Racco looks forward to busy year ahead

Vaughan Weekly
January 15, 2014
By Angela Gismondi

Ward 4 Councillor Sandra Yeung Racco has quite a few priorities on her to- do list for 2014.

The Concord/Thornhill North councilor has been very involved in the Toronto-York Spadina subway extension and is hoping to see it through.

“I want to ensure it gets done on time and on budget,” said Racco, adding the project has already been delayed to 2016. “I hope we don’t have any delays subsequent to that.”

The subway is an important part of the development of the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre (VMC) - the City’s future downtown core - which is also a priority for Racco.

“We want to attract people to come to downtown Vaughan,” said

Racco, adding the City hopes to attract corporate head offices to locate in the area, as well as some residential development.

Now that City council has rejected hosting a casino in Vaughan, Racco is working on bringing a performing arts campus to the VMC.

“From an arts perspective we are missing a facility, it’s something we need,” said Racco.

“It’s a big dream of mine. I think it would be great for the City as a whole to be able to achieve that.”

There are many talented people in Vaughan who would benefit from an arts facility, she said.

“It would be a facility that would allow them to utilize this place as their home base,” Racco stated. “We also want to bring in an educational component, it would be a place to perform and learn.”

Ideally, the City’s future downtown would combine business and pleasure.

“We want to not only feature the arts but also stimulate the economy, create jobs and bring people to this area as a hub,” explained Racco.

Although she is the Liberal candidate for Thornhill and will be running for MPP in the next provincial election, she will not lose sight of what she was elected to do.

“I will continue to serve residents, listen to them and find ways

to do things differently,” said Racco. “I will represent my constituents and should a provincial election be called, I will run for that and see what happens from there,” concluded Racco.