THUNDER BAY – If you’ve spent any time hanging around the local sports community, you’ve probably run into Kasey Etreni.
The first-time at-large candidate has been heavily involved with the Thunder Bay Queens and many other sports organizations, and has volunteered on a wide range of hospital committees at Thunder Bay Regional, where she was a charge radiation therapist in the Cancer Care centre until her recent retirement.
Etreni said she’s also lived in many different neighbourhoods in Thunder Bay, giving her a unique perspective on the issues facing the community as a whole.
“I have a genuine passion for our community and its future success,” she said.
“I have background in budgeting, I have background in research. My husband is also a business owner, so I have a bit of that experience too. My hospital experience is going to be critical to sitting on city council. It brings that diversity and a different voice to the table. I have a background in the foundation and fundraising and then I have a background with all the volunteering I’ve done in the community.”
Asked to list a top issue facing the electorate over the coming four years, Etreni said it’s tough to narrow it down to one, there are so many that need immediate attention in Thunder Bay.
“We have homelessness, of course, which is a hot topic in our community. Crime is another hot topic in our community. Opioids is the third,” she said.
Finding solutions to the issues is another story altogether.
While homelessness, for example, isn’t necessarily a municipal responsibility, there is a role for council to play in helping solve the problem, with nearly 700 people living on the streets in a city of 100,000.
“There are some excellent organizations that council can support. Through the District Social Services Administration Board, there are organizations that already have initiatives in place. A lot of the organizations in our community, like Elevate, have done all the work,” Etreni said. “They just need to roll out those initiatives.”
Etreni said it’s time to finally start making a decision on the future of the proposed indoor turf facility. The proposal recently shelved by city council would have cost upward of $46 million, only to have other levels of government turn down funding.
Another course of action is needed, she said.
“I don’t agree with increasing what taxpayers pay,” she said. “What I’d like to see is some different avenues. We can see if we can get donations or fundraising – there are other ways to handle this.”
Because the city has allocated $17 million already, Etreni also believes the city could build a Hangar-style or bubble-style facility without needed additional funds, an idea she would also support.
She acknowledged crime, and in particular violent crime, is a growing issue in Thunder Bay, where there have been a record 12 murders already in 2022.
“We don’t want to be in the top two for any of those [crime categories] in our country or across the province,” Etreni said. “So we do need to develop some initiatives for that. We have a lot of committees and a lot of reports that you can see on the city website of some really good work that’s been done to start solving some of those issues.
“We just need to start taking action.”
