Saskatoon Mayoral candidate says he can save the city half a billion dollars

As far as mayoral candidate Charlie Clark is concerned, it’s not about whether the city grows, it’s about how the city grows.

With that in mind, Clark said on Friday he can save the city half a billion dollars with a more balanced approach to growth.

“For too long, we’ve been going from year to year, from budget to budget with short-term thinking, and now is the time for long-term thinking,” Clark said.

Clark said the city is at a tipping point and must change how it grows.

“We’ve added 50,000 people to the city from all over Saskatchewan, and all over the world over the last 10 years, and we’ve added several new neighbourhoods on the outskirts of the city.” Clark said. “The problem is that these neighbourhoods have left people stuck in traffic.”

Clark said the city is now in a position where the taxpayer must spend a lot of money on new overpasses to deal with the congestion. By his count, the city needs five, at a cost of $50 million each.

He said the city will save at least a half billion dollars if it can meet the target of 50 percent growth within existing neighbourhoods.

In doing that, Clark said he would strive to level the playing field so citizens, businesses and developers have real choice about where to build.

He also proposes a transportation system that makes better use of existing roads.

Clark is up against Don Atchison, Henry Dayday and Kelley Moore in the race for mayor.

Voters will head to the polls on Oct. 26.