It's been a very busy few days. 

Last weekend of the campaign

On Thursday night, the all-candidates forum was very successful, thanks to the sponsorship of the BLLHMA and the hard work of Darren Reeder, Eric Harvie and moderator David Bayne.  About 200-250 people attended.  If you weren't able to make it to the forum in person, you can read the Outlook's online coverage at this link:

http://www.rmoutlook.com/article/20101015/RMO0801/310159977/-1/rmo/banff-forum-shows-community-facing-many-issues

It's a long link, so you may need to cut and paste it into your browser.

Friday morning, we met again at the high school for another forum, very well organized by social studies teacher Brad Skinner and the students.  It was great to hear the thoughtful and insightful questions from the students!  Friday afternoon, I did an interview for the Affecting You program of Park Radio.

And now it's the final weekend of door-knocking.  I had an interesting question today on Muskrat Street -- a resident was wondering whether your ballot is considered "spoiled" if you vote for fewer than the full six councillors.  My understanding is that you can vote for any number up to six.  However, with any questions like this that you may have, it's always a good idea to check when you're at the poll, as the people there are the experts.

The vote

And when will you be at the poll?  Anytime between 10 am and 8 pm on Monday, at Town Hall.

Remember to say thanks!

I hope that you'll take the opportunity over the next couple of weeks to thank the outgoing mayor and councillors, and all the candidates who put their names forward, whether they're elected or not.  These people have shown a lot of commitment to our community!

Vital chance for input

You've probably received the Town's Resident Satisfaction Survey in your mailbox by now.  This survey is extremely important.  It will give the new council a snapshot of what you feel is important, and how you feel the town programs and services are performing.  This will help council make decisions about their priorities for 2011 and beyond.  So please fill out that survey and turn it in!  If you'd prefer to do it on-line (which makes it easier for the town to collate, as well), you can do that at:

http://www.banff.ca/town-hall/banff-town-council/strategic-priorities/resident-satisfaction.htm

The deadline is October 31.

The campaigning continues to be interesting!  Many thanks to everyone who has supported an ad, to the hard-working door-knocking volunteers, and to all of you who have welcomed me so kindly at your doors.

First and foremost, the important dates for you to remember:

• *Tonight*:  the School Board candidates' forum at the YW at 7 pm
• *Tomorrow* (Wednesday) from 10 am to 8 pm, advance poll at the Banff Springs Convention Centre
• Thursday from 7 pm to 10 pm at the BPL, the all-candidates' forum
• Monday, October 18th, vote at Town Hall from 10 am to 8 pm

This is a big week.  Besides doing my normal council work and committee meetings, I'm preparing for the forum on Thursday night.  It's at the Banff Park Lodge at 7 pm -- I hope to see you there.  What a challenge, to try to shoe-horn everything I'd like to say into a 2-minute intro and a 2-minute closing, while preparing for a question period that could cover every aspect of the town's business.

And speaking of shoe-horning, I just finished writing a summary of my election platform for the Outlook -- they gave each of us 175 words (!) to state our case.  Watch for the candidates' statements in the Thursday paper.

Tomorrow morning, I go to the Grade 6 class at Banff Elementary.  Students will be doing the interview -- I'm expecting some tough questions there, as well!

The weekend will be the final round of door-knocking, and then election day.  Then -- if I get elected -- the hard work begins again!

This was a great weekend for door-knocking.  So far, I've been to the doors on Springs and Glen Crescents, Glen and Cave Avenues, and throughout Middle Springs 2.  Hard-working volunteers have visited many other neighbourhoods, as well.

At the doors, I've been hearing about fiscal responsibility, how to get people out of their cars and onto transit, the possibility of adding a railing to the sidewalks on the bridge (to make it safer for families), aand how to increase safety of the mid-block crossings on Banff Avenue.  In Middle Springs, I heard about the immportance of following through on the recommendations from the housing working group.

