David Lopez is making his bid for council in his first full election after winning a by-election in February.
Lopez says he’s loved his time serving on Lloydminster council.
“I absolutely love it, I love meeting the people I love seeing projects, dealing with projects, with issues and dealing with the public,” he said. “I love being able to be stopped at the grocery store to talk about problems in the city,”
He says you may not always agree on what a solution might be but through dialogue, it’s possible to find something both parties are happy with.
Lopez has been in the city for nearly 50 years and when asked what he likes about Lloydminster he said, “everything.”
“I love the size, it’s a city with a small-town feel,” he said. “You know everybody, everybody knows you.”
He says he loves the hard work he sees in the city.
“I love the growth, I love that people here want to work hard they know what hard work is,” he said. “We all band together to make Lloydminster the great city that is it.”
His reason for running for council in February was his frustration over the city’s fiscal spending.
“I got frustrated with some of the policies they (council) were doing, and I got really frustrated with the spending,” said Lopez. “I feel like the spending is a little out of control.”
“The cost of living is expensive, and we don’t need to make it more expensive.”
Through his time in council, Lopez has dealt with various issues around Lloyd and talks specifically about the complexity of the homeless population and the men’s shelter.
“You can’t say we’re going to expand it (men’s shelter) without knowing what the social impacts are in the surrounding area,” he explained.
Lopez has observed a change in the men’s shelter.
“The one thing that I really believe, and it’s going to take some time, is the men’s shelter has gone to just be the men’s shelter again,” he explained. “They’re not feeding people that are not in the shelter and they’re making the people that need the services to go where the services are.”
“They’re being forced to go to The Olive Tree, to the Native Friendship Centre, the Anglican church, and I think that’s the way to do it.”
He says sending the people to these other locations they will get the services and resources they need.
He also touches on the initiative the city has undertaken to support The Olive Tree.
“We got onto a project with The Olive Tree for a social worker to help with the home-based program,” said Lopez. He continues by saying this initiative will help them get the resources they need.
Lopez’s platform, much like his platform in February, focuses on fiscal responsibility.
“We are using other people’s money, and we have to be very cautious of how we spend it,” he explained.
He says it’s important to talk to city employees about how to save money.
“I still believe that we don’t utilize just talking to the employees that are on the ground all the time,” said Lopez. “I still believe we have to use the city employees and find those cost savings.”
When asked about how he would tackle the issue of attracting more people downtown he says it’s about entertainment and experiences.
“We need to think what do people want. It’s all about experiences and entertainment right now,” explained Lopez. “What do people want to see? To be in an outdoor concert or closing the street doing like a Steven’s Avenue walk where the roads closed and people can walk on and there’s entertainment and things like that.”
He says the façade improvement to downtown has added more vibrancy to the buildings improving the overall look.
When asked why people should cast their vote for him, he says he’s accomplished what he set out to do.
“I went in February saying this is my platform and I honestly believe I did what I said I was going to do,” he said.
Read more: Councillor Lopez test drives seat
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