Daniel Fritter 2026

1. Do you think our main street/downtown is healthy and successful? If not, what would you do to change that?

To a degree. I believe there's a lot of unrealized potential in our downtown core, represented by the various areas that are underperforming largely due to the high volumes of homelessness and drug use. Moving the supervised consumption site away from its current location would ameliorate this particular issue in the short term, while additional partnerships with BC Housing for supportive housing projects and shifting to a municipal police force to reduce issues around retention and recruitment that exist within our RCMP detachment would provide significant benefits in the long term.

2. What’s more important for our city right now: building new homes and commercial space or rehabbing/expanding/better utilizing our existing homes and storefronts?

I am a big fan of rehabilitating existing homes and commercial spaces. There are already too many lots around Kelowna where serviceable homes and structures have been demolished, leaving vacant lots fallow behind a rented security fence for years. Rehabilitating existing structures, or adapting them to new uses has less impact on the neighbouring community, allows units to be returned to the market faster, and also helps Kelowna retain some of its history, culture and vibrancy that is rapidly being erased by cookie-cutter projects seeking to maximize profit rather than make meaningful additions to our city's landscape.

3. How do you feel about the transportation options currently available in our city? Can all of our residents affordably get where they need to go? If not, what will you do to improve transportation in our city?

It's not great. By the city's own metric, travel affordability in Kelowna hasn't changed since 2018, and the adoption rate for alternative methods are lagging behind our population growth rate. Although certainly a long-term goal, my priority would be to secure funding from the province to add the proposed sixth lane to the bridge, for use by light commuter rail on a line that would run from West Kelowna, north up Water St., win east around Prospera Place, and then follow the former CN railbed to the airport. A big goal to be sure, but we need try.

4. Some people in our community say that we have traffic problems. What do you think? How would you mitigate those concerns or change the situation?

Traffic is worse; congestion rose 10% from 2023 to 2024, and the city considers such increases to be acceptable so long as the rate of increase roughly approximates the rate of population growth. But that isn't progress; it's managed decline. So the first step in solving this particular problem is admitting we have one, which in this case means updating the transportation master plan to incorporate more rational goals, and then using that plan to inform further change - like removing the light from Highway 97 at Abbott St., and better managing road works to minimize impacts on traffic flows.

5. If you could change one thing in our zoning code, what would it be and why?

The flexibility of its application. Too many projects are granted variances to key portions of the code, resulting in lower-quality, less liveable developments and greater impacts on the surrounding area. Reduced parking allocations, for example, are sold as contributors to the larger effort to reduce emissions and increase alternative transportation methods, but since the city hasn't put the work into ensuring those alternative methods are suitably practical for most, theend result is reliance on street parking in neighbourhoods that were never designed to be lined with cars. If the code is to be valuable, it must be respected.

6. How do you plan to involve residents in the decision making process in our town?

The city needs to make its decisions far more approachable. It needs to dispense with the jargon it so often deploys, and approach residents in a manner that makes sense to the average taxpayer, who won't be familiar with the process of how decisions are made at City Hall, doesn't know what an official community plan is, and definitely doesn't have time to read a city budget that's only available as a 431-page PDF. Right now, much of City Hall's efforts are so entrenched in bureaucratic language and accessibility barriers as to be effectively gatekept from much of the public.

7. If someone came to you with a proposal to build a new piece of public infrastructure in our city (road, bridge, etc.), how would you evaluate whether or not that project was worth implementing?

This is a hard question to answer because infrastructure spending can be defined in so many ways, from schools to roads to even things like the Mayor's proposed Apple Bowl expansion, and need to be evaluated in their own distinct ways. Essential projects that alleviate congestion, for example, cannot be judged by the same merits as things like outdoor pools and the creation of a soccer stadium. Overall though, I would be looking to ensure taxpayers are getting value from these projects, and that the value is diversified; not too focussed on any one special interest or neighbourhood.

8. If elected, what three steps would you take to put our city on a firmer financial footing?

First, and most obviously, consider the city's budget, and ensure that the various departments are spending money on things that deliver value to the taxpayer - do taxpayers derive a benefit from the city spending $600,000 on software subscriptions, for example. Second, begin the process of transitioning to a municipal police force, as the RCMP contract's costs have ballooned and are projected to continue to do so. And third, an audit of all contracted services to ensure the city isn't outsourcing other services that would be cheaper to bring in-house.

9. If you received a $1 million grant to use for the city any way you wanted, what would you do with it and why?

I would put it towards a week-long wine festival on a scale that would allow us to leverage our region's status as Canada's wine capital in an effort to capitalize increased levels of domestic tourism. It would help an established industry in the agricultural sector that's been hit so hard by everything from wildfires to heat domes, and could be scheduled off-peak to extend our tourism season. If successful it would bring a good amount of commerce to the city and region, incentivize vintners to expand commercial operations in Kelowna's downtown, and bring employment opportunities.

10. What neighbourhood do you live in? Why? Where are your favourite places to spend time in our town?

I live in the North End, because it's reasonably central, and frankly it's what my wife and I could afford when we were looking for a house! And I love a ton of places around town; be it looking at cars at August, taking my kids to the KF Centre to learn about aircraft, or playing with radio-controlled cars with them at one of our city's (just) two skate parks, having a coffee at Craft 42, or a donut or two from 350 Bakery (being a Fritter, donuts are a necessity).