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Maple Ridge businessman announces he will run for city council

Grover Telford has run in three prior municipal elections
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Grover Telford. (Special to The News)

A small business owner in Maple Ridge is taking another run at getting elected to city council in the 2022 municipal election.

Grover Telford, a longtime resident and observer of local politics, announced Friday he will again seek a council seat.

He and wife Barbara have lived in Maple Ridge with their family since 1988, while operating Able Carpet Care And Home Services.

He has been attending meetings and putting questions to local politicians, and is critical of the current council.

“Of immediate concern is how this present council is out of touch, and unwilling to listen and respond to the needs of its citizens,” said Telford.

“We need to broaden our focus away from just residential development of houses and apartment buildings that are out of reach to the average taxpayer or renter.”

He notes that the tax base is still approximately 93 per cent residential.

“This is what is causing our property taxes to remain as high as they are,” said Telford. “I would look at increasing our tax base through commercial rezoning, but not in areas that would negatively impact our environment, fish and wildlife habitats.”

READ ALSO: Maple Ridge needs 400 hectares of commercial and industrial land

“Finally, improvement to our infrastructure needs to take a priority over a narrow focus on residential development, so as to accommodate the increased traffic flow,” said Telford.

Telford has served on the Maple Ridge Seniors Centre board of directors and the city’s Social Planning Advisory Council. He also worked with a group of citizens advocating for free parking at Ridge Meadows Hospital. While raising two sons, he also volunteered his time in coaching their soccer and football teams.

This is not Telford’s first rodeo. He has ran in three prior municipal elections in 2008, 2011 and 2014, but has not yet been elected. Each time he has finished in the middle of a pack of candidates, with approximately 2,500 votes.

In the past, he has cited a need for more retail shopping in the city, called for more industrial development to broaden the tax base, improved transit, and more seniors housing

Serious health concerns kept him off the ballot in 2018.

The local election will be held on Oct. 15.

READ ALSO: Former MP Ruimy will run for mayor of Maple Ridge


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Neil Corbett

About the Author: Neil Corbett

I have been a journalist for more than 30 years, the past decade with the Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows News.
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