Re-election FAQ

Anyone who’s worked in government can tell you getting projects from start to finish is often longer than expected.

I had the privilege of being a City staffer prior to being a councillor in 2022. This institutional knowledge was helpful in hitting the ground running on day 1 as councillor – something I’m proud of.

At the same time, being a councillor means more than focusing strictly on the ward I represent; it’s looking at the ward in relation to the broader city – what’s best for both Ward 4 and Hamilton.

For that reason, the very nature of effective city-building takes time. As a councillor that has meant: navigating boundaries, time pressures and resource constraints between 15 wards, while consistently advocating for Ward 4 projects to take priority. It is also important to work in step with Ward 4 residents, and to that end I am frequently out and about in the community. In 2025 alone, I held 131 meetings with community members and local businesses and attended 137 events on top of council meetings. I regularly attend Neighbourhood Association meetings to hear from residents directly .  I want to ensure people and partners feel heard and have a chance to share their concerns and dialogue with me and with city staff.

We’ve seen results in the past four years. In Ward 4, roads are repaved, over 300 affordable units are built and progress on the LRT line is underway. We’re addressing air pollution challenges, mitigating LRT construction challenges for small businesses and partnering to revitalize Kenilworth Street.

That’s why I’m asking for the privilege to serve you again – to finish what we’ve started. With your vote, I will serve Ward 4 communities to get priority projects finished.

My key priorities are:

• Affordability: Finding more revenue generation opportunities to bring down property taxes and reduce the burden on residents
• Small business support: Helping local businesses navigate barriers around LRT construction
• Kenilworth revitalization: Attract new businesses to the commercial corridor while also giving a boost to existing businesses
• Black soot and air pollution: Escalate black soot issue and kept manufacturing industry accountable 

I invite you to read more about my priorities for the next four years and how I plan to see them through.

Whether it’s a one-off phone inquiry or a multi-layered initiative, our Ward 4 office approach has always been this: listen, gather information, consult, connect, liaise, solicit feedback and inform.

I’m proud of our team’s work during my first term on council:

• Urged staff to complete multiple traffic studies in an effort to slow down traffic on residential roads
• Advocated the CN rail to fix rail crossings that posed danger to drivers
• Helped deliver 300+ units of housing in the ward – and we’re supporting another 400 units planned for the next term
• Advocated on behalf of small businesses to help them navigate LRT construction
• Enabled active transportation and more bike lanes to allow for safer rides for cyclists, slower traffic patterns and therefore less wear on roads, ensuring infrastructure dollars were spent wisely

Find out more about the achievements under my first term on council.

Residents shared feedback that awareness of new information and engagement are important to them. This is an ongoing area of focus for me, as I know each resident may choose to engage differently and information may not come to them immediately.

The Ward 4 office adopts a mix of digital and in-person means of keeping residents informed and engaged. They include: daily social media posts, monthly e-newsletters and four quarterly town halls along with ad-hoc town halls based on emerging issues. My team and I also attend community and neighbourhood meetings, participate in community liaison committees and mail out a Ward 4 annual report twice a year. We also do 1:1 meetings with residents as requested. The Ward 4 office receives 60 unique service requests through email each business day and those service request typically require, on average 8 back and forth email correspondences with staff in order to find the answer. We also receive about 5 calls to our office line per day resulting in approximately a 30 minute conversation on each call to understand and remedy the issue for residents. We try to have a 2 business day turnaround to acknowledge your email or phone call but will also let you know if your service request will take longer. In addition to being available via email and phone, we are at City Hall most days of the week in case we have residents who want to walk in and have a conversation with myself or my team.

I’m open to hearing how we can do better in engaging and informing residents, including trying out new approaches.

We have non-profit housing developers like Indwell, Kiwanis Homes, YWCA, and Ontario Aboriginal Housing Services among others that are working diligently to deliver various types of housing.

As an elected official, I help by removing barriers to their work, ensuring city processes are streamlined so that there’s less confusion. Examples include minimizing wait times for building permits and zoning permissions and removing development hurdles.

I’m also working with advocacy groups like Hamilton is Home Coalition, Canadian Housing Evidence Collaborative, and others to ensure that Hamilton gets its fair share of provincial and federal funds to unlock more housing.

When reviewing the parking lot conversion opportunity, I had several considerations: 

• Current parking lot usage
• Revenue generated from the lots 

Analysis from staff showed that the parking lots in discussion weren’t heavily used; outside of peak periods, they stayed empty most of the time. Additionally, parking lots in general do not generate strong revenue for the city. Low-use lots are actually a drain on city coffers.

That’s why I supported the decision to convert the parking lots, to create more affordable housing for families and people who need it. Plans moving forward can include parking to still support the community and local small businesses nearby. 

Residents, especially parents, have shared that traffic calming is a top safety concern.

Our Ward 4 office is taking a staged and thoughtful approach with the city’s Road Safety team to leverage city data and determine options to slow down traffic. Speed bumps are only one option. Others include reducing speed limits, visually narrowing the road with bollards or knock down pylons, changing the road surface to other materials, and the physical design of roadways. 

