By Brandi Makuski

Chris Villarreal is running for the city’s 3rd District.

Villarrel, 42, is native of McFarland, Wis. and the father of two girls. He is in the process of earning his business degree from Mid-State Technical College.

Villarrel is a firefighter for the Village of Park Ridge. His opponent is Cindy Nebel.

Why are you running?

“Well, there are a couple of reasons, really. All my life I’ve been told I should be a politician, since grade school, I’ve had the gift to gab. I love to talk. I’ve been trained to be a public speaker; Mid-State has done a very good job teaching me how to speak in public. The other reason is, where I live in the 3rd District on College [Ave.] and Phillips [St.], I basically live in Partytown, USA. One of the things I’ve looked at for years now, that’s frustrating, is, I think the students are getting a bad rap. There’s a group of individuals in that neighborhood who go around and, in my opinion, bully students. And I don’t think that’s fair. I have a very strong belief in the fact that we cannot condemn people for things we ourselves have done in the past. It’s not right that a group or association tries to do that, when as adults, we should be mentoring and guiding.

Is there a specific group or association you’re referring to?

“The Old Main Neighborhood Association, and mainly my opponent’s husband.”

Arguably, there are problems in the Core with vandalism and parties; how would you address it?

“It’s not just a neighborhood problem; it’s a city problem and a university problem. On a small scale, the same way I address everything: when I first moved in there, we struck up a great relationship with the neighbor. The more you treat them like adults, the more they act like adults. I told them, ‘As long as you’re not peeing on my garage, we won’t have a problem,’ and that helps. We understood each other right away. And it blossomed; they even sent us Christmas cards. I’ve even gotten boxes of chocolates from the students for helping shovel their snow. The best way to solve any problem is to talk it out. The city needs to realize that we need to offer more for students besides the one activity we’re famous for: the downtown. We need to find better ways to open up the avenues of entertainment, culture, so forth, so students have an option besides just drinking.”

Doesn’t the university already offer various things for sports, arts, culture, things like that?

“They do. But we could have a live band on the Square; we don’t offer those things to our students. We tell the university, ‘They’re your problem, you deal with it,’ but it’s our problem, too. Well, it’s not really a problem — they’re our citizens, we want them to come here. But we need to offer them more.”

From a fiscal standpoint, does that make sense? 

“Yes. Any improvements we make doesn’t just benefit the students; it benefits the people who live and work here. I could use Madison and Milwaukee as examples; these things involve alumni and other citizens. People come to town more because there’s a free band, or there’s more things to do than just drinking.”

How do you feel about parking permits and restrictions on rental properties?

“Licensing rentals…I don’t know much about that. The parking thing, I have a big issue with parking permits, with what the mayor is trying to push through but putting meters in the 3rd District. I’ve talked to a lot of constituents, because I went door-to-door right after. I don’t think it’s fair the city tell homeowners they’re going to have to plug a meter or pay for a permit on a street they already pay taxes for. I understand they believe it’s cause less students to drive, because students can’t afford this. It’s just going to push students to park further away from the university. I don’t think a parking permit is going to curb the over-renting. We need to look at it from a safety issue; if you’re over capacity in a building, what happens? We’ve seen the safety issues that arise numerous times, and some aren’t in the best shape. You need to put that on the landlords, and start enforcing that. How do you do that? I’m not 100 percent positive. But if you only have four bedrooms and you’re renting to six people, that’s a code violation and you need to step in.”

What are you thoughts on improving the downtown TIF?

“Marketing.”

Marketing what?

“Marketing the downtown; I’m a business student. We need to re-brand the downtown. What Stevens Point is known for is having the most bars per square mile. We need to make downtown a destination area; close off Main St., get rid of parking down there, build a parking ramp, and bring in restaurants, street vendors, street musicians, outdoor seating for some of these restaurants, and just change the whole face of the downtown.”

The downtown is within a historic district — what about those restrictions?

“We can work around that to find a happy medium. Madison is in a historic district, too, and they found ways to do it.”

What are some financial priorities the city should have?

“It’s not so much financial as it is planning; do you realize our roads are 100 years overdue? We are 100 out from replacing a majority of our roads. And trust me, I work for the Village of Park Ridge — I know bad roads. We need to start planning ahead and realizing tomorrow is here. If we can start planning and budgeting for the future, our finances will start working themselves out.”

How would you have voted on the town-home project on the city’s east side?

“I would have voted to bring it in, let’s have it. One of the problems I’ve heard the mayor mention is that we’re landlocked; we’re losing employers because they can’t bring their employees here. It’s only going to bring up property values if we invest in ourselves. Stevens Point wants to change, but it doesn’t like change: we need to look at new ideas to improve the city.

How do you feel about the proposal to re-stripe Stanley St.?

“I’m all for anything that gets people out of the house. I like to work out, I’m very physical, but my first question is, ‘How much is it going to cost?’ I was in Milwaukee recently and they have a program called Bubbler, it’s a bike rental program. Madison has something similar. People want to improve the biking situation in Point, so why now? It would cut down on driving and improve safety. It can be a very busy street in the morning and the afternoon, but they’re the ones that live there…I would have to listen to everything they say and take it into advisement.”

How would you fix Bus. 51?

“The DOT has suggested widening it. I’ve seen what that’s done in Plover on Bus. 51. It looks nicer, it’s easier to travel, I’m not afraid to turn left…it’s just so much nicer. I think they’re on the right path. We have such terrible congestive from Belts’ all the way to to KFC…I’m surprised we haven’t had more accidents. It’s really going to put people out of the way for awhile, but once it’s said and done, it’ll be better for the city.”