James O'Grady enters race for council seat
Posted Mar 5, 2010 By Kimberly Lochhead
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Tweet ThisEMC News - Running on a platform prioritizing communities, James O'Grady of Arlington Woods recently announced his candidacy for the council seat in the Knoxdale/Merivale ward. He said he thinks there is a lack of public engagement and empowerment in the decision-making process at city hall and hopes to change this.
"They're not necessarily putting the public's interest first," explained Mr. O'Grady. "I think I have the skill set that they're missing at city hall."
Currently, he serves on the Trend-Arlington Community Association as the vice president and membership coordinator. Last year, Mr. O'Grady spearheaded the "Stop Shoppers" campaign in opposition to the rezoning of 38 Elvaston/181 Greenbank Rd., which would permit retail activity. Over 700 residents in the area gave their full support towards the opposition initiative.
"I'd like to see community design plans," the candidate added. "One of the things Coun. Gord Hunter said about the Shoppers (Drug Mart) issue was that there wasn't a secondary plan in place for Greenbank Rd., so we couldn't prevent the zoning bylaw change."
Additionally, if elected, he said he would like to set up an advisory board as a ward council with representatives from each of the community associations.
Regarding taxes, Mr. O'Grady said the issue is primarily about management.
"Accountability, especially fiscal accountability, was a trait of old Nepean that is sorely missed at Ottawa City Hall," he explained. "But it starts with a real plan to bring tax increases down so that they are in line with inflation and hopefully, by placing an emphasis on efficiency, we can get them even lower over time."
To achieve this, he said he would like to see the city embrace the use of technology and allow residents to follow the progress of projects online.
Mr. O'Grady has a background as a teacher and communications specialist with 15 years of private sector experience in sales, marketing and communications. A self-proclaimed 'child of Nepean,' Mr. O'Grady said he is a graduate of Knoxdale Public School, Greenbank Middle School and Sir Robert Borden High School. He is also an alumnus of the Nepean Minor Hockey Association where he played at a competitive level. He said he is hoping to instill the pride of Nepean back into the ward.
"It's not about me, it's more about where is the city going and who are the people in the community who are willing to put their hands up and volunteer to help get it going into the right direction?" he said. "I think I have the skills and will work very hard to try to help rectify that."
For more information, visit www.jamesogrady.ca.
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