Having come in third place in the most recent election, Christina Strawbridge is getting a headstart to reclaim her position on the city council. (File photo)

Christina Strawbridge announced her intention Sunday to try again for a seat on the city council in 2018, after finishing in third place to Steve Young and Tom Campbell in November. If Vice Mayor Mark Hughes had won his bid for mayor this year, then Strawbridge would have won his current seat on the council, having garnered the third largest number of votes.
Strawbridge says she will remain active meanwhile in local politics and feels that the voice of small business will be missed while she’s away.
“I was a downtown champion,” she said. “It’s the living room of the town – people come downtown to show off the city.”
In addition to her specific concerns on the council’s agenda, like bringing broadband service to the industrial park and developing new business opportunities, she also feels it’s important to have a woman’s voice on the council.
“Some issues require that voice, like large family daycare,” she said.
Also in a more general sense, Strawbridge says she feels the younger generation takes some women’s rights for granted and don’t realize how they are slipping away – further reason to have more women in local as well as national government.
“I’m looking forward to addressing broadband in the industrial park,” Strawbridge said of continuing council business. She began working on that issue as a member of the economic development board in 2009, she recalls.
“We had major setbacks along the way,” she said. “It is key to our financial health.”
In 2018, two seats will be up for grabs: those currently occupied by Hughes and Alan Schwartzman. If she would do one thing differently in her next campaign, Strawbridge says it would be to start sooner, since so many people voted early this year.
Strawbridge’s enthusiasm for continuing to work with the council is compelling.
“I was too involved to stop now,” she said. “I feel like we can’t go backwards.”

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