Voters want to know where the candidates stand on the issues and so does Sudbury.com.
To that end, we’ve created this election special feature: Where Do They Stand? We reached out to the council candidates and invited them to participate.
Each candidate has 250 words or less to stake out their position on each of these issues: the Kingsway Entertainment District (KED); downtown Sudbury and the urban-rural divide in our amalgamated city and; the top three issues facing the ward in which they're running.
We’ll be rolling a new story on a new ward every weekday, as we work our way through all 12 wards, save Ward 2 and Ward 3 where the incumbents (Michael Vagnini and Gerry Montpellier, respectively) have been acclaimed.
Everyone has chosen sides. Read on and find out exactly what the candidates think. Now, every candidate was invited to participate, but, for whatever reason, not all of them chose to do so.
From Ward 4, we have answers from four of the five candidates: Jessica Bertrand, Eric Lachance, Geoff McCausland and Sharon Scott. Candidate Don Roy did not provide answers.
The three questions we asked are:
1.Kingsway Entertainment District
People want to know: Do you support the construction of an event centre / casino / hotel complex on The Kingsway east of downtown? Do you support using taxpayer dollars to build a $100-million arena that will be paid off over a generation? Do you support expanded casino gambling? Explain your position.
2. Downtown and the urban-rural divide
The prevailing wisdom is that a healthy downtown equals a healthy city. Great downtowns attract new residents and new businesses (to the community, but not necessarily to the downtown core), and are a measure of a community’s economic health. But in our amalgamated city, municipal spending downtown is unpopular in rural parts of the community, which feel the urban areas receive more spending and more services. Are rural concerns legitimate? Are we doing enough for downtown? What should we do? Explain your position.
3. Ward issues
Thinking about your ward, what do you see as the top three issues facing your area of the city? How do you propose to address those issues?
Jessica Bertrand:
1.Kingsway Entertainment District
I am in support of the Kingsway Entertainment District, as I feel that it would beneficial to our city to have different entertainment hubs for tourists and locals to visit. That being said, the pricetag for the arena is extremely high and should be thoroughly reviewed.
2. Downtown and the urban-rural divide
The downtown is the hub of our city. I feel that the current projects that the sitting council is looking at would go a long way in revitalizing the downtown core. I do feel that there are difficulties with services in rural areas that need to be addressed, specially snow removal and transit.
3. Ward issues
One of the main issues are public safety. Part of my platform is to get more sidewalks in Azilda, along high traffic areas. I would also like to see a program dealing specifically with the safe removal of needles and other drug paraphernalia throughout the ward.
Another main issue is the state of the roads, we need to invest more into fixing our aging infrastructure, and specifically the aging water mains that break with every extreme weather change we have.
I would like to see more business attracted to the ward, which is why the permit process needs to be reviewed at city hall. There is too much red tape cause stress and hardship on local businesses.
Evelyn Dutrisac worked hard to see a therapeutic pool brought to the community, and I would like to continue you those efforts. I have seen first-hand the benefits of such a pool and feel it would be beneficial in so many ways.
Eric Lachance:
1.Kingsway Entertainment District
The development of the KED is a decision that the present governing council had made after much scrutiny and debate. I am in full support of this decision considering it provides a long-term benefit to our community. The proposed KED will potentially bring in massive tourism dollars and help grow and develop our local economy. This location versus the downtown provides the most available space and allows for future expansion. Although, I would rather see the casino stay in its current spot, it is apparent that Gateway Casinos wants a different location. Bundling the casino with the event centre is a cost savings to the taxpayer since site development and ongoing site maintenance costs will be shared. Expanding casino gambling would definitely bring in more revenue to the city as well as create good jobs, which are much needed in our community. Since 1999, the city has received $40.4 million in non-tax gaming revenue from the OLG. The expansion of the casino would allow patrons to enjoy playing in a controlled environment; unlike online gambling which has very few safeguards and controls in place for its participants, who often play in isolation and online gambling provides no beneficial revenue to the local economy. The extra monies received from the expanded casino should be directly attributed towards mental health, addictions and crisis support. The current council decided to take on all costs of building the KED in order to reap the future economic benefit. However, the funds used to develop the land should only be spent after the decision from the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal decision, since the taxpayer should not be paying to develop someone’s property without the necessary protection measures in place.
