Speeding an election issue for many Dollard council candidates

The race for council seats in many districts of Dollard des Ormeaux may be fought over speeding in residential areas, according to several candidates who have been making door-to-door rounds in the final few days leading up to the municipal election on Nov. 1.

""I'm going to declare war on this issue," said District 2 incumbent Errol Johnson, a financial advisor who was first elected to council in 1994.

"People are scared of letting their kids play in front of their houses," he said, adding this is something many of his constituents have complained about as he has made the rounds during his campaign.

In neighbouring District 4, where a three-way race for the seat is underway, candidate Leslie Greenberg has also noticed this problem.

"One of the biggest issues on the whole in my neighbourhood has been the problem of excessive speed," said Greenberg, who is betting on his community involvement with organizations such as the Shriners and Starlight Foundation to give him an edge as a municipal politician.

Greenberg said he also wants to make safety in general a priority. "We need more eyes in the neighbourhood," he said, adding one idea he would like to implement is a volunteer corps of teenagers who could keep an eye on suspicious activities come night time.

Greenberg has noticed many teens in the district like to ride around on scooters, and said using them as watchmen would both help with community involvement and give the teens a "sense of responsibility."

His rival, Shya Finestone, also a political neophyte, is putting an emphasis on improvements to public transit and building a dog run in the area instead.

Finestone said better express bus service to the closest metro station to the West Island—Côte Vertu in Ville St. Laurent borough—is needed. "There's the 214 bus," he said, but it does not pass by nearly often enough. As a parent of two kids who use it, Finestone said he is familiar with the problem.

That district's incumbent Herbert Brownstein said he is a good choice for his voters, with a proven track record of delivering on issues such as traffic safety.

He pointed to a traffic light on Sources Boulevard and Belcourt, which council managed to install in 2009 after over a year of complaints by residents, as an example.

District 8 incumbent Colette Gauthier, also a veteran of town council since 1994, said speeding is a problem in her area as well. "It's something we have to address together," she said.

Gauthier, who works full-time as the city of Dorval's legal affairs clerk during daytime, said her years of experience in small town affairs from there also make her a better choice for voters in Dollard.

She said she takes frequent walks in the summer, and drives around her district in the winter, to keep herself abreast of anything happening in her district.

For many new challengers to council seats, however, including Gauthier's rival Simon Sadeh, there is a lack of communication between elected representatives and the people they represent. "I did hear a lot of complaints about stuff like that," he said. "I will periodically visit the residents to hear first-hand what their concerns are and then bring those concerns to council," the retired CEO of a textile import company, S-Tex, said.

In District 2, another new challenger, Sam Gabbay, said he would like to form a citizens' committee that would meet at least once a month before council meetings so that he could truly know what their concerns were. "That way, I would really represent the voice of the people at the council meeting," he said.

Among the incumbents, Gauthier unhesitatingly threw her support behind mayoral incumbent Ed Janiszewski. Brownstein praised the current council without taking sides specifically. "If I had to endorse someone, I'd endorse Ed," said Johnson.

The rookie candidates were more ambivalent. Gabbay said he is unfamiliar with Shameem Sidiqqui, who is running for mayor against Janiszewski, but did not want to choose sides.

"Change is always good," said Simon Sadeh, though he did not specifically say he supports Siddiqui.

In District 4, Greenberg put his support behind Janiszewski, while Finestone said he was encouraged by the opposition to the sitting mayor that Siddiqui represented and would like to see some change.