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<\/a><\/p>\nSaanich candidates: Frank Leonard and David Cubberley<\/strong><\/p>\n Frank Leonard\u2014current mayor<\/strong> What do you want to see happen for transit?<\/em> Do you want to implement a compost system of sorts?<\/em> In what ways do you engage with the public?<\/em> What will you lobbying senior government for?<\/em> David Cubberley<\/strong> How about public transportation? What will you do in that vein?<\/em> Do you plan to introduce compost systems?<\/em> In what ways will you engage the public?<\/em> What are you going to lobby senior government for?<\/em> Victoria candidates: Dean Fortin and Paul Brown<\/strong><\/p>\n Dean Fortin\u2014current mayor<\/strong> What about transit?<\/em> It\u2019s not very affordable to live in this city. Can you speak to that?<\/em> What are your thoughts on safe injection sites?<\/em> What will happen to address homelessness?<\/em> Paul Brown<\/strong> What will you do about transit and transportation?<\/em> What can be done to make Victoria a more affordable city to live in?<\/em> Do you support a safe injection site in Victoria?<\/em> This is something that Vancouver Island Health Authority (VIHA) and the province needs to operate. This is not a business that we understand. This is not a business the city should be involved in. VIHA and the provincial government understand how to run homeless shelters and needle exchanges. We need to support it.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s talk about Victoria\u2019s homeless population.<\/em> What goals are you setting for your potential three-year term?<\/em> Voting time<\/strong> Victoria candidate information<\/strong> Saanich candidate information<\/strong> Shortly before press time, the following additional\u00a0nominations were announced for mayoral candidacy in the\u00a0Victoria and Saanich municipalities (nominations closed\u00a0October 14): Steve Filipovic for Victoria (stevefilipovic.ca<\/a>;\u00a0Twitter: @StevenFilipovic<\/a>) and David Shebib (Twitter: @garbageguru1<\/a>) for both Victoria and Saanich.<\/p>\n Voting eligibility<\/strong><\/p>\n Anyone who has lived in BC for at least six months is eligible to vote in the municipal election. Students who have come from elsewhere in the province to study in Greater Victoria must decide if they want to vote here or in their home municipality.<\/p>\n How to vote<\/strong> Other resources<\/strong> The end of a three-year reign is upon us. A municipal election on November 19 brings the opportunity for new blood, or at least the opportunity for more awareness around the backyards that we all play in. Talking with students about municipal politics proved to be challenging despite only a mild learning curve. Nexus spent […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":838,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-october192011"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=829"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/829\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":841,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/829\/revisions\/841"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nWhat are a few measurable things you would like to achieve in the next term?<\/em>
\nWe will have a revolution in transportation, transit planning, and governance. Not just tinker with more routes, more hours. We should reach our sustainability goals, from climate change to replacement of infrastructure. Let\u2019s keep up the healthy and active community and make it an affordable community, too.<\/p>\n
\nWe need regional governance of transit by local officials. Right now transit is run by a crown corporation, with input from seven people appointed by cabinet. I\u2019m not happy that they\u2019re spending millions on things that aren\u2019t increasing service. I think we can get more miles, more services out of what we have now. A proposal was put to the regional boards and was unanimously supported, so we sent it to the provincial government. Maybe by the election we\u2019ll have an answer. I think we need big change in what\u2019s going on.<\/p>\n
\nI really want to collect kitchen waste in the system. We\u2019ll have a pilot in Saanich next year, most likely in the Cedar Hill area. Our own crews can collect kitchen waste as well as garbage. We\u2019re just going to work out the details and certainly within the next term of office, I want it in place municipal-wide. As far as processing it, I would suspect we will either have the CRD do it via a standalone plan, or we would let the private sector farmer pull it out. That hasn\u2019t been decided.<\/p>\n
