1. How long have you lived here? Eighteen years.
2. What is your occupation? I work for School District No. 74 as Relief Dispatch person; as Circulation Manager of the Ashcroft Journal; and as a freelance writer/editor. I’m also involved with running Ash-Tree Press, an award-winning home-based publishing company my husband and I founded in 1995.
3. Have you done any volunteer work here? Which group(s)? I was President of the Ashcroft Elementary School Parent Advisory Council for four years (2002-6). For the last three years I’ve been a Director of the Winding Rivers Arts and Performance Society, and President of WRAPS for the past year. This summer I’ve worked with the Village of Ashcroft’s Heritage Committee, and was emcee for the 2nd annual Wellness Festival this summer.
4. Have you served before on a Town Council or School Board? No.
5. Which issues are most important to you? Encouraging development of new businesses, especially along Railway Ave.; Improving the infrastructure of the Village, especially roads and sidewalks; and Encouraging tourism, with Ashcroft as either a destination or a base for visitors.
6. How would you address them? I’d work with property owners and landlords to encourage them to build new spaces, or refurbish existing empty ones, to make attractive places for businesses. I’d look at traffic patterns and upcoming changes (i.e. the new K-12 school and the Inland Port) to see what roads and sidewalks need to be improved or built. And I’d work with other groups to identify what attracts visitors to this area, and what they want to see, then use that knowledge to market Ashcroft effectively.
7. Additional comments: I have, in various ways over the last few years, worked to make Ashcroft a place that people are interested in and want to visit. I’d now like to play a bigger part in making Ashcroft an even better place for residents, visitors, and businesses. I offer an informed, open-minded, objective, and responsible voice, and would be honoured to serve the people of the place I love.
Barbara Roden