Ida Duc Running for Brockville City Council

Brockville – I am thrilled to announce that I am running for Brockville City Council.

Upon much reflection I’ve concluded that I can make a meaningful contribution to this community. My husband and I moved to Brockville 13 years ago to start a new business. Brockville with its natural beauty and architectural charm was the ideal location to open our Bed & Breakfast. I have not looked back since and fell in love with this very special place.

During these past years I have served on several community organizations including serving a leadership role with The Brockville Power & Sail Squadron, current Chair of Brockville Municipal Heritage Committee, Downtown Business Improvement Area’s Beautification Committee, member of the St. Lawrence Writers Festival Organizing Committee and recently a Trustee on the Brockville Library Board.

Running a very successful Bed & Breakfast for the past 13 years has afforded me the opportunity to hear directly from tourists visiting Brockville. This experience as well as my ongoing participation with Brockville tourism summits has shown me the importance of tourism and how it will become an increasingly important economic driver for future growth and economic development.

My past experience in conjunction with my degrees in Political Science and Sociology leaves me well suited for a position on council. I am a strong team player and have a proven track record working collaboratively with others to achieve goals. I have followed with great interest the issues brought before Council and have made presentations before Council regarding Tourism, development and social issues facing the community.

Many of these issues need prioritization and I have the vigor and focus to get these issues addressed. I believe citizens deserve tangible results rather than slogans and motherhood statement. I strongly believe that Council should establish a limited number of achievable objectives each year and be laser focused on these accomplishing goals. Council should report back annually on the status of these undertakings and be more transparent with respect to progress or road blocks. The project to re-develop the city owned vacant building on King Street being an example.

My position with respect to capital spending will be that no new infrastructure should be built until existing infrastructure is maintained. If new infrastructure is required, the city must assure that funds will be available for regular routine maintenance. Far more priority must be given to assure we have the resources to properly maintain exiting City assets.

The current state of infrastructure along King Street is a prime example. This being one of major feature that makes Brockville a tourism destination has been left to deteriorate, for example flaking paint on streetlights and dangerously crumbling interlocking paving stones etc. This clearly demonstrates the lack of priority given to preventative maintenance. Had an annual maintenance been budgeted the life span of this infrastructure would have been extended by decades saving taxpayers millions of dollars.

Another key area of my focus is economic development, specifically tourism. I strongly believe that Brockville has the potential to become a top tier tourist destination. We should aim high. With Brockville’s historic and cultural heritage combined with the incomparable beauty of the St. Lawrence River we should be a premier destination like Niagara -on-The Lake, Stratford and Prince Edward County.

We have a first-class Arts Center, The Arts Hub, The Railroad Tunnel, Brock Trail beautiful waterfront, festivals like the Tall Ships and more recently the St. Lawrence Writers festival.

If elected I will be focused on these priorities because I truly believe that that the two combined will bring in much needed economic benefits to our community and make our community more vibrant.

As with all municipalities there will always be social issues such as homelessness, mental illness and drug addiction. The city must continue its efforts to fight homeless however it is now up to senior levels of government to step up and provide increased resources to complete the mission.

This election is about you, the citizens of Brockville. In the next weeks and months, I hope to meet you along with business owners and members of various clubs and committees.

My pledge to you is to be primarily focused on these issues and not make general promises that cannot be measured or likely met.

By concentrating on preventative maintenance and economic development by making Brockville a premier tourist destination and even a better place to live and work.

Sincerely
Ida Duc