City hall rookie determined to make his mark
For Evan Woolley, the desire to represent Ward 8 on city council was borne out of the fact that it’s been his home most of his 33 years.
Born three blocks from where he now lives and five blocks from where he attended school, Woolley is very much the neighbourhood guy, something that will serve the rookie councillor in good stead in the coming years.
“It’s an incredibly humbling experience,” Woolley said of the post he was voted to in October. “You can never underestimate the importance of this job because the decisions that you make impact people’s lives day to day; whether it’s the bus route or the crumbling sidewalk or the really great bike path. All politics is local and I’ve come to appreciate and recognize the huge impact this job has.”
A graduate of Carleton University with an honours degree in political science, his goal initially was to be a diplomat. But his love of the city and the many opportunities it held for him, both in the workforce and as a volunteer, kept him here near his fam- ily, including his mom, two sisters and one brother.
“My decision to do this was about where can I influence the most change, and ultimately government is where you make decisions,” he pointed out. “I wanted to act as a conduit for the aspirations and challenges of my neighbourhood and I’m lucky enough that they chose me to do that.”
He admits his greatest challenge is the learning curve and his one pet project is housing.
“There is a housing crisis in this city,” he said. “It wasn’t brought on by the flood, but was exacerbated by the flood in June. We have a very simple way not to fix the problem but to ease the crunch and that is to legalize secondary suites. It’ll be a top priority of mine. The other is traffic. We have built a city and a transportation system in this city that pumps people from downtown into our suburbs every day and that has impacted Ward 8 immensely. It’s not sexy, but it’s important.
“I’m committed to getting quick wins in my neighbourhoods.”