Chiara Padovani was elected councillor for Ward 5 York South-Weston, and her priorities include safer roads, housing and tenant rights, flood protection, youth opportunities and mainstreet revitalization.

Coun. Chiara Padovani won the councillor seat with 39.10% of the vote and will begin her first term on Nov. 15. She previously ran against long-time Ward 5 councillor Frances Nunziata, coming within 94 votes during the 2022 election. In this year’s race, Daniel Di Giorgio was second with 28.63%, and Frances Nunziata was third with 21.70%.

The Green Line reached out to Padovani to learn more about her priorities for the next four years. We were directed to her campaign website for her priorities; her communications lead, Andrew Johnson, said, “As we are in the midst of a transition, we cannot yet provide more details than what is already published on our platform.”

Her team also said, “There are a number of issues and concerns in York South-Weston that she would like to address as soon as possible. Some issues could be addressed relatively quickly with near-term fixes, while others would require longer-term solutions but could potentially be actioned relatively soon.”

We compiled promises and priorities shared during her campaign this election season. Here’s what you can look forward to:

• Safe roads: Padovani performed road safety audits and shared videos during her campaign. For short-term fixes, she suggested adding or modifying road paint, crosswalk push buttons and advanced turn and pedestrian lights. For long-term fixes, she suggested raised crosswalks and intersections, repositioning and improving bus stops and more.

• Better transit: she’ll support the TTC fare freeze, fully fund the RapidTO plan, and especially the Jane Street priority corridor, protect and expand door-to-door Wheeltrans service and more.

• Flooding protection: She has advocated for better flood protections in York South-Weston before her campaign. She wants to update the Ontario Building Code to permit sewage ejection pump use in homes located in the flood plain and expand the city’s Basement Flooding Protection Subsidy Program to include sewage ejection pumps, along with backup generators to keep essential pumps running during heavy-storm power outages, and water alarms to give residents early warning before a flood occurs. She will create a community-based emergency response plan for Rockcliffe-Smythe. Padovani also has long-term goals like peer review of the Black Creek Canal Project and banning new development in the flood plain.

• Housing and tenant rights: As councillor, she says she will introduce an anti-AGI bylaw to prevent landlords from skirting around rent control, enforce penalties for landlords who don’t keep up with basic repairs and maintenance, hire more RentSafe inspectors to make sure building repair and maintenance issues are addressed in a timely manner and more. 
• Padovani also has promises for mainstreet revitalization and opportunities for youth.

Here’s how Padovani responded to election pledges shared by local organizations and advocacy groups:

• She fully signed the Community-led Planning Pledge to fund community-led planning and center community voices. 
• She signed TTC Riders’ pledge to push for more reliable, affordable, accessible, frequent, fast, and safe public transit.
• She fully pledged to all the commitments under Cycle Toronto’s pledge to improve cycling infrastructure in the city.
• She fully supported the demands raised by Toronto ACORN to give RentSafeTO teeth, stand up to Ontario and tackle heat and affordability. You can check the details here.
• She signed the Toronto Environmental Alliance’s pledge to commit to voting for a maximum temperature bylaw, plant trees in hot neighbourhoods, cut single-use trash at big events, pause approvals for big AI data centres and cut emissions.

What priorities would you like The Green Line to track and report on in the coming year? Leave a comment on this page.