What new city councillors want: LRT, wider roads, the environment

The first black councillor. The first openly gay councillor. A former Canadian Alliance candidate. A female constituency assistant in Dundas.

All are new faces elected to Hamilton city council on Monday, and they all have different goals in mind when they assume their new roles in December.

Doug Conley, the new councillor for Ward 9 in Stoney Creek, cites one of his priorities as preventing light rail transit (LRT), a 13-kilometre route from McMaster University to Eastgate Square. He also wants roads widened.

Aidan Johnson of Ward 1, the first openly gay member of Hamilton city council, is a fan of LRT with full provincial funding. He wants council for the next four years to be "the environmentalist term of council."

Matthew Green of Ward 3, the citys first black councillor, wants LRT and complete streets, and to connect residents and their local government.

Arlene VanderBeek, former constituency assistant to retiring councillor Russ Powers, brings the number of women on city council from three to four. She isnt big on LRT either, and instead wants to focus on neighbourhood projects first.

Andrea Horwath, a former city councillor and current leader of the Ontario NDP, praised the variety on Tuesday.

"I was encouraged to see our new council is more reflective of our citys diversity," she said. "This is an exciting time for Hamilton that will only make our city stronger."

Heres what each of the new candidates say is their priority when they start their new jobs:

Aidan Johnson

A Legal Aid lawyer who ran under the banner A Ward 1 for Everyone, Johnson is spending this week meeting with his five opponents to get their input. His next goal? To push green ideas. Hailing from a traditionally eco-focused ward, Johnson wants to dig right in on environmental issues.

"(That's a) huge, huge priority for me for, among other reasons, the fact that I told everyone at every home I visited that this was going to be the environmentalist term of council."

Johnson, who turned 35 this week, will officially be the second youngest councillor.

Matthew Green

The Ward 3 councillor-elect, who also owns an Ottawa Street fitness business, says his first goals will be similar to the ones on which he campaigned. The mandate has already been laid out, he said. Its a progressive mandate.

According to his platform, his mandateincludes complete streets and more traffic calming, the renewal of Gage Park and more affordable housing. He also wants to bring participatory budgeting to Ward 3. His most immediate priority, he said, is to connect (residents) to the process of government.

Green also ran on trying to prevent a new gasification plant on Hamiltons waterfront. The citys only flexibility will likely be through a zoning application, but when it comes to the table, he will oppose it for many reasons.

At 34, Green is also the youngest member of council. That's a whole decade younger than Chad Collins, who prior to Monday was the youngest city councillor.

Doug Conley

The new Ward 9 councillors first priority will be transit, and its not the LRT. I dont think its useful in Hamilton. It might be something Toronto can use, but not Hamilton.

Conley, who has previously run under the Canadian Alliance and Conservative banners, wants to improve transit in Binbrook, Stoney Creek, and other areas of Hamilton. He wants to present the province with a plan that will be cheaper than the $800 million (estimate for LRT), but more effective for people.

He also wants to see more roads widened in upper Stoney Creek, since development continues but infrastructure hasn't grown to accommodate it. He wants to see Rymal Road widened to four lanes.

Arlene VanderBeek

The new Ward 13 councillor-elect plans to work on local projects first, such as the Creekside parkette. She was a constituency assistant for Russ Powers, Dundass long-time council representative, who retired this year. We had a fairly long list of things we already had in mind that we needed to get at, and theyre not major, she said. Theyre neighbourhood issues.

VanderBeeks priority is also to see a functioning transit system. She wants the city to beef up its existing transit system before it looks closer at LRT. At the end of the day, when all the facts are known, LRT might be the answer, but for me, its not the priority.

The new council take over their new jobs at an inaugural meeting on Dec. 3.

Mayor-elect Fred Eisenberger, who also served as Hamiltons mayor from 2006 to 2010, will be at the helm.

One of Eisenbergers first tasks, he said, will be to set up a citizens panel on LRT.