Subways are king among Don Valley North candidates

TheStar.com
Oct. 18, 2018
Tess Kalinowski

Don Valley North residents’ concerns aren’t so different from downtown Torontonians’. Rampant condo development, a lack of affordable housing, traffic congestion and the legalization of cannabis have residents grappling with how to maintain the area’s liveability in the face of significant growth.

A drive-by shooting outside Parkway Forest Community Centre near Don Mills Rd. and Sheppard Ave. E. that killed a 27-year-old man in September is a recent reminder that violence can strike anywhere in the city.

The area is bracing for an influx of 12,000 residents and 13,500 jobs in the next 20 years as part of the city’s ConsumersNext plan for development near Consumers Rd. and Sheppard. After decades of civic vacillation over buses, LRT or subways on Sheppard, east of the existing six-stop Sheppard ‘stubway,’ Metrolinx is expected to begin public consultations on the options in 2020.

At an all-candidates meeting at Brian Public School last week, transit was the topic that sent an audible murmur through the approximately 75 residents who came to hear from seven of the nine candidates running in Ward 17.

In theory, the car should be king in their neighbourhood. The ward is bounded by some of the region’s busiest roads --Steeles Ave. E. to the north, Victoria Park Ave. to the east, Hwy. 401 to the south and Bayview Ave. to the west. But the choking traffic means residents are hungry for transit alternatives.

There was widespread support for extending the Sheppard subway among the candidates at the meeting.

WARD WATCH
Ward 17 Don Valley North

BOUNDARIES

Steeles Ave. E. to the North, Victoria Park Ave. to the east, Hwy. 401 to the south, Bayview Ave. to the west.

DEMOGRAPHICS

There are 110,076 people with an average age of 42. The average household size is 2.6 people with a median household income of $66,620. The percentage of visible minorities is 70 per cent.

OTHER REPRESENTATIVES

MPP Vincent Ke (PC) and MP Geng Tan (Liberal).

An extension could be a now-or-never proposition given Premier Doug Ford’s opposition to LRTs, said Christina Liu, a candidate who runs a Mandarin language school and wants to see creative alternatives for housing, particularly for international students who end up living in rooming houses.

“If we don’t build Sheppard we will never see it,” she told the meeting.

Liu and rivals Stella Kargiannakis and Kostas Kokkinakis dismissed the idea of putting more transit on congested roads. Some people inevitably have to drive and they shouldn’t face more impediments from LRTs and buses, said Kokkinakis, who is pushing infrastructure improvements as a way to build employment in the ward.

Christina Liu.
Former public school trustee Ken Lister, who is running for council this time, also supports extending the Sheppard subway east and west of Yonge St. and building the relief line.

“All the studies show the relief line would have the most riders and that line is needed because the Yonge line is over capacity. We’re just adding more people onto the line. Many of the stations at rush hour, particularly when residents are going home, you simply can’t get on the subway because the car is literally full to capacity. You can’t squeeze in, never mind get a seat,” he said.

Ken Lister.
Wi-Fi test engineer Erin O’Connor, is positioning herself as the “progressive voice” for the ward. “It’s a really great city but a lot of people are still falling through the cracks,” she said.

O’Connor, who said she waited 20 minutes for each of two buses to get to the Brian school meeting, is pitching dedicated bus lanes as a short-term transit alternative to waiting decades for subways “that may never show up.”

Shelley Carroll, who had represented the old Don Valley East ward on city council since 2003, wants to return to city hall after quitting in April to run for the Ontario Liberals in the provincial election earlier this year. She said she is committed to working with residents to come up with the best solutions for Sheppard East transit in advance of Metrolinx’s consultations.

Shelley Carroll.
“Victoria Park will really be the gateway for that,” she said and the services and facilities have to be in place for the residential growth that will come with that.

“Based on approval such as SmartTrack and the Scarborough subway and completion of the Eglinton Crosstown, Metrolinx (wants) to bring brand new data and brand new options to the community about what to do on Sheppard Ave. E.,” said Carroll who is promising to set up a residents’ roundtable of transit and car commuters, businesses and residents’ associations to “arm ourselves with all the information and institutional memory I can muster ... so we’re really ready for a good conversation with Metrolinx.”

Lister says that his experience as budget chair of the Toronto District School Board and his push to ban pot shops from school zones give him the credentials for city hall where it’s time for a change. “Whether left- or right-leaning, Toronto is not served well by having the same councillors that are there for two or three decades,” he said.

Candidate Ian Hanecak, who studied planning and runs a community publishing venture, similarly attributes the “dysfunction” at city hall to councillors who stay too long.

Ian Hanecak.
“As time goes on there's a certain level of comfort and complacency,” he said. “Term limits would change the way we look at politics, would result in higher voter turnout and increase interest in city politics.”

Kargiannakis, a former business person who has some municipal housing experience, says she wants more random police checks and vehicle searches for guns.

“Public safety is something that comes up as a priority for most people and the concern about the increase in crime and gun violence. I have people telling me their houses have been broken into, their cars have been stolen. We're not as tough on crime as we should be,” she said.

Candidates Steven Chen and Kasra Gharibi didn’t attend the Brian Village Association candidates meeting. Chen’s campaign sent the Star an email citing public safety, low property taxes and expanded community centre program among his priorities.

Don Valley North candidates: Shelley Carroll (former councillor), Steven Chen, Kasra Gharibi, Ian Hanecak, Stella Kargiannakis, Kostas Kokkinakis, Ken Lister, Christina Liu and Erin O’Connor.