I'm glad that many other people running for council are now echoing many of my sentiments including better road safety now that there is an election - everyone is jumping on the bandwagon and rightfully so. As many of you neighbours know - I was fighting for years for something to be done on our streets and many months ago thanks to the community signing our petition for Speed Mitigation Tools - we got our voices heard and action is on the way.
However - CHANGE IS COMING to Bradford. We cannot afford to have more of the same.
Diversity Daily I work with over 40,000 people world wide in over 30 different countries (daily) from all walks of life. Engineers and Labours, Students to people with 50+ years experience, I work, socialize and problem solve well with them all.
Over a decade teaching at Humber College and Humber's Post Grad Programs, is essential to embrace and champion diversity as a daily norm. I grew up in a community and chose to raise my kids in a diverse community. I have friends and family with limited physical abilities, disabilities and social economic challenges so I'm well accustomed to working and helping everyone I can.
No one left behind! One sector of diversity that people forget about is our elders and disabled. we have several retirement homes and assisted living centers (with more in planing) that we need to safely transport and connect to our community across town and to Newmarket for hospital and medical access.
There are select people running for council (in Ward 4 and some others) proposing to eliminate public transit and replacing it with cab and Uber (ride sharing) companies. This is fundamentally wrong, expensive to users and puts many marginalized and other members of society at a disadvantage. We need to stop thinking like a rural town.
4 examples of why this is not ideal and the reason any quality city / town should not use this as a primary and viable solution:
Who would put young teens going to school and work into a strangers car. The safety aspect of public systems and network is there for accessibility and safety. In addition these services can easily be scaled up and when we have events around town can be a fantastic tool to move people safely and efficiently.
Transit links the Communities together. We need to partner with Newmarket to move our teen and young adults (and even manufacturing and professional workers) to the closest town in York Region. This will help in the coming years to connect and keep our community working.
Accessibility and our Elderly need public transportation. The elitist attitude that we can just use cabs and Uber's are totally forgetting about what we need to do as a proper society and that is to ensure that we have accessible transportation system. What cab (and how many) can accommodate wheelchair access or limited mobility? If we need a two tier system then what's the point and there is no savings.
85%+ of the population live, shop and go to school off of Holland St / 88. So as we grow - these are the areas, amenities and population that benefit from public transportation. All the retirement homes and assisted living areas also are in the corridors and that is why it makes sense for a public transportation system to connect our community.
Navigating Change. The Right Change.
Change management takes skills to facilitate and transition. My experience and skillsets if elected on council partnered with the fine staff and residents of BWG will be a reassuring voice for the community as Bradford needs to have a downtown like Kleinburg, Unionville, Schomburg type of feel to the downtown and not a miss-mash of heritage buildings and tacky Vegas / Times Square signage. We need to keep the farms for food and reduce the temptation for marijuana production in Ontario's more fertile soil.
At the end of the day Diversity is inclusion not exclusion. But we need respect and maintain the culture, values and heritage of Old Bradford with the beauty and diversity standards of today and the future. I have many more ideas and would love to hear yours.
Check out my other Blog posts and website content to see how we can LOVE WHERE WE LIVEā¢
Our Work International Engineering Soccer Team.