Nathan Pachal is seeking a seat on Langley City council.
The 31-year-old has lived in Langley City since 2006 and has been very involved in planning, parks and recreation, environment and transportation issues. He has a blog called the South Fraser blog (http://sfb.nathanpachal.com/) where he writes about these and other urban issues.
He announced his candidacy in a conference room at the Cascades Casino and Convention Centre on Thursday morning (Sept. 18), at the same time as members of Langley Teachers Association filled the main convention area to vote on the contract proposal which ended the teachers’ strike.
The limited parking at the centre provided him with at least one theme — the need for enough parking in Langley City’s downtown and for transit service which serves people’s needs.
Pachal is the longest-serving member of the City’s parks and environment advisory committee, and has also been involved with South Fraser Cycling Coalition. He is a co-founder of South Fraser OnTrax.
He wants to focus on three priorities in his campaign — a safe and accessible community; a strong local economy and enhancement of parks and the environment.
He said too many people feel unsafe in the city and there needs to be more concentration of police resources there..
“The RCMP must be more visible on the streets, get out of their cars and walk the beat,” the said.
He also wants the city to make repairs to sidewalks a much higher priority, noting that many seniors and people with disabilities have difficulty navigating sidewalks. He would like to see all of them brought to a higher standard.
He wants to see the downtown business area revived and become more prosperous and successful. One element of that is to have more people actually living along the one-way section of Fraser Highway, and more fully implementing the Downtown Master Plan.
Pachal said the city is also asking too much of some developers, by wanting them to upgrade aging infrastructure to build a project, and then be repaid through latecomers’ agreements.
He wants to see modest lighting and trail improvements along the Nicomekl flood plain and a solution to the Brydon Lagoon siltation problem.
He believes funds for a variety of improvements can be found from the City’s capital plan, now that the overpass projects are complete.
He opposes amalgamation, saying the research he has done does not point to any savings for taxpayers.