\nEvery aspect of our municipality has community consultation as part of their mandate. It\u2019s part of our culture here. We\u2019re an inclusive municipality. Every chance I get, I go to a community meeting. I answer most of my own email and I\u2019m doing social media as best as I can. I\u2019m doing it myself. My Facebook and Twitter are keeping me busy.<\/p>\n
\nProbably transportation, transportation, transportation. It\u2019s a big issue, right up there with alternatives to single-occupancy cars, and public safety issues on the roads.<\/p>\n
\nWhat do you want to see done by the end of your potential three-year term?<\/em>
\nI want to see curbside collection of organics. I also want to see the region put together an integrated transportation plan for the region. Then I want to see us approach the provincial government with a coordinated ask for money.<\/p>\n
\nIn significant ways I want to improve conditions for transit, walking, and cycling. I also want to get on with the planning process for the Saanich we need to build in order to be more sustainable. We must involve the community to resolve the issues out there. We need to know where we\u2019re going with transit and what kind of rapid transit system we can put in place over time.<\/p>\n
\nI\u2019m very interested in compost. This is something that should be happening now. We would have to have a regional composting facility and system of our own. It could be supplied by the private sector or it could be done by the CRD. It should be a regional program. I think we\u2019d have really high participation. I personally feel strongly that we have to pay more attention to this. All the waste from the region is going to a landfill in Saanich but 30 percent of the waste stream is organic material. We\u2019ve got one hole in the ground now. Let\u2019s manage it so we reduce the amount of material going to it and extend its life indefinitely. The easiest way to do that it is to get organics out of it.<\/p>\n
\nI\u2019d like to engage more with the public. We really need to plan and engage the community in the future of Saanich. I want there to be a chance for people to look at things and involve themselves in the imagineering of a new kind of community. We will engage the professionals, and ask the citizens open-ended questions about what could happen here. You can identify from the people what isn\u2019t working and move forward.<\/p>\n
\nEverything. Bring us the dough. I mean, come on, 92 cents on the dollar leaves eight cents for the municipalities. The federal and provincial governments make a ton of money off of tourism and everything else, but the residential property taxpayers deal with all the waste, congestion, and so on. Their sources of revenue grow with the economy. Property tax doesn\u2019t grow with the economy. We\u2019re stuck in this little corner. Canada is probably the only jurisdiction in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development that has cities cooped up on such a small revenue base. So I intend to argue for money. Send the cheques! I\u2019m optimistic about that kind of thing.<\/p>\n
\nWhat are you doing and what more will you do about composting?<\/em>
\nWe\u2019ve essentially said that we are going to have curbside organics starting January, 2013. We\u2019ll start at the residential area; it\u2019s more difficult to deal with the apartment buildings and large condos and stuff. It doesn\u2019t mean that we won\u2019t do it; it will just take longer to figure out how.<\/p>\n
\nWe have to look for an opportunity to increase service on the runs that need them. Frankly, I think we can do that without increasing costs by doing a service rationalization. There are a whole lot of routes that are really underutilized so we can move that around.<\/p>\n
\nThe city can address issues around housing and affordability. Traditionally it\u2019s a provincial area, but we can do it directly through zoning. Over the last three years we\u2019ve created close to 800 units of market rentals and low-end market rentals. We\u2019ve moved the vacancy rate from 0.4 to 1.4 over the last three years. I want to get to four. Four is basically what\u2019s described as a healthy model. I\u2019ve introduced a short-term incentive for creating rentals. Over the next three years, if developers build rental, they\u2019ll get a break.<\/p>\n
