1. What do you feel is the #1 accessibility issue facing the city of London?
The biggest issue is whether people can actually use public space — especially the sidewalk.
I feel it at the Horton and Wellington gateway into the core — shop door, bus stop, the blocks around Centre of Hope at 281 Wellington — where a lot of people walk, roll, or wait for the bus into downtown. Every winter: windrows that bury curb cuts for days while the City’s own target is clear within 48 hours, not bare pavement. Bus stops get cleared after sidewalks — that gap is exactly where someone with a mobility device gets stranded. Every construction season: missing curb ramps, uneven slabs, A-frames that pinch the clear width, jobs with no safe detour. Downtown basics fail people too. If you cannot find a public washroom and cannot get past a windrow, the path failed you twice.
That is someone in a chair or with low vision who cannot reach the stop on a Tuesday. Helping people in crisis and keeping a sidewalk people can actually use belong together. I do not want another accessibility plan that looks fine on paper while the curb cut is still buried. Clear, continuous sidewalks are a core service. I will tell Ward 13 every month, in plain language: what moved, what stalled, what it cost, and whether it worked.
2. How will you commit to improving accessible housing opportunities in our city?
Housing only counts if someone can actually live in it. Step-free entries. Bathrooms that work with a mobility device. Doors and corridors people can get through. An approval on paper does not put someone in an accessible unit.
Where the City funds, incentives, or approves housing, accessible and visitable units have to be a real requirement — not a token line. I will ask staff in public, every year: how many accessible units landed, who got them, and whether renovations quietly erased stock we already had. Protect what exists. A press release does not replace a finished home people can use.
One councillor does not pour every foundation. I can insist on honest numbers, vote for standards that stick, and report monthly to Ward 13 what moved, what stalled, and what it cost. Saying something again is not the same as delivering it.
3. How will you work to improve accessible transportation including conventional transit, Paratransit, taxis and ride sharing?
People need to get somewhere on time. Medical appointment. Shift. Groceries. Without gambling on a no-show.
Conventional LTC: reliable service, working stop announcements, clear boarding space. Winter clearing so a stop is not an island behind a snowbank. Paratransit: shorter wait windows, fewer late pickups and no-shows, and public reporting Ward 13 can see without a FOI — LTC’s own 2025 specialized-transit report logged 737 complaints (up from 289 in 2024), including late trips and no-shows. Success is whether someone made the medical appointment, not another study that changes nothing on Tuesday. Taxis and rideshare: accessible vehicles actually on the road, not just licences on paper.
Success is whether someone made the appointment. I will say plainly what City Hall and LTC control and what needs the province or partners — and still push both. Ward 13 gets the scorecard in the monthly report.
Thank you again for including Ward 13 candidates. I would be glad to keep talking with your members after the website launch.
Candidate did not respond to our questions.
Thank you for reaching out and for giving candidates an opportunity to engage with London’s disability community.
1. What do you feel is the #1 accessibility issue facing the City of London?
For me, the biggest issue is making sure accessibility exists in the real world, not only on paper.
One place I see this clearly is during road and sidewalk construction. As an able-bodied person, I can usually walk around an obstruction, cross a rough surface or take another route. Someone using a wheelchair, walker or mobility aid may simply lose access.
London is rebuilding a great deal of infrastructure. We need to think about how people continue navigating the city safely during construction, not only whether the finished project eventually meets an accessibility standard.
More broadly, I want us measuring accessibility by a simple question: Can the person who needs this service, building, sidewalk or public space actually use it?
2. How will you commit to improving accessible housing opportunities in our city?
My professional background is in real estate, and I have personally dealt with the cost and complexity of accessibility retrofits in commercial property.
That experience reinforced something simple: it is much easier and less expensive to plan for accessibility from the beginning than to retrofit it later.
I support increasing London’s housing supply, including supportive and affordable housing, while encouraging accessible and adaptable design as part of new development.
I also want the City to examine whether its own approvals, incentives and rules make it unnecessarily difficult or expensive to create accessible homes.
Housing should not simply increase our unit count. It should create homes in which Londoners can actually live and flourish throughout different stages of life.
3. How will you work to improve accessible transportation including conventional transit, Paratransit, taxis and ride sharing?
I think accessible transportation has to be viewed as an entire journey rather than one vehicle.
A kneeling accessible bus is valuable, but it does not solve the problem if someone cannot safely reach the stop. The same applies to Paratransit, taxis and ridesharing.
