Barrie’s south end has long been a hot topic and that will intensify over the next several days heading into the city’s municipal election.
Ward 7 is on the minds of everyone who gets stuck on Mapleview Drive in some of the most congested traffic in the city with the highly travelled road being the first exit into the city from Highway 400.
There are four candidates vying for the huge south-end area that is Ward 7 as Gary Harvey, John McEachern, Bonnie North and incumbent Andrew Prince are all campaigning for votes leading up to election day on Oct. 22.
BarrieToday reached out to the hopefuls for their thoughts on what the next four years should mean for Ward 7 and how they would offer it. Harvey, North and Prince provided their insight.
Harvey is a 19-year resident of Ward 7 and believes that the top issue with the area is one heard throughout Barrie: traffic and safety.
“The No. 1 issue in Ward 7 is traffic,” Harvey tells BarrieToday. “With my plan, we will implement permanent calming measures as opposed to the expensive temporary plastic speed bumps that are currently in use, along with adding several new LED radar signs within the ward, especially in school zones.
"I will also unclog the Mapleview and 400 corridor with the use of smart traffic-light control systems that monitor the flow of traffic and changes the traffic lights in real-time to optimize traffic flow patterns," he added.
Harvey has also said that he is well aware that, despite being elected by the constituents in your area, once on council you must work to better the whole city, a job he believes he is ready for.
“The vision for my ward and my vision for the city as a whole is a global approach and perspective,” said Harvey. “Although the city is divided into wards, we are one big city that has similar issues and requirements across the spectrum. There are some areas that do vary dramatically like the downtown core, which is exactly that: the core of our city.
"With a clean, vibrant downtown, a city can market itself as a destination that is sought after especially with us being a waterfront community," he added.
Bonnie North travelled Canada and the world as part of the nation’s military, but settled in Barrie with her family and now wants to serve the city’s south end.
North echoes the complaints of the ward’s constituents and knows that Barrie is a busy place, but safety is vital.
“We all need to get back and forth to work, shopping, school, sports and our dozens of weekly errands, and we must work together to find solutions to navigate our city streets that move us around efficiently, while also protecting vulnerable road users,” she told BarrieToday.
North believes that working together with fellow councillors is the only way to make sure the whole city succeeds.
“We deserve to have councillors who are ready to get to work together, not only representing our individual wards, but also doing our best to understand the interconnecting needs of other wards, and the city as a whole," she said. "That can only happen if we councillors make the effort to collaborate with each other as team members, doing our best for our own neighbourhoods and for our entire city.”
Andrew Prince has several years of experience in Barrie politics and, as the current councillor for Ward 7, he believes he knows exactly what the ward needs and what is on the minds of the residents.
“Traffic, taxes and public safety” Prince told BarrieToday. “The majority of the residents I have spoken to believe this city council is on the right track.
"We are in no way perfect and there are improvement areas," he added. "And although I extended the community safety zones in 2017, we need to do more. I will be commissioning a full, comprehensive review for the south end to look at ways to enhance public safety and slow down traffic.”
Prince knows that being a ward representative also means working closely with other councillors to not only better the city, but the area he represents as well.
“If you have followed my years at city hall, first as the Ward 9 councillor and now as the Ward 7 councillor, you will know that I have an amazing working relationship with the mayor and my council colleagues,” Prince said. “A primary example of this was during the 2017 business and budget plan where I was able to expand the neighbourhood safety program by $110,000 with support from my council colleagues. I received support from all the councillors and the mayor and this directly impacted Ward 7.”
The municipal election is Oct. 22.
