Voters are telling mayoral candidate Peter Chirico one of the top issues in this election campaign is the new community and recreation centre.
“That seems to be top of mind and a lot of questions about the location of the arena,” Chirico says. “We don’t believe that that’s the proper location for the arena and you know what, a lot of people are agreeing with me.”
He does say if the Omischl Sports Complex needs dressing rooms they should be built.
Chirico says safety is another election issue.
“That’s probably the number two issue at the door is that they don’t feel safe downtown,” Chirico says. “We’ve got to reinvent and reimagine this. We’ve got one shot at this next year when we do the big dig. Let’s do it right, let’s consult the owners downtown. We’ve got to make downtown a people place and that’s what I intend to do.”
He also supports infilling, saying downtown should be growing upwards, and there should be limited waterfront development too.
On the issues involving homelessness, Chirico says they need to lobby federal and provincial governments for support, but that’s not all.
“I would like to see our sin tax from the casino, the money we receive from that, moved to affordable housing for both low-income people and our seniors,” he says.
Another priority for Chirico is his green platform including composting and hybrid vehicles while he says the capital projects plan he helped implement in 2005 needs updating.
Leslie McVeety and Johanne Brousseau are also running for mayor in North Bay.
Election Day is Monday, October 24.
