Rosemary Wallace
Running for a seat on council in the City of Langley
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Freelance visual artist and photographer, 53
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• Have you held office in past? If so, please specify: School trustee 2014-2018 and City
councillor from 2008-2014
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Candidate provided bio: I live in Downtown Langley City and have been a leader in community in East Vancouver and Langley City for over 30 years. I’ve taken part in sports, music, arts and culture. My husband and I have raised seven children, and six of them attended City schools.
I have been involved in Langley City for over 23 years contributing to coaching sports, facilitating murals, the Langley Christmas Bureau, St. Joe’s soup kitchen, Terry Fox Run, Langley Arts Council, Langley City Art Crawl, and several community committees in the City and Township.
I care deeply about affording the best quality of care for all the citizens and encourage the inclusion of the voice being heard! I believe in community and in building partnerships. I have valued my term as a Langley school trustee and have had confirmed the importance of working together in partnership in addressing the needs of children and families. I look forward to continuing my my involvement with seniors, youth, children and families in having them feel feel they have a voice and sense of belonging in the community that they live in.
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Facebook: Rosemary Wallace
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Email: Rosemary Wallace
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Other internet/social media platforms where voters can learn about you: Instagram @rosemaryhmwallace
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Phone: 604-346-6487
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• Who is your favourite superhero, and why? My favourite superhero is Fraser Holland from Stepping Stone Society! I have know Fraser for over 20 years and have watched him work tiredly has a Homelessness outreach worker. He cares deeply and has contributed many hours beyond his commitment to serving and finding solutions to address the homelessness issue.
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There are 16 candidates running for six councillor seats with the City of Langley. The following are questions asked of each candidate hopeful. They were directed to provide a minimum of a Yes, No, or Don’t Know answer, and given an option to expand on one answer in print (to a maximum of 100 words per question). They could expand on all questions online, if they wished to do so. The following are their replies.
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Questions and Answers:
1. What neighbourhood of Langley do you live in?
Answer: Douglas
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2. How many years have you lived in Langley?
Answer: 23 years
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3. How many Langley City council meetings have you attended in the past year?
Answer: six
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4: Should the City be directly funding social housing to reduce homelessness?
Answer:
No. This needs to be done in partnership collectively, provincially and federally.
Services and supports that address the needs of the most vulnerable need to be well-thought-out so that we break the cycle of poverty, addiction and social isolation that often lead to the impacting of mental health issues in those facing homelessness.
We must work alongside social service agencies in a wrap-around approach, empowering vulnerable citizens in Langley City.
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5. Do you support elevated rail over light rapid transit from Surrey to Langley?
Answer: Yes, but we must develop a viable conducive happening downtown core.
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6. Should the City’s industrial area be phased out in favour of residential and commercial development?
Answer: No
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7. Would you vote to raise taxes to hire more police?
Answer: No. We need to look at other emergency services.
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8. Do you agree with the growth estimates for Langley City in its new Nexus of Community strategic plan?
Answer: Yes.
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9. Should Langley have its own municipal police force, replacing the RCMP?
Answer: No.
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10. Should the City fund an arts centre?
Answer: Yes. An arts centre is overdue in the City of Langley and I feel that it would serve well as an attraction not only to local residents but to tourists to Langley City. As for the operating of an arts centre, I see the diverse disciplines of arts groups being involved in the running of the centre alongside philanthropists that could and want to contribute to an arts centre knowing the value of what arts bring to people.
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11. Does Langley City need an indoor swimming pool?
Answer: No. Al Anderson is unique in its nature as serving as an outdoor facility and it would be costly to convert it to an indoor pool.
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12. Should Langley City lobby for its own urgent care centre?
Answer: Don’t Know
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13. Do you think residential property taxes are too high?
Answer: Yes
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14. Should the City amalgamate with the Township?
Answer: No. I would hate to see the watering down of services needed for the most vulnerable. Also the City is unique in its make up of existing services for seniors. The future City scape of the downtown core is unique in it’s coming to fruition from the City being its own municipality.
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15. Should the municipality offer tax breaks, incentives, or rebates to companies looking to set up shop here?
Answer: Yes
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16. Is Langley City being pushed to grow too fast?
Answer: No. I feel that the downtown core could use a makeover and densifcation of mixed use residential and commercial. We need to offer up spaces that assist in sustainable economic growth that offer attractions to the citizens of Langley and tourists.
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17. Should Langley City take more direct action to combat the opioid crisis locally?
Answer: Yes. The direction they could take is understanding frst the complexity of addiction. This comes with awareness and education of the underlying issues. The opioid crisis does not just efect those living on the street. We have families in this community struggling with youth and love ones trying to navigate a system in supporting and addressing addiction.
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18. Should the City encourage the creation of more rental and low-income housing?
Answer: Yes, in partnership with other levels of government, developers, and stakeholders.
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19. Should the City taxes be cut by cutting services?
Answer: No
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20. Should there be a limit to the number of consecutive terms a member of council can serve?
Answer: No. It is up to the voter to educate themselves in who is an active member on council. Who does the work in getting involved in engaging community and stakeholders. Who is involved in discussions that actively address the social issues being faced in all age brackets. I feel that if you don’t have the energy to serve any longer as a City councillor, you need to step away to allow for those seeking to do the work.