After 14 years, Maggie Hathaway says it was either “kick it up a notch or get out.”
The veteran Powell River councillor is one of three running to be the city’s next mayor.
“I have a strong desire to be a leader in our community. I love Powell River. I’ve lived here since 1979 and I would love to see it flourish and those are my goals,” she said in an interview with Vista Radio.
Hathaway says one the city’s biggest issues ahead is industrial development and getting another business on the closed Catalyst paper mill site.
“We need to bring industry into town so that we can keep taxes at a reasonable level. Our mill has been curtailed and we need to replace that industry with more industry on that site,” she said.
She says the city also needs to work “hand in hand” with the province and “get creative” to tackle crime and lax federal laws. “People aren’t going to jail for their crimes and it’s not a whole lot of people committing the crimes but they just get arrested and then released to carry on with their criminality. That’s a huge issue that needs to be addressed province-wide,” Hathaway said.
Hathaway believes the city is on a good path set by outgoing mayor Dave Formosa, who has also been on council for 14 years.
“We worked together for a long time so if I was going to criticize anything that he did I would have already done it. I like where he’s got us headed and he’s busy looking for new industrial tenants for our Catalyst paper site,” Hathaway explained.
If elected, Hathaway wants to continue working “hand in hand” with Formosa in his capacity with the chamber of commerce.
