Moher facing a challenge for deputy mayor
Giarratana, a candidate for deputy mayor in Douro-Dummer Township, says the big issues in his township are tourism, business and agriculture.
“All need our undivided attention,” he states in a release that outlines his platform.
Giarratana is challenging long-time Deputy Mayor Karl Moher in the Oct. 22 municipal election.
Moher has been deputy mayor for eight years. Prior to that, he was a councillor in the township; he was first elected 19 years ago.
In his release, Giarratana thanks Moher for his years of service. But he also states that residents should be asking themselves, ‘What’s next?’
“In our ever-changing world we cannot rest on past achieveGeorge ments,” he writes.
Nor can citizens continue to accept things as they are by simply saying “it is what it is”, Giarratana writes – particularly not in chaotic times.
“While Douro-Dummer may not be the centre of our universe, it is far from being totally under our control,” he writes.
Giarratana writes that the township ought to be consulting “long-term residents” about development proposals – he cites a recent example where a 4,800square-foot commercial building was proposed for a residential neighbourhood.
Such a proposal may have been justified by a planner, but he writes that it “gives no consideration to the character of a neighbourhood.”
“It’s not enough to say better communications,” he writes. “We must ask if an effort can be made to encourage counsellors and staff of the township to identify problems before – not after – they are created.”
Giarratana is an avid photographer and traveller.