By Sean Delaney
Anthony Perruzza has been re-elected as the Ward 7 councillor for Humber River – Black Creek. He has said in this new term, he wants to focus on the community on the west side of his ward and see a community centre constructed.
“I want to build a community centre at Weston and Sheppard,” he said. “I want to make sure in the next term that that becomes a facility people can use.”
Perruzza said he doesn’t want to talk about planning it anymore. He wants to actually build it. He knows the City is going into a difficult hour with revenues and finances looking like they’re headed for a shortfall. Still, he will continue “to fight like hell” to see that the community centre continues to be part of the capital budget.
He also spoke about the size of his new ward. Given that the entire ward now encompasses part of old ward 7, or mostly west of the 400, he sees constant issues with day-to-day maintenance. He said people want their roads well maintained, they want their grass cut, the trees clipped and want to make sure their neighbourhood is clean and tidy. They want well functioning usable parks with different recreational options, multiple recreational options, so he really wants to take a look at their individual park spaces and how they can be improved and strengthen community groups.
“I need the help of local residents in managing this, the day-to-day functioning of neighbourhoods,” he said. “And those maintenance issues, those one-offs, are annoying to people in different areas. So, I would like to have a couple of functioning resident committees that will help me identify those issues and help me work with city staff to take care of those things. To identify them, work with City staff and ensure the city does whatever it can to ensure the neighbourhood is satisfied.”
Perruzza said given the size of the ward his office doesn’t have the staff to take care of all the issues, and the constant work on day-to-day issues can take them away from more significant issues, creating a communications breakdown. So, one of his goals in the next term will be to find a way to build out a process where residents can come together, develop an agenda of things they would like to see in their neighbourhood and sit down with all staff from police to roads to parks to the guys who plow to discuss any concerns in a timely manner and see them dealt with.
You can contact the office of Councillor Perruzza at: 416-338-5335
Or email: Councillor_Perruzza@toronto.ca