Centre Region Bike Coalition.
About 70 percent of the Borough’s residents are students, according to www.city-data.com. This fact makes catering to the student’s needs and concerns a large issue in this race. However, issues favored by local activists such as the proposed Nuisance Gathering Ordinance, which would fine and possibly jail party hosts even in cases where guests have left the host’s property, have caused dispute between the “town and gown.”
Samuel Settle, Wakeley’s student campaign manager and Executive Director of College Republicans, believes this issue “crystallizes the difference between the candidates.” According to Settle, Wakeley opposed the ordinance from the start because he talked to students about it and heard the problems directly
Settle believes that the idea was clearly targeted at students, and that penalizing property owners won’t stop destructive behavior. Rather, it will just make life that much more difficult for regular students.
Goreham, on the other hand, originally supported the Nuisance Ordinance but then flip-flopped. Setter believes she did this after it “became clear how unpopular it was.”
Goreham, however, said that she “looked at the issue further,” and believes in the “importance of student and non-student input to work together.”
“I want to hear student ideas and work together to solve issues. Students are as much a resident as anybody and I would like to get their input,” she said. “It’s not just me being involved, it’s us being involved.”
Brandon Frese, Treasurer of the College Democrats, supports Goreham because “she will best represent what the town of State College needs, and that she will be there to listen to students and help to incorporate student needs into the community’s.”
Frese also feels that student needs are often ignored by politicians, but the student generation will eventually face most of the decisions made today. “We need to work hard as a group to make sure our opinions are listened to on almost any issue we can relate with.”
One issue that is important to Goreham is seeing the town become more “eco-friendly.” Goreham has met with the student group Eco-Action to discuss ways to help facilitate this goal. “It’s in the interest of students to help solve town problems,” said Goreham. “Electrical use is another issue. We need ways to be more energy-efficient, and we all need to reduce energy consumption.”
Another issue that concerns Goreham is State College’s increasing dependence on state and federal revenues. State College has 50 percent tax-exempt properties, and it’s a struggle to find the necessary revenue, according to Goreham.
Goreham travelled to Harrisburg with mayors of other counties to lobby for a 1 percent sales tax that would stay in the town, similar to what Philadelphia and Pittsburgh have. “It will take several years for legislators to understand this need, but expenses are growing and revenue is decreasing,” said Goreham.
“This is another reason I can be mayor, because I have experience with Harrisburg,” said Goreham. “I love State College. It’s complex and diverse, and that’s what makes it interesting. I would like it to flourish in every way.”
Students are encouraged to cast their vote on Nov. 3 to determine State College’s mayor for the next four years.
