{"id":6479,"date":"2014-04-30T14:15:00","date_gmt":"2014-04-30T18:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=6479"},"modified":"2014-09-11T15:37:59","modified_gmt":"2014-09-11T19:37:59","slug":"vote-2014-dawe-officially-launches-re-election-bid-posing-question-to-aurorans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/vote-2014-dawe-officially-launches-re-election-bid-posing-question-to-aurorans\/","title":{"rendered":"VOTE 2014: Dawe officially launches re-election bid, posing question to Aurorans"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"2014-05-01-07\"
\nBy Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n

Aurora is at a \u201csignificant crossroads\u201d in its history right now.<\/p>\n

That is the word from Geoffrey Dawe as he officially launched his mayoral re-election campaign on Monday evening.<\/p>\n

Before a room of over 110 supporters at St. Andrew\u2019s Valley Golf Club, including four current members of Council, and two Council candidates, Dawe said four years ago Aurorans wanted change \u2013 real change and not \u201cchange for change\u2019s sake.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was no doubt that our residents were fed up with the antics [of the last] Council \u2013 antics that had created a toxic atmosphere,\u201d he said. \u201cLittle wonder that one Councillor resigned and others simply refused to run again. Now, after four years of stability, four years of positive community growth, we are faced with the potential of being thrown right back to where we were before.\u201d<\/p>\n

John Gallo, who is, as of press time, Dawe\u2019s only challenger thus far in the mayoral race is a \u201crepresentative of that toxic atmosphere\u201d, he claimed. <\/p>\n

\u201cDo we wish to return to the past?\u201d Dawe continued. \u201cDo we wish \u2013 do you wish \u2013 to return to embarrassing headlines for our Town? A return to lawsuits as a result of public participation? Or are we going to continue to build Aurora? To continue to create an environment where Aurora is the best place to live in York Region and maybe even Canada? I know what I want for [my wife] Henny and me, for our children, and our children\u2019s children.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his remarks, Dawe underscored three key pillars of his campaign: Leadership, Community and Civility. <\/p>\n

To be an effective leader, Dawe said one has to work with people to get things done and collaboration yields the best results. Laying the groundwork for a strong team, he said, is a hallmark of that. <\/p>\n

That, he added, was one of his main priorities when he took office \u2013 addressing what he described as \u201cthe reality of poor staff morale\u201d and to \u201cstem the tide of staff turnover.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOn December 1, 2010, my first day on the job, I met with the senior staff team, held up a copy of The Globe and Mail\u2019s Top 100 Employers and asked why the Town of Aurora wasn\u2019t one of them,\u201d he said. \u201cI clearly stated that my goal was to be on the list and I am proud to say we\u2019ve met that challenge by achieving an honourable mention. We need to be the best. [That] is a pretty solid indicator that our organizational leadership is on the right track.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although a mayor is only one vote, he added another priority was to \u201cre-establish decorum\u201d at the table.<\/p>\n

\u201cA leader understands that debate is healthy, but active discord and rancour is counter-productive to moving the Town\u2019s business forward,\u201d he said. \u201cI am proud of the fact that under my leadership, this Council has been able to avoid much of the fractured and, frankly, hostile exchanges that typified the previous Council. <\/p>\n

\u201cFrayed tempers have sometimes led to heated exchanges at the Council table, but skirmishes did not become multi-meeting wars. By being a strong leader, I have ensured the Town\u2019s business got done. I am proud to say I have kept order at the table, dignity in the chamber, and definitely protected the integrity of the Office of the Mayor.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addressing the pillar of community, efforts included the re-establishment of the Mayor\u2019s Charity Golf Tournament, which benefits charities and non-profits within Aurora, the development of a new agreement with the Aurora Cultural Centre and also \u201ccarefully navigated\u201d development to make sure there is a mix of \u201cdevelopable land and protected open space.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also trumpeted a \u201cbooming\u201d housing market, the arrival of Bulk Barn\u2019s headquarters this spring, the completion of York Regional Police moving their senior management to their new headquarters on Don Hillock Drive, and a number of businesses which have planted roots in Aurora including Target, and found room to expand. <\/p>\n

Providing \u201cstability\u201d to residents and the business community is also something he said was important. This comes part and parcel with \u201cpredictability\u201d, particularly in keeping tax rates from fluctuating \u201cdramatically.\u201d To this end, he took aim at Councillors who questioned using mechanisms like the Tax Rate Stabilization Fund to \u201csmooth out the tax bumps\u201d and said taxes need to be respected. <\/p>\n

\u201cAurora is changing,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is not the town of 13,000 that Henny and I moved to in 1977. Back then, it was almost impossible to go anywhere in Town and not see someone you knew. We rarely ventured east of the tracks. There was simply nothing to venture to.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday, we are about 58,000. The commercial base has grown to include a vibrant and growing community east towards Bayview. There are a multitude of languages heard. There is a growing and, I think, exciting diversity. Our challenge is to engage all of Aurora, to celebrate this diversity and to ensure there is only one Aurora \u2013 neither east nor west \u2013 and to continue to build this place we call home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fellow mayoral candidate John Gallo will launch his own campaign at a special event next Saturday, May 10, at The Mansion (Dinardo\u2019s). Watch for coverage of his launch in the May 15 edition of The Auroran.<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Aurora is at a \u201csignificant crossroads\u201d in its history right now.<\/p>\n

That is the word from Geoffrey Dawe as he officially launched his mayoral re-election campaign on Monday evening.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-vote-2014"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-1Gv","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-01 09:52:21","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6479"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6479\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}