By Aaron Mahoney (@Mahones93 on Twitter)

Downtown revitalization and taking care of the vulnerable population keys for Pogorzelski’s council run

Oct 10, 2017 | 4:29 PM

LETHBRIDGE – John Pogorzelski has become well-known in this city over the past few years of living here, and as the election creeps closer he hopes the work he’s done in the community and the relationships he has forged with people will help him in his bid for city council.

Pogorzelski moved to Lethbridge back in 2013 after growing up in Regina, and has worked with the Southern Alberta Ethnic Association, before becoming a small business owner and managing partner of the Pogo Bros, a local entertainment company.

He says after throwing a couple of events that went over really well, and having a lot of fun doing it, he was able to meet a lot of great people from different committees and groups like Downtown Lethbridge BRZ that showed him what the city was all about.

“What I saw was a passion for Lethbridge, but there’s a lot that needs to be done to make it the community it can be. I have the time, I have the energy, I have the commitment and I feel now is the right time for me to step up and try to make the changes that I’d like to see to make this a better community,” Pogorzelski said.

One of the top issues at the list of things Pogorzelski would like to get done is working with the Coalition of Municipalities Against Racism and Discrimination to get the reconciliation plan implemented.

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“Being of Métis descent it’s very important to myself and a lot of Blackfoot people and other aboriginal cultures that are here in Lethbridge who have gone through hard times because of residential schools, and people don’t realize that,” he stated. “That’s what leads to a lot of the issues downtown because there’s under-employment, it’s tough to get a job and sometimes you turn to the wrong things. That’s one of my biggest focuses, just working with our vulnerable population to make sure they’re living the best life possible. That means accessible transportation, shelter, and food when they need it.”

Count Pogorzelski down as someone who believes the continued revitalization of the downtown area is critical to growing and improving the overall city.

“Galt Gardens is a great park, but it’s under utilized and it could be a lot better. I’d like to see a master plan created to make the park more vibrant and bring more tourists to the downtown which will then have a positive effect on business investment. There’s a lot of vacant buildings downtown just sitting there not being used, so if we can make the area more exciting and enticing, we’ll be able to get more people going downtown which will lead to a more vibrant city all the time. A vibrant downtown stems growth outwards throughout the rest of the community,” Pogorzelski said.

In the lead up to the election, some candidates have taken a firm stance in either supporting the job the current council has done, or being critical of it. Pogorzelski is somewhere in the middle, admitting in the last city budget council had a max debt ceiling of $500,000 and they’re only at $200,000 of that.

“So being 50 per cent under their max deficit, I think is a pretty good job. Of course at the same time there are some decisions that they’ve made that are questionable,” Pogorzelski continued. “One being why Whoop Up Drive wasn’t just twinned right away so we didn’t have to go through all the construction we are now? Planning ahead for the future would’ve been great. Another thing I have, it’s funny because I live in Copperwood and the ATB Centre benefits me greatly since it’s right by my house, but was that the best place to put that centre? It’s not accessible to a lot of people, and I feel a lot of money went into it that only benefitted a few.”

Next up was transit, infrastructure and the fiscal side of council. Pogorzelski stated he’s not in support of a third bridge, which is an issue that’s been discussed during this campaign.

“To me, Whoop Up isn’t at maximum capacity, there’s an evacuation plan for Sundridge and those neighbourhoods to leave if anything were to happen,” he said.

Pogorzelski believes whenever council makes a financial decision, they have to ask is it being done to benefit the majority of the community.

“So lets come back to the downtown issue, I feel building on the downtown will be a benefit to a majority of the population because it’s accessible by everybody. If you ever take the bus, you have to connect downtown. The more things we can have happening downtown, the better the bus routes are going to be because more people will actually be using the bus to get there. I don’t think transit in this city is up to snuff, and it needs to be improved. I lived with my brother in Sunridge back in 2014, and I had to take the bus to the college for a few days when my car broke down and it took a long time,” Pogorzelski said, accentuating the long time.

“I also felt it was rather expensive for a small city, because I’ve been in bigger cities where riding the bus didn’t cost $3 a ride, and I was able to get where I needed to go a lot quicker. There’s a lot of issues facing transit, and the city will tell you we just don’t have enough ridership to warrant the demand people are asking for,” Pogorzelski acknowledged. “So instead of just finding a different solution, having these buses run all the time while the city keeps subsidizing them more and more, we need to start doing some social media marketing to make people aware of the benefits of bus user ship.”

“People need to understand how easy it can be. Getting students involved is key, and I think getting the referendum passed at the university is huge because every student has access to the bus. At the end of the day we live in a welfare state, we’re all about helping others because it’s not all for one but one for all,” Pogorzelski said.

In keeping with the theme of making sure decisions are made to benefit the majority of residents, Pogorzelski thinks that everyone should be involved in the democractic process, but one thing he isn’t for are plebiscites .

“Elections are expensive, there’s a lot of money that goes into them so if we had to make every decision by having people of vote on it, I think that would defeat the purpose of having a city council. With that being said though, people should be given every opportunity to weigh in on issues,” he continued. “I don’t think it should be a formal vote, just more opportunities for people to have their say. And if people want to take advantage of that, great.”

The first municipal campaign for Pogorzelski is nearly in the books with only six days remaining until election day, and he admits it’s been an interesting experience though one that could be improved in the future.

“When we go to these forums, there are 29 candidates who want to speak during a two and half hour event. So you only get a couple of minutes in total and it’s really hard to get your point across,” Pogorzelski pointed out.

“One thing I’d like to see is more representation. One thing that’s been tossed around is having a ward system, I’m not 100 per cent in favor of having eight different wards and having a different councillor from each. I’m more in favour of having west side, north side and south side, split the numbers up and then we could figure out a plan from there based on population density . That way you’d at least give people a better idea of who is running in what ward instead of a big group of people. That would give better representation for people, and more accountability for councillors.”