From: Kim the Traffic Reporter
An all candidates forum was held at the Magnus Eliason Recreational Centre, 430 Langside on Tuesday Oct. 19/10. Invited were all five of the candidates running in the Daniel McIntyre ward. However, only four of the candidates showed up. The candidates are Harvey Smith (incumbent), Keith Bellamy, John Cardoso, Cindy Gilroy-Price and missing was Lito Taruc who, we are told had a scheduling conflict even though he'd been invited to this forum four weeks ago. One would have thought he would make the effort to attend the only such forum for the ward in which he is running.
There was a packed house with people not only standing but often lined up out the door, so it would seem the residents of Daniel MacIntyre were eager to hear what the candidates had to say. Not only were the candidates present, but a variety of School Board Trustee candidates made an appearance. Some of them were Anthony Ramos, Myra Laramee, Christine Barr, Cathy Collins, Rolf Salfert and Bradley McKay, though none of these candidates were part of the forum.
Each candidate was given two minutes to present a brief presentation of their platforms. Common themes were: crime, transit/transportation, infrastructure such as pot holes and back lanes, community centres, poverty and housing.
A series of five scripted questions was asked of the candidates, they are as follows along with some of the responses by each candidate, those questions were:
1. How to change Community Centre models to work for the Inner-City
2. What has to happen to dissuade gangs
3. What steps are needed to improve relations between the community and Police
4. With vacancy rates low in the City, how will you address the need for good affordable housing
5. (note this question is from the West End Biz) With infrastructure, poor lighting, derelict buildings problems, how do you plan to attract and retain businesses and development?
Some of the answers to these questions were similar from all the candidates with
- Keith Bellamy saying that Community Centres were the "hub of activity" and was generally agreed by all candidates that more funding was needed.
- John Cardoso indicated that he wants schools to stay open after hours and that community centres have to be part of the community itself.
- Cindy Gilroy-Price indicated that she wants to see more organized sports as well as educational support and because of gang situations many kids will not cross territorial boundaries so there is a need for more community based programs.
- Harvey Smith indicated he believes there should be a full time person who oversees the programming for Community Centres.
In regards to gangs:
- Bellamy wants outreach programs and mentoring opportunities along with a City housing strategy and that neighbours need to connect with the community and that it "takes a village to raise a child" and that there is a need to stabilize the community.
- Cardoso thinks there should be more education at the elementary level and that the community should be more proactive as opposed to reactive towards gang situations and that getting to the kids at the lower levels of school would help to prevent them from entering gangs.
- Gilroy-Price believes there are missing values and a lack of sense of belonging to the community, that this is not a poverty based issue. She also believes that educators and community need to work together.
- Smith wants to deal with the poverty saying "train them" teach them a trade which would give them hope for the future. Smith also indicated that a good environment and housing will help to keep the kids out of gangs.
The question of what steps are needed to improve relations with the Police was asked, all the candidates agreed that getting the Police out of their cars and walking around the community was important.
Harvey Smith even indicated that the Police should have their names on the uniforms instead of just a number. All agreed the Police need to be present in the community and that not only the residents, but the Police need to learn about each other in order to establish a relationship with each other. Cindy Gilroy-Price also indicated that the Police need a different review process in the case of complaints and that the Police should not be reviewing themselves.
Housing was another question asked regarding addressing the needs of good affordable housing considering the low vacancy rates in the City.
- Keith Bellamy replied that affordable rental housing was needed and that when vacancies in the City reached about 2.5% new condo developments should be halted. He also we need to protect the rental stock and that there needs to be a "use it or lose it" mandate against slumlords. This means there should be stiffer penalties towards boarded up buildings and if landlords don't repair or utilize those buildings, they should lose them.
- John Cardoso wants Manitoba Housing and the City involved in subsidising low income housing. Cardoso also believes the laws should be more heavily enforced.
- Cindy Gilroy-Price wants to encourage the development of boarded up buildings and there should be more commercial/residential use of buildings. For example, have a store on the main floor while upper floors are used for housing.
- Harvey Smith wants to double the amount for non-profit housing which according to Smith is at about 1 million dollars at the moment.
The question of infrastructure, lighting and derelict buildings problems, how do the candidates plan to attract and retain businesses with these current problems.
