u/aizvo

Wondering what characteristics or policies you would like to see in a municipal candidate for Owen Sound?

Last week I shared my email calling for a Team Canada housing stream for land-based prefabricated villages.

In the usual fashion, the response came as a public statement: Premier Doug Ford sent his own letter to Team Canada, which gave me a clearer template for addressing the premiers through the Council of the Federation.

I posted my follow-up update here:

https://helpos.ca/c/owen-sound-council/8399/owen-sound-update-housing-history-team-canada-and-our-first

This update connects the Team Canada housing proposal to housing history, the Council of the Federation, and the need to rebuild stable communities where people have land, shelter, and meaningful local work.

I also share how we are starting locally in Owen Sound: Thomas Arakal has agreed to join my team as the councillor candidate for Owen Sound East, and we now have two village leaders for Owen Sound Central.

Curious what people think about moving from housing policy in theory toward local implementation through neighbourhood teams and land-based villages.

I posted a new Owen Sound campaign update here:

https://helpos.ca/c/owen-sound-council/8399/owen-sound-update-housing-history-team-canada-and-our-first

This update covers housing history, Premier Ford’s letter to Team Canada, the Council of the Federation, and my follow-up letter about rebuilding stable communities where people are supported earlier and less likely to fall into crisis.

It also shares local team news: Thomas Arakal has agreed to join my team as the councillor candidate for Owen Sound East, and we now have two village leaders for Owen Sound Central.

Curious what people think, especially about the village leader model and how neighbours could participate more directly in local upkeep and care.

I saw in the HelpOS agenda preview that Owen Sound Council will be dealing Monday with ZBA No. 58: an 8-storey, 128-unit apartment building proposed for 1201 15th Avenue East, which I oppose because it would push Owen Sound further toward expensive, mechanically dependent, landless housing instead of homes connected to food, work, family, and local resilience.

I submitted an objection on moral grounds: housing should serve human beings, not just maximize unit counts in expensive, landless, mechanically dependent buildings.

High-rise housing is associated with worse mental-health outcomes: one systematic review found 11 out of 13 statistically significant findings, about 85%, linked high-rise housing with worse mental health than other housing types, and one study found residents on the 5th floor or higher had twice the ratio of mental-health symptoms.

Landless rental housing is tied to weaker food security: Statistics Canada found food insecurity among families below the poverty line was 22% for mortgage-free homeowners, 37% for non-subsidized renters, and 62% for subsidized renters.

Eight-storey buildings create machinery dependency and future demolition burden: Ontario’s elevator study found residential and institutional elevators unavailable about 3% of the year, roughly 10 days annually, while Owen Sound just saw a demolition wall hit the 10th Street bridge and trigger a $25,000 fine.

Taller concrete apartment construction is expensive: Canadian construction-cost data shows concrete apartment buildings commonly cost around 40–60% more per square metre than low-rise wood-frame apartments, with costs generally rising as buildings get taller.

My position is that Owen Sound should move toward housing connected to land, food, work, family, and local resilience: community land trusts, garden homes, lawful yurt/cabin hamlets, and land-based village development.

Councillor Carol Merton responded and confirmed that my email has been copied to the City Clerk for the public record, and that members of the public can speak to the issue after the presentation on Monday.

Full objection with sources:
https://helpos.ca/c/owen-sound-council/8234/opposing-the-8-storey-vertical-warehouse-for-human-bodies-at

Agenda preview:
https://helpos.ca/c/owen-sound-council/8183/affordable-housing-and-workplace-policies-council-meeting-re

Demolition collapse video: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1DCt9ddsKu/

In going door to door in Owen Sound, the main issue people bring up is "homelessness" and "drug addicts", occasionally people are skeptical that the homeless would be interested in having land where they can tent with an amenity building where they can grow food and participate in community life. So I decided to get video evidence of the fact that both male and female unhoused individuals in our areas would be happy to join.

it's covered in my platform, for people who have addiction issues would first be to go to a rehabilitation farm where they can learn the skills of growing food and taking part in community, with on staff nurses and other support staff to help them. It would be similar to a community land trust arrangement that is more for the general public, but with specialized staff to help them get started.

