Mayor Melissa Blake says there are three main parts to her re-election platform – affordable land, appropriate transportation and a higher quality of life for everyone.
When it comes to transportation she says she’d like to create an interruption bylaw that would stop construction from impeding traffic on primary roads.
“I figure if we create something that would be as onerous as a bylaw it starts right from the planning concept that says ‘ok, when we do this work we have to be mindful that we have peak traffic time where there’s a no-go on the restriction of the number of lanes,” she said.
She says she’d like to entice developers to bring in bigger buildings for office space, residences and ground floor commercial space.
She says land remains a key pillar in the platform.
“It’s simply because now we have the UDSR that surrounds the region, and I have a very keen interest in seeing that developed responsibly so that we keep a stable market,” she said.
“Not one that puts people into peril with their home value, and so that we introduce a whole lot more commercial.”
She says having a “rapid response team” to help get little things done faster will make a big difference.
She says it would be used for things like road repair, grass cutting, and dust mitigation.
“So within our own offering of employees, we should be able to, I think, escalate some of these projects that come forward that just aren’t getting the kind of quickness and turn-around that we need,” she said.
Listen to other things the mayor had to say about her platform:
Blake: Overview of her platform.
[audio:http://pmd.country933.com/audio/ferne-news/melissablake-onplatform.mp3]Blake: Working with other levels of government.
[audio:http://pmd.country933.com/audio/ferne-news/melissa blake-onworkingwgovt.mp3]Blake: The billion dollar budget
[audio:http://pmd.country933.com/audio/ferne-news/melissa blake-talkingaboutthebilliondollarbudget.mp3]Blake: The Zero Waste Initiative
[audio:http://pmd.country933.com/audio/ferne-news/melissablake-inspiringpartofplatform.mp3]Blake: Importance of transparency
[audio:http://pmd.country933.com/audio/ferne-news/melissablake-onbeingtransparent.mp3]Blake: Keeping the cost of land down
[audio:http://pmd.country933.com/audio/ferne-news/melissablake-onkeepinglandcostsdown.mp3]Blake: Taxes won’t be increased.
[audio:http://pmd.country933.com/audio/ferne-news/melissablake-onnotraisingtaxes.mp3]Blake: Growing population is important in future planning.
[audio:http://pmd.country933.com/audio/ferne-news/melissablake-talkingaboutgrowingpopulationandwhattheyneed.mp3]October 10th, 2013
