Can Hardly Wait

By Ahmad Formuly Ward 1 City Councillor Candidate for Oshawa I like to begin this column by thanking The Central for inviting me to write a weekly column to all readers. This I believe is a great service to the community at large. Most voters when faced with an election know very little about those running. Specially the new candidates. From now until the election I hope to take advantage of this feature and address many of the issues that matter to Oshawa and the ward I will be representing. I must say that I can hardly wait to be elected. After meeting with many ward residents, I feel excited to have the opportunity to serve. My drive to serve comes from seeing the quality of life not only in our ward but in Oshawa slowly decline. This as a young person it concerns me. I want to feel safe walking down our streets. Not to worry about being assaulted by petty criminals. I don’t want to worry about walking parks and constantly having to look down due to discarded drug paraphernalia. I want a clean and healthy Oshawa. Some day I plan on raising a family and the way things look today. I am concerned and scared. I am also concerned over development. The costs of homes and the run away development of these complexes. It is time to take control of the over development and consider other alternatives. Such as high rise. Less use of land and maximum capacity. As a young candidate I bring fresh and innovative ideas. Ideas that will transform Oshawa from what it is to what it could be. I heard someone say that Oshawa use to be the crown jewel of Durham. Today, our luster appears to have tarnished. Our relation to the Region need to be strengthen as the opportunities and prosperity are awaiting for us to have a vision. A vision that requires new educated minds. I do not profess to have all the answers, but I can assure you I will do my best to find them for all of us. I also am looking so forward once in office to listening and addressing all of your concerns. I keep hearing time and time again that many constituents have called the city and no response. This is wrong. Councillors work for the taxpayers and as such it should be our primary duty to stay in touch with each one of the callers. No excuses. I vow to bring municipal government back to the people of Oshawa. I vow to assure that everyone has a voice and a way to air concerns. Without public input we can’t gage the need of the community. We need to have everyone take part in the decision process and the new vision for Oshawa. Oshawa and ward 1 are my home. As such my interest runs deep. I am running not for me. I am running for us and future generations. We the youth want to contribute to our future. Please consider me as your new representative. I promise not to let you down and repeat the mistakes of previous councillors.