{"id":30458,"date":"2018-10-12T03:56:15","date_gmt":"2018-10-12T10:56:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=30458"},"modified":"2018-10-09T14:22:17","modified_gmt":"2018-10-09T21:22:17","slug":"candidates-for-office","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2018\/10\/12\/candidates-for-office\/","title":{"rendered":"Candidates for office"},"content":{"rendered":"

Election day for municipal governments across British Columbia is Saturday, Oct. 20. In Vancouver, advance voting opportunities are available until Oct. 17, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. (photo by Cynthia Ramsay)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Members of British Columbia\u2019s Jewish community have been involved in many pursuits over the decades. With some notable exceptions, few have pursued elective office. And this election continues the tradition. Of the hundreds of people running for city councils, school boards, regional district boards and the Vancouver park board, the Independent<\/em> has identified only four members of the community running in the Oct. 20 elections, though there may be others. Here is a glance at their platforms and motivations.<\/p>\n

Herschel Miedzygorski
\n<\/strong>Independent candidate for Vancouver city council
\n<\/em>voteherschel.ca<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
Herschel Miedzygorski<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Herschel Miedzygorski\u2019s priorities include clean and safe streets, increased night transit and more funding for the arts. He wants to deter real estate speculation and speed up permitting processes for middle-class homes.<\/p>\n

Miedzygorski has had a career as a restaurateur in Vancouver and Whistler, running Southside Deli in the resort municipality for 25 years and being involved in food ventures in the city. He has sold his food interests and now represents Giant Head Estate Winery, based in Summerland, B.C., to restaurant clients.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was born and raised in Vancouver,\u201d he said. \u201cMy father had a secondhand store on Main Street for 60 years, it was called Abe\u2019s Second Hand. That was my mom and dad.\u2026 We all grew up on Main Street.\u201d<\/p>\n

Miedzygorski has coached football and soccer and spends time at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver. He was asked to run with a couple of the city\u2019s political parties, he said, but \u201cI just want to be an independent voice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ken Charko
\n<\/strong>Coalition Vancouver candidate for Vancouver city council
\n<\/em>coalitionvancouver.ca<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
Ken Charko<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ken Charko owns Dunbar Theatre. He is president of the Hillcrest Community Centre and a director of the Motion Picture Association. He considers himself a \u201cchampion of the arts.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very supportive of the arts,\u201d he said. Charko wants to make arts and culture more accessible to all.<\/p>\n

He also seeks a line-by-line review of the city\u2019s budget and wants fair bylaws for hardworking people and small businesses.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got good business credentials,\u201d Charko said. \u201cI understand small business. I\u2019ve been there. But I\u2019m really going to try to focus on the arts and things that matter to the arts community.\u201d<\/p>\n

He is running with Coalition Vancouver after breaking with the NPA because they appointed, rather than electing, their nominees.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no party that completely represents all my views,\u201d he said. But Coalition Vancouver aligns with his approach to fiscal accountability and socially progressive outlook, he said.<\/p>\n

Steven Nemetz
\n<\/strong>Independent candidate for Vancouver park board
\n<\/em>stevennemetz.com<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
Steven Nemetz<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Steven Nemetz is running for Vancouver park board because the time is right.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt speaks to me at this stage of my life \u2013 father, grandfather \u2013 and I grew up in the city,\u201d he said. \u201cI grew up intimately familiar \u2013 because my father was a great outdoorsman \u2013 with these parks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nemetz is a lawyer and holds a master\u2019s in business administration and a rabbinic ordination. He created the \u201cpop-up shul\u201d Shtiebl on the Drive for the High Holy Days this year.<\/p>\n

Having lived in various cities, notably New York, Nemetz wants to bring to Vancouver some ideas that have worked in other places. Inspired by the High Line, a park created from an old elevated railway in Manhattan, Nemetz suggests saving the Georgia and Dunsmuir viaducts (which are slated for demolition) and creating an elevated park in the space between them and extending that park east and west. A second High Line-style recreation space could work along the Broadway corridor, he said, incorporating transit hubs, Vancouver General Hospital and other existing assets.<\/p>\n

He advocates a \u201cprivileges card\u201d for city residents that would mean they pay no parking fees at any parks.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are 650,000 residents of the city of Vancouver,\u201d he said. \u201cThere are over 10 million visitors a year.\u201d A slight price increase for non-residents could offset the loss of revenue from locals, he said. \u201cThe residents of the city of Vancouver pay taxes. They support their infrastructure. They shouldn\u2019t have to pay more for the use of facilities that they primarily support by way of small nickel-and-diming, like parking at Kitsilano Beach and Jericho.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nemetz looks at Mountain View Cemetery, 106 acres at the heart of the city, and sees potential for repurposing it to respectfully accommodate more living residents.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are not talking amusement park,\u201d he said. \u201cIt could be something very unique, world-class in a way, that\u2019s different.\u201d<\/p>\n

Norman Goldstein
\n<\/strong>Richmond First candidate for Richmond school board
\n<\/em>richmondfirst.ca<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
Norman Goldstein<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Norman Goldstein is a former Richmond school trustee seeking to return to the board.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe best thing for all people, including the Jewish people, is an open, accountable government that adheres to the rule of law,\u201d he told the Independent. \u201cThe laws need to be crafted by caring, competent people, who understand that the strength of a society rests on how fairly and inclusively all citizens are treated. This is what I believe and this shapes who I associate with and trust politically.\u201d<\/p>\n

His priorities for education include moving forward with the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) policy passed by the Richmond school board.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has been, unfortunately, a very polarizing issue in Richmond,\u201d he said. \u201cTo my understanding, the opposition to SOGI is based either on misunderstanding what the policy says \u2013 please, read the policy \u2013 or on deep-seated prejudice that is not self-recognized as such.\u201d<\/p>\n

Goldstein holds a doctorate in mathematics and taught and researched at the university level. He later completed a master\u2019s of computer science and spent 21 years at MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates in Richmond, retiring in 2013.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Richmond School District has had a long, proud history of inclusion,\u201d he said. \u201cA major tool in this endeavour has been to integrate all learning levels into the same classroom. This socializes students to understand and appreciate each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

Election day for municipal governments across British Columbia is Saturday, Oct. 20. In Vancouver, advance voting opportunities are available until Oct. 17, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Advance voting dates and times differ by jurisdiction. More details are at vancouver.ca\/vote<\/a> or on the website for your municipality.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Election day for municipal governments across British Columbia is Saturday, Oct. 20. In Vancouver, advance voting opportunities are available until Oct. 17, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. (photo by Cynthia Ramsay) Members of British Columbia\u2019s Jewish community have been involved in many pursuits over the decades. With some notable exceptions, few have pursued elective […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":30465,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[3249,8407,3963,8409,3597,5178,8408,1742],"class_list":["post-30458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","tag-elections","tag-herschel-miedzygorski","tag-ken-charko","tag-norman-goldstein","tag-politics","tag-richmond","tag-steven-nemetz","tag-vancouver"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30458"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30458\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}