Transit, transparency, housing: Vaughan residents dish on what Del Duca's priorities should be

New Vaughan mayor Steven Del Duca has his work cut out for him, says one longtime city hall advocate

Yorkregion.com
Oct. 31, 2022

Vaughan has a newly-minted mayor.

And you’ll recognize his name from political days past.

Steven Del Duca came out on top of a close race between himself and Sandra Yeung Racco on Oct. 24.

It’s safe to say in this election, one issue sucked up plenty more airtime than the rest -- gridlock

And it was Del Duca who successfully used this issue to help him claim the night’s big prize.

The only problem for those begging for congestion relief in Vaughan is they’ve been demanding a traffic fix

It’s not the first time politicians have promised solutions.

In fact, despite all of the angst and pressure over the years, the problem just keeps getting worse as more residents move into a community that keeps using the same old roads.

In 2002, there were 205,588 residents in the city. By 2021 that number had grown to 333,692.

And while there have been two subway stations added to the mix, the expansion of Vaughan’s roadways has been slow.

Richard Lorello, a former candidate for regional councillor, says the problem with traffic in Vaughan is two pronged.

First, public transit connecting the top and bottom of Vaughan is in short supply, meaning many residents in Maple struggle mightily to access the subway.

“North-south transportation just doesn’t exist,” Lorello told yorkregion.com. “If you’re in the North part of Vaughan, you can’t even get there, so you get into your car and use that.”
Second, Vaughan has done plenty of talking but far less real work to improve three major roads that aren’t pulling their weight, including Kirby, Teston and Langstaff roads.

“They’ve been talking about extending these roads since I came in 2002,” he said insisting that Kirby Road should run past Dufferin Road where it currently ends and Teston Road past Keele Street. “Langstaff ends and there’s no connection to get across rail yards. These are all infrastructure improvements that should have happened that haven’t.”

Lorello isn’t the only one complaining.

Vaughan resident Franca Porretta noted that even Woodbridge Avenue is clogged, meaning the heart of the community has been taken over by cars rather than shoppers and sightseers roaming the shopping district.

“Sometimes you can't really get around,” she added.

For his part, Del Duca says his ‘anti gridlock guarantee’ would widen Hwy. 7 in Woodbridge and connect Langstaff, build new connections on Teston and Kirby along with other initiatives like GO train improvements and trying to move trucks from Hwy. 7 to Hwy. 407. “(We want to) connect the disconnected,” he said, insisting he hopes these moves will help take the pressure off the main arteries -- Rutherford Road, Hwy. 7 and Major Mackenzie Drive.

Gridlock is just one of the many issues Del Duca and his new council will have to deal with over the next four years.

If it were up to Lorello, the second order of business would be to improve transparency.

He cited a recent investigation of his in which he unearthed documents showing the city refunded a developer $11 million but then refused to admit why it had done so.

“You have to wonder how often this is happening,” he said. “Things are happening behind closed doors that we are not aware of. You can’t be telling people you are doing something and then go behind doors and rescinding it.”

Del Duca said he not only hopes to improve transparency but also affordable housing.

“The decision-making process needs to be open and transparent,” he said before moving on to the affordable housing crisis. “The market rates are out of reach, and we have a supply issue.”

Some of the other victors include regional councillors and new deputy mayor Linda Jackson, Mario Ferri, Gino Rosati and Mario Racco (Sandra Yeung Racco's husband).

Ward 1 will be represented by Marilyn Iafrate, Ward 2, Adriano Volpentesta, Ward 3 Rosanna DeFrancesca, Ward 4 Chris Ainsworth and Ward 5 Gila Martow.