Talk:Canada's Toronto—Danforth (Ward 29) city council candidates speak

RAW TEXT, HAMISH

>What is your name? Hamish Wilson > >What is your age? 49 > >What is your current/most recent job/occupation? >writer/consultant/house repair

>What ward are you running in? (# plz) 29 > > >(ALL, 300 WORDS MAX) - Describe the three most important issues in your >campaign. > We're heading towards a very nasty changed climate and aren't doing much here to reduce both our emissions nor to alleviate impacts. Transport sector emissions lead our emissions growth yet the slim majority of NDP councillors are persisting with the Front St. Extension project, which hasn't looked at transit options, nor harm to transit from this $255million 2km roadway. We have to look at transit instead of cars, and not just on this waterfront project. I'm also very keen on making much safer passage for bikes east-west through the core. Bikes are a real part of solving many ills, though there are dork cyclists. Ensuring safe east-west passage on Bloor St. beside the subway is an important thing to do in all core wards; and it would be cheap to do. See takethetooker.ca. More safety for bikes might ease morning crowds on the Bloor subway a bit too. The incumbent doesn't like bike lanes and is fouling up our progress. Housing affordibility and conditions is another important thing.

>(ALL, 100 WORDS MAX) - What one election issue do you feel is most relevant >to your ward in this election? >Actual leadership towards sustainable transportation, instead of reacting >against bike lanes and trying to remove them. Peak oil, climate change, >smog are all resulting from our inability to provide other options beyond >the mobile furnace.

>(ALL, 200 WORDS MAX) - Why have you chosen to involve yourself in the >political process? >We are all climate cariminals to some degree, and to spend over a quarter >billion on a road folly while lots of other things fall apart is wrong. The >Feb. 21/05 21-19 council vote to keep alive the Front St. Extension and not >to explore transit options meant we couldn't trust the NDP to be as >progressive as they claim to be. Over time one person can make a difference >and one can drag the debate towards certain issues and perspectives.

>(ALL, 100 WORDS MAX) - Why do you want to represent this particular ward on >council? >It's where I live, though I'm recently in the area and the area deserves >more aware and constructive representation to try to deal with the problems >of the area. It's not simple, there's an awful lot of work and >responsibility in such a position.

>(ALL, 300 WORDS MAX) - How are you currently involved in the community? >I've been deputing over the last four years about the Front St. Extension >which is big tax money, I'm on the Toronto Cycling Committee (again - I >took off a couple of years, but it's been nearly a decade of bikework, and >I'm quite involved in the TaketheTooker.ca effort. I also have had a lot of >time with transit groups, and previous volunteer community radio work led >to numerous links to environmental and civic groups, such as C4LD, fighting >the destructive "amanglemation" deemed by the Harristocracy. And I try to >read some papers.

> >(ALL, 100 WORDS MAX) - What does Toronto mean to you? >It's been a home, yet it's also been uncomfortable given housing costs and >how gargantuan our energy and resource consumption is though there are many >good people trying to do good things. It's a useful place, yet it's also >frustrating.

>(ALL, 200 WORDS MAX) - Which council decision (since the 2003 election) do >you feel the city/your ward should be most proud of, and which was least >desirable? >That's a good question - likely working on the waste reduction side of >things, but I've been very focussed on deflecting the Front St. Extension, >so the 21-19 vote in Feb 21/05 stunk, moreso as most "progressives" kept >this Dumb Growth alive.

>(NON-INCUMBENTS ONLY) - If you were elected as a "rookie" councillor, What >would you bring to the table beyond the incumbent? A strong love, not hatred, of bicycles. I'd also be more wlling to be harder on automobility but we also have to promote options - I have some ideas and am propositional, not reactionary. With the FSE, I proposed optional transit routes, not just saying No to Dumb Growth. I also have a deep understanding of all the environmental ramifications of our built environment and would try to turn back the thermostat and slow the throughput. I also have a degree of awareness of the poltical processes at City Hall and many of the politicians too, though part of me wants most of them tossed.