Crosty wants to bring "fresh perspective" to New West city hall

James Crosty wants to take his citizen advocacy to New Westminster City Hall.

Crosty, who is one of four candidates running to be New Westminster’s next mayor, is a familiar face at council, having rallied against a coal facility across the river in Surrey and sought to eliminate nighttime train noise in New Westminster. A self-described “citizen advocate,” he said it’s not uncommon to arrive at his office on Sixth Street (currently doubling as a campaign office) and find documents in the mail slot.

“I still do my citizen advocacy. What I want to do is have a bigger effect on how those things are done,” he said. “It’s the reason why I ran.”

If elected mayor Crosty would like to make improvements to the building permit process, work with TransLink to get improvements made to SkyTrain stations (including better elevator access at the Columbia station), cut back on the number of closed council meetings, get development proposals in front of the public earlier in the process and focus economic development on initiatives that help local businesses.  One of Crosty’s first plans as mayor is to establish a women’s commission, which would look at ways the city could assist women operating small- and medium-sized businesses.

Crosty said he’s concerned about the $83 million payroll for a city the size of New Westminster and believes a core review of city services is needed.

“That is not a negative. That is something we need to do on a regular basis. Who knows? We could find some amazing savings,” he said. “We could find some amazing things we need to spend money on that should be reallocated.”

Crosty also believes the New Westminster Chamber of Commerce should get a chance to review the city’s annual budget, saying its members are business owners who understand finances. He also thinks the city’s economic development manager should work out of the chamber office.

Crosty supported the Hyack Festival Association during its troubles with the city, which resulted in the city taking over the Santa Claus Parade and reducing the annual grant to the association for putting on events on the city’s behalf. He wants the city to release the audit it commissioned about Hyack’s finances.

“I want that out. That was a public motion. They never released it,” he said. “These people, who they have attacked, deserve to know what the audit says.”

On the traffic front, Crosty wants to try to reopen discussions about the possibility of building the Stormont connector, create a roundtable with politicians from neighbouring cities to talk about traffic issues and try to get traffic flowing better through New West.

“Get ‘em in and get ‘em out is my slogan. Stop blocking the right turn lanes. I can’t tell you how frustrating that is. Let people go and move, get the synchronized traffic lights in,” he said. “Traffic is a problem throughout the Lower Mainland. New Westminster is trying to build itself a little island, saying we know best for us. That’s my argument – you can’t fight it. You must be the peacemaker and the compromiser. We are not going to win this battle, but we sure as hell can make a dent.”

If he’s elected, Crosty isn’t anticipating dramatic changes in the city in his first term of office.

“Frankly it’s not going to look much different. Four years is a very short time. What we are going to be putting into play in the next four years is the next 10 to 20 years,” he said. “What Wayne (Wright), Jonathan (Cote) and this current council have created is going to be around for a while. You don’t take a big ship like this and turn it on a dime. What we have to do is evaluate how we are spending and the priorities of that spending.”

Crosty said he’s changed since his last run for mayor, something he attributes to dealing with prostate cancer and living with his longtime partner’s mother, who has dementia.

“I’m much more pragmatic about the fact you can’t do everything,” he said. “I’m less angry about what isn’t being accomplished because I now understand it takes time.”

Crosty said the 2014 campaign has been a much more positive than his first run for mayor in 2011. He said strangers are offering to support his campaign.

“To me, it’s a really good sign that people are ready for something really fresh,” he said. “Fresh ideas are not what we need. Fresh perspective is what we need. There are so many people that want to engage the mayor and council that it’s exciting.”

Crosty believes the current council has disenfranchised some residents and he wants to make council meetings and city hall more welcoming. If elected mayor, he wants the city to hold townhall meetings every couple of months to give people a chance to vent their concerns.

Crosty said he decided to run for mayor because he saw a split between three-term councillor Jonathan Cote, who is being endorsed by the labour council, and incumbent Mayor Wayne Wright, who enjoyed support from labour in the past. While some had suggested he seek a seat on council, he said he crunched the numbers and felt his chances of getting elected were stronger if he ran for mayor.

Crosty hopes voters will elect some non-endorsed candidates to city council.

“If you’re a lone ranger on council, you can’t get a seconder for a motion,” he said. “It’s like being a backbencher in Parliament or Victoria.”