Running for reelection of the town council position in Ward 5, some of Marc Grant’s aims are to make sure the new communities being built have proper amenities such as adequate parking and addressing traffic problems as new residents move in.
At a recent meeting it was discovered that many of the newly built communities had a lack of visitor parking. Grant feels problems like these need to be looked into as Oakville continues to develop.
“We want to make sure the people who are moving to these new communities at least have somewhere for their families to park because part of having a house in your own community is having your friends and family come over,” said Grant. “If you have a community of 300 homes being built and there’s say, 20 parking spots, that’s just not going to work.”
With the new communities being built in North Oakville an accompanying problem is going to be traffic congestion in the main arterial roads like Trafalgar and Upper Middle. To deal with this he feels the town may have to expand the roads and improve transit to make it more suitable for people to get around.
This might mean building transit lanes to better bus schedules, thus making riding the bus more attractive to commuters.
“Having a dedicated bus lane means that you’re going to wait five minutes instead of half an hour for the next bus to come along,” Grant said. “What we need to do is make public transportation much more accessible and much more convenient for people.”
One of Grant’s other concerns is local poverty. While Oakville is considered by many to be a well-off town, he realizes many residents live close to the poverty line. In the past he has helped out by initiating Subsidized Passes for Low Income Transit (SPLIT) and has also donated spare time to cook at the local Salvation Army homeless shelter.
Grant was born in North York and has lived in many places across Canada and Europe. He moved to Oakville in the mid-90's and has been serving Ward 5 on council since 2003.
Contacting Marc Grant
home: (289) 242-3088
email: [email protected]
District: Ward 5
Position: Town Councillor