Ritz wants top to bottom change, if made mayor
CONNOR LUCZKA, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
If elected mayor, Robert Ritz wants top to bottom change – from how the City of Stratford communicates, the elimination of red tape and the adjustment of local services like transit.
“I'm running because I believe Stratford can do better,” Ritz said. “Stratford should be set up to work for you. I hear from residents who feel disconnected from city hall and are frustrated by the decisions they don't fully understand or feel that they have a meaningful, meaningful voice in. I believe municipal government works best when residents are treated as partners. My priorities are straightforward: restore public trust, put residents first and respect the taxpayer. I want to bring people together, make better informed decisions and provide the practical, collaborative leadership Stratford deserves.”
Ritz, a lifelong Stratford resident, has over 40 years of professional experience as an architect and a long tenure as a local Rotarian. Residents will also recognize him as the citizen who has presented a comprehensive vision for the Grand Trunk renewal project, the city’s keystone capital project set to overhaul the 18 acres of former industrial land downtown.
If elected, Ritz said he would like to see the establishment of a municipal service corporation, “a Grand Trunk Development Corporation,” a la Festival Hydro, which would develop the site for the city. When asked if he would champion his own vision for the project if elected mayor, Ritz told the Times he wants to see something happening on the site “in some form.”
On housing affordability, Ritz likewise advocated for another corporation, the “Stratford Housing Development Corporation,” which would monitor the city’s housing stock on an ongoing basis and work with developers to provide as much as needed in the free market, using city land and building when the market could not build affordably.
Ritz would like to better involve citizens in municipal decisions, or even to better inform citizens on process and what the city is doing. He would like to see the city’s communication platform Engage Stratford better utilized. He would like to introduce ward representation, so each councillor will be responsible for communicating with the residents of their assigned ward.
All of that would take a change to the city’s procedural bylaw – and money.
Ritz was in favour, especially during this first year, of keeping the tax rate increase to 3.5 per cent at the highest. As he said, the timeline of being elected end of October and signing off on the budget in January is too short to do big cuts or institute a tax freeze, but he was in favour of keeping it “as low as possible,” while maintaining service levels.
“Now I'm sure there's some fat in the system,” Ritz said. “I'll be looking for that, see where I can trim it out. But there's not enough time from when you take office in November to when they want you to sign off on it in January. It's just no time, and to do the research I'd really like to do.”
If elected, Ritz would lead the city’s budget as mayor, thanks to the strong mayor powers endowed to Stratford last year. He did not rule out using the powers, but said he would only use them for “the people,” to reverse a decision that council has made if he thought it undemocratic. For example, if a number of councillors were absent from a planning vote and a minority number of total councillors made a decision that might not have been made if all of the councillors were present.
Speaking directly to voters, Ritz said he is ultimately running for mayor to give back to the city which has given so much to him.
“I was very fortunate,” Ritz said. “… It's my town, and I want to help it. I have 40 years of experience, and I think that experience can help us become a better city.”
For more information, visit www.ritzfor26.ca.
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