BY KEITH LACEY
Carlos Salazar said bye-bye to Bogota at a young age and is about to say sayanara to Sudbury and bienvenue to Bowmanville.
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After 20 years at city hall Carlos Salazar took a new job in Bowmanville. |
After almost 20 years of service as a respected and hard-working member of the planning department at Tom Davies Square, Salazar has decided to take on a new challenge.
He's accepted a manager's position in the planning department in Clarington Township in Durham Region, one of Canada's fastest-growing communities.
He will assume his new position as Manager of Community Planning and Design in the town of Bowmanville starting the end of November.
His last day on the job is Nov. 25. He starts his new job the following Monday.
Salazar never, pardon the pun, "planned" to leave Greater Sudbury, but said the opportunity offered in Bowmanville is too great to pass up.
?For the last 19 years, Sudbury has been my home and it's been a great place to raise my family," said Salazar, 44. "Both of my daughters were born here and it's going to be very tough to leave because it's been a great place to live and work. "It's been a very satisfying time in my life, but I have an
opportunity that's just too good to pass up.?
Salazar was hired back in 1987 to lead a city plan to revitalize the downtown and throughout his 19 years of employment, he's most proud of his
efforts in restoring some pride and excitement to this city's downtown core.
"They say a city without a vital downtown is a city without a soul," said Salazar. "I'm very proud of the efforts that have been made to revitalize our downtown...it's a much better place to live and visit than it was when I was hired back in 1987."
The rejuvenated Rainbow Centre mall, YMCA/Centre for Life, successful streetscaping program which saw every downtown street upgraded with interlocking stone and building facade improvements, influx of a vital and vibrant restaurant and bar scene and the downtown farmers' market, are just some of the projects Salazar has worked on.
"The advantage of our downtown now is its wide mix of uses," he said. "It's made Sudbury's downtown unique and cool in so many ways. Many of the unique niche businesses located downtown simply would not work out in a large mall, but do work very well in the downtown."
Maureen Luoma, executive director of Downtown Sudbury (Sudbury Metro Centre), said she was sad to hear Salazar is leaving town and so should all business owners and citizens who enjoy the many improvements to the downtown over the past several years.
"I am sad he's leaving because he will be deeply missed...he was so instrumental in helping our board develop strategies and guidelines to improve the downtown," said Luoma. "He really had a passion about improving the downtown and went out of his way to help our organization and our members with any ideas that came forward."
Back in the late 1980s, the downtown was virtually a "ghost town" after the government buildings shut down, but there's a vibrant night life year-round and many things to do for all members of the family and Salazar deserves a lot of credit for the turnaround, she said.
Educated as an architect in his native Colombia, where he was raised in the capital of Bogota, Salazar has lived in Canada for 21 years.
He worked in the planning department in Winnipeg, before accepting the position of director of long-term planning back in 1987.
He and wife Aura have two daughters, Stephanie, 18, and Karla, 16, who were both born and raised in Sudbury.
Salazar believes a city should reflect the character of its citizens and this has always been part of his thinking on any project he's headed up.
"Even though Sudbury is the capital of Northern Ontario and its largest city, its greatest feature is the friendliness of its people," he said. "I've always tried to reflect the character of the people in any project I've worked on.
"Massive developments like huge high-rise buildings just wouldn't work in this city...I've always planned projects on a humanistic scale.
"But because we are a large city in this part of the province, we do have projects like Science North and the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory, which are world-class."
His decision to accept a new position and hand in his resignation happened very quickly, said Salazar.
"I have experience in both policy and development and the new position allows me to manage both sides of planning and this has a lot of appeal to me," he said. "This is a unique professional opportunity and after a lot of soul-searching and discussion with my family, I made a decision."
The fact Durham Region and the city of Bowmanville are one of the fastest-growing areas in the country is also appealing and he will be able to use his many years of planning experience to their fullest potential, said Salazar. "Being able to help shape the long-term future of one of the fastest-
growing cities in the country also holds a lot of appeal," he said.
Salazar admits the upheaval at Tom Davies Square, where many middle managers are being shuffled, did play a role in his decision.
"I had to analyze a host of factors and the transition going on at the city was one of those factors," he said. "But I do want to state I have had a tremendous career here in Sudbury...I was allowed to conceive ideas like the farmers' market and work on them through implementation right through to construction and not everyone who works in planning is given such an opportunity.
"I've had a fantastic time in my 19 years with the city and that's why deciding to leave has been such a difficult decision."
Trying to convince his two teenage daughters to leave town has been perhaps his toughest chore, he said. "They love it here...they were born and raised here and all their friends are here," he said.
Looking back on his career, Salazar said he could never have imagined a young man from Bogota coming to Canada and enjoying such a rich and rewarding career and family life. "Canada has been wonderful to me and my family and will always be my home," he said.
Bill Lautenbach, director of planning services with the City of Greater Sudbury, said Salazar's hard work and diverse talents will be missed.
"He had a vision towards the future and was very committed," said Lautenbach. "He knew how to work with people and community partners to get
projects done...we wish him well in his new job."
