Putting Families First

I am the only candidate for Ward 3 who has a record of supporting families.

If re-elected, I plan to conduct a review of our municipal buildings, and also look at the new twin ice pad to create more childcare spaces. I know that a major crisis facing families as more employees return to work in person is finding adequate childcare.

As Councillor, I supported transferring the Bowmanville Zoo to Clarington to create 34 acres of parkland, including soccer pitches and a refrigerated ice skating trail for both kids and adults to enjoy.

I also supported building a new twin pad arena and swimming pool in Bowmanville.

I believe that embracing new ideas are important to being an effective and responsive leader. I want to incorporate new concepts to our playgrounds, such as outdoor exercise equipment for parents, and zip lines or mini climbing walls for kids, as they have in Oshawa.

I moved a motion at the regular General Government Committee Meeting on March 29, 2021, requesting staff report back with an assessment of all current Clarington playgrounds. The assessment examined the state of all playgrounds with regard to safety and accessibility, repairs and maintenance, the character of the neighbouring community, usage patterns and innovation with respect to equipment.

During the summer and fall of 2021, staff completed a park playground assessment of the 62 Municipal park facilities to catalogue the current condition of existing playground equipment and related park amenities.

A detailed park playground inventory assessment chart was developed to inform and prioritize the selection of parks for improvements.  The criteria used to identify the recommended upgrades included age and condition of equipment, accessibility, character of neighbourhood and suitability for enhanced elements, i.e., exercise equipment or zip lines.

During the review of each park’s play equipment, staff also completed an overall review of non-play related park amenities such as walkways, shelters, benches, waste receptacles, hard surface courts and fields.

The parks in Ward 3 that were identified for upgrades were:

Elephant Hill Park – Bowmanville Replace play equipment, safety surface and waste receptacles;

Longworth Park Replace play equipment, safety surface and waste receptacle

Glanville Parkette – Bowmanville Replace play equipment, safety surface, waste receptacles and benches. Remove bollards, replace asphalt and concrete curbs

Barlow Court Parkette – Bowmanville Replace play equipment and safety surface, repaint shelter

If re-elected, I will accelerate these upgrades, and also move that new equipment be added to the Port Darlington waterfront park to help make it a destination park, such as a zip line.