Michael Del Ciancior

The reality we all must accept is that change is inevitable, regardless of where one chooses to live. We are a growing population moving at a pace that the world has never witnessed before, this is going to cause some friction at times. I believe as great as Kingsville is, some decisions that were made by previous council in recent years could have been handled much better, ie. traffic, and communication errors in some developments. I personally was raised on a farm which I continue to operate, I appreciate and love the rural lifestyle tremendously, it has made up the values in which I carry myself, and how I plan to raise my son. I also lived in the city for a few years and can acknowledge urban sprawl has it's benefits and families need a place to live. Proper educated choices to achieve balance between nature and human expectations is and always will be the key. Through trusted leadership, and proper communication and community spirit a long term plan needs to be established once the new council team is in place. I believe the end goal being the greatest good for the greatest number of people and step by step head towards that direction.

The scale at which the greenhouse industry has grown and changed has created challenges, this cannot be denied. At the same time the industry has web of benefits for our community that at times I feel some seem to ignore. A wide range of careers are available (yes many migrants are employed and they get the benefit of creating a much better life for their family, but there are still many other jobs available). A plethora of careers right in our own back yard, graphics designers, HR, finance, marketing, etc the list goes on and on. Our youth don't need to leave to the cities for opportunities any longer. As well the impressive downtown core that has been built up with amazing restaurants and various shops, the mechanics, plumbers, HVAC, builders, taxi’s, etc, literally just about every single business in some capacity benefits from the trickle down economics that large industry creates. As well as bringing infrastructure costs down considerably for our growing community. There is simply no denying this fact, now that does not mean you don’t have a reason to be frustrated. Merging large industry with small town is no easy task to pull off, we are obviously going to have challenges along the way. However, those challenges are emphasized when they are combined with a lack of proper communication and understanding. This is a reason why having someone with first hand educated greenhouse knowledge on council can be so valuable for our community. It won’t be perfect, it never is, but with the proper leadership and hard work it is my belief that we have an opportunity to come together to reap some major rewards and a better sense of mutual win and community. And I don’t believe anyone has positioned themselves better than me to help pull this off.

I would speak with the towns civil engineers and town planners who are a lot more educated then myself on this issue. Could things have been done better in the past, yes 100%, I think all on current council would acknowledge that better planning could have been done. However, our town has grown, and we reaped many rewards, there are downsides to every decision though, this being one of them. I completely understand the annoyance of traffic, and hope to ask the proper question and make sure due diligence is followed every step of the way through accountability. I'm certain this will be a major focus for the board once elected, but I can't speak to it anymore then that.