Mike Johnson
What makes you stand out from other candidates and why should people vote for you?
I think realistically, we have a lot of really, really good candidates right now, and I’ve had a good opportunity to get to know almost all of them. And I think they’re all great. I think one thing that possibly sets me apart is I am a little bit younger than some of the other candidates, and I feel like I’ve had a little bit of a different life experience. I grew up in North Ogden, Plaza View area, and then moved up here about 14 years ago. I started a business and met my wife and bought a house up here. I’ve had the opportunity to see what the growth and development has done to the Wasatch Front, growing up there. And then, you know, moving to Logan and seeing that development of growth that’s coming our way. Most projections show that we’re going to see roughly a doubling of our population in the next 25 to 30 years, which is a lot of growth, and that’s what the Wasatch Front has seen over the past 20 or 30 years. They’ve seen, you know, exponential growth, and to be able to see that and grow up with that, but also to be part of that younger generation that’s trying to make it — trying to buy a house, trying to find a good paying job. And you know, I’ve been lucky enough that I did buy a house before pricing went a little crazy, but I have a lot of friends and a lot of family. I think I’ve intimately experienced what they’re going through, and I’ve been through it. I think being able to bring that perspective to the table is something that I can do that a lot of others can’t.
Why should students care about who is on city council?
I was knocking doors on a bunch of student housing last Saturday before the homecoming game. I was talking to a lot of students, and I think a lot of students don’t understand exactly what city council even is. But in a nutshell, your city council is your legislative body for the city. So it’s comparable to the House of Representatives and the Senate. But locally, your city council, especially in Logan, kind of has final say over all your utility pricing, so power, water and sewer, which you see directly reflected in your rent and your bills. The city council is kind of your final say on your roads, infrastructure, bike lanes and parks. Then going a little bit further, they’re all the oversight for your planning commission and making sure that your neighborhoods, your developments and the way your neighborhoods feel is all directed through the city council. And so when you’re voting for city council, you’re picking people who will help give your city a vision for the next 20 or 30 years. They will help the layout of your neighborhoods. They’ll help decide what parks go. You know, how the city spends its budgets, whether that’s on a new library, like we’ve just put in last few years, or whether that’s on the new rec center that a lot of citizens want right now. There are a lot of like, day-to-day things that even for students directly affect your life. You know, where are we going to allow the shopping center? Are we going to allow more student housing around campus? Are we going to put in more bike lanes or work with the Cache Valley Transit District to get more bus lanes? All those day-to-day things really go through your city council. And so I think we worry a lot about presidents, which obviously cause a lot of changes in our lives. But, on your day-to-day interactions with local government, it’s really your city council and your mayor that makes those decisions.
What advice do you have for college students?
The biggest advice I can give college students is if we’re looking at elections, to get out and vote, you know. Eighteen to 30-year-olds is the largest demographic in America right now, in terms of population, but they’re also one of the worst at voting. Just two to four years ago, at our last local elections in northern Utah, we saw about 28% of our registered 18 to 30-year-olds actually voting, which is some of the lowest turnout that we get in populations. And when you look at the fact that 18 to 30-year-olds have the numbers to really make a change and have a voice in local elections. Making sure that you get out and vote is just a huge part of that. Register to vote. Get out to vote. We have about two more weeks to register if you want to vote in the general election, and when we look at local elections, a lot of your elections are decided by 100 votes or less. And so that student population, that young younger crowd of 18 to 30, really can make a difference in how their city is run purely by registering, voting because it does matter locally.
What will you do for students as a member of the city council?
Let’s make some campaign promises. What do students want? More Aggie Ice Cream? I mentioned this before, but the biggest thing that I want to focus on the council is making sure that Logan is affordable to live in: there’s places for people to live, and that we have good jobs. We do a good job at trying to encourage a lot of businesses to come to the valley, but I think we could do better to make sure that there’s good high paying jobs, good high tech jobs here in the valley. There’s a lot of students who are well educated out of Utah State. Being able to keep them here to keep their, you know, their education, their time here, I think would be great. A big part of that is having good paying jobs, and I think on the flip side of that is allowing room for entrepreneurs and small businesses to grow. That’s how I’ve been able to make it in my life, owning a small business. And I think there’s definitely more the city could do, especially in relation to the RDA, the redevelopment agency, to allow for small business growth and small business locations for them to start up. So I think the job site is a big part of it. The other big part is I’ll always fight for better housing availability, because it’s just a huge issue right now. And obviously your local government can’t fix that problem, but we can be a part of the solution, and there are things that we can do to make housing more accessible and more affordable and help with renting.
What is one of the most important political topics students should be engaged with?
A: I think the biggest thing we really need is for our students to be engaged with is just voting. Voter turnout is not great, and it’s especially not great with young students and young families. I think making sure that they’re engaged and they vote is the biggest thing. Being educated and making that decision. I love that, locally, we mail out our ballots, so you can get that ballot and you have it for three weeks. It comes with prepaid return postage, and you can sit down, and you can look at the city website, and you compare candidates, and you can make an informed decision. It’s pretty easy to get on and register to vote. I think just making sure you vote really does make a huge difference, because you can pick the candidates that are espousing ideas and beliefs that you agree with. And it matters. Locally, it matters a lot.
What is your favorite restaurant in Logan?
Cafe Sabor. My wife likes to go, and I always try to keep her happy. I also really like Beehive Grill. If I’m going for a burger, I got to go to Morty’s because their fries are to die for. But we end up at Cafe Sabor all of the time.
What is your favorite Halloween costume you’ve ever dressed up as?
I probably had better Halloween costumes when I was younger, but I have a 3-year-old and last year he was 2 and a half. It was the first Halloween he understood, and my wife and I liked to rock climb and, you know, play in the mountains and hike and backpack. So we all dressed up as mountaineers, and so we dressed him up as a little mountaineer and we dressed up with him. And it was fun to just dress up. It was the first Halloween that he understood it and was so happy to run around and you know, dress up like mom and dad playing in the mountains. It was cute. But I think this year, I think my 3-and-a-half-year-old is going to make us all dressed up like Elsa characters.