Faisal Razi

The Mayor and City Council

Democracy itself means public engagement. I will hold large proactive town halls and listen to concerns of citizens and allow them to introduce new ideas and be listened to. We need to create an environment that fosters public engagement and involvement in the democratic process. I will get the whole city on the same page by introducing themes that get everyone involved and feel part of something bigger, for example: home clean up week, shop small business week, etc. I have worked with people in Toronto in every job or capacity you can imagine.

Housing

I feel the best solution to this problem is to greatly remove barriers and give generous tax incentives for builders who build affordable living spaces and to work with closely such developers. We do have a lot of development in Toronto but very little focuses on affordable housing and in a city of continuous and perpetual immigration this is not acceptable, we have too many condo buildings built with little regard for actual affordable housing while we should be working on affordable housing as well. This could be done with no rise in taxes.

Cost of Living

I will simplify the processes at city hall and introduce a new era of simplification and will appoint simplification czars (people who will work with me to simplify things and prevent waste without cutting any services). I will also try to get rid of wasteful duplication and repetition. These will also LOWER TAXES due to greater simplicity, efficiency and less waste and a more organized city hall. Affordability cannot be considered without taking into consideration being organized, waste and inefficiency, all these factors are interlinked!

Safety in Public Spaces

In regards to crime, violence or abuse, we are simply are wasting our time if try to deal with these topics without addressing sociopathic and psychopathic tendencies. This is an extremely important but completely neglected point that we have not acknowledged as a society: we focus on things such as race or background but not that very important distinction. The hard truth is that we simply cannot study crime, violence, or abuse without acknowledging this very crucial factor. It is one of life’s most profound but little recognized truths.

Getting Around the City

We can start by a campaign showing the benefits of using public transit and carpooling and many people who work close to others and can have a special app for nearby workers who use cars and they can rotate their cars and help each other with gas. We should consider adding another extra lane in some sections of the 401/DVP in Toronto where it can be done easily . On a positive note many subway and transportation projects around Toronto are ALREADY in the works, but we can also add more trains and buses in the TTC as this will definitely help.

Confronting Hateful and Hostile Behaviour

This problem will be handled through education and large town halls where we will try to get people to know each other and spread the idea that we are not so different after all. Hateful behaviour is caused by lack of knowledge and ignorance of other people but when we break the ice and learn about other people and cultures we become less hostile and hateful. Education and knowledge is the key to this problem,