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Jose: Being nice doesn’t qualify for tough talks with senior governments

#MRvotes2018: Lougheed Highway development a big opportunity
13938192_web1_Lou-Jose---2018-Portriat
Lou Jose

Lou Jose, for council.

• Occupation:

Food broker.

• Political experience/qualifications for running in this election:

No experience as a politician. Twenty-five years of experience negotiating agreements with government agencies, large corporations and non-profits.

• Reason for running:

With five major developments being looked at along the Lougheed Highway, we have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to add much-needed services, rental housing and new jobs to our city. I decided to run for council at the last minute after reviewing the other candidates’ platforms.

The issues we are facing today with high property taxes, lack of services and the transient homeless is because we keep voting for the good-hearted city councillors who spend the most on advertising, knocking on the most doors or are well-known community activists or volunteers. Being a nice person does not qualify someone to negotiate for the city with government and business professionals who do this for a living.

We need professional, experienced negotiators and managers to work with all levels of government, business and developers to negotiate these developments and the homeless issue.

• What do you consider to be the top two issues this election and how would you address them?

We need to manage the transient homeless who have migrated to Maple Ridge. To address the political side of this, I have drafted a transient homeless management plan to list out the responsibilities of both the city and the province. This plan will determine how many of the homeless the City of Maple Ridge is capable of supporting and ensure the provincial government has plans to assist and find shelter in other communities for the others.

New development along the Lougheed Highway will be an issue in 2019. I would support adding both owned and rental housing, mixed with space for retail, government services, offices, education and mixed services. One of these locations would be an excellent location for satellite campus for the Vancouver Community College Culinary School, with the potential to bring in federal funding to support the project.

www.lou-jose.com

Twitter: @Lou_Jose_Sr

• E-Mail: lou-jose@outlook.com