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Peter Handjis

Independent for Toronto Mayor

Housing & Homelessness

Affordability

Curb over charging of rental units on the market currently

To bolster low-income rental options

Indigenous-led housing

The city, along with provincial and federal governments needs to take this issue with discipline and severity with a once and for all approach and attitude to make right building a future framework for our indigenous residents to stop falling short of past years and move on with talking with local indigenous leaders and further inputs towards indigenous housing that can be planned, built going forward

Zoning

Update zoning rules and bylaws for electric vehicles to have additional access for recharging and increase, not decrease the amount of off street undergroud parking spaces.

Human Rights

Mental health crisis response

To educate and equip the emergency services to be more community based by giving them the equipment and training to be more than just a Band-Aid in the situations they deal with on a daily occurrence.

Physical accessibility

Better planning for accessibility as our city's aging population will grow

Policing of marginalised groups

To step up and support the rights of marginalized communities in the city. To help those in high-risk and marginalized industries work more safely in the communities they are by introducing new by-laws and incentives.

Racialised communities

If reconciliation is to take root in these communities the Mayor's office along with city council members should plan, finance capital investment dollars projects to have these communities feel appreciated well beyond periodically allocated road resurfacing and sewer systems upgrades. For all the talk about relocating the Ontario Science Centre next to Ontario Place why not have the Ontario Science Centre relocation in the Jane and Finch corridor?. From a logistics standpoint it ( Science Centre ) would be better suited around the Jane and Finch area as urban sprawl has been developed north, west, east of Toronto and continues to do so, further reduced travel times for students on a school day trip and the public at large reducing the carbon footprint. This is one idea and yes it is the purview of the Province however the point being that from a policing standpoint as per community policing, to restore unity back in community, new capital investment dollars projects in this manner is the way to go either by
If the promise of reconciliation is to take root in these communities the Mayor's office along with city council members should plan, finance capital investment dollars projects to have these communities feel appreciated well beyond periodically allocated road resurfacing and sewer systems upgrades. For all the talk about relocating the Ontario Science Centre next to Ontario Place why not have the Ontario Science Centre relocation in the Jane and Finch corridor?. From a logistics standpoint it ( Science Centre ) would be better suited around the Jane and Finch area as urban sprawl has been developed north, west, east of Toronto and continues to do so, further reduced travel times for students on a school day trip and the public at large reducing the carbon footprint. This is one idea and yes it is the purview of the Province however the point being that from a policing standpoint as per community policing, to restore unity back in community, new capital investment dollars projects in this manner is the way

Recent immigrants

They should have a chance to realize the Canadian dream just like everyone else to feel protected to feel represented equally

Refugees and undocumented immigrants

To encourage these groups to assimilate in the Canadian way of life

Sex workers

To help those in high-risk and marginalized industries work more safely in the communities they are in by introducing new by-laws and incentives.

Trans rights and access to services

Have this community represented and protected as everyone else

Public Spaces & Services

Fitness and sports facilities

To aquire direct input from communities across the city specifically aimed at capital investment planning dollars where the city relied on Federal government census data that always fell short addressing the needs of communities in the past

Green space

Incorporate additional water falls, water fountains on city properties offer incentives to developers undertaking new construction projects

Libraries

It will be necessary to add, to incorporate new, remodeling projects of public libraries especially with adopting the 15 minute city to allow for expanded study areas of quiet.

Public washrooms

Access to public washrooms will be a priority with incorporating stand alone facilities or integrated with new construction projects focused on those with mobility issues

Sidwalks and bike paths

Increase pathways ,tree planting, planting flowers where it could be deemed feasible.

Zoning

Update zoning rules and bylaws for electric vehicles to have additional access for recharging and increase, not decrease the amount of off street undergroud parking spaces.

City Parks

To create revenue for the city by building snack shacks and café buildings in city park land to rent out to interested investors to make the parks safer by creating a community hub of business and customer presence in the parks to discourage crime in and misuse of parks they are in.

