Deb Feinen is the most recently appointed member of the Champaign City Council, replacing a seat previously held by Kathy Ennen. She and the other eight council members are responsible for making decisions for the city on every topic from liquor laws to sanitation.

DI: What do you feel are the biggest or most pressing problems facing the city of Champaign right now?

DF: I think that delivering city services is something the city does that’s important. Watching how the smoking ban gets implemented and the effect it may have on our local businesses is something we need to be mindful of. Continuing economic development and the development of our downtown area.

DI: Taking over the seat of Kathy Ennen, you have a shortened term. What do you plan to do with those eight months?

DF: I think that the beginning few months are really just learning. I need to build relationships with council members and staff. There’s about 30 hours of orientation that you go through as a new council member. So really focusing on making sure I understand how the city functions as opposed to how the county functions. They are different even though they’re both governmental units. And then I think I’ll just be helping make good decisions and help our city thrive.

DI: Since it is a shortened term, have you thought at all yet about re-election?

DF: Oh, of course. I had planned to run regardless of whether or not I was appointed. In May of 2005, I attempted to be appointed to the seat that Marcy Dodds is now sitting in and at that point I made my intentions clear to run for city council. So I’ve been thinking about the election campaign since that time.

DI: One of the issues facing student on campus is Unofficial St. Patrick’s Day. Clearly the city is overwhelmed, especially law enforcement and emergency rooms. Do you think that concerned city leaders and celebrating students can find a compromise to keep the holiday alive?

DF: The city government’s purpose is to try to ensure safety for as many if not all students as possible and partner with the bar owners, the University and the students to find a way to make sure that (the celebration) is safe and respects our community. We don’t want it to become an out of control riot. Two years ago it occurred during Engineering Open House – that was a huge problem for the University and the face we put on our community. So I think it’s really important for all of us to work together. I think encouraging binge drinking is something that the city cannot be doing. We really have a role as a government entity to take care of the safety factors and make sure that students are safe and that the community is safe.

DI: The liquor advisory council is currently engaged in a debate over regulations of alcohol sales for happy hour, including free pours, how many ounces can be in a drink, etc. How do you feel about the effectiveness of Champaign’s liquor laws? Does Champaign have a drinking problem?

DF: I think that the city of Champaign has tried to work in partnership with the community and with the University, with the students so that the students can find ways to have fun and relax but also keep it safe and respectful. I know that they are kicking around a lot of ideas whether they’ll all stick I don’t know. But I think the ideas behind them are to discourage binge drinking to make sure students are safe and I think those things are appropriate.

DI: In general it often seems that the city council and the University students maintain a relationship that is somewhat distant and mistrusting. The CCC spends a lot of time deliberating over student issues, things that have been approved in the downtown areas, but maybe not the campustown areas. Can the two sides get along? What should CCC be doing for students?

DF: It’s important to have the student perspective. We have a student member, Ryan Ruzic, who was just appointed to the liquor commission, so he is the student voice on the commission and I think it is important to listen to their concerns. I also believe that it’s appropriate for the council to recognize that the downtown area and the Green Street are really very different in the populations that attend the bars, the types of activities that occur, and again to make sure that our community is safe, that students are safe and that people are enjoying themselves but enjoying themselves in a way that is respectful of our community is appropriate for our student council.

DI: In a recent poll by the Daily Illini, more than 50 percent of students rated their rental experiences as either ‘poor’ or ‘a nightmare.’ Many spent the past two weeks without a lease. What should the city be doing to protect the rights of student renters and to protect their safety?

DF: I don’t have an answer for that one. That issue has not come up before, at least not that I’m aware of yet. I think hearing students complaints, and if there are appropriate measures that could be taken, they should. We have a lot of really good landlords in this community as well, and so I think we need to be careful, again it’s that whole issue of we do have a community outside of the campus. And so you don’t want to overregulate the entire community because of something that’s happening on campus. We also need to recognise that students are a huge part of our population and we need to make sure that they feel safe and comfortable in their housing. But I need more time to figure that issue out.

DI: One of the other concerns that a lot of students have is the lack of a recycling program in the Campustown area. Housing with more than four units aren’t given the option of city recycling. Given the problem of overflowing garbage dumpsters, do you think that recycling is something that the city should be working toward?

DF: Definitely. I think recycling programs benefit the community because they help keep things cleaner in the Campustown area but they also benefit the environment. In Champaign, however, we do not have city municipal garbage collection so it would be a matter of negotiating with each of our haulers or including that in part of our licensing requirement. But it’s something that I would favor and encourage the city to do.