Congratulations, Doc. We supported your campaign, and we wish you and the commissioners the best of luck governing Athens. Now let’s talk.

We don’t vote as often as we should, and many of us who do vote don’t vote here. But we’re an important part of this town. The University contributes close to $1 billion to the local economy each year.

And contrary to what many residents argue, we do pay taxes. We pay sales taxes just like everyone else. And all students who live off campus pay property taxes – even if they rent. Landlords don’t just absorb those taxes because of their civic pride – they pass the taxes along to us in rent.

Students have been well served, mostly, by Mayor Gwen O’Looney and the last commission. We hope our new elected officials – and the ones who have been in office for a while – will continue the good work. Here’s what we’d like to see:

Teamwork : The University and Athens-Clarke have a common stake in our community’s future. The more the University and local government work together, the brighter that future will be. When our new officials tackle zoning and traffic, we ask them to work closely with the University to address where students should live in town and how they should get to school.

Music scene support : Mayor O’Looney did a fabulous job helping Athens’ music scene blossom. AthFest and last April’s Widespread Panic concert couldn’t have succeeded without her leadership. We hope our new officials do as good a job. Many residents grumbled when the local government helped foot the Widespread Panic bill. But that kind of support helps keep Athens on the music map.

Level-headed alcohol ordinances : Last fall, some underage students here and at other schools made headlines by going to the hospital for alcohol toxicity. As a result, many Athenians clamored for tough new alcohol ordinances. Some proposals included abolishing pitcher sales and requiring hospitals to report to the police underage drinkers they treat.

Our commissioners, including Doc Eldridge, wisely shot these ideas down. Underage drinking is a serious problem in this and all college towns, but slapping restrictions on bars, restaurants and hospitals isn’t the way to go.

Recycling pick-up : Most students who live in apartment complexes don’t have home pick-up of their recyclables. We’d like our officials to tackle this problem and work with landlords and garbage companies to fix it. The result will be less garbage in our landfills.

Alternative transportation : We need it. Badly. We know our officials support building bike lanes, expanding The Bus and building an Athens-Atlanta commuter rail line. Now let’s see some action. Y’all can start with bike lanes on Prince Avenue and Lexington Road.

Traffic study : We need this even worse. Let’s get University officials and students together with planning officials to pinpoint traffic problems and long-range ways to reduce them.

A good-smelling downtown : Last but not least, let’s do something about the downtown stench. Surely there’s something we can do about sidewalks that stink of rotten food and old beer. Some days, downtown smells worse than a drunk Gator.