Climate Change

Active transportation

Increase the amount of bicycle paths, skate boarding,inline skating, introduce horseback riding in conjunction with the mounted unit of TPS, plan and develop rest areas that will feature tourism shopping,meals, during spring, summer, fall seasons, offer sleigh rides during the winter months location at the Bayview extension/Don Valley Parkway within the hills and valleys

Climate adaptation

For the city to always know what the latest technologies are and promote them to residents and for city to utilize as well

Electric bikes and scooters

Promote the use of safety equipment while operating

Energy-efficient buildings and retrofits

Technology is always changing and the city should be up to date with the newest data about the newest technologies and determine the best placement for emerging technologies

Green space

Incorporate additional water falls, water fountains on city properties offer incentives to developers undertaking new construction projects

Parking

As our city will grow so will the need to have additional parking spaces not less especially for electric vehicles to have dedicated charging access either by off street parking or parking garages underground above ground as this would be a win-win for supporting local businesses with reliable patronage repeated visits while charging of EV's that has the significant potential to further enhance tourism local and out of town

Private vehicles

Incentives should be introduced to offer free monthly transit passes to vehicle owners who decide to salvage their vehicles with proof of salvage in exchange for a year or two years worth of free transit passes

Urban heat

Add additional community hubs of cooling centres during days of high temperatures

Zoning

Update zoning rules and bylaws for electric vehicles to have additional access for recharging and increase, not decrease the amount of off street undergroud parking spaces.

Local Government & Democracy

Budgeting

Rein in spending as this is critical for planning future capital investment dollars projects without proposing property taxes increases

Ethics and good governance

Always offer the public easy to understand language instead of word salads

Public engagement

Always offer the public the opportunity to reach civic leaders including the Mayor's office easily and for civic leaders including the Mayor's office to conduct community reach out to have residents feel the city is indeed interested in what communities have to say

Strong mayor powers

I would utilize the strong Mayor powers especially dealing with drawing plans towards relocating the homeless off city streets inside of city property deemed to be under utilized, vacant or a combination of both to have the public feel safe to walk city streets, taking public transit, reverse the recently implemented surface routes transit cuts, make plans for actual construction of geared to income housing and affordable housing along with current market rental rates housing better transportation management to keep traffic flows efficiently moving reintroduce the idea to city council members that the TTC should get back to digging up subway tunnels that the city's planning department along with the Toronto Transit Commission draw up architectural plans and drawings instead of relying on outsourcing to outside agencies for public transit planning and construction

Youth engagement

The opportunities for a brighter future is incumbent on the city to engage our youth in after-school programs that would offer athletics along side academic studies to further enrich the day hours of classes taught in our schools that can also include the arts towards furthering education as this is a pragmatic solution to have our youth participating with constructive time as opposed to withering away getting into trouble over petty crimes

Mental Health, Drugs, & Addiction

Drug decriminalisation

Absolutely no way. Absolutely not. Period. Full stop.

Mental health crisis response

To educate and equip the emergency services to be more community based by giving them the equipment and training to be more than just a Band-Aid in the situations they deal with on a daily occurrence.

Overdoses and the contaminated drug supply

To help frontline organizations and service workers dealing with the issues and needs of the homeless and underhoused members of the city

Treatment programmes

Our city would be better served with additional facilities in treatment for substance abuse for drugs and alcohol addictions including gambling that can be budgeted with rather inexpensive solutions with or without the participation of the Ontario and federal governments

Public Safety & Policing

Alternatives to policing

Community participation towards policing alternatives would be based as follows: to step up and support communities across the city to first deal with the scourge of drug addiction rampant in our city allowing the police to go after higher profile crimes rather than taking calls from residents about not so impact full petty crimes that have police tied up with these types of calls that are often attributed as being loud and obnoxious so it would be incumbent for the city and it's Mayor of offering a olive branch to communities across the city specifically aimed at educating both the police and the public toward the aspects of communities self policing themselves as a starting point with regular feedback from communities as how to better direct support for communities across the city

Police funding

Better distribution of funding is necessary for the police to be able to undertake their sworn duty of upholding the laws on the books

Police wrongdoing and accountability

This should be reviewed and is necessary for the public trust

Safety on transit

To have the daily confidence of public transit riders and to encourage people to utilize public transit it would take relocation from the homeless that occupy the transit system to off the streets housing in a humanity dignified manner

