Council critic wants to be mayor of Stouffville
Neufeldt-Fast wants more bikeable, walkable town

YorkRegion.com
July 8, 2014
Jim Mason

Arnold Neufeldt-Fast said last month he would not run for Whitchurch-Stouffville council.

That didn't include mayor, apparently.

The council critic and acting dean at Tyndale University College and Seminary in Toronto announced his candidacy for the top job in town today. The municipality will make his registration official Monday.

The 50-year-old joins councillors Richard Bartley and Phil Bannon as well as Justin Altmann and Willie Reodica in the race.

Mayor Wayne Emmerson is not running again but will seek the chairmanship of York Region.

Neufeldt-Fast moved to Stouffville in 2006.

He was in the public eye two years ago when, on behalf of the local Mennonite community, he criticized a War of 1812 Freedom of the Town event because it did "not reflect a historically accurate picture” of Stouffville.

The prolific letter and email writer has 6,577 tweets and 701 followers in his Twitter account, @neufast

Many of his recent tweets have promoted Stoufville becoming a more walkable and bikeable community, including calling out local businesses and government for not installing racks and lanes for bicycles.

Other pieces of his platform include:

- convenient, frequent, evenings and weekend transit, including the addition of bus shelters
- heritage preservation – “new ideas require old buildings”
- "arts funding and cultural plan that sets us apart"
- library funding that meets or exceeds the provincial per capita average
- saying no to the Pickering airport and flight approaches over Ballantrae/Musselman’s Lake
- using quality of life as a recruitment tool for creative class and “knowledge-based” industry
- need of a "decent public gathering places" on Main Street west of Ninth Line

Election day is Oct. 27.