By Michael Rappaport
Go figure. Federal and provincial politicians get far more attention from the media, but municipal politicians make most of those daily decisions that directly affect people’s lives. From property taxes to zoning regulations, local council meetings are where the real action is.
Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson:
Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson decided to get involved in politics after he bought a house in 1989 and was shocked by the high property taxes.
“Seeing property tax for the first time in my life, I became concerned with the substantial spending spree that Ottawa city councillors of the day were on.
“Instead, of just grumbling about the bill I decided to run for office,” Watson says.
Watson was first elected a city councillor for Capital Ward in 1991.
Before being elected mayor, Watson was the director of communications at the Parliamentary Speaker’s Office and had served on the board of governors at Carleton University, his alma mater.
Among his proudest accomplishments as mayor, Watson cites cutting development charges. He says this helped spur a housing construction boom in Centretown.
“Being part of the council that eliminated development charges for Centretown, allowed a great increase in houses being built literally hundreds of new homes,” he says.
Catherine Boucher, director of the Centretown Citizens Ottawa Corporation says, “Watson has done a terrific job at prompting builders to put up houses on former parking lots by waiving development charges.”
Dealing with the National Capital Commission has been a continual source of frustration for Watson, whose battles with the organization over downtown development plans for to overhaul Metcalfe Street and demolish a building on 100 Sparks St. have long been front page news.
“The NCC doesn’t have a great appreciation for the concerns of residents,” he says.
Though Watson supports the one-city model plans for municipal restructuring he does not plan to run next November for the mega-city council. Watson is backing Gloucester Mayor Claudette Cain for the race for mayor of the new mega-city.
As for his plans after leaving office Watson is still undecided.
“I’d prefer to get out of the political environment for a while. I’d like to remain in Ottawa but do something in the private sector.”
Regional Coun. Diane Holmes:
“She’s super.”
That’s how Lorraine Redford, a coordinator for the Centretown Action Committee, describes Diane Holmes.
“Anytime you call her she gets back to you quickly and gives you good advice,” Redford says.
When Holmes moved from Montreal to Ottawa in 1978, she joined the Centretown Citizens Community Association.
In December 1982, Holmes was elected Councillor for Wellington Ward. In 1994 she became the first directly elected Regional Councillor for Somerset ward, and was acclaimed to another three-year term in 1997.
During her terms as councillor, Holmes has tried to make the streets safer for pedestrians by installing more traffic lights, putting in speed bumps, expanding bus service and planting trees.
“Generally, I tried to bring Centretown back to healthy vibrant community that it was pre-1960s when the regional government widened roads for commuters and thereby driving residents out,” Holmes says.
Holmes has been a tireless advocate for the downtrodden working with social groups to maintain shelters and services for seniors, women, the disabled, and the poor.
Holmes doesn’t intend to run for mega-city councillor this November.
After 17 years in office, Holmes is looking forward to retirement.
“Go and get a life. Get out and travel. See movies, garden, golf, ski. Have fun,” she says.
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City Coun. Elisabeth Arnold:
Frustration with the system while working as an advocate for the homeless spurred Elisabeth Arnold to run for office in 1991.
“Working at Housing Help, an organization that tries to help people find and keep affordable housing, I had to ask various levels of government for assistance. I found it really vexing since they were not very responsive, so I decided to run to see if I could change things,” she says.
Arnold lost to the incumbent Peter Harris in 1991.
But she ran again in 1994, and narrowly beat Harris with a margin of 26 votes.
The rivalry, however, between Arnold and Harris still persists.
Harris, now the manager of the Preston Street Business Improvement Area blames Arnold for discouraging entrepreneurs.
“Arnold is very anti-business and has not looked hard enough to find a solution to bridge the gap between businesses and residents in the downtown core,” Harris says.
Arnold has made her top priorities affordable housing, health care and education.
As a councillor she has fought hard to keep open and re-build the Plant Pool recreation centre which has been closed since 1996.
She ran as the New Democrat Party’s candidate in the 1999 provincial election, but finished a distant third.
Nonetheless, Arnold remains undeterred and plans to runs for mega-city council in November. She is basing her platform on her six years experience as a councillor.
She says, “We need a strong experienced advocate for Centretown.”