Reading the Mayor’s campaign promises regarding Smart Commute is just too much for Newmarket commuters. The Mayor appears to be the world’s biggest hypocrite in light of his intrusive involvement in prolonging the YRT/Viva strike. While campaigning for votes in 2010, he talked about getting people out of cars, reducing congestion, and reducing pollution. All of this rings hollow now for those of us coping without the benefit of the YRT, forced to walk to work in sub-zero conditions for the past three months. The latest news is that there is no news on upcoming transit talks. Voters will remember that this Mayor is no friend of commuters.
On the matter of a women’s shelter, thankfully Belinda’s House is 1/3 of the way towards its fundraising goal. Emergency shelter is one thing but it is as important to see some improvements in the availability of affordable rentals in Newmarket, towards affordable transit so low income earners can travel to work, and towards affordable recreation for families. There is so much more that needs to be done for our most vulnerable in our community. We get a lot of lip service from politicians but when I am speaking to real people who depend on social assistance its clear that there are few services in Newmarket to help these families get a leg up and out of poverty.
On Economic Development and Downtown Business, the most notable thing the Mayor has done in 2011 is to give these downtown business owners a new tax break through the heritage designation. It has never been explained how this new tax break offsets the lack of parking, public transit, and other obstacles for people travelling into the downtown area. Drivers find limited parking and public transit is not an option.
On his overall record, despite the few promises he made in 2010 towards his re-election, Mayor Van Bynen has managed to disappoint us on all of them in 2011. This is a very unpromising start for his new term. His biggest fault, as evidenced by the $2.6 shared digital infrastructure fiasco, is his inability to communicate a clear vision for Newmarket’s future. Instead, he would have us bumping along without any regard for where our Mayor would like to see Newmarket end up. There is a cost to having a bumbler as a mayor. Past examples have constantly shown that the end result of poor municipal leadership is always higher taxes.
In fact elaborate parking studies have shown that we have ample parking in the downtown area and one active Newmarket resident worked with the YRT and the regional counselor to ensure that a bus travels right down Main St every half hour.
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