What was surprising about Monday’s municipal election results was incumbent mayor Harvey Rosen’s 1.93 percent victory over Rick Downes.
Although Rosen ultimately garnered the most votes, he received a much needed wake-up call from thousands of voters. With a considerable number of large-scale projects in progress, a level of consistency and leadership from Rosen will be beneficial to the city.
As for the Large Venue Entertainment Centre, it’s time that city council agrees—to disagree. Ground has already been broken and continuous discussions will only prove useless and tiresome. Rosen will continue on as the mayor, but fortunately, with only four council members returning, he will be forced to be more accountable and open with his future business decisions. We can only hope that Rosen will take the message voters gave him to heart and adjust his practices to better serve the Kingston community.
Also surprising, however, was the child-like display by the three student candidates. They sounded like five-year-olds whining for a cookie their older siblings ate. Nathanial Erskine-Smith, whom the Journal endorsed last issue commented having another student run in the Sydenham district took away from his own campaign. The truth is, all candidates have to work to differentiate themselves; Erskine-Smith shouldn’t blame a fellow student for his loss. Alex Huntley, the other Sydenham student hopeful, was no better: his poor attempt to save face with his statement, “To be honest, I never expected to win” only showed his inexperience and immaturity. Most of Williamsville candidate Andrew Goodridge’s quotes weren’t even fit for print.
The Sydenham votes went to Bill Glover who has a substantial task ahead of him—mending relations with students. As Chair of the Sydenham Ward Tenants and Ratepayers Association, Glover was vocal about his displeasure with students. Now he has to represent students, the overwhelming majority in Sydenham ward. Hopefully, Glover won’t increase antagonisms when town-gown relations (especially at times like Homecoming) are starting to improve.
It will also be interesting to see how Glover handles student issues with the overwhelming student apathy at Queen’s. Because Kingston may only be a student’s home for a short period, many have no long-term investment in their house, street or ward.
But if students expect to be treated the same as permanent residents by Glover, they need to see themselves as Kingstonian’s first.
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