Will Linda Hepner be able to keep her promises on crime and transit in Surrey?
Posted November 17, 2014 7:20 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
SURREY (NEWS1130) – It was billed as a tight, three-horse race. But Surrey’s civic election turned out pretty one-sided, with Linda Hepner pulling in over 20,000 more votes than her closest challenger, former mayor Doug McCallum.
Hepner campaigned on a get-tough-on-crime platform, as well as one that promised light rail in the city.
“You’re going to see that light rail on the ground by 2018. I am incredibly confident. I know what my Plan A is and I know what my Plan B. That’s what you’re going to see in Surrey,” says the Fredericton-born mayor-elect.
Her preference would see that system take shape as a result of the regional transit referendum. But if it doesn’t, she says, “I will do that with a public-private partnership the way Edmonton did or the way Waterloo has done.”
“I am building that light rail. We have got to connect this city and it’s the next stage and the next important stage,” says Hepner.
As for crime, she plans to hit the ground running.
“I’ll be commissioning the general manager of public safety position immediately once I’m inaugurated and I will also be asking for those 147 officers to be on the street and creating a neighbourhood policing.”
That’s part of her promise of an additional 52 officers to the already planned 95 RCMP members. But will that equal results?
University of the Fraser Valley Criminologist Dr. Irwin Cohen says a four-year term is enough to make a difference.
“You can have actually quite dramatic short-term and long-term changes in crime rates and public safety by embarking on a number of strategies that are not just police focused.”