Mayor candidates point to Fort Erie’s potential
Three-way race for town’s top job focuses on development
The three candidates for mayor in Fort Erie agree on at least one point – the town has a store of potential that’s waiting to be unlocked.
The deadline for candidates to file passed Friday, now it’s up to voters on Oct. 22 to decide who holds the key - incumbent Wayne Redekop, two-time town councillor Stephen Passero or frequent council candidate George Jardine. Redekop and Passero have already faced off once, in 2014. In a five-person mayoral race, Redekop won with 5,329 votes while Passero finished second with 2,734.
Gaining commercial development and increasing the stock of residential housing could be the biggest issues facing the town over the next four years.
And maybe – just maybe – a reopening of the slots at the Fort Erie Race Track, since Doug Ford said he supported that during the campaign in the weeks leading up to his election as premier.
“I think we have such tremendous promise as a municipality … and I want to make sure the things we started are followed through,” Redekop said last week, in announcing his reelection bid.
He was mayor from 1997 to
2006, then elected again in 2014. He said the time away from council “helped to recharge my batteries and have some different views on things that I believe can help Fort Erie succeed and prosper in the future.”
He said the town’s waterfront strategy will help attract new investment, but “the challenge of dealing with the increasing residential development in Fort Erie (is) how we integrate that into the natural heritage features, wildlife habitats, that we have now.”
In an interview this week, Passero said the town must be bolder and be ready to “kick open the door when opportunity knocks. And it’s been knocking, we need to let it in.”
He added: “I am growing tired of hearing, ‘we could have had this, we almost had that.’ We deserve more in this town given the untapped potential.”
He said, “I want to welcome (developers and investors) and work with them, not chase them off because a small group of people don’t want to progress forward.”
Jardine, who registered Friday to run for mayor, has tried three times previously to win a seat on council in Ward 6. In 2014 he finished fifth in a six-way race, and also lost in attempts for that ward in 2010 and 2006.