A Maple Ridge council watcher has decided he now wants to help run the city and is running in the Oct. 20 election for a seat on council.
“It’s time for Maple Ridge to change course. It’s time to put residents and business first,” Ahmed Yousef said in a news release Wednesday.
Yousef addressed council in 2017 on behalf of local businesses concerned about the effects of Anita Place Tent City on St. Anne Avenue in the downtown.
He also helped form Burnett Street Neighbours to address housing issues in the community and which successfully opposed B.C. Housing’s plans to put an 85-unit supportive housing and shelter complex on that street earlier this year.
He said that he has heard from residents that Maple Ridge needs someone “who will listen, champion for equal and consistent enforcement of laws, and offer real help, not warehouse the homeless.
“I will strive to deliver policy that is based on consensus and the will of the citizens and businesses.”
Yousef holds degrees in political science and international relations, and is the chief proprietor of Beutler Systems Consulting, specializing in international procurement.
He said that running his own business gives him the flexibility to serve the community and play an active role in his children’s lives.