We are fortunate to be living in a world-class neighbourhood of retail businesses, restaurants, and homes, but there is also room to re-energize and modernize our main streets which could benefit everybody.

My priorities for our main commercial streets include: wider, more accessible sidewalks to better accommodate our families, kids, and seniors; larger, more permanent and accessible patio and display spaces for our restaurants and shops; greener spaces and more benches for people to rest and connect; support for our local businesses including less red tape and fewer fees; and a prioritization of on-street parking for loading zones and 15-minute stops, particularly on Danforth Ave where we can encourage more long-term parking in the Green P parking lots along the subway line. These and other measures will help to ensure that our streets remain vibrant, bustling, and thriving.

Our small local business are the lifeline of our community, and they've been through a lot over the past decade, from the pandemic and the economic uncertainty that followed (and still continues today), to the cancellation of Taste of the Danforth and the ongoing Metrolinx construction.

My priorities for local businesses include: a full review of municipal red tape and fees, beginning with immediate advocacy for the elimination of the Sign Fee and the Marketing Display Fee; sidewalk expansion to accommodate larger, more permanent patio and display spaces; and increased advocacy to the province for Commercial Rent Control and Lease Reform so that our businesses are not unfairly evicted via exorbitant rent increases.

Our smaller residential roads need to be safe, accessible, and convenient for everyone, particularly for our kids and senior citizens.

My priorities for our roads and sidewalks include: significantly more speed bumps on our roads, particularly those connecting major streets; speed enforcement that actually prioritizes safety over revenue, particularly near our schools and daycares; more secure bike lanes beginning with better maintenance and replacement of bike lane bollards; benches at every bus and streetcar stop; more crossing guards and safety measures at our flashing crosswalks, which are particularly dangerous for our kids; and an overhaul of the disastrous sidewalk snow-clearing program to prioritize those actually in need of help, as well as sidewalks near our parks and schools.

Our neighbours who are tenants need to feel safe and healthy in their homes, and we need to also ensure that people can continue to achieve the dream of starting a new life, family, or business in Toronto-Danforth Ward 14.

My priorities for housing include: significant expansion of the RentSafeTO program, including more frequent inspections, quicker remediation, and increased fines that would help fund the program's growth; strong advocacy to the province for rent control in all buildings and the elimination of Above the Guideline Rent Increases which unfairly make tenants foot the bill for building renovations; and support for denser housing on both our residential roads and main streets while still maintaining the ground-level character of our historic and thriving retail strips.

Residents are feeling more disconnected and distrusting of our politicians than ever before, and turnout for municipal elections is much too low for a healthy democracy. We have seen our representatives flip-flop on positions, try to turn people against each other for political gain, and often simply slip into a pattern of mediocrity which prioritizes their own interests and job security over the well-being of their constituents.

It's a long road back to restoring trust and engagement, but a few reforms that might help us get there are: Term Limits for Mayors and Councillors (my proposal is three terms) so that they have plenty of time to leave a lasting positive impact while also encouraging more voices to come forward; a Ward Residency Requirement so that you have to actually live in the communities you claim to want to represent; and advocacy to future provincial governments for a return to the 47-ward model and the removal of Strong Mayor powers, so that councillors and constituents can be more closely connected, we can have more faith in our democracy, and we can go back to choosing how to govern ourselves as one of the greatest cities in the world.