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EDITORIAL: Let's see action on key issues from Vaughan municipal election

YorkRegion.com
Nov. 7, 2014

Fresh off the municipal election, we offer our sincere congratulations to the winners and encourage them to get to work right away on some of the city’s most pressing needs.

Without further ado, here are five key issues that emerged during this election campaign for which we’d like to see immediate action on:

On the subject of traffic, we agree that solutions are not easy, but some action no matter how small is long overdue to address what is becoming a crippling problem for residents.

Whether it’s technology to synchronize traffic lights, as suggested by regional councilor-elect Mario Ferri, or beginning the process of building the east-west connection over the CN Rail yards at Langstaff Avenue, we need action.

As incumbent Councillor Tony Carella noted during the campaign, lobbying the federal government to widen the railway bridge on Hwy. 7 in west Woodbridge could be done now.

Action on any one or all of the above ideas will send a signal that the city is taking this problem seriously.

On the surface, Vaughan appears to be a wealthy and thriving community but there are many people living on the margins for whom finding affordable housing is an exercise in futility.

It’s really time for the city to take serious action beyond the mandated legalization of basement apartments.

We would urge this council to seriously consider following in the footsteps of Toronto and Richmond Hill and work with developers building condo towers in the emerging downtown to include affordable housing units in their buildings in exchange for increased heights and densities.

Mayor Maurizio Bevilacqua has said affordable housing is one of the issues he’d like to tackle in his second mandate. This is the kind of progressive approach that will truly make Vaughan a world class city where no one is left behind.

There has been some chatter on Twitter and beyond that with the departure of environmental champion regional councillor Deb Schulte after the election, the issues of balancing growth with preserving green spaces, as well as other environmental initiatives such as action on climate change, may fall by the wayside.

We hope that’s not the case. We encourage those who value these things to step forward and get involved in committees and community groups who’ve made these things a priority.

The council has made strides in the last four years in improving transparency and accountability at city hall, but there was one initiative that was widely supported by the regional council candidates and mayoral candidates that would take things a step farther - implementing a lobbyist registry.

This is important so that citizens know who is attempting to influence decision-making at city hall.

Lobbyist registries have proven valuable tools in Ottawa and Toronto and Hamilton is going down that road, too.

We think it’s time for Vaughan to be the leader for this in York Region.

And lastly, accessibility has never before become such a major issue as we’ve seen in this last campaign.

The point was made repeatedly that Vaughan is falling behind when it comes to being a city where people of all abilities can participate and go about their day-to-day life with dignity.

It’s become all too apparent that many of our public facilities and other infrastructure are simply lacking in terms of accessibility. It’s time to start removing barriers so everyone can participate fully.

We’ll be watching these issues closely to see if the newly elected councillors stay true to their election promises and we’ll have more to say about it in this space if they don’t.