As
there is still much time before the next civic election on Monday
October 18th, 2010, I will give a general overview of the topics
I would like to focus on if elected as the Ward 1 City Councillor.
Managing
Taxes and Sprawl
Edmonton is one of the least dense cities in Canada
and also has one of the lowest tax rates among major cities in Canada.
The concept of keeping taxes low while allowing sprawl to increase
at the current rate will not be able to continue. One of these two
will have to change and I would prefer increased density instead
of large tax increases every year. Although we need to work to reduce
sprawl, we cannot ignore those who live on the edges
of our city. We need to ensure people who live on the outskirts
have easy access to public services. Also,
when we work to increase the density of the more mature neighbourhoods,
families must be an important component or else we risk more school
closures in established areas.
Working
to Minimize the Boom and Bust Cycle
Although many governments will create policy
documents that have the long-term in mind, when it comes to the
financial side of meeting our long-term goals, we rarely have the
money in place to accomplish our vision. This results in a cycle
that has been active for decades. When our city is successful and
bringing in excess money, we need to put a portion of the extra
revenue away instead
of spending every dollar available each year. This will prepare
us if our economy starts to decline as we will
be able to dip into our savings to spend on our necessary projects
which will begin to reduce the gap between the boom and the bust.
This is a common practice in many households and there is no reason
it cannot work for
a city.
Create New Business
Opportunity and Revenue for
Our City
Edmonton has made some great strides
over the years in diversifying our economy. We also have many
opportunities to continue our growth. Tourism is the one industry
where I feel we have the greatest potential to show improvement.
We have amazing festivals, many different shopping districts and
unique attractions such as Fort Edmonton Park yet only a small
percentage of our annual visitors come from outside our country.
We have to create a campaign that will attract worldwide attention
and focus on the strengths that Edmonton has to offer. Edmonton
Tourism has the potential to bring even more revenue into the
city which can be used to improve our essential services while
allowing us the ability to have extra money set aside for some
larger projects.
Making Environmental
Change Easy
Most people recognize that we need
to do our part to improve our environment. The big obstacle is that
although most people want to help, they do not have the ability
or time to make a drastic lifestyle change. Our responsibility as
a city is to introduce concepts that will have a huge positive impact
while minimizing the
lifestyle change. It can be as simple as providing more opportunity
to take items to the ECO-centres or partnering with businesses to
encourage more customers to use their reusable bags. Improving our
environmental impact on our city does not require large amounts
of money as
it can be accomplished by small changes that have significant results.
As we get closer to the election date, I will
be providing the specifics of the above points and many other opportunities
and ideas to help our city grow. I would appreciate any comments
or questions you may have regarding my platform. You can contact
me by phone,
e-mail or other social media sites such as Twitter
or Facebook.
Finally, my blog
is also available to give
you more insight into the issues that are important
in Edmonton.