Sara Ehrhardt

The Mayor and City Council

The most important thing for me would be to ensure that the residents of Toronto-Danforth feel that they have a City Councillor who listens to them, advocates for them, and is their voice at City Council. For the past four years as TDSB Trustee I have advocated for parents, students, and teachers against the Doug Ford government's cuts to education, and in support of important community programs in schools. Before that I organized with other parents to save the pool at SH Armstrong.

Housing

I would prioritize creating a wide range of housing options from supportive housing, to affordable rentals, market rentals, and new homes and condos to serve all the residents in Toronto-Danforth. This coming term will be especially important as we implement a vision for Ookwemin Minising Island that includes affordable housing and co-ops so we can ensure that the waterfront is for everyone, not just the wealthy.

Cost of Living

Fighting for measures that make life more affordable would be a key priority for me as City Councillor. I would advocate for a wide range of things to ensure that as many residents of Toronto could benefit as possible. This includes supporting TTC fare capping to keep transit affordable, expanding the school food program to help kids and parents, increased low-cost and barrier-free programming and supports for tenants, seniors, children and youth, and more programs to help homeowners.

Safety in Public Spaces

People deserve to feel safe in their parks and on transit. A key way we can do this is by providing people in crisis with the trauma informed supports they need including: a safe place to sleep inside, access to health supports, and a pathway to stable living. We also can invest in more workers on transit to add a track level presence at more stations to respond to issues as they arise. I am particularly interested in public or not-for-profit supports that are barrier-free and trauma informed.

Getting Around the City

I know congestion is a source of frustration for many in Toronto-Danforth. Part of the solution to that is making cycling and transit safe and efficient to use, which reduces the number of cars on the road. We need to also get smarter about managing congestion, expanding the use of traffic agents and smart signals, which adjust to real-time conditions to best move people around the city. I would also support increasing the charges that developers pay for closing a lane of traffic, making them work quicker and find creative solutions.

Confronting Hateful and Hostile Behaviour

Toronto is a multicultural and pluralistic city, and that is the basis that I operate from. My role as Councillor will be to facilitate upholding and celebrating our multiculturalism and human rights in the work of city government. I will always strongly oppose any kind of hate, discrimination, or bigotry, and \“nothing about us without us” is a core way of working for me, so this work would always be consultative. Supporting community efforts to break down silos and barriers across communities is also a priority of mine in this context.