The three Democratic candidates who won the primary election for the Council at-large position were Bill Schultz, Michael DeLeone and Rick Hawksley.

“I’m looking forward to November and hopefully another term,” Schultz said. “It goes to show that the majority of the people of Kent support what we’ve been doing on council the past four years and support what we’ve been doing with the Bicentennial Plan and the Campus Link proposal.”

DeLeone also said he was happy with how the voting turned out.

“The current Council is going in the right direction,” DeLeone said. “We’re moving forward and being positive. I just like to help people, and they can see I’m helping them, and that’s why they voted me into the next round.”

Although candidate Paulette Kordinak did not win the primary, she hopes that Council continues to keep what’s best for Kent at heart.

“I feel like I ran the best campaign I could, and I hope they (Council) continue to work real hard for Kent. I wish them well,” Kordinak said.

In addition to Schultz, Deleone, Hawksley, Brad Dickerson, John Bard, William Tarver, William Anderson and T.N. Bhargava will appear on the November ballot.

Dickerson, Bard, Tarver, Anderson and Bhargava filed as independent candidates late Monday night.

Independent candidate Brad Dickerson said his main priority, if elected, would be to fix the streets of Kent.

“They haven’t taken care of the roads in the past 15 years. It’s a disgrace,” Dickerson said.

Another thing Dickerson would want to change is the way real estate development is currently being handled.

“If you look at what’s happened in Kent, they’ve spent millions on real estate development, and as far I’m concerned, it’s been a miserable failure. Development has been more successful when left to private entities,” Dickerson said.

Although Dickerson said he has ideas about how to remedy the street situation, he said he doesn’t yet know what he would do to improve Kent’s downtown.

“Downtown looks like Eastern Europe after the demise of the Soviet Union. It’s something that needs to be looked at real hard,” Dickerson said.

Candidate John Bard had sentiments similar to Dickerson concerning the roadways of Kent.

“The streets are an abomination,” Bard said.

While Bard said the streets definitely need work, the main reason he is running is that he is strongly opposed to Campus Link, which he said will create problems for the older neighborhoods around the university, as well as cost the city a great deal of money.

“I don’t understand how the city can afford to build the university a parking deck,” Bard said.

He also said that he would like to see an improved relationship between the students who attend the university, but also stresses that it should go both ways.

“I welcome the students. I truly do. I am not against students, but we all have to live by the same rules, and you can’t have beer parties on your front yard every night — but you can’t do that at home, either,” Bard said.

Candidate William Tarver said his goals are to improve the conditions of the streets, as well as hire more people for both the fire and police departments, which he said are currently three people short in each department.

He also thinks Campus Link is a good plan, just not in its current form because he is concerned about displacing students and threatening landlords’ livelihoods.

Tarver said he wants to improve the relationship between students and the city.

“The relationship with the university isn’t very good, but it’s our No. 1 asset. Students are looked on as a nuisance to the city, but without that nuisance, we wouldn’t have the university,” Tarver said.

The Daily Kent Stater attempted to reach candidates William Anderson and T.N. Bhargava, but, they were unavailable for comment.

Contact public affairs reporter Sarah Baldwin at [email protected].