Building a Healthy Economy
In campaign 2010, I promised to help promote a healthy, green economy.
In my first 11 months, I’ve supported a reduction in the tax rate for Victoria businesses, brought forward a Motion on a new STIR program to create short term incentives for rental housing, examined each line of our 2011 budget to find every opportunity to hold the line on residential taxes – while looking under every rock for new money so we can still provide quality community services.
And I have scrutinized dozens of development proposals and brought to bear a balanced consideration of their merits, looking to our new Official Community Plan for guidance to ensure we have the right homes available for the 20,000 new residents that Victoria needs to fuel its economic success in the coming decades.
We must act to preserve the incredible heritage of Victoria – it brings visitors and residents satisfaction to see the past acknowledged and valued – but we must also make prudent decisions to plan appropriate development for the future – so we can accommodate the people we need to support our future economy.
And we can tap into new revenue streams to fund public services and limit tax increases. I want to have a conversation about how we can explore the financial rewards of leasehold naming rights for city facilities while defining the parameters of those options to ensure Victoria has the tools to make decisions based on our community values.
And we can work with local business to create new jobs. I am excited about the Seaspan contracts for non-military shipbuilding and repair that will bring hundreds of new jobs to Victoria. These are jobs for a generation that will see stable long-term economic development.
Another quick example of how I have acted on my campaign commitments. This is what you can rely on if you re-elect me as your Victoria City Councillor. And I’ll take the same balanced approach to regional issues if I am at the CRD table – like regional delivery of transportation, police and emergency preparedness services…
Check back again for more!
