Outgoing Penticton mayor John Vassilaki said he is retiring from politics for good after being unseated by Julius Bloomfield in the 2022 municipal election.
“This was going to be my last ride. I put in 16 years and that’s good enough,” Vassilaki said after the results came in on Saturday night at the Penticton Trade and Convention Centre.
Bloomfield, who served one term as a councillor before running for mayor, received the most votes with 3,374, well ahead of Vassilaki who received 2,052 votes.
“The results weren’t what I wanted, but this is a democratic process,” said Vassilaki, who is 76 years old.
Community activist Jason Reynen also came close to unseating Vassilaki, with only 219 votes separating him and Bloomfield. The founder of Clean Streets Penticton received 3,155 votes.
Voters clearly wanted to see change, only voting in two incumbents to council.
Vassilaki said he isn’t sure what issue caused the shift.
“I don’t know what was top of people’s minds and what the main cause of such a switch? Maybe the bike lanes, crime, housing?” Vassilaki said.
During Vassilaki’s term, he and council dealt with numerous controversial issues, including approving the Lake-to-Lake bike lane, implementing pay parking in downtown, and sparring with then Attorney General David Eby over Eby’s handling of keeping the temporary Victory Church shelter open.
The city, after polling residents, decided to sue the province but that lawsuit was dropped once the shelter residents were moved to Compass Court and the shelter was closed.
Vassilaki also spent half of his term in the pandemic, which closed city hall for some time.
He was involved in the new Skaha marina development that went to referendum as well as developing the North Gateway to the city and the Penticton creek restoration. The outgoing council also turned down Canadian Horizons from developing Spiller Road near Narmata.
READ MORE: Penticton Votes: Meet mayor candidate John Vassilaki
Vassilaki said he is going back to his businesses.
“I make more money there anyways,” he said.
Vassilaki has significant holdings in the community, in the downtown and at the Last Call Liquor Mart in the Walmart shopping centre. He was a city councillor for a dozen years before making his first mayoral run in 2014, losing to Andrew Jakubeit.
He was elected as mayor in 2018, taking the majority of the votes and unseating Jakubeit.
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