Put Neighbourhoods First

• Ensure your concerns, calls and letters are responded to in a timely manner and that every opportunity to seek your input and feedback is made.
• Work with you to ensure we all have a good quality of life. Affordability is an issue for many as they struggle to handle the increasing cost of living in Saskatoon.
• Seek cost-effective improvements for delivering neighbourhood based services and programs including: street cleaning, snow removal, waste and recycle options such as curbside recycling, road repairs and working with you on neighbourhood development plans.
• Better manage growth and traffic to avoid gridlock and provide real transportation alternatives. This can be done by updating our traffic management systems and improving public and active transportation options.

Show Transparency and Accountability

• The Mayor's office will be open, available and accountable to the people.
• Will work with Council and the Administration, to follow the lead of other Canadian cities in improving access to information, by making more records available online. This includes minutes of any task force, steering or ad-hoc committee meetings.
• Will reduce the number of closed-door executive committee meetings.
• For any civic committees, minutes will be kept of all meetings and will be made available to the public.
• Engage with citizens through neighbourhood ward meetings by having minutes taken and comprehensive reports submitted to Council for consideration.

Breath New Life into Community Infrastructure and Services

• After years of stalling, create a Civic Square featuring a much needed new or expanded downtown main library, a revitalized downtown transit terminal area, and provide new space for businesses.
• Work to help secure a full-scale grocery store downtown.
• Bring in an external auditor to do a thorough examination of public spending on River Landing to ensure we are not jeopardizing other important projects.
• In both the short-term and through our 100 year plan we will work to fix our roads and infrastructure and maintain them into the future.
• Improve waste and recycling management through services such as city-wide curbside recycling.
• Develop and implement alternative energy infrastructure and conservation programs.

Invest in Our Future Today - Our Students, Our Youth

• Help students and young people with affordability issues especially around housing, rents, transit and creative employment and leadership opportunities.
• Work with the school system and colleges to create a Youth Civics Program that includes the development of a Youth Council.
• Put some funk into our city by working to ignite a 'green creative economy' building on our distinct sense of place that includes such things as: modern transit systems, innovative student housing, an awesome arts and cultural scene, and a renewable energy strategy that is 21st century.
• Work together to create Saskatoon's next 100 year comprehensive plan.

Local Business and Entrepreneurship

• Tap into Saskatoon's business expertise and ingenuity; building on our talent and positioning Saskatoon for the future.
• Support micro-loan programs to incubate and foster local businesses, particularly for new or young entrepreneurs.
• Expand the Enterprise Zone program to include intermediate neighbourhood centres (e.g., Confederation, Market Mall) impacted by major suburban development.
• Work to create a business improvement district on 33rd Street.
• Provide incentives for local businesses who utilize affordable, green solutions to housing/commercial developments, including the adaptive re-use of buildings.
• Work with the other orders of government, including our First Nation and Métis governments, and business and community leaders, to develop on important regional opportunities e.g. district energy/waste plan, transportation corridors.

Atchison: What His Experience Counts For

• Don Atchison: On the Record
  A summary of Don Atchison's facts and figures on various topics.
• By his own words: "Stay the course."
• The City of Saskatoon has run a deficit in each of the years: 2006, 2007 and 2008.
• If not for a provincial injection of funding we'd have faced an 11% tax increase this year.
• Municipal taxes have been raised every year since 2003, totaling over 22% in increases.
• Saskatoon's monetary reserves have been depleted during the recent economic boom.
• Atchison has borrowed heavily into our future without disclosing his plan for repayment.

Platform Points (PDF File)