Over the past months, Grand Forks has experienced modest economic growth. The branding and marketing of our city has paid off. Our review of city owned property has resulted in a number of properties being identified as surplus to the city’s needs and offered for sale. Homes and properties have been selling as new people choose this community to live, work and raise a family. Although we do have some empty store fronts, we have new businesses moving to our town and taking advantage of the available commercial and industrial lands. We need to keep attention on the economy
We continue to see a growth in the numbers of seniors aging in place or moving here to retire. As the recent community check up “Vital signs” pointed out, in the province seniors are in the middle income bracket however, in our community we have many low income seniors who are struggling with the basic need for food and shelter. In the next four years, my hope is to keep Grand Forks affordable to low income seniors.
Known as downloading, it is not the role of municipal government to step in to provide services that are the mandate of the province or the federal government. It is our role to challenge and to engage those other levels of government when we see our citizens suffering. We must not neglect our social responsibility.
Many employable citizens are going north to the oil patch while our major industries are thriving and new industries that are arriving are all searching for reliable employees. Along with local jobs we need more affordable housing.
As the city moves forward in the next critical years, I ask for your support as mayor to keep the momentum of economic activity and to keep Grand Forks attractive healthy and affordable