I’ve also partnered with the Daily School Route, a non-profit group that works with schools, parents and organizations to find safe ways for students to travel to and from school safely using active transportation or other means. This work begins early 2027 and will roll out to every elementary school within the ward.

Residents notice when we cut service and claw back on programs, whether it’s grass cutting, road repairs or water maintenance.

At the same time, council in previous terms had historically deferred maintenance and infrastructure maintenance to later years. 

This term, alongside my Council colleagues, I worked with staff to seek out funds from the provincial and federal governments and to attract commercial and industrial businesses to offset taxes. Finding alternate revenue streams – ones that are not reliant on property taxes – has always been my priority and it will continue to be my focus if re-elected for a second term.

Our Ward 4 office has worked closely with the Parks, Recreation and Tourism teams to find ways to invest in key park infrastructure and green spaces – from basketball courts to water fountains to public art and to pollinator gardens.

We’ve also worked with the Horticulture and Forestry teams to add more trees to Kenilworth Street, as they have cooling benefits and can filter air pollution. This term we have also participated and invested in additional tree plantings in some of our lesser used parkettes and supported local elementary schools when they wanted to plant more trees in their outdoor spaces.

My office has invested funds to upgrade recreation facilities in the ward, including $500K into Kings Forest Golf Club to enhance safety.

Early in my term, I recognized we needed to help identify gaps in regulation and enforcement – particularly those that fall outside of municipality’s control and that Hamilton and Ward 4 can get adequate support to enforce city rules.

A new bylaw team has identified many areas that fall under provincial jurisdiction, including noise pollution, truck idling, air pollution and recycling collection. So the province has begun to put more resources into these areas. When recycling collection shifted to the province, the province failed to service small businesses and other organizations like churches and daycare centres. For this reason, I’ve continued working with my council colleagues and various organizations to advocate to the province to broaden the scope of their recycling pickup.

As for bylaw enforcement, the ward 4 office connects regularly with the Municipal Law Enforcement team. We work through complaints from residents and work to keep interested parties informed as we close out cases.

I understand the concerns and challenges in running a business in Hamilton and the ward. 

My family ran a convenience store in Ward 4 for 16 years. Following in my family’s footsteps, I’ve gone on to create other small businesses including CoMotion Group, CoBuild Hamilton, and Strive Consulting. I also worked with technology startup companies and small businesses during my time at both Innovation Factory and the City of Hamilton.

In addition to being responsive to small businesses’ requests, I connect them with the right city staff to navigate city procedures and regulations. In anticipation of LRT construction, I plan to ask the city’s Economic Development team to provide programs and service ideas that support small businesses during this tumultuous time. 

My vision is to create destination commercial corridors for Kenilworth and Parkdale Avenues, drawing inspiration from our neighbouring Ottawa Street, which attracts residents from across Hamilton to shop, dine and explore. 

Kenilworth and Parkdale Avenues have their own opportunities. Vibrant commercial corridors attract people from surrounding neighbourhoods, where residents can enjoy amenities and shop at local businesses just outside their doorstep.

The city offers incentives to business owners to further invest in the ward including beautifying the outside facade, renovating the interior for commercial activities, or preserving heritage elements to add interest to the commercial corridor. While businesses from other streets like James St. North and Locke St. South have leveraged those incentives, we have not seen a similar uptake in Kenilworth and Parkdale Avenues.

The Economic Development team has recently updated the Community Improvement Plan Area, which aims to enhance Hamilton’s various downtowns and commercial corridors. I’ve also asked staff to report back with a strategy to revitalize Kenilworth Avenue. Over time, the street will see positive changes, including growth in residential units and new investments. My office has actively pushed for needed upgrades to the Pipeline Trail, so that Ward 4 residents have beautiful, safe walking paths and cycling infrastructure. 

A data centre is a specialized facility that houses computer servers and supporting equipment used to store, process and manage digital information for businesses, governments and online services. They vary greatly in purpose, size, and energy use. 

Some are privately owned and for-profit, while others are not-for-profit and run by universities, hospitals, and government agencies. 

Their governance is an emerging policy area, with most jurisdiction falling under the provincial and federal governments. 

Data centres are supportive infrastructure for the modern economy and society. I support the presence of smaller (under 50 megawatt) data centres in Hamilton that provide a public good, such as healthcare or research infrastructure. Limits should be placed on data centre size as well as energy and water use, and in July I supported a successful motion to direct city staff to report back with more specifics as to how data centres fit within the City of Hamilton’s Official Plan. 

At that same meeting, I voted down a proposal to implement a one-year moratorium on data centres in Hamilton, noting:  

• the City’s limited jurisdiction in this area, rendering the moratorium powerless, 
• the public good provided by the two potential research-focused data centres, and 
• the potential tax revenues from new data centres which would help mitigate existing residential property taxes. 

City staff have been tasked with delivering a report in 2027 that could inform Hamilton’s future land-use framework for data centres, with an interim report expected this fall. 

I have also worked on a public statement alongside Councillors Cassar and Councillor M. Wilson to explain in more detail our decision making process. You can find the full statement here: https://bit.ly/TH-ICBL