Barrie mayor Jeff Lehman kicked off his re-election campaign this evening with a platform announcement and discussion with those looking to ask questions on the city’s future.
Supporters packed the main foyer and upper level balcony of Innovative Automation at 625 Welham Road as Lehman explained his reasons for running again and what he planned on accomplishing for the city.
“I have said before that if people are looking for a mayor who is going to stay the course, they should probably vote for someone else and I continue to feel that way eight years later,” said Lehman. “My job is positive change, to change the city for the better and I am as passionate about that today as I was eight years ago when I first ran for mayor.”
Those who were supporting Lehman were able to grab a pamphlet describing his platform, though they will also be delivered to each home in Barrie soon. Lehman believes that announcing intentions is vital to keep accountable to the voters.
“If you’re going to seek a mandate from the people you should tell them what you want a mandate to do and you should put that out beforehand,” said Lehman. “People should be able to judge you on your proposals and on your ideas but also so that people can hold me accountable. Four years later people should be able to look back and say did you do what you said you were going to do? That’s the purpose of this and today.”
Strength was the key word in Lehman’s plan for the next four years with the mayor looking for a strong economy, strong society and strong neighbourhoods. Acting on these issues now is better than waiting any longer, Lehman feels.
“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure is an old saying, but is 100 per cent true,” said Lehman. “I’ve learned in eight years that there are a lot more opportunities to do that better and that is a key theme for what I want to do. I want to keep taxes down and keep us sustainable and try to do a much better job of preventing problems before they happen and affect people’s lives.”
The homeless crisis and trying to keep up with high rental fees has been a key focus with this current council and looks to continue to be as the Oct. 22 municipal elections get closer.
“For me most of all, we’re really going to have to change the way we think of affordable housing in our city,” said Lehman. “We have an incredible city full of incredible neighbourhoods but we don’t have the range of housing that we need for all incomes and all stages of life. We are going to need to build a much broader range and we’re starting to see that in Barrie with Essa Road; if someone would have told me four years ago that Essa Road would be the hotbed for new apartments and townhouses in the city in the year 2017 or 2018, I would have been quite surprised but that’s the case.”
Barrie is poised to continue the fast growth it has shown in recent years with projections having the city going from its current 147,000 residents to possibly as high as 210,000 over the next 13 years.
“We’re growing fast again and we have to get it right as we go forward from here,” said Lehman. “If you look at our plans for the new annexed lands, they are sort of a return to the east end and older neighbourhoods in our city that have more of those local shops and services, that have a broader range of housing types and that is how they are being designed.”
Lehman touched also on the topic of Barrie’s growing diversity and one way to help those not only new to the city but also new to Canada.
“I love all the festivals that are on the waterfront, it is incredible all the festivals and events we have here in Barrie,” said Lehman. “But we have probably got to the point now where we may just have enough on the waterfront and we might even want to move some of those out to the other parts around the city so we let other neighbourhoods share in some of the special events. We have a great opportunity through those events to really celebrate the growing diversity of the city of Barrie and that is something that is a mark of change in recent years as the city becomes more ethnically diverse with a broader range of jobs and careers as well as just a place where people from.”
Many in the city feel that the mayoral race between Lehman and candidate Ram Faerber is not going to be close as the incumbent won his last election with 92.3 per cent of the popular vote. Lehman says that he does not view it that way and takes every day as mayor seriously.
“I never ever take it for granted,” said Lehman. “I said when I ran in 2010 that I wanted to earn this job every single day I had it, and that includes over the next month leading up to this municipal election.”
