Bruce McGuigan's name will be on the ballot for Mayor of Victoria in October.
He's a sociology professor, Executive Director for Family Services of Greater Victoria, and a long time resident of Victoria.
He weighed in on the bike lane issue, saying everyone likes to ride a bike, but the way the new bike lanes are structured are about as gad as they could be.
"On Pandora and on Fort, we have a bike lane system that was designed for a city with a population density of 30-40,000 people per square kilometer. A system like that would work great in Hong Kong or Manhattan. A system like that in a city with a population density of 4,700 per square kilometer is gross overkill, and it's really seriously interfered with traffic."
He says his plan would see an integration of all transportation modes so that they aren't in conflict, and the big change he would make to the bike lanes is eliminating the right turn delay, as it causes traffic build ups.
McGuigan also says the city is dealing with drug addiction, mental health issues and homelessness. He says Victoria has become the "downtown East Side" of Vancouver Island, saying there is a rough element in our city.
"We have a serious issue with drugs, mental health and poverty. And what we've done is literally build slums. So you take 60 people, who have serious mental health and addiction issues, and you stick them all in one building and say 'Well, hope you get better.' They're not going to get better."
He says the process could not have been done worse, and sticking people in a building isn't enough, there needs to be more services available for people.
Although these issues are important, he says the top issue facing Victorians is governance:
"We have bad decisions, because we have a bad process to make decisions. That's why everything that's happened has happened: the statue, Topaz park, poor solutions to homelessness, re-zoning issues, ignoring OCPs (Official Community Plans). All of this is about a poor process of governance."
McGuigan says as Mayor he would make decisions based on consensus, not special interests, and create a transparent government.
Along with McGuigan, the other declared candidates running for Mayor are: incumbant Mayor Lisa Helps; child poverty activist Rob Duncan; author, businessman and activist Stephen Hammond; Principal owner of Canada’s Reno Rebate, Sean Leitenberg; consultant and lobbyist Michael Geoghehan; and Saanich Deli owner Krzysztof “Chris” Zmuda.