Then once they pass the course so to speak, then they would be eligible to join a regular community land trust with whole families etc. And the idea would be much like now, to more or less evenly distribute them instead of making ghettos, so the good example of sober minded people are the majority of each community.

Another aspect of what you say regarding "encampment" I am thoroughly opposed to the idea of having a small area where many people are stuffed, be it in tents or otherwise, because that always leads to a crises situation. with the CLTs the idea is to have it based on carrying capacity, i.e. 1 hectare per person (2.5 acre). so for example a 100 acre farm property could support up to 40 people sustainably.

So very different from what you may be imagining in terms of "tent cities".

I have them as separate but related sections in my platform:

https://helpos.ca/mayor/platform#land-housing-food-resilience

https://helpos.ca/mayor/platform#homelessness-substance-use-recovery

Also I'm going to do a more thorough interview with a representative of the homeless community on Monday.

Any suggestions?

Been driving by them for couple of weeks not knowing what it was about, and finally had a chance to stop by and ask, and apparently they are nurses and other broader public staff who are striking as their pay increases were frozen and they are making much less than hospital staff while providing similar services.

Ontario healthcare workers from diverse unions within the "Broader Public Service" (BPS) are striking after a province-wide freeze on wages mandated by Bill 124, leaving them with zero pay increases while other sectors received up to 35%. The strike involves approximately 4,000 employees across community clinics and family health teams—excluding hospitals—who have united historically for the first time in Ontario history to demand their legally owed compensation. Participants explicitly link this labor dispute to broader political grievances against Doug Ford's government, noting that his policies effectively stripped them of earned wages despite legal rulings declaring such freezes illegal.

Andrii Zvorygin's campaign proposes a restructuring of Owen Sound's governance by electing seven neighbourhood-focused councillors to replace current centralized authority. The proposal draws on his stated experience at the county, federal campaign treasurer work, correspondence with multiple levels of government, and familiarity with local municipal officials. This initiative integrates village leaders who communicate directly with police via radio, aiming to prioritize local de-escalation over fear-driven control mechanisms. The strategy seeks to dismantle wasteful reliance on outside consultants and redirect fiscal resources toward housing, community land trusts, starter farm homes, and resilient local food processing networks. By preventing community wealth from being siphoned off to distant markets like Toronto, the plan aims to keep economic activity within the community. A concurrent transparency initiative simplifies complex city council data so residents can understand meetings and agendas well enough to advocate for localized policies. Ultimately, this approach replaces top-down governance with a compassionate, fiscally just system where small-scale decision-making addresses systemic issues. The result is a model that seeks fair representation for every neighbourhood while keeping leadership responsibilities circulating locally.

00:00:01 Building a Neighbourhood System for Owen Sound

00:04:52 Police Transparency and Community Connection

00:07:07 Forgiveness and Systemic Community Solutions

00:08:58 Upgrading Motels to Farm Starter Homes

00:10:58 Local Food Processing and Distribution Networks

00:12:54 Transcribing City Council Meetings for Transparency

Most Newsworthy Items

• The installation of seven neighbourhood-focused councillors represents a direct challenge to the traditional centralized municipal council structure in Owen Sound.
• Zvorygin points to county-level experience, federal campaign treasurer work, and years of communication with public officials as practical preparation for the mayoral role.
• The campaign aims to redirect fiscal resources away from outside consultants toward housing, community land trusts, starter farm homes, and resilient local food processing networks.
• Integrating village leaders into direct police communication channels would prioritize local knowledge and compassion before situations escalate into fear-driven control.
• The housing proposal connects municipal land acquisition, upgraded amenity buildings, and small farm plots so young families and new farmers can start with lower-cost shelter and productive land.
• The strategy explicitly targets the prevention of community wealth from being siphoned off to distant markets like Toronto through localized economic restructuring.
• A transparency initiative simplifies complex city council transcripts and agendas to give citizens the knowledge needed to advocate for keeping economic activity local.
• The proposed system replaces top-down governance with small-scale, localized decision-making intended to address systemic issues and ensure fair neighbourhood representation.

During an Owen Sound council meeting, Councillor Melanie Middlebro remarked that “the armchair quarterbacks don’t like us very much, and they plan to turf us all out,” while questioning whether the current council should determine priorities for the council elected next year.

