Prince George goes to the polls Nov. 19 to determine who will be their municipal leaders for the next three years.
In an effort to better inform the community on the 24 candidates running for a seat on Prince George municipal council, The Citizen sent out a form to all hopefuls with a series of questions that we hope will reveal their histories, priorities, qualifications and personalities.
Here are what they had to say.
Running for councillor
1. Name: John Beebe
2. Occupation(s) (past and/or present): Salesman for West fraser Electro Mechanical past three years, 15 years before, manager at Tim Hortons restaurant, Prince George.
3. Community involvement and contributions: Soccer referee for men's, women's, and youth soccer; coached youth soccer.
4. Other pertinent qualifications: 15 years of running a very successful restaurant through poor to great economic times.
5. Why are you running for council? I want to bring a more business-like approach to the running of Prince George.
I feel in these tough economic times, with money harder to find, council really needs to look outside the box for ways to get things done around the city.
I also do not like to use the word "can't."
I feel there is always a way to get things done if you just work harder and go to people for advice and suggestions
6. What can you uniquely bring to the city? I am a very positive person, and I like to describe myself as someone who would never ask someone else to do something that I wouldn't do myself.
7. What are your most pressing issues? Out of control spending on wants, instead of needs. Sorry, but in a city struggling with pavement issues and snow removal problems, that never seem to get resolved to the satisfaction of citizens, we need to adjust our thinking to what the majority of citizens are asking their councillors and mayor to do.
8. How do you propose to address those issues? The first issue, would be to get a seat on council, so I can talk to the right people and get the answers to why they are not doing the job to the satisfaction of their employers, the citizens of Prince George.
I would then look for better ways of getting these jobs done by calling around to other municipalities, to find out if they have a better way of doing the job, or asking the people of Prince George how they think it could be improved.
9. What do you hope to accomplish in your three-year term should you be elected?
I would like to get the pothole issue resolved to the point the people of Prince George are satisfied we are doing the best job possible.
The same goes with snow removal. Show the people we are doing everything we can to get better, including having a snow removal budget that reflects the needs of our city. Keeping the citizens in the loop of information will go a long way to resolving a large amount of issues, and listening to them when they speak out will help us do a better job.
The people of Prince George are yelling at City Hall, and the mayor and council need to start listening.