Important dates to remember:
*Coming up fast*  October 6 - advance poll at the Banff Centre (Professional Development Centre), 10 am to 8 pm
October 13 - advance poll at the Banff Springs Hotel Conference Centre, 10 am to 8 pm
October 14 -- all-candidates' forum at the Banff Park Lodge, 7 pm to 9:30 pm
October 18 -- election day, vote at Town Hall, 10 am to 8 pm

Important reminder:
The application process is now open for those interested in joining the Banff Housing Corporation board. Deadline for applications is *coming up fast*:  October 6.  Find out how to apply at
http://www.banff.ca/town-hall/committee/committee-opportunities-2010.htm
 

A sunny, windy day on the door-knocking trail, with many people out enjoying the afternoon.  I sure hope those stickers that I left on doors don't get blown around the neighbourhoods!

I heard concerns about fiscal responsibility, about staying level-headed, about business licence fees and how they're used, plus lots of encouraging words as well. 

Hello everyone:

What a glorious day for the Melissa's race, and not too bad yesterday for Walk-a-Mile.  Maybe we'll get a bit of nice fall weather, which would be great for ...

CAMPAIGNING

Door-knocking

I'm starting today, in the Springs Crescent/Glen Crescent/Glen Avenue area.  I look forward to chatting with people at the doors -- it's always interesting and often encouraging.

Special thanks to the fifteen volunteers who have agreed to help me by taking on a bunch of neighbourhoods around town.  I hope you will give them a friendly "hello" at your door.

Newspaper ads

Special thanks also to the people (over 45 of them so far!) who have contributed to newspaper ads for my campaign.  We're all set now, with ads in each paper for every week of the campaign, plus a larger set of ads in the final week to provide some more detail on platform.  It means so much to me that these people are willing to put their names on my ads!

Seniors' event

The seniors held the first campaign event on Friday - they invited all candidates to come to their monthly birthday party and to make short speeches outlining their platforms.  We also had a chance to circulate among tables and listen to people talk about the issues that matter to them.  Here's what I heard from the seniors:

• they hope to see a system of transportation to get people to and from medical approintments in Canmore and Calgary
• they would like to see the Roam transit incorporate a route to the Banff Centre, and they'd like shelters at the bus stops
• they are concerned about the new provision for the seniors society to pay $5,000 per year for their use of building space
• they'd love some help getting the seniors society membership numbers back up -- they've dropped from 160 to 119 over recent years.  They asked me to remind people that everyone 55 and up is eligible for membership
• they'd like to be able to contact the seniors' bus easily when they have a change of plans

Mark your calendar

The all-candidates' forum will be in the evening of October 14 at the Banff Park Lodge.  David Bayne will be the moderator.  You can look forward to a lively and informative discussion, so if you're having trouble deciding how to vote, mark your calendar for this event.

Your input (and my accountability)

You can see my council platform on my website at http://www.lataylor.com/node/144   I hope you'll take a look and let me know what you like and don't like, and anything you think is missing.

Scroll down farther on that same page, and you'll see my election information from 2007.  It's there so that you can hold me to account.  Take a look at what I said I would support, and decide whether you think I lived up to my commitments.  That should help you decide whether to vote for me (or not) on October 18th.

I'll be emailing once a week during the campaign, to provide updates and share anecdotes from the campaign trail. 

COUNCIL ON MONDAY

You can see council's agenda package for Monday at this link:

http://www.banff.ca/Assets/PDFs/Town+Hall+PDF/Council+Agendas+PDF/2010+Agendas+PDF/council-agenda-100927.pdf

Highlights include:

• a verbal progress report from KidSport on their work to help kids overccome financial barriers that may keep them from playing organized sports
• information on an application that council may make to the "Green Trip" fund to help buy a hybrid bus for the planned Banff-Canmore route.  Canmore would apply for the other bus.  You can see this report on page 22 of the package.
• A post-event report on the successful Doors Open Banff event, held in early August.  You can see this report starting on page 25 of the package.  It's great to see the steady increase in numbers of Doors Open visitors over the past four years.

LAST COUNCIL MEETING FOR THIS COUNCIL

This Monday will be the last meeting of the current council.  At the September 13th meeting, which I missed due to a vacation on the rainy west coast, council voted 5-1 to cancel the October 11th meeting. 

I hope you will all take the opportunity over the next few weeks to say special thanks to retiring council members Chris Macdonald and John Gibson, and to retiring mayor John Stutz.  These people have worked very hard for our community.