- Keith Bellamy replied that it's not just the businesses, but the entire community who is affected. Landlords who do not maintain their properties should use them or lose them and that the Councillor needs to apply constant pressure on City Hall to address these needs.
- John Cardoso also answered in the same vein saying that property laws need to be enforced and the community needs to be involved.
- Cindy Gilroy-Price wants to work with the level of governments in order to discourage absentee landlords and that we need to improve the lighting in the community.
- Harvey Smith believes penalties should be increased for houses that are not developed (meaning derelict buildings) and that there needs to be an increase in the amount of staff who look at the boarded up buildings.
A series of questions came from the floor including one on global warming where one individual asked what the candidates would do to get people out of their cars.
- Bellamy responded that there needed to be an increase in the riders on buses, that the City has done a less than adequate job on green transportation, that the City needs to move forward with Active Transportation but it needs to be done in ways the community can embrace instead of pushing people away and making them angry.
- Cardoso wants proper bus shelters and to subsidize the bus and have incentives for people to take the bus.
- Gilroy-Price supports AT but needs to be done in a collaborative manner, that buses need to be more affordable for those with lower incomes and that we need to protect our urban forests.
- Smith wants to curtail urban sprawl which is causing people to spend more time in their vehicles and we need a change in mentality that global warming does exist.
Other issues raised was the problem of prostitution in the West End,
- Gilroy-Price wants more resources going to the gang units as prostitution is often linked to gangs as well as more funds to the women's resource centre.
- Smith wants stiffer penalties for the "johns" as well as giving financial aid to get the prostitutes out of business.
- Whereas Cardoso wants more education and that "something needs to be done", Bellamy wants more outreach.
Many people had questions, certainly not all are listed here, but the community in Daniel MacIntyre was and is interested and involved. It seems there is a desire for a heavier Police presence in these neighbourhoods to deal with the crime issues. Some residents even want more red light camera or photo enforcement in the community to curtail vehicles speeding through lights or up and down their streets.
With all the people in attendance and more who wanted to be in the room, it would seem as though there could be a heavy voter turnout for this election. There were certainly advocates for each of the candidates in the room (except for Taruc), whether these candidates managed to sway votes remains to be seen. However, some of the people did get their questions answered and have now made a decision as to where to place their votes come Oct. 27th.
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Kim's Thoughts
A very heavy attendance indeed. It was a fantastic turnout. I didn't expect to see the amount of people I did and am glad I arrived a half hour early so I was lucky enough to find a seat. The community was definitely involved with the process with even some who didn't live in the community coming out to listen to the candidates.
It greatly disturbs me that one candidate did not bother to show up. So Lito Taruc had a scheduling conflict did he? Yet he knew four weeks ago about this forum. Really, you'd think he would make an effort to show up. This was an excellent way for him to get his points across, to speak to the community, yet he blew all of us off. What could possibly have been more important than an all candidates forum? Taruc does not live in Daniel McIntyre, he does own a couple of houses on Toronto, yet that is not the same as living day by day in this community, this should have provided him even more incentive to come to this forum to speak with our community. I'm afraid he did not win any friends or should I say voters this day.
There was a definite anti-Sam feeling in the audience, when Harvey Smith spoke of changing Mayors there was a loud and immediate applause for that sentiment. In fact, anytime someone mentioned getting rid of Sam there was applause. Perhaps Sam Katz should spend a little time knocking on doors in this ward instead of just having his campaign office in the area.
For a community that doesn't have much money, has many problems, it was nice to see the media out in full force. Global, CBC, CJOB had a student reporter on scene as well as yours truly from Kick-FM. It is good to see our community get some of the attention I believe it deserves and not in the more negative manner it usually gets.
The West End is such a wonder in cultural diversity and as I said, we may not have the wealthiest groups in a monetary sense, but I believe we are incredibly wealthy in that diversity.
I would encourage all the eligible voters in this ward to get out on Oct. 27th, no matter who your choice of candidate may be, get out and vote. Have your say, be a part of the process. Even if your chosen candidate doesn't win at least you would have made the effort to voice your opinions and be heard.
Election day is Wednesday October 27, 2010. See you at the polls.
PS Another blogger was at the meeting:
http://winnipegonegreatcity.blogspot.com/2010/10/great-debate-at-merc.html
