Ward 8: Student lodging and other housing issues play out in area home to Mohawk College

CBC Hamilton asked all candidates running for Hamilton city council to share their priorities and speak to an issue that stands out to them as needing to be addressed in their ward. Their answers are left here in full, with lightediting only for spelling/grammar. For the candidates who did not answer the CBC Hamilton questionnaire, information has been drawn from their websites, when possible.All of CBC Hamilton'selection coverage can be found here.

In Ward 8, on the west and central Hamilton Mountain, issues related to the housing crisis interplay with those of the housing needs of students atMohawk College.

Last year, city council approved a two-year pilot Rental Housing Licensing pilot program for Wards 1, 8 and part of Ward 14 all areas with high student populations to help address illegal dwelling units, absentee landlords and complaints about property standards and yard maintenance. The program, which was supported by Ward 8 Coun. John-Paul Danko, requires landlords to register with the city and apply for a licence.

One of Danko's opponents this election, Sonia Brown, has taken issue with the program in her campaign, suggesting it's unfair to only roll it out to certain wards, and is exacerbating the shortage of student housing.

Another big issue in the area, which includes many major thoroughfares, is road safety, according to the responses CBC Hamilton received to our candidate survey. Candidate Anthony Frisina says the area can be especially dangerous for people with disabilities, noting sidewalk cuts, which allow users on wheels on and off roads, are inconsistent, and the area could use more amplified audio and visual cues at intersections.

In his time on council, Danko has been a vocal supporter of road safety improvements throughout the city, as well asmaintaining the existing urban boundary,and the city's former vaccination requirement for staff. He has also voted against evicting encampment residents on several occasions.

Ward 8 is bordered by the hydro corridor south of Rymal Road, the Niagara Escarpment on the north, Upper Wellington Street to the east, and Garth Street to the west. In addition to the college, the ward is home to Chedoke Hospital, St. Joseph's Mental Health and Wellness Resource Centre and the Chedoke Rail Trail which connects Wards 1 and 8.

Here'smore about the candidates:

Sonia Brown

Sonia Brown, 57, owns and operates a residential care facility.

Describe one pressing issue facing your ward and what you'd do about it: The biggest issue is roads in Ward 8. We have had a number of deaths between Mohawk and Upper James and Mohawk and Fennell Ave. I would look at what other cities are doing. In the meantime slow down traffic in that area. Another issue is, it is unfair the roll out of a pilot project for rental housing licences to only Ward 1, 8 and 14. It must be across the board. Landlords will pass along that licensing expense fee to tenants. We already have a housing crisis in our city, hence we have a shortage for housing to students currently.

Name up to 3 policies you'd put forward or support if elected: 1. Affordability:Address Hamilton being third-most expensive city in North America with efficiency and cost effectiveness in city operations.

2. Taxes:Fight against tax increases & cancel next year's 11 per cent increase on water and property taxes.

3. Integrity:Serve all residents with dignity and respect while addressing your concerns.

Joshua Czerniga

Joshua Czerniga is an elementary school teacher at the Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District School Board, according to his LinkedIn profile. He didn't submit a response to CBC Hamilton's questionnaire and does not appear to have a campaign website.

John-Paul Danko

John-Paul Danko is the current Ward 8 councillor, having been elected to the role in 2018. He did not complete CBC Hamilton's survey.

According to his campaign website, some of his priorities are:

• Investing in local parks, recreation and healthy public spaces, licensing absentee landlords and building more vibrant communities;

• Extensive traffic calming for safer streets, repairing crumbling roads and sidewalks, improving transportation options to reduce traffic; and

• Working closely with police to ensure appropriate enforcement in Ward 8, keeping families and neighbourhoods safe.

Anthony Frisina

Anthony Frisina, 42, works in customer service and has been a vocal advocate for the rights of people with disabilities.

Describe one pressing issue facing your ward and what you'd do about it: Ward 8, as well as the rest of Hamilton, needs roads and sidewalks to be safe for people of all abilities, and drivers. The city needs to do full and complete repairs rather than bandaid solutions for roads and sidewalks in a timely manner, and create an effective and efficient assessment and maintenance plan. While out campaigning, I even fell out of my wheelchair because one of the wheels got caught on a recently-patched part of a sidewalk. I would like to have amplified audio and visual cues at major intersections to start, with the long-term goal of having them at all intersections with working stop lights, for both pedestrians and drivers' safety alike. All sidewalk cuts also need to be consistent throughout the city.

Name up to 3 policies you'd put forward or support if elected: Review the city's current commitment to the larger-than-the-provincial-average population of disability, to ensure city services (such as DARTS, the city's accessible transit service) are prepared financially and operationally for the increased need to support our disabled and/or aging population.

Create strategic, realistic, timely and transparent plans to ensure all new builds are accessible, with a percentage of financially accessible units where applicable, and a commitment to retrofitting buildings for full accessibility.

All policies must ensure they recognize the importance of autonomy and agency, for all persons regardless of abilities, gender, orientation, race, religion, etc., and are approved by individuals with lived experience related to each policy.

Daniel Veltri

Daniel Veltri did not respond to CBC Hamilton's questions, and does not appear to have a campaign website.

School board trustees

Public school candidates:

• Behrouz Bakhtiari
• Becky Buck
• Ahona Mehdi
• Ben O'Reilly

Catholic school candidates:

• Francesco Capisciolto
• Wieslawa Chrapka
• John Valvasori

For more of CBC Hamilton's election coverage:

• 'Change-focused voters' drive the conversation in Hamilton election sure to see massive turnover

• How to vote in Hamilton's 2022 municipal election

• Advance voter turnout in Hamilton up from 2018 election

• Want to get elected in Hamilton? Study finds campaign success doesn't come cheap