Four concerns
I keep hearing.
These are in no particular order, because I don't think residents rank their problems — they just want them dealt with. Here's what I'm hearing, and how I intend to work on it.
A straight word about this page
I'm one candidate asking for one seat on an eight-member council. I'm not going to stand here and promise you I can fix all of this alone, or pretend I've got every answer worked out before I've heard from the people living with these problems. What I can promise is that I'll bring them forward, ask the hard questions, and tell you the truth about the answers.
Homelessness
The situation in Niagara Falls is getting out of hand, and saying so isn't the same as blaming the people caught in it.
I've spent two years as an Ambassador for Start Me Up Niagara and a year with GROW in Niagara Falls. That work put me in the same room as the organizations doing the hardest parts of this — and it taught me that the people on the street are somebody's son or daughter. They're also not the only ones affected. Residents and small business owners are living with the consequences every day, and both of those things are true at once.
What I'll push for is a council that stops treating this as somebody else's file. Niagara Falls needs to be at the table with the Region, with the agencies already doing the work, and with the residents most affected — and it needs to report back honestly on what's actually changing.
Drug paraphernalia in our streets
It's out of control, and it's a public safety issue whether or not it's a comfortable one to raise.
Parents in this city are checking the sidewalk before they let their kids walk to school. That's the reality, and a council that won't name it plainly isn't going to fix it. This is connected to the addiction and housing crises — it isn't separate from them — but the immediate question of what's on the ground in our parks, playgrounds, and downtown streets is a question the city can act on now.
I'll be asking what's actually being done about collection and cleanup, how quickly the city responds when residents report it, and whether the answer we're getting is the real one.
Property taxes that keep climbing
Every increase should come with a straight answer about what it buys.
I've run a small business in this region for fourteen years. I know what it is to look at a number on a bill and have to find it somewhere. Residents on fixed incomes are doing that same math with less room to move, and they're being asked to do it again year after year.
I'm not going to promise you a tax freeze I can't deliver from one seat. What I will do is treat every proposed increase as something that has to be justified line by line, in public, in plain language — and vote accordingly.
Fourteen years running a small business teaches you one thing above all: you don't get to spend money you haven't explained.
BTO Performance has operated in Niagara since 2012 — three years in Niagara Falls, eleven in Thorold — through a recession and a pandemic.
Road conditions across the city
This is basic service, and it should be delivered like basic service.
Poor roads throughout Niagara Falls cost residents twice — once at the repair shop and once in the plain daily grind of driving here. It's not a glamorous issue. It's the kind of thing that makes people feel like their city has stopped paying attention to them, which is exactly why it matters.
I want to see the actual repair schedule, understand how streets get prioritized, and be able to give a resident who calls me a real answer about when their road is coming up — not a shrug.
I want to hear what all your concerns are, no matter how big or small they may be.
That line isn't filler. The four issues above are the ones I hear most often — they are not the only four that matter, and I'd rather find out what I'm missing now than after the vote. If something in this city is wearing on you, tell me about it.