‘I’ve been around a long time’: Flegel looks to future in Regina mayoral bid

Regina mayoral candidate Jerry Flegel has a wide array of interests, including golfing, cycling and disco.

He also has an interest in becoming the next mayor of Regina.

“I’m an old disco guy. I grew up in the disco era and people still bug me about that. But you know what? Disco has an energy level of dance and singing (and) it’s all different. We’re not allowed to do a prayer at council, so maybe we’ll have a little retro music,” Flegel said as he laughed. “I’ve been around a long time.”

Flegel has spent more than 50 years in Regina. Now a real estate agent in the city, he also is currently in his fourth term as a member of city council.

He wants to make the jump to mayor, adding he believes there needs to be a more proactive approach to different issues and projects throughout the city.

“Housing, homelessness, policing issues, allocation of funds — those are some issues we are facing,” he said. “I also think we can start developing Taylor Field and Dewdney (Avenue) land by this time next year.

“I think my platform is realistic. It’s not pie in the sky. It’s things that this city needs. We’ve got a ton of vacant lands around, businesses have left, buildings have been knocked down and there has been no development because of leadership.”

Flegel has big projects in mind for the vacant Taylor Field land, as well as getting sporting facilities in the Dewdney area.

“A grocery store is key for the Taylor Field area because there isn’t one within three miles unless you cross the railroad tracks and go into Cathedral (neighbourhood). There could also be baseball fields, affordable housing units (and) a pickleball area in the Dewdney land,” Flegel said.

“Sports and recreation are one of the best things to relieve mental issues and stress, so the more facilities that we can provide, we will be able to reduce the amount of mental stress, especially through COVID.

“The Dewdney land and Taylor Field should have been developed by now.”

Flegel also stressed the importance of getting more police officers on the street, saying he would be completely against defunding the RPS.

“I’ve always advocated adding more police officers. And when you reduce crime, you increase safety. And even though there was this call to defund the police, I totally disagree with it,” he said. “We need to reallocate the budget, but we also need to increase officers and boots on the street.

“We need to have education through our different levels, whether it’s the police or citizens in general. We need to make that an easier approach for everybody to just live in Regina as safely as possible.”

Flegel also stressed his desire to have a downtown arena built, adding a new arena would lead to plenty of new opportunities in the city, as well as bringing more people downtown.

“Under my leadership, I’m not going to turn away business just because somebody else didn’t want it. It’s about being competitive for everybody. That’s going to be my push,” Flegel said.

He added he would look at implementing incentives for businesses looking to move into the city, saying it’s more important than ever to get the local economy booming.

“We will get through COVID. But we also have a job to do at City Hall, to make City Hall the best that we possibly can for the citizens,” Flegel added. “The biggest difference between myself and the current leader is that, you know, report, report, report, I want to just do, do, do.

“If we happen to fall down a little bit, we’ve just got to see how far we can bounce back up. It’s what you do after you fall. And I think we’ve fallen under this leadership and we need to get back up and get going.”