A local business owner is taking a second crack at running for a seat on Terrace's city council.
James Cordeiro, owner of the Blackstone's Restaurant and operator of The Lodge at Skeena Landing, ran unsuccessfully in 2008.
“My chief concern is the wise use of taxpayer money,” he said of his candidacy in this election.
While initially unsure about whether or not he wanted to run, Cordeiro said he was appalled at city council's decision to give My Mountain Coop money to operate the Shames Mountain ski facility.
“I'm in disagreement that the city should be funding it in any way,” said Cordiero. “The co-op went to the taxpayers and ultimately the taxpayers said no because they didn't buy the memberships.”
Unless a business plan has proven to be viable, and that hasn't happened yet, said Cordeiro, then public money should not be supporting it in any way.
Nor should the public purse have sprung for a $40,000 website for the Terrace Economic Development Authority, he continued.
“This better be the website to end all websites.”
He also disagrees with the notion that the city came into “extra” money this year, saying the perception that Terrace had a windfall when it received a $375,000 provincial grant to rebuild Davis Ave. After the city had committed its own money to the project.
“My philosophy is, as long as there are dirt roads in downtown Terrace, there's no such thing as extra money,” he said, noting in the spirit of conserving money he would not have voted to give Terrace's mayor a raise.
When it comes to what public money should be supporting, Cordeiro said basic services like infrastructure and public safety should be taken care of before spending elsewhere.
The city should also sell the former Terrace Co-op property and recoup its losses, he said, continuing that regardless of whether or not it was purchased for less than its assessed value, money sitting there is money that can't be spent elsewhere.
“It loses $32,000 in tax revenue every year,” he said, noting that low-income housing should not take up any space in that location once the building is torn down, saying it would isolate those living in that area.
He also doesn't believe in tax breaks for industry.
“If one group is paying less the other group has to pay more,” he said.
Thirty-six-year-old Cordeiro attended Trinity Western University for business in Langley and moved to Terrace with his wife Kirsten in 2004. They now have a 5-year-old son.