Blake Mandarino recently announced that he will join the election for Councillor of Ward 4 and is starting his campaign. With humble beginnings, Mandarino has spent his entire life in Georgetown alongside his parents and with the family, he has raised today. “I have a lot of history and roots in Halton Hills,” shares Mandarino, “which is one of the reasons I ended up running for council.” Currently, Mandarino works as an assistant store manager for a large retailer and has always had a strong desire and interest in politics.
“I have always paid attention to local politics and right now is a very transitional period for not only the council but for Halton Hills. I have a very good pulse of what is going on in town, as far as the important issues and I would like to take this opportunity to help Halton Hills grow for the future.”
With Mandarino’s passion for politics, he always knew he wanted to be involved in council. “It was more conversations through other people,” on why Mandarino decided to run now, “and one of the things I came to realize was that people should run for office, especially if you have a passion for people. It shouldn’t be something only certain kinds of people can run for.” Mandarino wants to get involved with his local community as much as he can in order to make a difference in the area. “I have no fear of losing, necessarily, of course, I want to win, but most of all I want to bring awareness, especially to the council.” Due to Mandarino being a local resident of Georgetown his entire life, he claims to know the ins and outs of what makes Halton Hills a special place, and on the flip side, he is also aware of the challenges that are facing the community.
If elected, Mandarino wants to bring awareness, development, accountability, people, and transit to Halton Hills. Mandarino calls this ADAPT, an acronym for the important changes he wants to address.
“A stands for awareness, it is important to bring awareness to Halton Hills and it is important for the council to let people know what is going on within the community and to the people of Ward 4. D stands for development, which is a very hot topic right now, especially with the stop the sprawlL campaign. The way I see it is, we need some development, there is no way to avoid that. But, we need sensible development that is planned very well. These things need to be discussed. A, for accountability, I don’t want to say the council hasn’t been accountable for anything, but I do think we need some new faces on the council that can bring a different kind of accountability for everyone. I want to bring some sort of accountability to the community. P, stands for people, which is a big passion of mine, I think we are a great community with lots of projects on which we work well together on. I will take care of people to the best of my ability, it is my priority. Lastly, T is for Transit, which is always the elephant in the room in Halton Hills. I am not calling for a giant transit system, but it definitely needs to be discussed and it is worth building on for the future. Especially if we will be growing.”
Ultimately, Mandarino says he is dedicated to making an actual difference with Halton Hills and desires to be the best candidate he can be for this year's election. “This is my home, my family, my parents and my grandparents have always been in Georgetown.” Mandarino believes he can make a significant impact as Councillor and will be able to take care of the community by facing challenges head-on and finding solutions to difficult problems such as transit and sprawl. More information regarding Mandarino can be found at https://www.haltonhills.ca/en/your-government/filed-nominations.aspx#Ward-4.
Comments