2. Downtown and the urban-rural divide
The reason outlying towns feel the city core receive more spending and more services is a function of us still being caught in the hangover of amalgamation. For example, when the town of Rayside-Balfour agreed to have the current casino location, in the late 1990s, it was understood the revenue from the profit-sharing would go towards four-laning Municipal Road 35. We have since amalgamated as the City of Greater Sudbury and are now only decades later getting ready to expand MR35. The outlying communities have seen their property taxes increase and lowered levels of service — for example, when it comes to snow removal, culvert replacement, road paving and expanding city water and sewer services. I understand that the downloading of many programs form the province onto the municipalities has stretched city resources and funding. But from what I can discern, we are failing to show how everyone is getting a fair share. We need to have a long-term plan that shows the prioritization of infrastructure improvement projects spread across the communities in the City of Greater Sudbury. Also, our multiple downtowns, may they be in the Donovan, Azilda or Chelmsford to name a few, also should be vibrant and supported by the city. Most constituents I have spoken with avoid downtown Sudbury due to lack of parking and single-lane traffic on Elm Street because of the parking meter installations. In order to help downtown Sudbury, we need to solve the parking problem.
3. Ward issues
The top three issues facing my area of the city are safety, health and community engagement. As for road safety, we have to ensure our citizens aren’t dodging potholes and wondering where line markings are. Challenge our engineering group: work with community partners as well as other levels of government to come up with the solutions to our poor road conditions. People need to get around safely. Let’s build and maintain connected sidewalks in Azilda and other parts of Rayside-Balfour. Expand the lighting and eye-in-the-sky cameras to cover areas of the Donovan and Elm West. As a healthy community, we need to maintain our recreational facilities. I would like to see more programs for our young adolescents and seniors to keep them active and in our ward. Creating and/or maintaining bike paths and trails would encourage and allow people to maintain a healthy lifestyle. An engaged City of Greater Sudbury ensures that we support our citizens, our thriving small businesses, as well as our corporate partners by streamlining our bylaws, permitting, regulatory requirements, as well as access to city services. Doing business in our municipality should not be overwhelmingly complex. When engaged citizens inquire to the city through the 311 service let’s improve the process and ensure these items get addressed in a timely manner and report on unresolved issues. A good example of such service is the city of Calgary’s 311 system that provides real time updates on citizens’ concerns.
Geoff McCausland:
1. Kingsway Entertainment District
Casino: The city only gets five cents of every dollar spent at casinos and slots. Estimated $100 million/year = City gets $5 million a year, and approx. $80 million leaves town. I cannot support expanded gambling under this model.
KED Site Issues:
Traffic: The traffic impact study says it will take on average 30 minutes to get out of the parking lot onto the Kingsway after events, and up to 65 minutes. That’s without considering congestion on the Kingsway, so a Wolves fan from Azilda should expect to spend 1-1.5 hours in their car to get home after busy games.
Parking: The current site plan only has 2,142 parking spaces, yet 3,300+ will be needed for full events. The actual solution council has accepted for big events is to have 1,200-1,400 cars park somewhere else and walk to the KED.
Economic Development: Contact me and I can share with you the wealth of information indicating suburban arena and casino projects create very little economic development.
“Time after time, politicians approve public funds, selling the stadiums as public works projects that will boost the local economy and provide a windfall of growth. However, according to leading sports economists, stadiums and arenas rarely bring about the promised prosperity, and instead leave cities and states mired in debt that they can't pay back"
Infrastructure Required:
? A new hydro substation
? Two signalled intersections
? Storm-water system upgrades
? Water and sewer installation
? Kingsway widening
I can’t support spending unknown millions of dollars on new infrastructure for a site that will likely have no positive economic impact. We need to take better care of what we have before building new, and that money is needed in other neighbourhoods across our city.
