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Ron Popoff outlines platform for re-election
Two-term City of Cranbrook Councillor Ron Popoff is seeking to return to office in the October 15 municipal election.
Popoff provided e-KNOW with a detailed account as to why city voters should consider him for re-election.
What is the city doing to address issues around homelessness, crime, and housing challenges, and even our shortage of physicians? Popoff shares his insights into how we can continue to grow and prosper as a community as well as address these well-known problems.
- Homelessness and crime starts with getting our vulnerable people into safe social housing and away from the troublemakers.
“Homelessness and crime are provincial government issues. The old expression “it takes a community to raise a child” applies to these very situations. Some B.C. communities are having success due to the availability of social housing to take people who are homeless off the streets to have a safe place to seek help. This stabilization by providing supportive housing reduces the challenges of crime and safety down to a smaller population of people to be managed by the police, bylaw staff, and emergency responders.
“Council needs to petition the courts and judicial system to ensure laws change so prolific offenders are placed in mandatory treatment with better accountability to keep them off our streets. Council also needs to continue to increase social housing for our vulnerable people.”
- Housing and prosperity to keep our young working families, attract trades and professionals, and keep our seniors
“To continue growing and prospering, housing challenges need to be addressed. The city is working with developers to ensure the right kinds of housing are being built. We are having record high numbers of building permits, so we need to hire more city development staff to get approvals ready for quicker development.
“According to our housing needs study we are overachieving on market rentals and sales. However, there is still work to do with subsidized housing for our low-income workers and our vulnerable population. My goal is to work towards creating more housing for young working families, housing that attracts more workers and professionals (doctors for instance), and better housing for our seniors who would like to retire in Cranbrook.”
- Doctor shortages – should we grow our own doctors?
“While recruiting physicians is a provincial responsibility, the city supports the EK Division of Family Practice in its efforts to recruit more doctors. Introducing physicians and their families to Cranbrook will help them see the value of living here and we want them to feel welcomed in our community.
“However, I know the city can do more and I am putting two ideas forward as questions:
“A- Should we use city tax dollars to actively recruit doctors from other parts of Canada and around the world? Some B.C. municipalities are doing just that with some success. The challenge remains that we have retention problems, and we still may need to take doctors from other communities.
“B- Should we “grow our own” doctors? We could partner with nearby communities to put together a plan that reaches out to our local students attending medical school and offer them financial support to complete their training, and support finding clinical opportunities here locally. The expectation of course is that they return home to start their medical practice. This may be more cost effective and result in better retention of our home-grown physicians. This could also be a model for recruiting other medical experts.
“Either option would be a city tax expense. I welcome feedback on this issue.”
- A livable Cranbrook starts with downtown vibrancy
“The Heidout started it all! Downtown Cranbrook is more vibrant each year. Years ago, Heidi took an entrepreneurial risk to pioneer and revitalize her former restaurant into what is now the very successful Heidout Restaurant and Brewhouse. Thank you Heidi. Flash forward, Fred and Jesse convinced the city to sell them the historic city firehall and they converted it to the Fire Hall Kitchen and Tap which is now a successful operation. (I still think they should have called it, “Hosers!”).
“Fisher Peak Performing Artists Society is in its 10th year producing Summer Sounds in Rotary Park, attracting crowds of 700+ locals and visitors who enjoy the live music on Saturday evenings. Local food trucks and beer gardens add to this fun atmosphere. Even the Cranbrook Farmers Market has grown to the point where they may need more space.
“Looking to the future we have Ferdy and his partners who are repurposing the empty and under loved Armond Theatre into a live music lounge with seating capacity to fit between the Key City Theatre and the Stage Door.
“Though I could not recognize all of the amazing entrepreneurs and organizations who are contributing to this new, exciting energy, please feel free to comment below with recognition for those I missed. And please reply to this post with how you would like to contribute to or see this energy grow in our downtown core.
“All of these examples of downtown vibrancy are not built by the city, but by entrepreneurs and organizations who have a vision. We need to attract more people to live downtown to support and continue to grow this vibrancy. This is one of my key goals for the next city council, especially establishing downtown housing.”
- Cranbrook is growing so what do we want Cranbrook to look like?
“How do we want to grow? Cranbrook is revising our official community plan which will determine how, when, and where we want to focus on development. This is a crucial time for you to contribute to the vision. We must also consider what we want to avoid in our city in the future.
“I believe we need a long-term smart growth strategy on development. We need more multi-housing units in our downtown. Instead of further expanding on the outskirts of town, we should build a livable, walkable downtown with residential, commercial, and recreational developments in close proximity.
“We also need to develop a growth strategy to protect the rural lands between Wildstone and Shadow Mountain.”
Popoff concluded with a thought about the next city council.
“My priorities next term are to focus on our livability to attract more business and workers (trades and professionals) and to make Cranbrook a great place to live, work and play in, so everyone, especially our young families and seniors, will want to remain in Cranbrook.”
Editor’s note: All municipal and school board candidate profiles and stories are submitted to e-KNOW for publication. All candidates are invited to submit such profiles to: [email protected]
Lead image: Ron Popoff takes part in the 2022 Sam Steele Days Parade along with fellow Rotary Club members. e-KNOW file photo
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