Plan for Change

Our city, like many across the country is experiencing an affordability crisis. In the span of just a few short years, we have gone from one of the most affordable cities in the country, to housing prices competing with the likes of Vancouver and the Greater Toronto Area.

Our city is growing in leaps and bounds, and unfortunately, our long term residents are the one feeling the pinch the worst. As your Councilor, I would not only be here to advocate for change and improvements in our community, but for the voices of our community as a whole on decisions being made for all of our region.

As a blue collar worker myself, I feel the financial strain as much as you do. I understand what the government thinks is "affordable" is truly not for your average retail, food service, or construction worker in the city, and we need to do what we can to ensure all members of our community can afford to live here, to keep our city running. If we price our service workers out of our communities, who will be able to staff their coffee shops, convenience stores, local shops, deliver your packages, or make your food at a restaurant?

Housing

Housing is a human right. Everyone should have a roof over their head. Full stop. While housing may not be within the city's wheelhouse, there are absolutely things that can be done at the municipal level to prevent more families from ending up on the streets this winter. We need to get people out of tents, and into solid, warm structures.

- Permits should be denied for any developer that plans to demolish any property that currently offers affordable units until there is adequate housing stock available for these tenants to move to, in the same price range. At this point I believe the ban should be in place for 5 years, and then re-evaluated. The situation at Ocean Breeze is heartbreaking, and NEVER should have been permitted.

-Encourage the building of more tiny homes. Look at zoning and land use bylaws, and encourage the sale of smaller lots to allow more people to get into their first home, with their own small piece of land, at a price they can afford. Allowing those who may have the credit and a small down payment to move into something like this, will free up rentals for those who are not yet in a position to buy.

- Work more closely with shelters and non-profit organizations to identify the actual need for housing & provide grants and/or land to help them build and service what is needed. Follow up that this money is being used as intended, and in a timely manner to get as many people into homes as quickly as possible before winter.

-Stop allowing developers to get out of adding affordable units by just paying a fine. If their permit stated they needed to have a certain amount below market rent, HOLD THEM TO IT, and do not allow any occupancy at full market rate.

-Help low income families and seniors. We currently have a program in place for some property tax relief:

https://www.halifax.ca/home-property/property-taxes/exemptions

While this is a great program for our lower income households, I think it's time we look at raising the cutoff to an amount higher than $48,000 for the household, and the maximum rebate for seniors to over $800. No single person can live on this salary in this city anymore, let alone as a household income.

Transportation

Our community has many great walking and bike trails, but we need them to connect to other areas of the city; including downtown Dartmouth, and further on to Halifax to facilitate a reduction in traffic volumes. If we are ever going to see more cyclists commuting, the lanes need to connect to each other, and to trails, and be safe to use. As a fair weather cyclist myself, I have experienced the frustration and lack of safety for this cohort first hand.

Our transit system is also in need of change throughout HRM. Routes need to be easier to navigate, and running as scheduled. More routes need to be added to cover underserviced areas, brining people into the core, where they can transfer to a bus going in the direction of their destination.

For traffic flow, we need to look at moving some bus stops. As someone who drives for a living, I see plenty of issues on the roads. One big issue in the city is bus stops that are just past an intersection (eg: in front of the Joeseph Howe Superstore) Most drivers don't regularly take the bus, and have no idea if that bus is going to stop there. They are driving along, and then traffic comes to a complete standstill, leaving them in the middle of the intersection as the light changes because they got caught behind a bus that stopped right after the intersection. The light changes, and now cars going in the other direction, or turning, can no longer enter the intersection due to the one stuck behind the bus with nowhere to go. This backs of traffic for several light cycles, causing unnecessary traffic in parts of the city. These stops should either be moved to before the intersection, or an area on the side of the road should be carved out for busses to pull over at busy stops.

Construction on non-residential streets should be completed at night, to reduce traffic backups during peak hours.

We need to put pressure on the province to allow traffic cams to help reduce speeding rather than more speed humps. No solution to this problem is perfect, but speed bumps/humps are more wear and tear on everyone's vehicles (and bodies, as the driver of a larger vehicle)

Reduce Crime and Vandalism

Crime doesn't just happen.

Many of today's criminals started young. In our city, and especially in our community, there really is nothing for young people to do, so they end up looking for, and getting into trouble with drugs, alcohol, or wandering around neighborhoods scaring people and breaking into or tagging cars at night.

Young people by nature stay up late. They are going to be out late. That's what they do. We should provide safe spaces to allow them to hang out late, with something to do in the nearby area. Maybe a skate park near an "open late" restaurant. An outdoor roller rink next to a coffee shop... things that cost them next to nothing to do, but are a fun place to just go to and spend time with friends. A bus route should also be added that can take the people in and out of the entertainment area in Dartmouth Crossing right until the last movie is finished/restaurant/entertainment venue closes.

Working with our local police, we should create Community Liaison Officer positions that patrol, unarmed in residential areas currently having issues with minor crimes. Their main purpose would be to keep in touch with the community members, understand the issues, and identify problem areas for further investigation. We should bring back community liaison officer programs in areas where they have been stopped within the schools, so young people can meet officers and get to know what they do, and not be afraid of them.

Building our Community for Tomorrow

A better community starts with us. This is why we need to work with all members of our community to make sure they have a say. We are a team that can make change together.

I would like to create an advisory council made of residents from every area of our district, as well as a youth council. These council groups would be made up of volunteers who are keen to help make their area a better place for everyone.

The goal would be to meet once a month with the groups. They would bring forward concerns brought to them by their neighbors, and we would all work together to come up with viable solutions. Anything that we could not accomplish on our own, I would bring to staff or council as needed, to hash out a solution to the problem.

Being your councilor is not about what I want, it's about what we want. I can't effectively represent our community without your input. Positive, as well as negative.

Accountability

As your Councilor, I fully expect to be held accountable to our community. You voted me in, and my job is to make sure we build a better district - together.

I intend to keep in regular contact, and follow up on calls to 311 and update residents on progress of issues they have reported.

I plan to be on top of zoning changes, and keep residents informed of upcoming development.

I plan to ensure information is relayed to residents in a way that makes sense, not full of political jargon, so everyone can understand what is happening in our neighbourhoods.

I want to hear from residents. I want to know your opinions, and what you think could be done better. I look forward to utilizing your feedback to help create a better community, and Municipality for all of us who live and work here.

Recreation

HRM has a great number of recreational activities available throughout the city, but the process of signing up to participate in one of them can be daunting. We need to take a good look at the website and make it more user friendly.

While we do have swimming available in our community, it is one of the few low impact exercises that many seniors, as well as people with injuries can participate in. I feel we need to find a way to bring the cost down for this activity in our community.

We should also look at supporting programs or community groups that encourage non-competitive, drop in, team sports. This would allow young people (or adults, if interested in adult games as well ) to sign up for one or two games at a time, rather than having to make a commitment for a whole season. This would keep people active, while not stressing them to make room in their schedule for a whole season of play.

As our population grows, so does our pet population. As density increases in the city, we are going to have more and more dog owners without yards, looking for a place to bring their pups to safely exercise. I am a supporter of more off leash space to allow our companions to exercise.