Balance on the Ballot

Victoria, like many other cities across North America, has struggled with housing over the last 20 years, but particularly so in the last 10 years. Each passing year has seen house prices escalate even further beyond the grasp of lower middle and middle income earning families. Each passing year has seen market rents get loftier. Each passing year has seen the wealth gap between those who own and those who rent grow. In this context, with many flailing in an endless sea of escalating living expenses, reaching for anything that seems like it has any chance of providing some assistance. The capacity for rational thought about where we are, how we got here, and how we could possibly extricate ourselves from this mess long ago diminished. We're at the point where for many, the mantra of "any housing, at any cost" is acceptable to many, particularly those who are precariously housed - making enough to be beyond the safety net of social housing, but not enough to secure adequat...

  The easy thing to do is to paint your opponents as awful people – to make claims about who they are and what they believe and what they will or will not do if elected. The much harder thing to do is to allow the respect and courtesy to allow candidates to “paint themselves”. Let candidates articulate their positions on specific issues and allow others the opportunity to judge for themselves the merits of individual candidates. Let their track record speak for itself, it is only fair. What may be the worst kept secret ever: I do plan on running for Victoria City Council this fall (as a councillor), however, I am not yet ready to launch the formal campaign. Which is why people are already trying to define who I am and what I will do or will not do if elected. They’re already flinging around labels in the hopes that rather than judging for yourself who I am and whether or not I’d be a good choice to sit around that table, you’ll take their word and advice on who to vote for (or no...

The municipal level of government is intensely local - the focus is intended to be on local issues: the nitty gritty of policing, transportation (roads, sidewalks, bikeways), recreation and parks services, garbage and recycling, zoning, bylaws and bylaw enforcement. On a day to day basis, what happens at the municipal level impacts residents most acutely.  As those who read this blog know, I've been thinking a lot about running for council this October. In truth, I have made my decision and am in that space between having thought about running and making a formal announcement about doing so. One element in that space is: run independently OR join a slate. The advantage of a slate is you're not at it alone, the group builds a brand, and share resources to leverage name recognition. In many respects running on a slate makes the job of running (yes it's a job - fundraising, branding, marketing, etc.) much easier for a candidate. It also, should enough the slate be elected make...