THUNDER BAY – James Glavish says he's running for change.
A retired Canada Post employee, the first-time candidate says not enough is being done to fix the city’s problems and those who were sitting on council weren’t properly representing their constituents on all matters of importance.
Enough was enough, Glavish said.
“I wanted to run to represent the people,” he said.
One of the areas of neglect is the city’s Lift+ service, which doesn’t come close to meeting the needs of the people it’s supposed to serve, Glavish said.
“You’ve got to book Lift a week in advance to utilize it, and it shouldn’t be that way because a lot of times the disabled person that relies on it needs it that one day,” he said. “There should be one there to be utilized for emergency cases for the disabled.”
However, his top issue is homelessness, he said, pointing to a tent city in place near the Kam River Heritage Park on Simpson Street.
“Winter is coming and they’ve got to be looked after. People have to realize this and we have to find them a place to stay and live. There might be some vacant buildings we can turn into accommodations to support these people in transition through the winter, and then get them situated in other homes or apartments.”
An indoor turf facility, he said, should be left up to the people.
“I personally would like to see the turf facility go ahead, but in conjunction with a tennis facility. Those people worked hard to get money to come to the table and they want to be [taken seriously]. So I think [we need] a facility that could be co-shared with everybody.”
Glavish is also keen on finding ways to make Thunder Bay a safer place to live. At present, he said, anyone researching the city as a potential place to live, whether from other parts of Canada or elsewhere around the world, is going to see Thunder Bay listed as the murder capital of the country, among other negative impressions.
Perception is one thing, reality is another, he said.
“Once [people] come here, they love it,” Glavish said. “They know it wasn’t true. We’ve got to turn that around in people’s eyes to get more people here and get police more involved with maybe foot patrols within the city to make it feel more safe.”
