To the Editor:

I would like to urge the Oberlin community to vote for Daniel Gardner for City Council next week.

I worked with Daniel when he was director of the Center for Service and Learning and later when he headed Oberlin College’s partnership with the city. In that latter capacity he worked tirelessly to find ways to improve medical facilities, the public schools and housing in Oberlin.

I have always been impressed with Daniel’s intelligence, integrity and commitment to making Oberlin a better place to live.

If elected, I think he would bring several things to City Council.

First, because of his last job with Oberlin College, Daniel has an unrivaled knowledge of the city, of its problems and of what works and what doesn’t.

Second, he has a common sense willingness to work with anyone who can help improve our community, and not to posture or grandstand in order to please this or that constituency.

Third, Daniel would bring a real honesty to political debate; he refuses to offer easy answers and doesn’t tell people only what they want to hear.

Finally, he has a proven ability to work across racial and class lines in Oberlin to win the confidence and support of a community as diverse and fractured as ours.

Oberlin is at a crossroads, facing a host of serious economic and social challenges, and some very difficult decisions in the near future.

There is no one I would rather have on City Council as we face those challenges than Daniel Gardner.

–Chris Howell
Professor of Politics