As the newly elected councillor for Ward 26, I’m eager to get to work! Although my term officially begins on Dec. 1, I’ve already met with Coun. Matlow and other councillors to discuss areas of mutual concern.
Although I’ll be an active participant when it comes to tackling larger city issues, locally I’m most concerned with traffic, development and adequate recreational opportunities for our youth.
Traffic: My focus will be developing an overall strategy to address the increasing traffic volume in our neighbourhoods as well as poor driving habits. I’ll be creating traffic working groups for both North and South Leaside in the new year and I encourage anyone who is interested to contact me. To address poor driving habits, I’ll be engaging Toronto Police Service 53 Division and also looking at technological alternatives.
Development: All corners of Ward 26 are affected by new and anticipated development projects. This will only increase as the Crosstown LRT gets closer to completion. I want to ensure that city staff, developers and the community are at the table together. It’s crucial that the community has maximum input as early in the process as possible.
Recreational facilities: The community of Thorncliffe Park has approximately 6,000 youth with few recreational facilities. It’s imperative that we provide an opportunity for recreation, whether it’s cricket, soccer or hockey, to name a few!
Thorncliffe has been recently designated a City of Toronto Neighbourhood Improvement Area, and it’s time we get the resources into the community as soon as possible.