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Bob Goos

Bob Goos is chair of the Friends in Need Food Bank and of The Ridge Meadows Association for Community Living
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Bob Goos

Name: Bob Goos

Age: 63

Occupation: retired Lutheran

pastor

Facebook: Bob Goos

Q1. What have you personally achieved, or what initiative have you personally led in recent years that qualifies you to be elected or re-elected as a Maple Ridge councillor?

1: I served in Maple Ridge as chair of the Friends in Need Food Bank and of The Ridge Meadows Association for Community Living. I helped develop and served as the chair of Surrey Urban Mission Society, a multi-faceted, faith-based community service agency that operates with volunteers and provides meals, shelter in extreme weather for up to 50 people, finds safe housing for homeless people, offers summer day camp for 75 kids and other supports.

As pastor of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, I led a building program that added 5,000-sq.-ft of accessible space to the church. We used local contractors and came in on time and under budget. In both instances, we worked with diverse groups to achieve our goals. My history in whatever I am involved with is to expand capacity by networking and developing partnerships with different groups.

Q2. Provide two examples of council’s actions over the past three years and explain why or why not you support them.

2: I support the actions to enhance the downtown area and to make it more pedestrian friendly. I believe we need a vibrant, accessible downtown to keep it safe and provide a strong core to the community. These initiatives are showing results in improvements to a number of retail outlets.

I do not support some of the decisions to rezone certain rural areas for ‘estate’ housing developments that are well beyond the reach of municipal water and sewer services. Such developments are often damaging to the environment and can be costly to the municipality in the future if the self-contained services fail or are inadequate. Such developments can also have a detrimental effect on the water supply and will have long terms impacts on air quality.

Q3. Do you support the 13-per-cent increase (over three years) in councillor’s salaries approved last summer? Why or why not? Explain what you would do if elected.

3: On the surface, I do not support the 13-per-cent increase in this time of restraint.  When so many are living with stagnant wages and others are being offered nothing, I believe the timing was wrong for such an increase. My understanding is that the newly elected council will have the power to change that decision if they so choose.