McGraw said the trust between residents and municipal hall is broken and change is needed.<\/p>\n
The City of North Vancouver has its first declared challenger for the mayor\u2019s chair in the upcoming municipal election.<\/p>\n
Mike McGraw, a retired small business owner and former school district trustee, is seeking to unseat incumbent Mayor Linda Buchanan.<\/p>\n
McGraw said he is running because the leadership of the city needs to do a better job of listening and responding to residents\u2019 concerns.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think trust has been broken between city hall and residents. I think it\u2019s a real problem\u2026 a change is something that is necessary in order to restore that trust,\u201d he said. \u201cThere are many people who are frustrated because decisions seem to be made that affect the community and when the community provides feedback, the decisions have effectively already been made.\u201d<\/p>\n
McGraw cited the St. Andrews Avenue traffic calming and Eastside Connector bike lanes on Grand Boulevard as key examples.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the end, all of the public advocacy didn\u2019t change the outcome,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
In his announcement, McGraw is promising a full accounting of the city\u2019s exposure to cost overruns at the North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant, a rigorous review of discretionary spending at city hall and \u201cbalanced approach\u201d to transportation infrastructure that works for drivers, cyclists and pedestrians alike.<\/p>\n
The next council will have to oversee some major projects including implementation of the Lonsdale Great Street and the redevelopment of Capilano Mall. If those decisions are going to impact mobility, residents have to be listened to, he said.<\/p>\n
The city also needs a new advocate to push back against the province\u2019s overreach into municipal jurisdiction and stand up for the city\u2019s interests at the Metro Vancouver board, McGraw said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are all things that mayors and councillors sometimes have an ability to shape or participate in, but I think we really need a stronger voice,\u201d he said. \u201cWe need somebody who has strong leadership who can defend and fight for the city\u2019s ability to properly plan for their growth. I think that that\u2019s in jeopardy right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Prior to his mayoral run, McGraw was elected to the North Vancouver School Board from 2011 to 2014. He has also served as a district PAC chair, city library board member and advisory committee member for the Cheakamus Centre outdoor school. As an entrepreneur, McGraw founded Old Skool Studios, which produced mobile games for online casinos.<\/p>\n
The election is scheduled for. Oct. 17.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"McGraw said the trust between residents and municipal hall is broken and change is needed. The City of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":809561,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194298],"tags":[49,48,55],"class_list":["post-809560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-vancouver","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-vancouver"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809560","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=809560"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/809560\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/809561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=809560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=809560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=809560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}