02:21:39: I don't know if anyone else is on social media, but the armchair quarterbacks don't like us very much, and they plan to turf us all out.

02:21:45: So if none of us are sitting here next year, then why are we determining that the next council has to have a working group and set this priority for them?

Who are the “armchair quarterbacks”? Residents expressing concerns online? Citizens calling for change? Candidates stepping forward to serve?

Source: Owen Sound Council meeting from 2026-05-25, timestamp 02:21:39–02:21:53.

https://video.isilive.ca/owensound/New%20Encoder_CM_2026-05-25-05-30.mp4#t=8499

transcript:

https://helpos.ca/transcripts/owen-sound/council-meeting-regular/2026-05-25#section-9

Who do you think she had in mind by “armchair quarterbacks”? And what do you make of her larger point about the next council setting its own direction?

It's often easier to convey information through story, so this completely true story introduces Andrii Zvorygin, his qualifications and some plans for the city and county.

full text here:
A Good Citizen Story. The Gardener of the Living City

The gardener’s calling began with family, heart, and land, then widened toward a city and county longing for clear truth, shared responsibility, and compassion strong enough to become practical service. The soil needed care, roots needed room, neighbours needed a way to take part, and many people had yet to see what could grow there.

He got a little land in the city so he knelt, placed his hand on the earth, and he prayed:

"Creator of all life, teach me how to serve this place."

Then he quieted his mind and listened. In that stillness, the answer rose within him: begin with love; tend what has been entrusted to you. He learned to trust that the Creator was already at work, even when the work began humbly and provision was still unfolding. He learned to act from faith, trusting that small acts of love could become steady service.

He began at home. He cared for his wife and children, tended soil, tools, water, fences, roots, relationships, and his own spirit. He learned that service began with the people entrusted closest to him, and that love had to be practised in daily patience, provision, forgiveness, and care. He began to recognize the divine life within himself as one branch of the living vine, rooted in the Creator and joined to all creation. He learned to let go of resentment, allowing the vine's living waters to flow through him and wash them from the window panes of his heart, so the Creator’s love and light could shine more brightly. As he did, he began to recognize that same love and light in family, neighbours, colleagues, customers, public officials, staff, and strangers.

As he grew, people asked for help with computers, records, websites, communications, and local systems. So he tended those as well. In gardens and offices alike, he listened first, found the root of the trouble, restored what could be restored, made confusing things clearer, and strengthened what needed support. He learned to stand upright in love: honouring the dignity and freedom flowing through each branch of the living vine, speaking truth clearly, offering help faithfully, and allowing others to choose.

His little property became full of food-bearing plants, but the need around him reached far beyond one fence. So he learned to propagate, package, sell plants at local farmers markets, and ship them across the country, helping households grow food security, resilience, and living abundance where they were.

When civic concerns arose, he followed each thread through the proper channel: city, County, Province, or federal office, wherever responsibility truly lived. He met residents, businesses, councillors, public officials, staff, and service groups. He studied reports, attended meetings, wrote letters, traced patterns, and built practical solutions.

In this work he learned to offer truth as a seed. A seed must be planted in season. So he spoke with courage and gentleness, offering truth when hearts were able to receive it, and living it before demanding it.

As a programmer, he had learned to understand systems, human cognition, and the hidden logic behind visible problems. Where others saw isolated complaints, he often saw connected data points: needs, causes, tradeoffs, incentives, constraints, and openings for repair. So he carried the same work outward. He interviewed people seeking municipal, provincial, and federal office, and convened conversations with leading scientists and engineers around the world, drawing together knowledge about energy, resources, food, infrastructure, manufacturing, and the long transition ahead.

He also learned discernment. As a branch of the living vine, he knew he was worthy of divine insight, and he learned to test every message by its fruit. If a message led toward fear, pride, control, contempt, or division, he let it pass. If it led toward love and light, humble courage, respect for free will, care for creation, and service to the divine life within all, he received it with gratitude and walked deeper into love.

