Cater-Vizzari will fight for pool, and against roundabout

Altogether, Niagara-on-the-Lake, with a mayor, eight councillors and a regional councillor, has 10 political positions. For the next term, half of those positions will be filled by women, and Adrian Cater-Vizzari is excited about that statistic.

“It’s big, it’s really big,” says Cater-Vizzari, “I feel so proud of our town for (those results). We need representation from all walks of life. We can’t have the same demographic representing the town all the time. We need change. A balance needs to be had, and I know the benefits will outweigh the challenges.”

Going back to her days growing up in Thorold, when her father Tony served on council there, she remembers a watermark election in her mind 22 years ago. “I remember being a kid, when Robin Davidson was elected,” she marvels. “It was massive. This woman was going to be the mayor of Thorold. I was just in awe that people voted in a woman.”

Carter-Vizzari was inspired by Davidson and even more so by her father to give back to the community. She remembers growing up in Thorold, where the arenas were the place where the community often gathered. And she watched with interest as her father was a part of making the decisions that brought that community together.

Cater-Vizzari watched the results of Monday’s election at the St. Davids home she shares with her husband and their four children. They were joined by her five siblings and some close friends. In the top eight right from the start, she says she took nothing for granted, “I had a lot of conversations with people who told me a lot of people don’t get in on their first shot,” she says. “So I was a little shocked that I was up there.”

The potential future for St. Davids is what motivated her to put her name on the ballot. She is interested in preserving the village feel of her home district. “I went with what my heart said, representing St. Davids,” she says. “Things were happening and we weren’t being consulted. It wasn’t what the residents wanted. I just hoped that all that resonated with enough people to motivate them to vote. I think people even outside of St. Davids understood that message.”

Like many, she is worried that the roundabout at the corner of York and Four Mile Creek Roads as proposed by the region will drastically alter the community spirit and feel of the village, and vows that she will fight to have its citizens’ voices heard. Over the past month or so while running her campaign, she says she has really enjoyed getting to know the other candidates who were running for office.

“It’s been so humbling to see how much love all these people have for the community,” she says. “They were doing it because they wanted to contribute, they wanted to be a part of the future. Everyone who ran, the similarity between all of us is that everyone loves NOTL and everyone wants to contribute.” As she moves into her new role in town, she says she wants to see more resident engagement on issues.

“I am approachable,” she says. “I hope to figure out how we can have more face-to-face engagement and better engagement digitally, too. And I think we can do better on amenities for youth. I’m also a huge advocate for the St. Davids pool and I hope to get the town going on making the pool AODA (Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act) compliant by 2025.”