Sam Hajar

I was born and raised right here in London, and I've lived in Ward 7 for about 20 years. My wife and I have been married for 20 years, and we have three kids. All three go to school here in the ward.

We're a small-business family. I own and manage residential rental properties and retail businesses in London. I'm also involved in my wife's dance school, which she runs right on the boundary of Ward 7. I know what it costs, in time and money, to keep a business going in this city.

This ward is where my family lives its life. In the winter we go sledding and ice skating at the public rinks. In the summer I golf, work out, and take my kids for walks through the neighbourhood. We stop and talk to people. We go for ice cream. That's the London I'm working for.

I worked for the City of London for more than 25 years, most recently as its Business and Zoning Coordinator. I approved building permits, sign permits, and pool permits, interpreted 25 different bylaws, and answered the public's zoning and general questions by phone and email.

I also worked in the City's Business Hub. I helped new businesses open their doors, helped existing businesses expand, and walked owners through permits, zoning compliance, business licences, and sign permits. Do that job long enough and you learn where every delay lives. When an application sits for months, I don't have to guess where it's stuck.

I'll say plainly what I saw: there is entirely too much red tape at City Hall, and there is no need for it. The province has shown it can be done. It shortened the planning department's review times and cut steps out of the process with the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority. London can move that fast too, and it should.

There are many moments I'm proud of from those years. One stays with me.

An older lady was having a problem with a common driveway she shared with a neighbouring property. Typically the city doesn't get involved in those. It's considered a civil matter. But she was older, and she didn't have easy access to a computer. So I stepped in and helped her sort it out.

She was incredibly kind. She wrote me a three-page letter and mailed it to City Hall. It was wonderful to receive, and I still have that letter today.

That's the standard I want to bring to council. Not every problem fits neatly inside a department's mandate. You help anyway.

I served in the Canadian Armed Forces as a regular force member, working as a Military Police Officer. That service shaped how I work: discipline, accountability, and follow-through. I studied policing and worked in the field, and I trained on the job alongside the OPP. That training matters when council sits across from the Police Board and the police budget, and I would gladly sit on that board.

My education runs in the same practical direction. I studied Occupational Health and Safety at Fanshawe College, Accounting at Western University, and Police Foundations at Westervelt College.

Away from work, I've volunteered with the London Food Bank and Canadian Blood Services. I've been involved in this community for years, and not because an election was coming.

You will see "Raise the Bar" on all my election signs. Here is what it means to me. I want council members to work as one and make things better for the City of London. And I want to cut the red tape, because I've watched it slow this city down from the inside.

I'll be elected by Ward 7, and Ward 7 issues will be my main focus: playgrounds, traffic calming, a second library, a real community centre, widening Wonderland Road. But a councillor also serves the city as a whole, and I take that seriously.

Ward 7 is the fastest-growing ward in the city, and it deserves a councillor who can keep up with that growth. We don't have rapid transit in the northwest, and I don't think it's too late to bring it here. Wonderland Road was supposed to be widened this year, and it was deferred again. I'll work to streamline the process so a project that's already been approved stops getting pushed back and finally gets built. Those are the fights I'm signing up for.

Because I worked at City Hall for more than 25 years, I know exactly how things operate and how to hold the system accountable. There are projects I want to get off the ground, and a seat on council is how I get them moving.

That's who I am and why I'm running. On Monday, October 26, I'm asking for your vote.