Upstream causes of crime

To remedy this problem city hall should seriously consider bringing back blue collar jobs by informing international investors and local investors as well that Toronto will welcome investors who are currently shopping for jurisdictions to bring facilities related to manufacturing here as these are the steps to take with reminding the public that blue collar jobs are vital to economic growth and the allowance for harmony to be restored in communities across the city

Reconciliation & Indigenous Nations

Indigenous languages

As with all cultures and ethnicities it would be incumbent on the group or groups of keeping their cultures, traditions, languages current for their own younger generations to learn, to understand, to share what was learned to their own communities and anyone else interested in learning about indigenous cultures and traditions

Indigenous-led housing

The city, along with provincial and federal governments needs to take this issue with discipline and severity with a once and for all approach and attitude to make right building a future framework for our indigenous residents to stop falling short of past years and move on with talking with local indigenous leaders and further inputs towards indigenous housing that can be planned, built going forward

Land and governance

I am very much interested in the 15 minute city idea and understand as to how to move forward with planning a community based on this idea. I also intend to repurpose with the cooperation of city council city owned properties and buildings that are under utilized and as such retrofit, inexpensive renovation to bring housing online geared to income housing and affordable housing this idea can be undertaken with a Mayor dedicated to performing with realistic planning and direction for building a great city for the next 25 years and beyond with the utmost respect for taxpayers dollars with full disclosure and transparency

Place names, statues, and other commemorations

We as a society should always have references about our past moving forward with our collective future endeavors and efforts. As our city seriously lacks funding for bringing housing on line city hall should allocate dollars for housing, for community services and centers instead of replacing and renaming anything. For how collective we residents walk together as one voice towards taking account of the past should reflect our understanding of how we get along with each other moving forward.

Residential schools

From a city standpoint more indigenous schools should be allocated to be built or at least have a footprint with current city infrastructure

The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

Circumstances that pertain to our city should reflect made in Toronto solutions of indigenous and non indigenous people

Transit & Getting Around

Active transportation

Increase the amount of bicycle paths, skate boarding,inline skating, introduce horseback riding in conjunction with the mounted unit of TPS, plan and develop rest areas that will feature tourism shopping,meals, during spring, summer, fall seasons, offer sleigh rides during the winter months location at the Bayview extension/Don Valley Parkway within the hills and valleys

Electric bikes and scooters

Promote the use of safety equipment while operating

New transit projects

Our city would be best served when the Mayor's office along with city council members in cooperation with the TTC undertake the tasks of planning, and construction of new subway station tunnels and related infrastructure that has been lacking thus far. Line 4 ( Shepard Ave ) should be tunneled eastwards from Don Mills station to Kennedy Road as a first phase then eastwardof Kennedy station to Meadowvale Road and from a planning and construction standpoint further extend line 4 as a final subway station to Pickering Town Centre. If Pickering Town Centre is deemed not viable then extend line 4 towards from Meadowvale and Sheppard to Port Union and Lawrence Ave East giving a better, more realistic approach to the 15 minute city.

Parking

As our city will grow so will the need to have additional parking spaces not less especially for electric vehicles to have dedicated charging access either by off street parking or parking garages underground above ground as this would be a win-win for supporting local businesses with reliable patronage repeated visits while charging of EV's that has the significant potential to further enhance tourism local and out of town

Private vehicles

Incentives should be introduced to offer free monthly transit passes to vehicle owners who decide to salvage their vehicles with proof of salvage in exchange for a year or two years worth of free transit passes

Ride-hailing

Encourage expansion.

Safety on transit

To have the daily confidence of public transit riders and to encourage people to utilize public transit it would take relocation from the homeless that occupy the transit system to off the streets housing in a humanity dignified manner

Sidwalks and bike paths

Increase pathways ,tree planting, planting flowers where it could be deemed feasible.

Transit fares

Public transit is a service and all ridership should pay for their transit needs


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Biography

submitted by the candidate or their team
An independent candidate for Toronto Mayor with 20 years of business owner and management experience along with a track record of volunteering in the city

Reason for running

submitted by the candidate or their team
It is time to restore balance and equity in the city, regain unity back in community, to thrive once again with peace,public safety, and opportunity for all residents to benefit from lovingly

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