Knoxdale-Merivale hears from candidates

After a long, difficult week dealing with the tornadothat destroyed homes and snapped toweringpine trees in hisKnoxdale-Merivaleward, Keith Eglireturned to the election race on Sundayand an all-candidates meeting withthe four men who want his seat on city council.

Warren Arshinoff, James Dean, Luigi Mangone and Peter Anthony Weber joined him attheTanglewoodParkCommunity Centre for an event put onby eight community associations.

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The centre isonly a few hundred metres from the damaged Merivalehydro substation that causedwidespread power outages after the Sept. 21 tornadoes.

Until last week, Egli would have said traffic safety was his number one issue for the ward, but that has been supplanted by tornado recovery.

The city needs to give residents services and help to rebuild, and it has to plant many, many trees,said Egli.

"It's earlyto figure out how we're going to achieve that, but that's something I'm committed to working on," he said.

Mangonecriticized Egli's response in this past week, however, saying residents felt he could have better communicated.

Weber, meanwhile, said the military should have been called in to help.

City spending, speeding big issues for challengers

Many of the priorities of Egli's four challengerstended to relate to city spending.

Warren Arshinoff, for instance, is concerned about Ottawa embarking on the$3.6 billion second phase of light rail before it truly understands whether the delayed $2.1 billion first phaseis even a success.

He liked the former City of Nepean's "pay-as-you-go" approach.

The city's debt was the No. 1 issue forJames Dean, a real estate agent andthree-time candidate in Knoxdale-Merivale.

If the city spent less intereston borrowing, it would have more to invest in police and fire, he argued.

Money that flows from a councillor's office was the focal point for Luigi Mangone, who worked in the federal public servicefor eight years.

He suggested Eglicould have spent more of his $40,000 traffic calming budget, although Egliexplained the money was slow to flow in the beginning of the 2014-2018 council term.

Peter Anthony Weber, who worked in construction for three decades and has raised his family in the ward,took issue with photo radar, which he called another tax, and the turf that was put in at the Nepean Sportsplex.

On a fewquestions, Weber had little to say, or took a pass altogether.

For a recap of the Knoxdale-Merivale candidates' answers last night at the community centre, read the CBC's Kate Porter'stweets here: