By Carolyn Heiman, Victoria Times Colonist, 4 December 2007
When Victoria Mayor Alan Lowe announced his retirement from civic politics, the local media reported that "Lowe was rattled following the 2005 election which saw never-elected Isitt come with 1,392 votes of his winning total"
After 15 years on Victoria city council, eight of them as mayor, Alan Lowe is calling it quits today.
Lowe, who is to make the annoucement at a news conference this afternoon, will leave the top city post at a time of when new development is taking place at an unprecedented rate but social issues continue to plague the city.
Most recently the mayor has been troubled by turmoil within the Victoria police department and including the suspension of the Victoria police Chief Paul Battershill.
One insider said police issues haven’t likely cost Lowe politically but as the controversy swirled around severance packages and an investigation of the chief, it was increasingly clear that “he wasn’t having fun anymore.”
In 2005, Lowe campaigned on a promise to see the north end of the city around the former Bay department store given a makeover, something visibily in the works with at least three major projects in the area coming out of the group. Most signigicant is the underway revitalization of the moribund but historic Bay building which is being transformed into luxury condominiums.
In June, still apparently keeping his eye on running again, he listed accomplishments made half way through the term but also outlined dreams for the future. The wish list included a renovated Centennial Square, new downtown library, and development around the Crystal Garden which the city had secured as part of an expanded conference centre.
Lowe was first elected in 1990 when councillors were called alderman and he was 29 years old. His campaign focused on downtown revitalization and he bravely mentioned the A-word – amalgamation – as something he saw as an important step for essential services.
In 1999, when Bob Cross left municipal politics and a sea of acrimony behind him, Lowe used his two terms of experience on council to win a tough mayoralty battle against Bob Friedland and Geoff Young.
The 7,080 votes cast for him made him one of the youngest candidates to become mayor and one of a few who were born and raised in the city. He was also one of the first mayors of Asian heritage to be elected.
In 2002, he easily held onto the mayoralty seat, getting almost 62 per cent of the popular vote and a 24-year-old university student, Ben Isitt, being a distant contender.
But insiders say Lowe was rattled following the 2005 election which saw never-elected Isitt come with 1,392 votes of his winning total. Always known as man who liked to be on the winning side of things, it was a margin that seemed close given that Isitt was untried in the council chambers.
Being mayor of Victoria has never been easy as it might be in other communities with a population shy of 79,000. But being the downtown to 12 other surrounding muncipalities in the capital region – population 353,700 – it has its share of social issues, homelessness and drug use being top of the list.
This fall he released the Mayor’s Task Force on Homelessness, Drug Abuse and Addiction, intended as a blueprint to deal with some of the downtown issues. Much of the success of plan depends on support from other levels of government.
