Submitted questionnaire

Todd Daniels

Owner, Gallery Streetwear

This is the candidate’s public questionnaire. It is not a ForChange recommendation. The committee’s recommended candidates are published on the Candidates page.

1. 01 · Why are you running for Kelowna City Council?

   I’m running because I love Kelowna, but I believe we need to start thinking further ahead and asking better questions before we make decisions.

   Too often we react to problems after they have become expensive and much harder to solve. I see it with public safety, infrastructure, traffic, affordability and the challenges facing local businesses.

   I also worry about the generation coming behind us. It is great to build nice things and have ambitious plans, but somebody ultimately pays for the decisions we make today. Young people may be paying for them long after the current Council is gone. Can they afford the city we are creating for them?

   I don’t pretend to have every answer. I do believe Council needs to ask: Who benefits? Who pays? What are the unintended consequences? And what will this decision look like in 10 or 20 years?

   Most importantly, public office has to be about the public interest. Sometimes doing the right thing will cost you something. If protecting my own interests becomes more important than protecting the public interest, I shouldn’t be sitting on Council.

2. 02 · Issue #1: the issue, the specific actions you would take, and how City Council can actually influence the outcome.

   Public safety has to be a basic expectation of living and working in Kelowna. As a downtown business owner, I see the effects of crime, addiction, mental illness and street disorder every day, and I was pushing publicly for action before I ever decided to run for Council.

   I believe in compassion and accountability. Council can properly resource policing, bylaw and community safety, use data to put resources where and when they are actually needed, and demand measurable results from programs receiving public money. We must also strongly advocate to senior governments on issues outside municipal jurisdiction.

   Most importantly, we need to intervene earlier. Waiting until addiction, mental illness, homelessness or repeat offending reaches crisis is less humane and far more expensive. People who need help should get meaningful help. People who repeatedly victimize others need consequences.

3. 03 · Issue #2: the issue, the specific actions you would take, and how City Council can actually influence the outcome.

   Kelowna is going to grow. The question is whether we grow intelligently.

   Housing and density cannot be separated from roads, water, sewer, transit, parking, emergency services and recreation. Council controls many of these decisions and needs to consider them together.

   Development should not simply transfer its consequences onto existing residents. If a large building provides fewer parking spaces than its residents actually require, those vehicles don't disappear; they move onto surrounding streets. The same principle applies to infrastructure: we should build for the population we know is coming, not just today's needs.

   We also need to consider who ultimately pays. Young people will live with our decisions far longer than most of the people making them. Growth without the infrastructure to support it isn't good planning. It's postponing the problem and handing somebody else the bill

4. 04 · Issue #3: the issue, the specific actions you would take, and how City Council can actually influence the outcome.

   Small businesses create jobs, contribute taxes and give our neighbourhoods life, but too often the impact of City decisions on them is an afterthought.

   Infrastructure must be maintained, but major construction should be planned with the businesses it affects, not simply announced to them. That means meaningful advance consultation and considering timing, staging, parking, deliveries, pedestrian access, signage and peak business seasons. A necessary project can still be poorly executed.

   I also want Council looking at the cumulative impact of its decisions. Taxes, fees, permitting, parking, construction and public safety may be separate files at City Hall, but to a small business they all hit the same bottom line.

   Council can't control the entire economy, but it can make sure municipal decisions don't unnecessarily make it harder to operate, invest and create jobs in Kelowna.

5. 05 · What experience, skills, and community involvement do you bring to the role?

   My experience is unconventional, and I think that is an asset. I grew up in Kelowna, but I have also lived, worked and travelled extensively around the world. I have spent significant time in very different cultures and communities.

   That taught me that the way we do something here isn't necessarily the only way. I have seen places where problems we face are worse, places that approach them differently, and places where some barely exist. We should study what other communities get right and wrong and learn from both.

   I have been a professional athlete, salesperson, labourer, manager, entrepreneur and small-business owner. I also spent 13 seasons working remotely as a fire lookout, where independence, judgment and responsibility mattered every day.

   Today I own Gallery Streetwear downtown and have become directly involved in issues affecting public safety, local business and our community.

   I bring a different perspective, curiosity, real-world experience and a willingness to question assumptions. I don't think Council needs nine people with the same résumé or worldview.

6. 06 · How will you approach council decisions when priorities compete for limited resources?

   We cannot afford everything we want, so Council has to distinguish between what would be nice to have and what we genuinely need.

   I would start with core responsibilities such as public safety, essential services and infrastructure, then look at urgency, evidence, measurable public benefit and long-term cost.

   But the cheapest decision isn't always the most fiscally responsible. Spending money preventing a predictable problem today can save taxpayers many times that amount later.

   For major decisions I would keep asking: Who benefits? Who pays? What are we giving up by choosing this? What will it cost to operate and maintain? What are the unintended consequences? Will it still make sense in 10 or 20 years?

   We also have an obligation to the generations following us. Young people may spend decades paying for decisions they had little voice in making.

   Council must also be willing to say no. Not every good idea can be funded. Residents deserve an honest explanation of why priorities were chosen rather than another promise we can't afford.

7. 07 · How do you work with people who see an issue differently than you?

   I think disagreement is healthy. I don't want the Mayor and Council to become an echo chamber where everyone agrees with one another. That might make meetings easier, but I don't think it necessarily produces better decisions.

   Good ideas should survive questions, logic, evidence and respectful debate.

   When someone disagrees with me, I want to understand why. They may have information I haven't seen or life experience that gives them a completely different perspective. Maybe they're wrong. Sometimes I will be wrong.

   I'm willing to change my mind when better evidence changes the argument. I don't see that as weakness.

   Living and working with people from different cultures and backgrounds taught me that disagreeing with someone's idea doesn't require disliking the person.

   Council has nine elected members for a reason. I don't want people around the table who simply agree with me. I want people who can make me think. We should debate when needed, make a decision and then continue working together.

8. 08 · What else should voters know about you?

   I'm not running because I want to become a politician. I'm running because this is my home and I believe I can contribute.

   I'm 53 and have lived a pretty unconventional life. I've succeeded at things, failed at things, travelled, competed, managed people, owned businesses and made plenty of mistakes. Those experiences have made me curious, independent and comfortable admitting when I don't know something.

   I won't promise voters I can fix everything. One councillor is one vote, and many of Kelowna's biggest challenges involve other levels of government.

   What I can promise is that I will do the homework, ask difficult questions, listen and explain why I voted the way I did. I'll challenge ideas when I think they need challenging, support good ideas regardless of who proposed them, and admit when better evidence proves me wrong.

   I believe everything in a city is interconnected. Housing affects transportation. Development affects infrastructure. Public safety affects business and tourism. One decision can create three new problems if we don't think ahead.

   I want us to get much better at preventing tomorrow's problems instead of continually paying to manage yesterday's.

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