Message from Mike Ruttan, reposted from Alberni Valley Municipal Elections Page, in response to Sandy McRuers Summary of the Meet & Greet: Thanks for taking the time to attend the Meet and Greet, Sandy. I appreciate that you were willing to follow up on my invitation and take the time to speak with me directly. Face-to-face conversations are much more productive than electronic ones. There are a couple of statements that you’ve made on-line that I need to clarify. I did not say that I’d tried to get information from City Hall staff about the 2007 McLean’s Mill plan and hadn’t received a response – that was Malcolm Meninga who said that. At no time have I asked city staff for that information. The link for this report was generously shared by Chris Alemany on this forum. I have always had excellent communication with city staff. They have been more than courteous and forthcoming with their assistance. Essentially what Malcolm and I were discussing was how best to increase the population base within the City of Port Alberni. We were talking two sides of the same challenge. I believe that there won’t be growth if there’s not a reason for people to choose to live here. That means that there needs to be an increase in business activity in order to provide employment opportunities. What Malcolm was talking about is promoting the liveability of this area so that people will want to move here to take advantage of our natural attributes. We need both. If we’d had more time to discuss the issue we would’ve gotten to that but other people were waiting to speak with me and I needed to spend time with them, as well. We need to build those relationships within our city that strengthen its profile, that strengthen the reasons for people to choose Port Alberni over some other place. I did not say that I didn’t support big industry. What I said was that big industry alone cannot be seen as our city’s economic saviour. Small and medium-sized businesses are also an important economic driver of this community. As a city, we’ve spent a lot of tax dollars courting big projects and it has not brought us economic stability. We need diversity, inclusiveness, and a tax regime that welcomes business investments. That’s what will encourage growth in our city. For that to occur all of us need to work together. Everyone has the potential to contribute, to promote, to propose ideas to that end. One last statement that I want to correct is your impression that people in attendance at my Meet and Greet were from one particular group. In fact attendance was extremely diverse. There were retirees, business people, people who work in industry, youth – in short, people representing the complete spectrum of residents of this community and not just people from one particular group. I appreciated hearing from people with so many diverse opinions. Once again, thanks for taking the time to inform yourself about my platform and your interest in informing the followers of this forum about issues related to this municipal election. It’s a complex one with a wide community interest. That’s clear from the large number of citizens who have put their names forward to be considered by voters as their representatives on City Council. I wish all of them well in their quest and admire their willingness to be considered to represent us. Mike Ruttan, Candidate for Mayor
Posted on: Mon, 20 Oct 2014 15:55:15 +0000
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