Scoundrel

My god, tomorrow is the first day of Fall. I wondered when Fall was coming. It's been so cold. I left some cream out overnight, and this morning, the cream was still cold. Very glad I got heaters for the fish. Wondering now if I should turn the furnace on for us. O Canada, the land of two seasons - summer and winter.

We had our coffee party last night for our Candidate. The campaign organizers were right. 12 people come. I wonder why so many of them said they'd come and not show up. It was still great though. The relaxed home environment is certainly a good place to get to know a candidate better. And I got to meet some of the new neighbours who moved in this year. They raised interesting concerns, mostly about with parking in the hood and general right of way for cars in the city. I guess that's what stresses out people most in the city.

It's important that the street knows Candidate's been here to meet them in this format. Now she can knock on doors and make her presence felt twice. Our street supports her any way. In the last election, 50 households put up her sign. Only 2 went with the incumbent. Every time I hear Candidate talk, I like her more.

She knows about the issues in the hood and the politicking behind them. She's articulate, has a clear vision for the city, and has no self-interest, yet, in seeking office.

The Incumbent however, disappoints me more the more I learn about him. Without proper community consultation (he sent out notices to 10 houses so technically, he had a consultation), he asked city staff to do the leg work on the acquisition of the land and construction of a parking lot for a little business strip. When residents found out, we raised hell. The project would have cost over $3 million--$1.5 million to buy the building and land, $1.5 million to tear down the building and pave the land for a parking lot. All this to create 17 parking spots.

We signed a petition to stop the project. When he found out how strong the opposition was, he backed down and never put forth a motion for the project in council. Then he told the business owners they didn't get the parking spots because of the streetcar construction.

What I didn't know was because he had city staff work on the project, our ward had used up our alotted city staff time. The city can no longer give our ward any more time this year. It was lose-lose all around. This from a councillor who's been at city hall in various capacities for 17 years.

Well, the gossip is that he owns many properties under different names and business numbers. He's too busy managing his properties and trying to pass bylaws that benefit his buisness than do anything for the community.

Candidate needs to get in.