No slogans. Here's what I actually intend to do.
I've spent 22 years in municipal operations and I know what a good plow route looks like and what a bad one costs you.
I'll push for the practical repairs Ward 2 keeps getting told to wait for.
I won't promise to cut your taxes. Anyone promising lower taxes and better service in the same breath is hoping you won't check the math. What I will promise is to fight for what you're already paying to go further — question every line, cut the waste I find, and vote against any increase I can't justify to a Ward 2 resident face to face.
Growth is coming. It should strengthen this community, not erase it. I'll push for new development that respects the scale, the history and the small-town feel that made people want to move here in the first place.
Our kids and our seniors are being priced out of the neighbourhood they grew up in. When new development comes to Ward 2, I'll push for more geared-to-income units in it — so young families and seniors can afford to stay in Hespeler.
Cambridge already hosts a large data centre. If another one comes, it reaches city council as a zoning decision — that's the vote I'd actually hold, and I'd vote no until the water numbers and the hydro numbers are public. Regional council voted unanimously this month to build a framework for exactly this reason. I'm not against investment. I'm against approving something this big before we understand what it draws from our water supply and our grid.
Policing is regional — I won't pretend otherwise. But the things that make a street feel safe to walk at night are ours: lighting, sightlines, crosswalks, speed humps, traffic calming, sidewalks that get cleared. Those are city votes, and I'll bring them. I'll champion Neighbourhood Watch and back the residents already doing that work.
Queen Street isn't a shopping district. It's the reason people still say "the Village" and mean something by it.
Behind the BIA.
Whatever the Hespeler Village BIA is working on — growth, events, promotion — I'll back them and help them get what they need from the City.
Make the summer closure work for everyone.
Walk Queen is a win for the patios. It's harder on the shops losing parking and drive-by traffic. I'll ask every business what's working and push the City to adjust.