The Ottawa Citizen from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada • 79

The Citizen, Tuesday, November 5, 1985, Page E' i i Mama Bart! Race seen as pint-sized version of mayoral contest By Janice Middleton Citizen staff writer A cast of seven newcomers are aiming to fill the council seat vacated when Aid. Marlene Catterall decided to seek the mayoralty after three terms as alderman in Many see the Britannia race as a pint-sized version of the city-wide contest between Catterall and Jim Durrell. The Britannia seven have, like Catterall and Durrell, attempted to transcend the left-wing, right-wing split that has characterized council in the past They're pushing hard on individual service, accountability to voters and all have promised to boost the ward in all areas, but especially in business and jobs. If the 14,000 voters felt Catte-rall's populistic politics and work for low-income residents was ou of line, they didn't express it A key issue within the ward ha; been a rising number of break-in: and vandalism, prompting severa candidates to call for the retun of the beat police officer on foot patrol. Brittania.

The predominantly middle-class residents of the far western suburban ward are to choose between Bud Downing, Donald Holmes, Jim Jones, Kurt Orlik, Sandra Presley, Greg Ross and Ruth Wildgen. Bud Downing Bud Downing 58, inspects electronic parts for the Department of National Defence. He also operates a small importing company specializing in electronic devices. Downing's campaign is based primarily on the issues of jobs, taxes and affordable housing. About 10 per cent of Britannia residents live in rent-to-income Donald Holmes Donald Holmes, 35, pledges to make Britannia Ward streets safer.

A civilian worker at the Canadian Forces Base at Uplands who runs a small printing business from his Priscilla Street home, he says the biggest complaint is the increasing crime rate. The ward Neighborhood Jim Jones Jim Jones plans to take the same approach to being an alderman as he did repairing fur-nances: "If something is wrong, fix it." Jones, 38, is taking credit for a successful petition earner this month against a proposed high-density development on Rob Roy Avenue. He says, "I don't think a councilman, by himself, has any Kurt Orlik The last time Kurt Orlik wanted to take an active role at Green Island, his wife, Joan, threatened to divorce him. Twenty-five years later, his wife is his best campaigner. Orlik, 62, who owns his own real estate business, says his first priority is to keep Ottawa and regional taxes from rising.

In the last four years city taxes have increased by 30 per cent and regional taxes almost 100 Sandra Presley Senior citizens in Britannia Ward need better recreation facilities and safer streets to walk, says Sandra Presley, who is pledging to keep Britannia a healthy, quiet place to live. Presley, 47, says street lighting is a major concern as well as security at OC Transpo's Lincoln Fields transit station. She says elderly residents of the ward are afraid to take the bus after dark because the transit station is isolated. housing and there may be "some people living in them who are no longer in need," Downing says, adding as alderman he would insist on a review of the city-run housing system. He would run the ward "town hall style," he said, holding community meetings at Britannia's Lakeside Gardens six times a year.

Watch "is not enough. The numbers (of break-ins) keep going up. "More community groups must become involved fighting it." Improvement is needed in street lights, sidewalks, roads and snow removal, says Holmes who is also determined to keep the neighborhood "as it is. power to speak of, but people do as a group, active representation does work." An alderman's role is to "recognize a problem and make sure the bureaucracy is there to serve us," he says. Jones, 38, says his trades background "gives me a good idea on what it takes to service this city," and his chief interest at city hall is physical environment per cent, he says.

In Britannia Ward, where the Orliks have lived for 31 years and raised children, his main concern is crime prevention because theft and vandalism has risen sharply. "The police can not handle the problem alone," he said, adding that the more than 50 community groups in the ward should band together to start ward-wide crime watch projects. Presley cites working as an MP's assistant, serving on the executive of the Progressive Conservative Association and organizing community programs as ideal preparation for the job of alderman. Presley, who runs a small ceramics business from her home, says her political stripe won't affect her decisions at city hall. "I feel strongly that neither federal nor provincial politics should enter into the decision making process at city hall." Greg Ross Greg Ross says he and Aid.

Marlene Catterall share similar views, and he believes he can count on her supporters. An information officer for Transport Canada, Ross, 38, was an NDP candidate in the 1984 federal election. Ottawa Council cannot continue to count on the federal government or the hi-tech firms to maintain the economy, Ross says. The region and Ottawa Council must make it a priority to seek new industry to locate here and promote those existing businesses. A member of the Sandy Hill and Pinecrest-Queensway citizens' planning committees and various transit advocacy groups, 1 he would like to set up a food Ruth Wildgen Ruth Wildgen, 63, has taken a leave of absence from her job as area supervisor for the city's recreation and community development branch to run for alderman.

She says a traffic study should be done to sort out the snarls where Pinecrest Road, Carling Avenue and Richmond Road intersect Wildgen, who is on the boards of the Social Planning Council of Ottawa-Carleton, the Ottawa Women's Credit Union and the Ottawa Distress Centre and was the founder of the Pinecrest-Queensway Community Services Centre and the West-End Community Legal Services, says sen- co-op for the area. Ross says the bus transitway should be scrapped for a more cost-efficient rail system. Another extravagance, he says, is the proposed new regional headquarters. iors need more support services to enable them to stay in their homes. Wildgen also advocates a 911 emergency number for the.