Standing as a councillor in the local elections

Many of you will already have heard from me why I have decided to support Mr. Koukianakis in the upcoming local elections. I would like to clarify things for those of you who have not.

In the last local elections I stood with Mr Markakis, who is not standing this time. I narrowly missed winning a seat on the council by only 4 votes. I continued, as you all know, to help you all with council issues, as best I could, on a voluntary basis. I was a member of the citizens council and also regularly attended the council meetings. I found whilst sitting in the meetings that I gradually realised that I agreed with Mr.Koukianakis on many issues. Many good proposals were thrown out without proper discussion simply because they were proposed by the opposition. I also saw that in many cases it became apparent over time that Mr Koukianakis had been correct in what he had said.

Although Mr Markakis is not standing and some of his team have changed alliances there is still a core of members standing and you may wonder why I am not with them.

I - like many others - have been very  disappointed with many of the promises that were made and not kept. A few examples, which would not have taken much funding but simply some organization are

:

A website in Greek and English was a priority, we were told before the last elections, for communications. "This will be one of our first jobs done immediately" This has not been realised (even in Greek) though there were many offers of help from experts in the community. Generally communications have not improved: indeed, the councillors themselves often do not know when council meetings are going to happen till a couple of days beforehand.

Other committees, such as the “Quality of life” committee, which should be open to the public, were never announced. (Easy with a website!)

The citizens council – supposed to be held every three months has been held just once!

Farmers market – We had such high hopes of a "Laiki" another disapointment. Not held regularly, with the effect that many producers did not bother to take part after the first one. Indeed the public often did not find out about them until the last minute.

The funding for the sewage works at Georgioupolis should never have been lost: this is probably one of the most important issues in the Municipality.

The Blue flag at Almyrida also should never have been lost, especially as it was for failure do deal with small matters (Toilet flush, no paint on flagpole, no waste bin etc) Not water quality.

At the moment all the prospective mayors are saying much the same things. It is not enough to say it, we need someone who will actually get on with the job and who has energy, commitment, vision and appetite for work. Before I made a final decision I had several discussions with all the prospective mayors, and members of their teams. Mr Koukianakis  was the only one who came to see me ready with plans, proposals and  back up information and the groundwork already done in many cases. I was able to take time to read through in detail what his plans and ideas were, and to discuss anything that I did not agree with, or had a particular opinion on.

We have already seen the results of the work that Mr Koukianakis did during his time in the Prefecture of Hania. He saw a problem, he found out what was needed to be done and did it.

The days of voting for someone because they are a friend, or a cousin or the godparent of your cousin's uncle have to stop and we must vote for the person who we believe can do the job. 

This is why I am standing as a councillor for EMAAK and supporting Mr Koukianakis.