The top priorities
If elected Councillor, I will:
Priorities
- Deliver practical affordability measures that residents can feel in their daily lives, especially around housing, food access, and transit reliability.
- Strengthen community safety through prevention, focusing on youth supports, mental wellness, and neighbourhood stability rather than punitive approaches.
- Invest in resilient infrastructure, including flood mitigation and reliable TTC service, to ensure the ward is prepared for future challenges.
- Expand access to recreation and community programming, especially for youth, seniors, and low-income households.
- Develop a ward-specific website that connects residents, organizations, agencies, community groups, and businesses.
Practical steps
- Establish a Ward 5 Community Priorities Table bringing together resident groups, youth agencies, faith communities, and service providers to coordinate action and avoid duplication.
- Introduce quarterly public progress reports so residents can track commitments and hold the office accountable.
- Create a rapid-response constituent support team to help residents navigate housing, TTC, flooding, and safety issues.
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Housing affordability and support for renters
Priorities
- Protect existing rental housing by addressing renovictions, illegal rent increases, and poor maintenance standards.
- Expand deeply affordable and supportive housing, working with non-profit and Indigenous housing partners.
- Improve renter supports, including access to legal information, rent bank programs, and emergency stabilization services.
- Accelerate approvals for non-profit and rent-controlled housing, ensuring new developments include meaningful affordability.
- Centre lived experience, especially youth, newcomers, and low-income families who are most affected by rising costs.
Practical steps
- Work with MLS and Municipal Licensing to increase proactive inspections of rental buildings with repeated complaints.
- Expand access to the Toronto Rent Bank and Eviction Prevention in the Community (EPIC) by hosting ward-specific clinics.
- Push for as-of-right mid-rise zoning on major streets in the ward to increase supply without lengthy rezonings.
- Partner with non-profit developers to fast-track deeply affordable units through the Open Door program.
- Advocate for a Renter Support Navigator in the ward office to help residents with forms, disputes, and landlord communication.
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Food insecurity in the ward
Priorities
- Strengthen partnerships with food banks, faith communities, and local organizations to expand meal programs and reduce duplication.
- Improve access to low-cost groceries, including advocating for mobile markets, community fridges, and subsidized produce programs.
- Support youth and seniors, who are disproportionately affected by food insecurity and often rely on community-based meal services.
- Integrate food access into housing and shelter planning, recognizing that nutrition is part of safety, dignity, and stability.
- Draw on my pastoral and counselling background to highlight how food insecurity intersects with trauma, homelessness, and mental health.
Practical steps
- Support expansion of mobile food markets and subsidized produce programs in neighbourhoods with limited grocery access.
- Provide small grants to community fridges, meal programs, and faith-based food initiatives to stabilize operations.
- Work with Parks and Recreation to increase community garden plots and explore rooftop or vertical growing spaces.
- Integrate food access into shelter and supportive housing planning by ensuring on-site meal programs and partnerships with local kitchens.
- Convene a Ward Food Security Roundtable to coordinate agencies and reduce service gaps.
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Access to recreational programming
Priorities
- Expand low-cost and no-cost programming, especially for youth, seniors, and families facing affordability barriers.
- Increase access across the ward, ensuring programs are available in neighbourhoods that currently lack facilities or face long waitlists.
- Partner with schools, community centres, and faith organizations to deliver programming in accessible spaces.
- Prioritize culturally relevant and trauma-informed activities, recognizing the diverse needs of the ward's communities.
- Ensure stable funding so programs are not vulnerable to annual cuts or inconsistent staffing.
Practical steps
- Increase funding for no-cost youth and senior programs, especially in neighbourhoods with long waitlists.
- Partner with TDSB and TCDSB to open school gyms and fields for evening and weekend community use.
- Pilot pop-up recreation programs in parks and community spaces where no formal facilities exist.
- Advocate for extended hours at existing community centres and ensure programming reflects cultural diversity.
- Secure stable funding for trauma-informed and newcomer-focused programs.
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Investments in addressing youth violence and encouraging youth programming
Priorities
- Shift from reactive policing to proactive prevention, focusing on mental wellness, mentorship, and stable community supports.
- Invest in youth hubs, after-school programs, and employment pathways that give young people safe spaces and real opportunities.
- Collaborate with frontline organizations, including Frontlines and other local youth agencies, including faith-based programs, to build trauma-informed interventions.
- Address root causes (poverty, food insecurity, housing instability, and lack of safe spaces) rather than symptoms.
- Promote community-led safety strategies, ensuring youth voices shape the solutions.
Practical steps
- Expand youth hubs offering mentorship, mental health supports, employment pathways, and safe spaces.
- Fund violence interruption and mediation programs led by trained community workers rather than police.
- Increase access to after-school programming, including arts, sports, and leadership development.
- Partner with Covenant House Toronto and similar agencies to build trauma-informed interventions for at-risk youth.
- Advocate for redirecting a portion of community safety funding toward mental wellness, addiction supports, and youth employment.
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Flood prevention
Priorities
- Advance stormwater infrastructure upgrades, especially in neighbourhoods with aging systems or repeated basement flooding.
- Support green infrastructure, including permeable surfaces, tree planting, and naturalized areas that reduce runoff.
- Ensure transparent timelines for planned capital works and advocate for accelerated delivery where risk is highest.
- Work with homeowners and landlords to improve property-level flood mitigation measures.
- Integrate climate resilience into all planning and development decisions.
Practical steps
- Accelerate stormwater upgrades in high-risk areas by pushing for priority scheduling in the capital plan.
- Expand backflow valve and sump pump subsidies for homeowners and landlords.
- Increase permeable surfaces through green infrastructure, tree planting, and naturalized boulevards.
- Require new developments to include on-site stormwater retention and climate-resilient design.
- Publish ward-specific flood risk maps and host workshops on property-level mitigation. For the planned mitigation launch for Smythe Park, meet with the residents to discuss their concerns about the current plan, including a panel of experts they choose to help educate everyone about those concerns in specific detail, and insist on a review of the current plan before it is launched.
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TTC availability and reliability across the ward
Priorities
- Improve bus frequency and reliability, especially on routes serving York South–Weston's transit-dependent neighbourhoods.
- Advocate for better service integration between TTC, GO, and UP Express to reduce travel times and improve accessibility, especially along the Eglinton route.
- Address gaps in coverage, ensuring residents in underserved areas have consistent access to transit.
- Support investments in safety, cleanliness, and station maintenance, recognizing that reliability includes the rider experience.
- Push for equitable transit planning, ensuring the ward receives the same level of attention as downtown corridors.
Practical steps
- Advocate for increased bus frequency on key routes serving York South–Weston. The Eglinton West corridor is the top priority, based on residents' expressed concerns.
- Push for real-time reliability reporting so residents can see delays and service gaps.
- Work with Metrolinx to improve GO, TTC and UP Express integration, including fare alignment and better transfer points.
- Identify and address coverage gaps by proposing new or adjusted bus routes.
- Support investments in station cleanliness, lighting, and safety, recognizing that reliability includes rider experience.
It is very important to note that these plans are proposals, and there needs to be consideration for other factors, such as fiscal implications.
