Public servant joins race for Beach city council seat

Thestar.com
June 15, 2018
Jennifer Pagliaro

Public servant Brad Bradford decided it was not enough to wish government would do better. Instead of just complaining, he says he realized, you have to put your hand up and try to fix it.

On Friday, Bradford, a 31-year-old resident of the Upper Beach, plans to sign up to run for council in Ward 37 on the east side of the city, taking a leave from his job for the last three years doing stakeholder engagement for the chief planner’s office in the east tower of city hall.

“I think it’s really important for us to know what our values are and know what our shared interests are,” said Bradford, who is not a card-carrying member of any party and believes partisan politics does not always serve the public well.

“Politics isn’t a career. It’s not a job. It’s public service.”

He will be vying against the former New Democrat MP for Beaches-East York, Matthew Kellway, for the redrawn Beaches-East York ward being vacated by Councillor Mary-Margaret McMahon. The two-term councillor, who is an advocate for term limits, is relinquishing the seat after eight years, creating an open race.

Bradford, who also supports term limits, joins what will be at least a five-candidate race. Brent Bittner, Joshua Makuch and Valérie Maltais have also registered.

As a millennial who fell in love with the Danforth East area for its sense of community when he and his wife were looking to move from their Yonge-Eglinton neighbourhood, and as an avid cyclist, Bradford said affordable housing and the challenge of getting around the city are key issues.

Representing that newer generation, Bradford said he’s “very optimistic” about what kind of city Toronto can be. He praised the work of the Danforth East Community Association -- where he is currently a board member but will be stepping down to campaign -- for looking positively at how quickly the city is growing and capitalizing on those changes by incorporating ideas like pop-up shops, farmers’ markets and other initiatives.

As the city grapples with a surge of pedestrian and cyclist deaths across the city, Bradford, who commutes year-round by bicycle and volunteers with a group that shows new Canadians the rules of the road and best routes in the city, said he experiences the consequences of historically car-oriented streets every day.

“We’re moving forward, the question is, are we moving forward quickly enough?” he said of the city’s plans to prevent such deaths. Some of the solutions that could see action right away, he said, involve safer design at intersections and public realm spaces.

“We just need the political will to move forward on this.”

Before being hired at city hall under former chief planner Jennifer Keesmaat, Bradford, who grew up in Hamilton, was a planner in the private sector for the firm Keesmaat hailed from, Dialog, and then worked on renewable energy policy for an non-governmental organization in Boston.

The period to sign-up to run for council closes July 27.