Former city councillor Ozzie Grandinetti is officially throwing his hat in the ring for Mayor in the upcoming municipal election.
"For the past four years, I’ve been a blue-collared citizen and am as angry as you are," Grandinetti said in a statement issued today.
Grandinetti's full statement is as follows:
My name is Ozzie Grandinetti and I want to be your Mayor.
Yes, I was at one point in time a councillor in this city, but for the past four years, I’ve been a blue-collared citizen and am as angry as you are.
I’m angry I can’t drive my truck down any street without worrying about a pothole. I’m angry this current council doesn’t seem to care about what citizens want and I’m angry about where my tax dollars go.
When I was on council, I was vocal against nepotism, high taxes, high building permit fees and the rising cost of user fees. These are still high on my list, but I have so much more to add.
You see, I want you, the hard-working men and women of our community, the ones that don’t believe their vote matters on election day to know it does. I have a list of things I want to change in this community but the number one thing I am committed to doing is putting a freeze on your city taxes.
- I believe by doing a forensic audit of each department we can find the money to make this happen.
- I believe that selling all our surplus property on the open market during this boom can help make this happen.
- I believe in not spending money on projects that continuously go over budget even if that means cancelling them.
- I believe in not spending money on projects that are not needed (such as new roads and buildings), etc. Together we can help make this happen.
I envision a thriving downtown and have a few ways I think we can accomplish that. I want to look into a Private/Public partnership to bring much-needed affordable housing to the downtown core. I promise to work with local agencies to address the cause of the downtown issues, not just put band-aid solutions in place.
With all that said, I want to hear from you. I want to know what you want to see done with our city, beyond my visions. I will be listening to your ideas, putting together my plan, and sharing with you the many reasons why I should be your next Mayor. In the next few weeks, I will be launching a website, in the meantime, you can reach me on Facebook or by emailing me at [email protected]