Familiar and new names join council race

You’ll be seeing even more names on the ballot in this November’s municipal election.

Speaking at the Prince George Library Wednesday, Councillor Garth Frizzell (pictured left) announced he will be running for a third term.

He wants to see council reach out to other organizations, like the school board and UNBC.

“If you want changes in the political landscape, find out what the other major institutions are doing and work together,” he says. “We won’t always be going in the same direction, but when we are, we’ll be a lot more powerful and a lot more influential when we’ve got these large groups working together.”

One of the main elements to Frizzell’s campaign is working on attracting more people to stay and live in the city, long-term.

“As many people arrive in the city as leave, so our growth-rate is small,” he says. “But we’ve also got to maintain the facilities we have and look at what we’re going to do to respond.”

Local business owner Monica Peacock (pictured right) announced Wednesday she is running, for the first time, to council, motivated to bring greater transparency out of city hall than what we’ve seen in the past.

“[The current council] just haven’t communicated well and I think that is one of the key issues that needs to be dealt with,” she says. “Whether it’s written, verbal, or face-to-face.”

Peacock has never run in an election, and says it can be a challenge to get your message out through all of the common noise.

“Anyone that knows me knows that I can move a mountain, if I can’t, I’ll find my way through it,” she says. “I can see it only as being another challenge in my life.”

Retiree Harry Ulch is running for a third time to get on council and says this time he’s aggressively getting the word out about his campaign.

“I think you have to get name recognition out there,” he says. “I care, and I think I represent the common people.”

One of Ulch’s campaign elements is to see downtown residential zoning make a comeback.

“When you have eyes on the street, I think you have a safe neighbourhood,” he says. “Now, I guess they’re trying to move people back in there, but really, you need grocery stores, and schools, for a community.”