\nHarm reduction is one of our major priorities and we continue to work on developing the Greater Victoria model. I think that rather than a needle exchange we need safe consumption sites. The biggest concern is the outdoor public use of drugs. So get it in. Saves lives, get inside. There will be wraparound services that come with this: education services, harm reduction and counselling. I don\u2019t think one site is enough. You need two sites. You need to distribute it around. Fundamentally, it\u2019s the Vancouver Island Health Authority\u2019s responsibility to fund it, but we have a role to play as the city, as service providers. We\u2019ve started working on it. It\u2019s a high priority.<\/p>\n
\nSome of my proudest accomplishments have been around housing and the hard to house, and I want to keep that going. Over the past three years, we\u2019ve been working not only to house the homeless, which is a big issue, but also to create affordable rental, affordable public housing. The city can address issues around housing and affordability, if we choose. Traditionally it\u2019s a provincial area, but we can do it directly through zoning and rezoning; what we allow to be built, height, density, in what location. In my term we\u2019ve brought in incentives through creation of rentals, market rentals, lower end market rentals.<\/p>\n
\nWhat will you do or provide in terms of compost?<\/em>
\nWe\u2019ve got to be more aggressive in terms of diverting waste from the dump. The city should be making those services available so that everybody is doing it. The city should be funding it but it\u2019s the small entrepreneurs who started up the existing composting businesses. Let\u2019s let them do it and contract with them. Let\u2019s make certain that everybody has that opportunity, particularly in apartments.<\/p>\n
\nFirst of all, you need to get the rest of the municipalities on board to establish a regional transportation authority and strategy. Developers and homeowners know that one of the greatest impediments to the value of their properties is the ability to commute into Victoria. I\u2019m not saying Light Rail Transit is not the way to go, maybe it is. But we need a bigger picture. The transportation system in Victoria is outstanding. Once you get outside of Victoria, that\u2019s where it starts to break down.<\/p>\n
\nI believe there are some very practical ways to bring affordable housing to this city. It means converting existing multi-unit buildings, small apartment buildings, or larger homes into family housing. It distresses me to no end when there\u2019s a lack of rental accommodation in the downtown area.<\/p>\n
\nEvidence shows without doubt it makes a difference in terms of health care costs, policing costs, and helping these people off the street. It also makes financial sense. Even the Supreme Court has said it\u2019s okay. So come on, let\u2019s do it.<\/p>\n
\nWe\u2019ve gotten into a business that we do not understand and made some very significant mistakes. The city purchased two Traveller\u2019s Inns. Their initial budget for one of them has mushroomed. They didn\u2019t understand what it takes to upgrade something. This city has a propensity to go out and budget in an ineffective way.<\/p>\n
\nFirst of all we\u2019ve got to move to a more shared services model with other jurisdictions. Garbage is the first one.
\nSecondly, I\u2019m going to get control of wages and salaries. I\u2019ll take my own reduction. The little things add up. I\u2019m also going to observe some very tight budgeting controls. Thirdly, we\u2019ve got to revitalize downtown. I want to see more young people living downtown.<\/p>\n
\nThe municipal election takes place Saturday, November 19, 2011. There are 13 municipalities: Saanich, Victoria, Esquimalt, Oak Bay, View Royal, Colwood, Highlands, Langford, Metchosin, Sooke, Central Saanich, North Saanich, and Sidney.
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nPaul Brown\u2014openvictoria.com<\/a>, Twitter: @PaulforVictoria<\/a>
\nDean Fortin\u2014victoria.ca\/cityhall\/mayor_mayor_prfile.shtml<\/a>, Twitter: @DeanFortin<\/a><\/p>\n
\nDavid Cubberley\u2014davidcubberley.ca<\/a>, Twitter: @davidcubberley<\/a>
\nFrank Leonard\u2014saanich.ca\/living\/mayor\/council\/leonard.html<\/a>, Twitter: @frank_leonard<\/a><\/p>\n
\nGo to any voting location on November 19 with 2 pieces of government-issued ID and proof of address, such as a utility bill in your name. You can quickly register on the day if you bring those items.<\/p>\n
\nCheck out municipalelections.com<\/a>, victoria2011.com<\/a> (municipal hub), and votevictoriabc.blogspot.com<\/a> (Victoria elections blog).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"