Through that synthesis, he saw both the gap and the path. Many public promises were built around what people hoped the future would provide, while the scientists and engineers were pointing to the limits of the energy, materials, food systems, infrastructure, and manufacturing capacity communities actually had to work with. He saw that good policy had to be grounded in reality: what the future could reasonably support, what local people could build and maintain, and what forms of life would remain viable as surplus energy declined.

His letters and advocacy had tangible effects. Across different levels of government, he saw ideas he had raised become part of public conversations, policy changes, investigations, funding directions, and new ways of doing things. Yet the largest gap remained deeper than any single program. Communities were still being pushed toward cramming people into ever smaller units, while the good future called for people to have enough land to provide for their needs: to grow food, firewood, families, and businesses.

He saw that the path began by blessing the now: recognizing the good already present, strengthening what was already working, and cultivating with love the living seeds of the future already growing among the people. The 2026–2030 term could lay the groundwork: rebuilding social cohesion, strengthening neighbourhood participation, preparing local food and service capacity, and helping people learn to work together before the deeper global tests of the 2030s. But a change that large needed more than private service and outside advocacy. It needed someone courageous enough to help change direction from the mayor’s chair, with a voice for Owen Sound at Grey County Council, where land, housing, services, and regional provision are shaped.

Then, when his mind grew still, the call became clear: “You have been of much service. Now it is time to step up and be of public service.”

So he accepted the call with humility and courage, ready to keep serving among the people and to help tend the whole city from the mayor’s chair and the County table.

From that calling, the campaign took shape around three living pillars.

Transparency: clear truth in public life, so trust can grow.

Participation: every person invited to offer their gifts, so the whole city can share the work of care.

Compassion: dignity, patience, and kindness in disagreement, so healing remains possible.

Participation also needed a practical shape. People can care best for neighbours they actually know. A village of about 300 people is small enough for a local leader to listen, notice needs, connect helpers, and keep trust alive. Ten such villages form a neighbourhood of about 3,000 people, large enough to share tools and organize projects, yet small enough to remain human.

Now that he is an official candidate for mayor, he is calling for a seven-neighbourhood councillor slate before nominations close: one councillor rooted in each neighbourhood, working with local village leaders as a neighbourhood council. This lets more needs be solved close to home with speed, trust, and care, while City Hall focuses staff time on the work that truly belongs there. Stronger neighbourhood participation can help keep taxes lower, give residents more voice, and help people get things done. If you know a good neighbour who could serve, encourage them to run; if you can help your own block, village, or neighbourhood listen and organize, consider stepping forward.

He offers a simple promise: practical skill and compassionate service belong together, so people can receive clear help, steady care, and a city where everyone can belong, participate, and live with dignity.

The goal is service: a living city within a living county, where Owen Sound and Grey County can feed themselves, provide for their people, reconnect thousands with the soil, and shine as a light for the world. A place where home ownership and food production become accessible again; where people become rooted in place, skilled in practical care, ready to serve one another, and able to live with dignity.

And all who see that vision can say, "That is the kind of place where I want to live."

Candidate page:
https://helpos.ca/mayor/andrii-zvorygin

Did half hour interview with Ray Botten this week.
He talks about his platform which includes

1. Owen Sound leaving Grey County
2. Reinstating Strong Mayor Powers
3. Leaving drop boxes for drug dealers to drop off their drugs and money (so they can stop dealing drugs).

Also based on reddit comments did ask him about the signs he was holding downtown related to "gays", and he gave a full apology, said he had a homophobic phase, but has since learned to love and appreciate everyone.

00:00:00 Ray Botten fights drug issue
00:05:54 Former Homophobia and Faith Evolution
00:11:47 Brother Ray's Missionary Outreach and Community Service
00:17:36 (AZ) Therapeutic Farms and Community Land Trusts
00:23:33 Advocating for Kindness and Safety
00:29:29 Voluntary work driven by love

At Owen Sound Council this Monday, I spoke with Ray Botten as he was preparing to put his name forward for mayor.

Botten said his campaign is focused on raising public awareness about what he described as drug trafficking and drug cartel activity in Owen Sound. He said his motivation is simple: to help save lives.
https://helpos.ca/c/owen-sound-council/7769/ray-botten-says-mayoral-run-aims-to-raise-awareness-about-dr