Sheppard transit plans, fate Timothy Eaton site among issues in Ward 40
admin | Friday, October 8th, 2010 | No Comments »The issue drew Bryan Heal into the council race. The 31-year-old public health researcher said he has family and friends living along St. Clair Avenue West and saw first-hand how the streetcar right-of-way construction disrupted businesses and residents.
“It’s going to be a major mess for our ward in the next few years,” he said of the construction of the Sheppard LRT. “I don’t really see that being talked about nearly enough.”
If elected councillor, Heal said he would set up a constituency office on Sheppard Avenue to give local residents and businesses timely construction information. Heal also proposed the idea of having the light rail vehicles run underground so when their lifespan expires they could be replaced by subway cars.
Incumbent Norm Kelly, 69, said he’s working on a last-ditch effort to convince the province to build a subway now. “A subway is faster, more convenient and more reliable.”
Businessman Ken Sy said a subway would generate more revenue than light rail. “Along the subway you will create a building boom and generate more employment and taxes.”
Also running is Cheng-Chih Tsai.
Ward 40 is bounded by Finch Avenue to the north, Victoria Park Avenue to the west, Ellesmere Road to the south and the CNR and Birchmount Road to the east.
The population is 59,575 and the average family income is $47,770.
Gael Gilbert of the Agincourt Community Services Association said poverty is an issue for many highrise dwellers in the ward. “We served 40,000 in the food bank last year,” she said. “There are issues of unemployment, underemployment or lack of employment opportunities…It would be really helpful if we could encourage more industry, more business to open in these communities.”
Gilbert said more community space is needed, particularly in the Bay Mills Boulevard apartments (near Birchmount Road and Sheppard Avenue).
Kelly said he wants to convert the closed Timothy Eaton high school on Bridletowne Circle into a community hub. “City council has agreed with me that we should be making a bid to buy the school property.”
On poverty, Kelly said statistics can be misleading.
“What’s happened in this area is that a lot of people have retired and their income has gone down so they would be part of lower income but their houses would be paid for,” he said. “Secondly, we’re getting a new wave of immigrants…Their income is lower than those of the established families but the records show that within a very short time they work themselves into a higher income group.”
There are two priority neighbourhoods in the ward.
Also at issue is a proposed columbarium, a small cemetery for cremated remains, on Birchmount Road. “We turned it down at Scarborough Community Council and under my leadership the city council turned it down,” Kelly said. “The owners of the property appealed to the Ontario Municipal Board and they won. But having won, they’re not going to develop the land, they’re going to sell it I guess to someone who might be in the columbarium business.”
There have been no takers so far, Kelly said.
Kelly said he doesn’t live in the ward now, though he grew up in it and owns property in it.
Kelly’s political career began in 1974 when he was elected alderman in the then Borough of Scarborough. He served as Liberal MP between 1980 and 1984 and returned to politics in 1994 as Metro Councillor. Kelly easily won the 2006 election, garnering 10,481 votes to second place finisher George Pappas’ with 1,618.
The councillor isn’t endorsing any of the mayoral candidates. “I support a movement towards change,” he said. “But I want to make sure that in those changes Scarborough doesn’t get shortchanged.”
Heal, who lives in the ward, said he too isn’t endorsing a mayoral candidate though he likes many of the ideas of Rocco Rossi. “The thing that’s really holding me back from coming out for him is the proposed hydro sale. I want to keep Toronto Hydro public.”
Heal said he supports more competitive bidding for big city contracts.
“That’s probably the biggest bang for our buck in terms of reducing the amount we spend at city hall,” he said. “People understand that some taxes are needed but they want to see some more value for it.”
Heal said he favours declaring EMS an essential service, opposes the columbarium plan and also wants a community hub at Timothy Eaton. “If it can’t be used as a school due to enrolment…it can still be kept in public hands in a way that can benefit the community and add some really critical services in the neighbourhood.”
Heal said the ward needs more community investment. “We have a lower ratio of services than the rest of the city.”
Heal said he noticed “a huge mood for change” in the ward. “The theme of this election is that people are tired and people are frustrated,” he said. “I want to work as hard as I can to restore people’s faith that we have a local government that can work for them.”
Sy favours reducing the number of councillors from 44 to 22, a salary freeze for councillors and a 50 per cent cut to their $53,000 office expense budget. “The spending is out of control,” he said. “Any future (councillor) salary increases should be dependent upon the city producing a balanced budget.”
Sy also supports the voter recall system and opposes the columbarium plan because residents “are against it.”
Sy also raised the issue of the difficulty of getting speed humps on residential streets. “Bylaws should be changed that you don’t have to have a study in order for the city to install a speed bump,” he said. “I think we have to eliminate this kind of bureaucracy.”
He noted residents of Mondeo Drive have been asking for a speed hump but never got one. He said motorists are using the side street to avoid the busy Birchmount-Ellesmere intersection.
The president of the Chinese Canadian Civic Alliance, Sy said he lives outside the ward with his 93-year-old mother who he looks after. He said he’s not endorsing anyone for mayor but noted his policies are similar to that of Rob Ford.
“I enter politics not as a career, not for the pay nor for my personal ego but for my determination in making change and a difference,” Sy said.
The municipal election is on Oct. 25.
- Andrew Palamarchuk
