Fall Municipal Elections

A larger number of people have asked if I would run for Victoria City Council in November than I have expected would do so.   Enough that I am seriously considering the idea.

I started this blog as a way to express my thoughts on what I thought could be better in this City.   I am not a fan of Victoria.  This is mainly because the potential of what the city could be is so much more than what it is now.   I also happen to like a different climate - 40+ in the summer and -10 in the winter.   But Victoria is my home and will be so for decades to come.

In 2008 I used this blog as a way for me to figure out who was running for council around the region and what they stood for.   I saw from the 2005 elections how hard it was to find out about the candidates.  I started out  really just doing it did for myself, but in the end I had thousands of people reading it each day to find out about the election.   I had sort of thought I would be doing something similar this time around.

Enough people have asked if I would run that I need to actually consider it.    To this end, please send me an email with your thoughts on the idea.   I will not be allowing the posting of comments on this post because this is not a public debate for me.

My primary reasons I am not keen to run:

• I have expressed enough of my thoughts online that I have no hope of getting elected
• If all eight incumbents run again, the odds of running and winning is low.   I could only see it happening if there were an organized slate and I was part of it.
• I have learned that I have thinner skin than I thought and I really do not deal well with unfounded anger directed at me
• I have four boys, the youngest of which is only three and being on council may not fit with my life.
• I am not sure I would be able to make more of a difference being elected than not - I am realistic about the real power that elected officials have

Primary reasons I would run:

• If I could be on a team on council that would make some real change to Victoria for the positive
• To put an end to the dumb LRT idea and ideally get power of transit into the hands of local government
• Work towards a closer cooperation between municipalities on planning, zoning and bylaws
• Because enough people have said I should that I might have a realistic chance of winning.

So the idea is out there, tell me what you think.