Vaughan resident says he has the ‘right’ to question city’s rehabilitation policy on curbs

‘I still believe in a democracy,’ says Gabriel Graziano

Yorkregion.com
Sept. 13, 2021
Dina Al-Shibeeb

There are still grievances with the way the City of Vaughan has rehabilitated some of its curbs.

As Vaughan continues with its $7.8-million spending on road resurfacing and rehabilitation, two residents are still reeling with shock after the city’s work on their curbs.

But, Vaughan and its local Ward 3 councillor are sticking to the policy in place, in hopes of keeping uniformity and fairness.

Gabriel Graziano believes the city hasn’t done a great job with the workmanship on his and his neighbour’s curbs and isn’t respecting the taxpayers’ money.

“I still believe in a democracy where one has the right to question policies and procedures,” said Graziano.

The Vaughan Citizen previously published a story about Graziano and his neighbour David Ramsukh from Zucchet Court, who insist that the city should pay $450 to finish the latter’s curb, which was left half done. At the time, local Coun. Rosanna DeFrancesca explained the city’s adherence to its uniform policy to achieve fairness. DeFrancesca said that Ramsukh’s curb didn’t qualify for a full replacement; however, the city agreed at the time to replace half “as a courtesy to the resident.”

But for Graziano, there is a discrepancy between the way the city has conducted its projects.

“Why are the driveways which have been widened by the homeowners on Chancellor being fully replaced?” said Graziano, who snapped photos of 241 Chancellor.

“That driveway has an additional 50 square feet of asphalt done,” Graziano added.

Graziano insisted that the city “can find the funds required to replace all this extra asphalt throughout the project but could not find the money to at least do a decent replacement of Mr. Ramsukh's asphalt.”

In one photo he shared, it showed the water pooling at the bottom of the driveway due to what he called “poor workmanship.”

“Who will be held responsible in winter when that freezes over and someone might potentially fall?” Graziano wondered.

Another Zucchet resident, Gino Ronchin, is also not pleased. He said he had serious flooding issues at the end of his driveway after the city worked to improve it.

Graziano also wants some work done to his own curb.

“Many homes have had over 200 square feet of asphalt replaced. My asphalt was only 50 square feet replaced. In fairness, can I get another 150 square feet of asphalt replaced? Mr. (Jack) Graziosi (director of infrastructure) has admitted to me on the phone that his department is not perfect and makes mistakes. Is this another mistake that we the taxpayers must pay for?”

With driveway curb cut widths governed by Zoning By-law 1-88, the city said it would continue with its curb rehabilitation that meets its “technical criteria for replacement, such as: major stress cracks -- greater than two per driveway entrance or longer than 500 mm each, any ponding area -- standing water along the curb line/gutter, curb misalignment -- offset curb lines, differential settlement -- greater than 25 mm high/low.”

So far, the city has no “additional work required to be completed” at the two Zucchet homes.

“All curbs in Vaughan are assessed using the same criteria to ensure a fair and transparent approach to decisions around repairs,” it added.

DeFrancesca, who went to Zucchet Court June 25 as a way to “prioritize” and “listen” to resident’s concerns, said: “I want to thank city staff, particularly the infrastructure delivery department, for going above and beyond to resolve this resident’s concern,” she added. “I believe the completed work was done so fairly and in accordance with the city’s policy while respecting taxpayers’ hard-earned dollars.”