Jack Evans has represented GW in the City Council for the last seven years, but he is not the only mayoral candidate with ideas about working with the University.

Harold Brazil, another candidate for the Democratic nomination, said he believes the mayor should have a very active role in mediating problems between local residents and University students.

“The mayor can be almost like a judge, to feel out how can we accommodate some of the interests of the University and the residents,” Brazil said. “What are the problems? How do we solve them together? What’s the role of the government? How can we help you?”

Brazil said he thinks problems should be prevented before they escalate.

“If the streets are dirty because there was a party, then maybe we need to get that street sweeper out there early in the morning. Or maybe the campus police can’t quite handle the problem. We have to make sure to beef up our city patrols,” Brazil said after last week’s Democratic mayoral debate.

Anthony Williams, the leading Democratic candidate for mayor, said after the debate that he has a record of dealing with problems in his roles with other organizations.

“I’ve led and I want to do that here in the District. I think that one of things that ails our neighborhood here is there is no sense of joint challenge, shared aspiration, and we need to build that back in our neighborhoods,” Williams said.

“I think the mayor under my administration is going to take a very active, intensive role in developing neighborhood plans and strategies in conjunction with neighborhood local leadership and institutions,” he said.

-Matthew Katz