Why is Dave Loewen, an Abbotsford City Councillor, Tweeting photos of empty office space in an Abbotsford development?
As a councillor Mr. Loewen votes on, among other things, zoning decisions, business taxes, Development Cost Charges (DCCs), road, water and sewer infrastructure and has played a significant role in most of the economic decisions which have had a direct impact on economic growth and development in Abbotsford over the last decade.
Loewen Tweeted three times Thursday about the development attaching photos of the Krahn Group’s Mill Tower project on Railway Avenue.
We aren’t accusing Mr. Loewen of impropriety but we are asking if he is Tweeting about other buildings with office space for rent or lease in Abbotsford and, if not, why not?
Earlier in the day he responded very quickly and in a surprisingly aggressive manner to a seemingly innocent and rather vague Tweet about an article on the Huffington Post about a home builder in Calgary having influence with municipal government and seeming to imply developers in Abbotsford may have too much influence on municipal politics in here.
Loewen quickly demanded evidence or a retraction.
To follow that up later in the day with a series of Tweets that could easily be mistaken as free promotion for a prominent Abbotsford developer is curious behaviour on the part of an elected public official. Especially one who appears to be so sensitive about the relationship between developers and civic politicians alluded to in the earlier Tweet.
What about it Dave? Have you ever Tweeted photos of available office space for any other developers? Is it a thing you do? Is it a thing you should be doing?
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Dave’s Tweets
https://twitter.com/DaveFLoewen
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Is Dave Loewen trying to show the select developers he
advocates for in this city, by showing the buildings being
built by them in Abbotsford.
Developers make a most valuable contribution to their communities,
but, the bottom line, it is not without, return of profits in
mind and naturally, that is what going into business is all about.
However, the problem begins when select developers begin to try
to take advantage of City Hall by using their profits as a means
to an end, one could say, expect “rules” to be broken for them.
That is, when it is the responsibility of Mayor, Council and city
management staff to “toe the line” and treat the developers
expecting more from the city not any different than other developers,
who work in the city and in fact Mayor should be creating a climate
to prevent a monopoly on development.
If I happened to have some real estate downtown how would I go about getting Dave to tweet about it? Is there a specific extension at City Hall I should use or something?