Dan Bushnell wants to put down the tattoo needle and pick up the mayor’s gavel.
Bushnell is an artist and co-owner at Molotov & Bricks Tattoo on Wood Street in downtown Whitehorse. He declared his intentions to run as mayor over social media on Sept. 1.
He is doing so as part of a coalition of candidates who are running for council on the platform of downtown safety, fiscal responsibility and collaborative governance. The other members of this coalition include local comedian Jenny Hamilton, Ninetails Cannabis manager Daniel Schneider and Mueller Electric director of business Jason Wilneff.
READ MORE: Together Whitehorse group announces slate for city election
Bushnell said his highest priority is community safety.
“We can't have the burden of crime being placed on the businesses. We need people to feel safe walking home,” said Bushnell. “Before people take it into their own hands, the city needs to step up and change it.”
Bushnell said his business has had its windows smashed many times, and they have had to replace both the back door and the doorframe.
If elected, he said he will identify the groups committing crime in the downtown core, separate from those who may be experiencing addiction, housing or mental health issues.
“We need to move it forward by making sure that we're identifying who's actually committing the crimes and not just blanket blaming everybody on the street,” Bushnell said.
Bushnell said he would also prioritize the Selkirk Water Treatment Plant due to issues with the water wells in the city.
In June, the city announced it had awarded a contract to expand the treatment plant in Riverdale. The project’s budget is approximately $55 million.
The city also had to shut down a well in Riverdale in 2024 after they found live giardia — a parasite which can cause digestive distress in humans.
READ MORE: Giardia detected in Whitehorse well, city promptly deactivates it
Bushnell said the upgrade could include opportunities for involvement with Ta’an Kwäch’än Council, Kwanlin Dün First Nation and Yukon University to develop programs about best practices for water treatment.
“When I'm talking about infrastructure, I don't just want it to be a Band-Aid. I don't want a temporary solution. I want something where we don't have to worry about our water for the next hundred years,” Bushnell said.
Hiedi Cuppage is a resident of Whitehorse. She said she’ll be voting for Bushnell, who is a friend of hers.
She said he’s not running for mayor for the title.
“He kind of just gets people involved in a way that's really rare, like he's kind of a gem that way, and he's really selfless,” Cuppage said.
Bushnell and his wife host a viewing party for the annual Eurovision competition, said Cuppage, who has attended a couple of times.
“Him and his wife are really into that show, and it's really fun. So, they find any excuse to kind of cook and feed people and take care,” said Cuppage.
Bushnell said he ran multi-million-dollar projects in different cities in B.C., working directly with councils in the process. Many of these projects were community artwork, such as a series of wall mosaics done along Commercial Drive in Vancouver. That project was sponsored by the Native Education Centre.
“What I do is community development, working with political bodies. I've done it federally, I've done it provincially and I've done it municipally,” Bushnell said. “I did it for 15 years.”
Contact Talar Stockton at talar.stockton@yukon-news.com