Historic Buildings: We have already knocked down too many of our historic buildings, and I don’t want to see our community arena torn down (the current plan accepted by council). Instead, spend $50 million to renovate the current arena, another $10 million on a vertical parking garage, and invest in a pedestrian overpass to Energy Court. That will solve our parking issues, complement our existing businesses and infrastructure, cost taxpayers much less, and also ensure our historic Sudbury Community Arena remains the centrepiece of our community.
2. Downtown and the urban-rural divide
Healthy downtowns do equal healthy cities, and I support investing in and reimagining our downtown. A lot of young professionals and businesses we are hoping to attract will want to live and operate downtown.
That being said, forced amalgamation has created a legitimate divide between the different towns of Greater Sudbury and the downtown. I’ve heard horror stories of Greater Sudbury showing up and taking away hard-earned ice resurfacing equipment and firetrucks from communities, and what have they seen in return? Amalgamation does not appear to have saved any money, has in many aspects resulted in a poorer level of service, and was done with little respect to the individual communities. Wonderful town events became mired in red tape and bureaucracy until they ceased to exist.
I think that for our city to heal, the City of Greater Sudbury needs to admit that what was done may not have been what was best for our towns. Then, the city needs to work to become an enabler for our communities. I’d like the City of Greater Sudbury to offer subsidized insurance to not-for-profit events, and offer free use of existing buildings for senior and community centres. Greater Sudbury should listen to our Community Action Networks, and together work to restore the character and pride of our towns.
I support the downtown, and investing there is very important, but we also need to invest more energy, time, and money into the many towns that make up our City of Greater Sudbury.
3. Ward issues
Roads:
For almost everyone I talk to, roads is the No. 1 issue. We have 3,500+ kms of road, many neighbourhood streets haven’t been paved in decades, and there is a lot of catching up to do. Streets that do get paved are often full of holes a year or two later. With shave and pave, patch jobs, and lowest bidder contracts, we’re just spinning our wheels.
In order to make some headway we need to build roads that last. That could mean increasing our standards and spending a bit more, changing the way we build roads, or better oversight. I am committed to working with council and staff to have our roads built right.
Complete Streets:
There is a critical lack of sidewalks in Azilda, and bike lanes are lacking across the ward. I am very excited about implementing the Complete Streets Initiative, and bringing greener and healthier modes of transportation to Ward 4. Staff will work with neighbourhoods to determine what design is best for them — sidewalks, greenways, different kinds of bike lanes, etc. — and then together we can build safer and happier neighbourhoods.
Safe consumption site:
The Donovan needs a safe consumption site. It will save lives, get needles off the streets, and be a central hub of support services for our residents suffering from substance use issues. As they alleviate the burden on our 9-1-1 service, our first responders, and our emergency rooms, safe consumption sites are proven to save lives and also save money.
Sharon Scott:
1. Kingsway Entertainment District
The decision has already been made, why are we still whining about this? We don’t need to waste any more taxpayers’ money.
I don’t think we should be building a $100-million arena. I don’t believe in wasting that much money. But if the money is already committed, adding an art centre to the project, where the number of people going through will boost the sales of local artists, would be helpful. This would help in demonstrating to people that Sudbury isn’t just a mining town.
With regard to the casino, people will gamble locally or go somewhere else to find it. We might just as well keep the money in Sudbury.
2. Downtown and the urban-rural divide
I don’t think any particular part of the city gets special attention. I think more people talk about it, but the concerns aren’t legitimate. There used to be a lot of concern about New Sudbury taking all of the business, but that doesn’t seem to have destroyed the downtown in the long-term. Many of the large malls outside the downtown have many open spaces and are experiencing their own problems.
In the summer an area of the downtown could be closed off to host an open-air mall and flea market to help attract people to the restaurants and stores downtown. Also, athletic events, such as marathons, or iron man competitions could increase the profile of the city.
3. Ward issues
Prostitution and crime are always raised when discussing Ward 4. In fact, it involves Ward 12 and Ward 10 as well. Control measures only seem to result in moving them on from one place to another. People think it’s just people with drug and mental health issues this isn’t true. It’s also people who are just trying to get by and raise a family. These issues have been around for as long as cities have existed. We are unlikely to be able to eliminate them, all we can do is try to improve the situation through programs such as education, safe injection sites or mental health care initiatives.
