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Harrison Candidate Q&A - Zoltan Kiss

Village of Harrison Hot Springs: Kiss, Zoltan - Mayor Candidate
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Zoltan Kiss

Q: What one quality makes you most suited for the role of a community leader?

Above everything else, I am ETHICAL.  Without ethics, our community will not have confidence in decisions that Council makes.  Their trust in Council will be diminished.  This leads to fragmentation of the community, frustration, and general apathy.  I am committed to maintaining high ethical standards while providing strong team leadership for all issues in Harrison.  I believe this is the quality that has been missing in our leadership over many years.

 

Q: Should council be working harder to protect the surrounding forests and parks from industrial development, including logging and run of river power projects?  Or are these necessary operations?

Logging has always been an important industry in British Columbia.  Run of river power projects are clean renewable energy initiatives that provide much needed power and industry to isolated communities, as well as adding to the BC Hydro power grid.  Therefore, I believe these are necessary operations.  However, Council should be working diligently to protect the surrounding forests and parks from industrial development that directly impacts the beauty and ambiance of our Village.  After all, tourism is our main industry.  And, we have to ask the most important question...why did we as residents, move here in the first place?

 

Q: Would you support the creation of a bylaw that would allow for care homes and assisted living?  Why or why not?

As well as families, we have a significant population of retirees in Harrison.  I would definitely support the creation of a bylaw to allow for care homes and assisted living.  This would be a welcomed development that would meet the needs of our residents.  This facility would allow residents to remain living in the community that they love near friends and family.  Then, the inclusion of a medical and/or pharmacy component may be viable even with our small population.

 

Q: Can Harrison really survive on tourism alone?

Our main industry is tourism and will most likely remain as such due to our location. We must continue to promote Harrison as a beautiful resort community.  However, we must diversify,  and promote our Village as a great place to live, bring up families, or retire.  When our population increases, non-tourism based businesses and services will follow.  To be sustainable, we must grow our community.  We must acquire firm commitments from future developers, who have in the past, submitted rezoning applications to increase the density and value of their land, and then turned around and sold it.  When the value of the land is increased, this actually deters future development and works against the goal of increasing our population. I believe we cannot depend on tourism alone as it makes us too vulnerable to downturns in the economy.

 

 

Zoltan Kiss

zoltankiss@shaw.ca