Experience is truly the greatest teacher and builder of character. I learned so much from 27 years on city council. The majority of the lessons came from all of you, the citizens of Niagara Falls and your vision for our community.

Many of those years were spent in some of the leanest times in our city’s history. Paramount to my daily schedule was the creation of job opportunities and maintaining a tough line on spending. We simply couldn’t afford many of the services we needed and the wish lists we had hoped for. I took a firm stance as Mayor, to support only the necessary expenses we could afford to provide and held off on tax increases.

Thankfully development came – and it appeared everything had exploded at once. But our newfound prosperity was built on a solid foundation; years in the making, strategically plotted and most certainly didn’t happen by chance. Through those years of fiscal restraint, coupled with strong business planning a larger tax base was generated enabling us to open the door for a prosperous future. The face and economic structure of the city had changed forever, securing a positive economic environment for generations to come.

In light of all of this, I have not seen our taxes go down. I still hear about poor road conditions, flooding and poorly planned development. Most of all, I hear about the “new debt” and what effects it will have on furthered development of our city and at what costs to the struggling taxpayer.

When I left office three years ago our municipal debt was $ 9.1 million. If all the commitments of this present city council are realized, the debt will exceed $ 78 million; that’s an increase in debt of almost 23 million dollars for every year of this current term of office. This translates into a cost of $ 10.1 million each year to service that debt. Can we afford this type of mismanagement? None of us should accept the irresponsible leadership that has put us all under this enormous burden.

This is where experience counts, experience that I have acquired, experience that I have earned, experience that has proven itself and experience with a vision that will put this city back on track and not in the pockets of you the taxpayer. My vision has never changed; a city and community that we can be proud of, one that works and plays together with an economy that creates and supports business and taxation that is fair to all and provides services at a level we deserve.

If you share my concerns and the vision we started together, I ask you to please support my candidacy for city council when you vote October 24.”

Now is the time to cultivate and benefit from years of investment.