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Erich Jacoby-Hawkins : Your Choice for Ward 10

Barrie Examiner Column, Tuesday, October 31, 2006

This election, you will hear from many candidates, each promising the same things promised last time, and the times before that: keep your taxes down and your roads repaired, represent your concerns, be responsive and innovative, balance downtown revitalization with local needs, protect our environment, manage Barrie’s growth. I promise the same.

Yet I stand apart from other candidates for one simple reason - I shall dedicate all of my time and energy serving as your full-time councillor.

Barrie has long ago grown into a city, yet we still have a town-style government, a part-time council which increasingly fails us as we grow. Barrie is now too large and complex to be properly overseen by part-time councillors.

Those serving on council are indeed caring, committed, and dedicated – but their 9-to-5 jobs come first. They have a career or business, then sit on Council. It has been rightly said you cannot serve two masters. If you work in a federal office, how can you also serve municipally? If you are a dedicated teacher, how can you do justice to both your students and your constituents? If you run your own business, how can you serve your clients’ needs and those of your city simultaneously? I don’t believe you can; Barrie’s sad record of misgovernment proves it.

We also need councillors with real-world experience. A trend in Barrie is young candidates right out of school using a seat on council as their first real job. I don’t question their intelligence or drive, but I do wonder how they can effectively run a multi-million-dollar city budget when they have never run their own business or supported a family. How can you fight property tax increases if you haven’t owned a home and paid property tax? Good intentions and ideas won’t go far unless backed by some real-world-earned budget-balancing experience. Council’s chronic failure to reign in spending proves this. Council should be a place to use your experience, not to gain it.

To achieve cost savings, or eliminate waste or inefficiency, you can’t just ask it; you need time to find it. You must look at budgetary details, study how other cities do things better, go beyond the executive summary of staff reports. If you truly desire to consult effectively with ratepayers, you must accept this as not something to squeeze into your spare moments, but rather a full-time responsibility.

This is what I offer – full-time dedication to being your councilor, and the real-world experience to operate effectively. I already spend most of my time serving Barrie’s volunteer organizations dealing with the environment, homelessness, and culture. Council’s $30,000 salary is the median Barrie income, and it’s enough for me. I don’t need to supplement with another job, and I won’t serve anyone besides my boss: residents of Ward 10 and citizens of Barrie.

Barrie deserves experienced, full-time councillors, as I will be for Ward 10.

No magic bullet will fix commuter woes: CAA debate .. How to provide quick and efficient solutions to get more Barrie commuters off Highway 400 - this weighty issue was debated at a town hall meeting hosted by the Canadian Automobile Association (CAA) at Barrie Public Library last week. ... Erich Jacoby-Hawkins, running as a municipal candidate in Ward 10, said after the meeting, "the city has to look at not just how much it would cost Barrie to have GO service, but how much it will cost in the long run not to have it." Barrie Advance, Published: Wed, Jul 12th, 2006. ( read more )

City's reservoir decision still circling the drain .. Barrie council wasn't ready to make the decision on the future of Sunnidale Park. ... Erich Jacoby-Hawkins urged the city to tackle the issue of water supply by helping people reduce consumption. ... Barrie Advanced, Published: Wed, Jun 21st, 2006 ( read more )

Is a park just a park in Barrie? .. Most people think the city they choose to live in has been planned, and what they see is what they get when they look around them. Some even take the initiative to look at the official plan at City Hall. But, what you see is not always what you get. ... To get the big picture, council was invited to tour Sunnidale and look at the proposed sites for the pumping station. To their credit, a few of the part-time council members (who also hold down full-time jobs) met staff for a weekday tour. They included Adam Smith, Barry Ward and a few others, as well as Erich Jacoby-Hawkins from the Green Party. ... Barrie Advanced, Published: Sun, Apr 23rd, 2006 . ( read more )

Barrie man takes part in CBC documentary .. A Barrie man is boarding the train for war, the Great War, this weekend.. Erich Jacoby-Hawkins, 35, answered the call to arms for King and Country as part of CBC's The Great War Project, a four-hour mini-series depicting epic battles that defined Canada's coming of age as a nation. Barrie Advance, Published: Fri, Jul 14th, 2006. ( read more )

The 'winning' solution .. Letter to the Barrie Examiner, Published: Fri, Sep 22nd, 2006

I was pleased to read your recent coverage of the Barrie Telecommuting Project's survey at icommute.ca, as I have been working in support of this project for the past two years.

As a model of co-operation between the federal government, a private company (SuiteWorks), and a local grassroots ecology group (Living Green) I led for many years, it is gratifying to see this project take shape. What's more, the results of the survey will be very useful to help Barrie plan a future where less residents have to 'hit the road' and leave our city to work every day. The results of this survey will be win-win-win. Employers win by learning how to provide alternatives to commuting, so they can retain their best employees. Barrie wins as people spend more time in the community - volunteering, shopping, or just being with their families. And commuters win because they no longer have to lose so much time driving.

Your article failed to mention one more win: commuters taking the survey at icommute.ca are eligible for weekly 'commuter survival kit' draws and the grand prize of a Sirius satellite radio.

Erich Jacoby-Hawkins, Candidate for Ward 10

Wife told not to vote for husband .. Letter to the Barrie Advance, Published: Friday, November 3rd, 2006

My wife is a teacher and member of the Elementary Teachers' Federation (ETFO). Recently she received notice from the federation telling her which candidates to support (through vote, volunteering, and financial contribution) in the municipal election. She is now greatly conflicted; her beloved husband is a candidate but she is told to support another instead.

The notice claims candidates were endorsed "after a lengthy process which included written surveys, telephone conversations and discussion with candidates." As a candidate, I have received surveys from several interest groups and have diligently answered them all. I have never been contacted by the ETFO nor received a survey from them. I have been a registered candidate since February, plenty of time for them to reach me.

I resent the clear implication that I am not "labour-friendly" or "pro-education," especially considering that I am, myself, a teacher (though not a union member).

It seems that who you know matters more than what you believe when it comes to getting the ETFO endorsement. This is not a service to democracy.

Erich Jacoby-Hawkins, Candidate, Barrie ward 10

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