Steve Stavreas is putting his hand up to be elected to council to bring about change in the establishment, and most importantly bring life back to the city and its surrounds.
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Mr Stavreas moved to Queanbeyan in 1982 and fell in love with the place. He owns Dimitries Jewellers, but he said you don’t need to be a retailer to see things are bad in the CBD.
“I think as a retailer we tend to be in the front of change, and we’re able to pick up where things have been really good or bad, and they have not been good,” Mr Stavreas said.
“The evidence is purely seen walking through town. Queanbeyan is suffering.”
Mr Stavreas has previously served two terms on council but did not contest the 2012 election.
He said Queanbeyan has gone from struggle town to ghost town.
“I’ve decided to run for election to try to bring about some change.
“Regardless of what has happened over the last two terms of council, there seems to be an inability to take action that can move us forward in a positive way.”
Mr Stavreas said his list for what can be done is “quite long”.
He is in a group ticket with Ian Marjason, Ian Wholohan, Jason Moffett, Mary Kovacevic and Sue Jarvis.
“We came together for similar concerns. We are residents of Queanbeyan, we are passionate about our town, we have been here for many many years and our observations are that unlike many similar towns and communities with country atmospheres, we are not moving ahead.”
Mr Stavreas drew comparisons with Goulburn and other surrounding towns who “seem to be producing some form of community unity an atmosphere of wellbeing”.
“The question remains, why not Queanbeyan. Something is wrong, we’ve decided through common interests to make an attempt to get involved and use the expertise in our various fields to contribute that to trying to find solutions.”