Downtown Ward 13 -Toronto Centre is one of seven wards with no incumbents running, after longtime councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam resigned in the spring.
The ward contains areas such as Regent Park, St. James Town, Cabbagetown, Church and Wellesley, Ryerson University, The Toronto Eaton Centre and part of the city's financial district (the east side of Bay Street).
Wong-Tam left municipal politics in April to run as an NDP candidate in June’s provincial election, and subsequently won the seat for Toronto Centre.
Wong-Tam’s former chief of staff Robin Buxton Potts was subsequently appointed interim city councillor for the ward on June 1.
Buxton Potts, however, is running for councillor of Ward 11-University-Rosedale in the municipal election, leaving the race for Ward 13 wide open for a newcomer to fill.
According to councillor candidate Chris Moise, Wong-Tam has endorsed him for the seat.
The Ward 10 TDSB Trustee and small business owner pledges to create more safe, walkable and bikeable neighbourhoods by implementing traffic calming measures and improving construction management planning processes and enforcement.
Council candidate and human rights advocate Nicki Ward also has accessibility as a top priority in her platform and says one short-term solution would be to assign local traffic police to improve the flow of people in the neighbourhood.
There are six other candidates running in Ward 13, including Miguel Avila, Colin Johnson, Dan Cortez Manalo, Cleveland Marshall, Caroline Murphy and Dev Ramsumair.
Manalo, Marshall and Ramsumair did not have a public website or platform available.
Toronto Centre at a glance:
Population: 103,805
Average number of people per household: 1.70
Median age: 35.3
Population growth over the last decade: 19.3 per cent (Toronto-wide average is 9.1 per cent)
Visible minorities: 50 per cent of population (Toronto-wide average is 51 per cent).
Average household income: $75,382 (Toronto-wide average is $102,721)
