Stew Young was acclaimed as mayor but he also had the biggest election win of anyone in the region.
Langford had a very clear division between the people on the mayor's side and the Langford Team put together by Steve Hurdle. I had thought it would have been a closer election that it turned out to be, but when the dust settled the people of Langford had overwhelmingly endorsed the vision and direction of Stew Young.
For every vote the Langford team got, the mayor's team got two. That is a landslide.
Langford is a place where I do a lot of my shopping and I live in the City of Victoria. I personally like the development of Langford and what Stew Young has done as a mayor, though I have some issues. The criticism of Steve Hurdle of the low degree of civic engagement by the council is a valid one from everything I can see.
I can understand the desire to work quickly and cohesively but I know you get better buy in for decisions when you engage more of the public. Stew Young should see the election results as a vindication for his vision but should also see that enhanced community engagement will support his vision.
I do believe that Langford would have benefited from the election of Steve Hurdle. I do not agree with him on a lot of issues, but I know he would have brought a thoughtful and sober second thought to decisions. He could have been a constructive foil for Stew Young that would have enhanced the development of Langford.
I am interested to see how the Langford continues to grow over the next years. Goldstream avenue is a street that has been transformed into walkable and human scale place. Millstream road has provided us in the region with a compact single destination for all the big box stores that we want. I have seen no place in BC that has done big bax store thing as well as Langford has with the Millstream road area.
One big issue Stew Young is pushing, as are a lot of people on the westshore, is the idea of light rail transit. I remain unconvinced of the case for the idea. My single biggest concern is that the cost to build an LRT is very expensive and the cost to operate is not something I can see this region being able to sustain.
1 comment:
With all due respect, I interpret these election results differently . To say " the people of Langford had overwhelmingly endorsed the vision and direction of Stew Young" and that the win was " a landslide" is inaccurate in light of the fact that only 22% of Langford voters showed up at the polls and only (roughly) 13% of voters voted for the Incumbents.
Now, take into consideration that incumbents, statistically speaking, have a significantly higher chance of re-election (simply from having name recognition among other things)
and that the Langford incumbents have strong allegiances from special interest groups ( we all know who they are), and suddenly the results no longer, in my opinion, can be interpreted as though " the people of Langford had overwhelmingly endorsed the vision and direction of Stew Young".
I went door to door, in the last 2 weeks, reminding people to get out to vote. Interestingly, the most common issue people had with langford Council seemed to be Stew Young himself. Perhaps the resignation that the Mayor would still be in power made many people stay home?
I do agree with the need for better buy in from the community.Community engagement is definetly not this Mayor and Council's mandate.In fact, this is the very reason why they have a growing group of opposition.
The Langford Team is the very first organized opposition the incumbents have had to face. Considering they only came together in the past year and did not have the same advantages/resources,I feel they did well.
It will be interesting to see how the next three years will play
out and I do find it ironic that as the long time Mayor and Council push for unparalled growth, the less they represent the diverse people who are moving here.
Diversity on Council is key to a healthy community and
Denise Blackwell's comments about Steven Hurdle in today's Times-Colonist are a prime indication of this old Council's ability to deal with diversity.
TC quote:
" she acknowledges she's relieved that Hurdle didn't make the cut. "Quite frankly, yes," she says. She said Hurdle would come to council and get information but then give the "opposite" information to the public.
Blackwell anticipates more of the team-like approach the council has taken with Young in the past. "He needs a council he can work with and he's got one." Times Colonist Nov.17
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