'MEET THE CANDIDATES' ANGELA NEGRIN

Angela Negrin

For those of you who don't know me my name is Angela Negrin, I am a 33 year old, 4th generation Nanaimoite. My parents have had the Superette Foods up on Albert for the last 31 years and I started Pirate Chips on Commercial Street almost 5 years ago now.

I grew up wanting to be just like my dad (I am the eldest of 3) and so I started learning about business and working with the public at a very young age. I can remember the days when we had a vibrant city and a downtown where people did their business and shopping, went to movies, socialized, people could send their kids to the store for some milk, we were alive, we had a pulse in the heart of Nanaimo.

After I finished college, I travelled and worked in over 22 countries and I was always flattered when people would ask me “Why are you travelling here when you come from the most beautiful place on earth?” I realize now after coming back how very lucky we are to live on the sun porch of Canada. I have seen many beautiful places and met some wonderful people, but none as great as here.

We truly have it all, mountains, rivers, lakes, oceans, forests!

I was however, quite embarrassed as to what has happened with the heart of the city and overwhelmed with development in the north-end. The city seemed to me so divided and unbalanced, when it once was a vibrant whole city.

I opened Pirate Chips November 27th, 2003 because I wanted to help revitalize downtown. It has been a tough go, but a fun one, more still needs to be done. In my opinion there is too much money is wasted on attracting people who may never ever come here. We need to spend less and focus on the people who already live here and pay taxes here. The Economy and our Social systems are changing, WE are now home of a University, most of our population are baby boomers and most if not all are looking into retirement if they aren't semi-retired already. WE NEED A N EFFICIENT TRANSIT SYSTEM, one that services the university, both ferries and the airport.

Nanaimo needs to embrace its culture and identity in order to unify ourselves as a vibrant and successful city. When elected i intend to bring the fun back. I want to be proud, and I want the public to be proud of its council members. As a child I remember how important I felt when mayor Frank Ney shook my hand in the line up at the parade.

I BELEIVE IN PRESERVING AND MAINTAING OUR PARKS. People come here and live here for ALL our green space, lakes, mountains, rivers, forest, ocean. I believe in development but responsible development, where the city concentrates on governing its services rather than have dealings in real estate.

When elected I would like to propose a WARD SYSTEM whereby, each elected council member would represent an equal demographic within the city. This would require each council member to be accountable for his/her actions and the public could have a clearer voice on the council table as each demographic has different concerns.

My name is Angela Negrin and I am dedicated to making you proud of your hometown Nanaimo.

Elect me for council and lets put the HUB back into HUB CITY!

CREATING CULTURE WE CAN BE PROUD OF