{"id":8220,"date":"2014-09-24T13:25:13","date_gmt":"2014-09-24T17:25:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=8220"},"modified":"2014-10-01T13:29:55","modified_gmt":"2014-10-01T17:29:55","slug":"battle-over-business-as-mayoral-candidates-take-on-first-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/battle-over-business-as-mayoral-candidates-take-on-first-debate\/","title":{"rendered":"Battle over business as mayoral candidates take on first debate"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n

It was standing room only as Aurora\u2019s two mayoral candidates Geoffrey Dawe and John Gallo went head-to-head in the first mayoral debate of the 2014 election. <\/p>\n

Hosted by the Aurora Chamber of Commerce and moderated by Javed Kahn, it was standing room only as many Aurora residents had their first encounters with the two mayoral candidates and the majority of the 28 candidates vying for Council positions.<\/p>\n

With a format tailored to address Aurora\u2019s business needs, Mr. Gallo was the first to step up to the microphone to address the crowds, after winning a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors against Mr. Dawe.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere is what Aurorans are dreaming about: more job opportunities closer to home; college opportunities; trendier restaurants; a more involved downtown core; a five-star hotel; a better downtown core,\u201d he said. \u201cThose Auroran aspirations have been transformed into Imagine Aurora 2030, a citizens\u2019 comprehensive 10-point plan to make Aurora one of the best places to live, work, play and shop in Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although he said the full plan will be released to the public on October 1, Mr. Gallo re-iterated the first two planks of the plan, which he previously announced this spring at his official campaign launch. These include a citizens\u2019 task force to focus on the Yonge and Wellington corridors and to bring a new hotel and conference centre into Town.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe citizens of Aurora have told me they want a quality hotel and convention centre, and I have listened,\u201d he said. \u201cI will lead the charge to bring a new Aurora Convention Centre to our town. Over the past year, I have been working with two international convention centre developers and they have both come to me and declared their interest. That is very exciting. The citizens of Aurora told me they want a downtown core to be proud of: more foot traffic and outdoor patios, and I have listened. I will develop a downtown revitalization strategy, I will develop a task force within the first 60 days of taking office made up of citizens. This task force will present to Council the Downtown Revitalization Strategy of how to implement the [Aurora] Promenade study within 60 days of its inception.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his opening remarks, Mr. Dawe said the \u201cmajority of Aurorans\u201d, including himself are \u201ctired of the negativity\u201d and tired of hearing why one shouldn\u2019t vote for someone rather than why one should. Therefore, he said he would use the time to say why Aurorans should vote for him this October.<\/p>\n

\u201cAurora is now the best-rated place to live in York Region,\u201d he said. \u201cFour years ago we weren\u2019t even on that list. It is clear that under my leadership we are doing the right things here. More and more people wish to work here, live here and play here. The positive influx to Town is because as Aurora\u2019s mayor I have brought stability to Town Hall. I have shown leadership at the Council table, engagement in our community, and financial accountability. Under my leadership, this Council has kept more money in your pockets, we have stabilized the tax rate, provided the best possible services at the best possible price, and we support Aurora businesses. Under my leadership, the Town\u2019s interests have been paramount.\u201d<\/p>\n

To underscore the point, Mr. Dawe cited the renegotiation of the Town\u2019s agreement with the Aurora Cultural Centre, as well as \u201cprotecting the Town\u2019s interests\u201d in taking developers to court over the first right of refusal for green space on Mavrinac Boulevard. He also said he has attended \u201chundreds of events\u201d from large scale to ribbon cuttings to give a boost to business.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor folks that put their blood, sweat and tears into their new small business, a ribbon cutting by the Mayor is a major event for them. It is an important message that says the Town is behind you, this Council is behind you, and we want to support you. It is a sign that we want you to succeed and I am proud to cut those ribbons and show our support.\u201d<\/p>\n

In their closings, both candidates covered much of the same ground, but Mr. Gallo said Aurorans are simply not happy.<\/p>\n

\u201cAurora\u2019s economy is not in good shape,\u201d he said. \u201cResidents are asking what is going on with my future and the future of my children. I have hope. That is why they have been reaching out to me, because of my inclusive, accountable and transparent approach. They are wanting me to be the voice of the people. They are wanting me to be Aurora\u2019s next Mayor. Together we can do better. The time has come for positive solutions together.\u201d<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was standing room only as Aurora\u2019s two mayoral candidates Geoffrey Dawe and John Gallo went head-to-head in the first mayoral debate of the 2014 election. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":8201,"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":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/2014-09-25-02.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-28A","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-14 23:56:44","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\/8220","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=8220"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8220\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}