Breen expected a challenge for re-election
Ward 1 councillor gets second term unopposed
Danny Breen’s not sure what to make of the fact that no one stepped forward to run against him; he says he was prepared for an election campaign.
“I had all my signs and my materials all ready, and had started my re-election campaign, so yeah, I expected to have an election campaign,” said the St. John’s Ward 1 councillor, acclaimed for his second term. “As it turned out, that didn’t happen.”
Does he think that suggests people are happy with his work in his first term? Breen, 51, won’t say yes, but said he works hard.
“I’ve tried to be as responsive as I can in returning my calls and my emails, and helping people the best that I could,” he said. “That’s all I can really do, and everything else is out of my hands.”
Looking ahead to the next four years, Breen — a vice-president for insurance firm Jenkins Anthony — says there are several areas where sidewalks and services need to be upgraded.
“Harbour View Avenue. The Penny Lane area. That still requires some work,” he said.
“We’re going ahead with the new sidewalks on Logy Bay Road this year, so I want to make sure that project gets underway and completed. The new Wedgwood Park recreation centre is a big project. Not only am I excited about it … but I want to make sure that it’s also done properly and it’s also being sensitive to the area and the neighbourhood.”
Speeding on neighbourhood streets is a major issue, said Breen, as is the redevelopment of Pleasantville.
“It’s been going on and on and it’s going very slowly, but we have to make sure that that’s done properly and with the residents’ best interests in mind.”
Breen — the chairman of the city’s finance and administration standing committee in his first term — said one of the biggest issues the city has to face as a whole is negotiating a new fiscal framework with the province. “If we’re going to lessen the tax burden on people, and that’s what we want — we want to be able to provide our services, but with the way we operate now with the province, we really need a new fiscal arrangement,” he said. “For example, the province pays no property tax, and now it doesn’t even pay a grant in lieu of taxes for its properties in the city. And we also pay the provincial portion of the HST, which amounts to about $10 million a year. They’re big issues, and we need to address those issues.”
Breen said he also wants the city to develop a multi-ice-surface recreation complex.
“Our hockey and skating facilities in the city right now are pretty old, and there’s a lack of ice time for minor hockey, for skating, for figure skating and those things, so I’d like to work with the community and with the private sector, some partnerships, to develop a multi-ice-surface complex.”