Nine's A Crowd

While it's nice to see so many in the race for Mayor of Brantford, it is most likely that the eventual winner may have less that 25% of the votes cast meaning that an awful lot of people could be dissatisfied with the result. That is unless one of the candidates really catches fire between now and election day, October 25.

While it is early days, with just over six months of campaigning to go, Friel, Littell, and Sless seem to be the early front runners. Austin, Calnan, and Quattrociocchi could also put up a spirited campaign with Austin maybe having an edge as a the lone female candidate and the only one of these six who has never been on council.

Casey and McDonald really have their work cut out for themselves to get their names known. And then there is Bucky who will likely get some protest votes but little else.

But then again, with a large field, depending how the votes are split anything might be possible.

New Business

If I was thinking about opening a new business in Brantford, it would have to be a tree removal service. It seems in Brantford that they just can't cut them all down fast enough.

Vote Them All Out

The current council has to be the most inept that I can recall, and that is saying a lot as the competition is strong. This council has done much of it's business behind closed doors, shutting out even some members of their own council. The results have been numerous lawsuits, failed projects,and projects with large cost overruns. They have failed to control native demonstrations or reach any compromise with native groups, they have failed to enforce property standards in the downtown (except in the case of a former councilor, how petty!), they have presided over massive tax increases (the increase in mill rate plus the increase in assessments) at a time when the economy is seeing jobs disappear in Brantford, and they are responsible for the continued deterioration and now the ultimate destruction of a major portion of the downtown.

I see no reason to vote for any of the current council. I would rather have a whole new fresh council (no retreads either, thanks) that may take some time to feel it's way along, but surely cannot be any worse than this group. Brantford deserves better.