I would want to hear directly from the people using these services about where the journey actually breaks down: reliability, wait times, booking, sidewalks, snow clearing, construction detours, curb access, transfers or something else.
Then we should measure those problems and report whether they are improving.
My commitment as a councillor is consistent across issues: listen before choosing, understand the real experience behind the reports, measure the results honestly and change course when reality demands it.
Thank you again for inviting me into the conversation. I look forward to hearing directly from members of the Accessible London Coalition throughout the campaign.
Candidate did not respond to our questions.
- What do you feel is the #1 accessibility issue facing the city of London?
It is really difficult to target just one issue when we have many accessibility issues facing the city. Accessibility needs vary across individuals and communities. As a whole, our city needs to build and retain more accessible, supportive and deeply affordable housing that provides safety and human dignity. Social services, institutions, families and individuals are strained with supporting people living with a disability into adequate and accessible housing. The first issue I would raise is the level of ODSP support available to individuals, which does not come close to meeting the cost of housing and basic necessities today. This requires action from the Province, but the City can and should continue advocating for ODSP rates that better reflect the actual cost of living and allow people with disabilities to live with greater stability, independence and dignity. There is also a need to improve paratransit and public transportation which includes, but is not limited to, improving accessibility at transit stops and on sidewalks. For individuals living without a home, we need to start integrating more humane and accessible options within our city, such as having more accessible public public washrooms across the city and accessible indoor alternatives to the street, with opportunities for rest, connection, and direct support to housing solutions. We also need to advocate for more employment options for people living with a disability and ensure these spaces are safe and accessible for meaningful participation, that includes options within city hall and for businesses within London. We also need our public and event spaces to be more accessible, for example, including accessibility zones at large events. At council, we need to uphold the City of London’s obligations under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) and support the continued identification of accessibility barriers across City services, new development, infrastructure, public spaces and communications. Lastly, Council needs to help share and support stronger accessibility initiatives and awareness strategies by working collectively with accessibility coalitions and advocates to shape public discourse and advocate for the promotion of stronger accessible pathways for all. If re-elected, I will continue to show up, listen and provide this level of advocacy and support.
- How will you commit to improving accessible housing opportunities in our city?
Housing cannot just be four walls, it needs to be safe, accessible, adequate, affordable and provide a sense of dignity for the home owner or tenant. Providing more adequate housing that is accessible within our city needs to include support from our Provincial and Federal governments, we as a city cannot do this alone. I promise to continue to advocate with these orders of government. I understand that our institutions: mental health systems, hospitals, youth and adult detention centres, and so on have an overrepresentation of people living with disabilities, and these institutions are not the right place for them. Unfortunately, within Ontario there is not enough accessible and supportive housing, creating back log within these institutions and extremely long waitlists for individuals requiring this type of housing. Families are also enduring similar costs, advocating for a loved one to be accepted into appropriate housing while the caregiver burden takes a toll on them. Our elderly population is the fastest growing group facing housing insecurity and homelessness, and with that comes the need to expand our accessibility needs in all spaces, housing, infrastructure, transit and more. Social service agencies are being impacted by the pressures of these intersecting and complex bottleneck factors. I understand the complexity of our system, how it connects or is disconnected, and I am always willing to listen and learn more. I will fight to address these complex issues forcing people to live within inadequate environments and without the necessary services to live and carry on life with human dignity.
- How will you work to improve accessible transportation including conventional transit, Paratransit, taxis and ride sharing?
I will continue to work to make transportation in our city more accessible, reliable, safe and affordable across conventional transit, Paratransit, taxis and ride-sharing services. This includes advocating for accessible vehicles and infrastructure, improving the reliability and usability of Paratransit, and ensuring accessibility is considered in transit planning and service decisions from the outset. I have already begun this work during my time on the LTC Commission, where I successfully moved a motion and advocated for additional specialized transit service hours to be included as a growth option in the 2024–2027 Multi-Year Budget process. This helped move expanded specialized transit service into the formal budget process, with additional service hours ultimately approved by Council through the Multi-Year Budget. I will also continue to convene with transportation providers and people with lived experience of disability to identify gaps and remove barriers, recognizing that accessible transportation is essential to all walks of life: employment, healthcare, education, community participation and belonging and independence. Moreover, there needs to be accountability and follow up. Once decisions and plans are executed, we on Council need to ensure that our accessibility commitments translate into meaningful improvements in people’s everyday lives and that gaps or unintended barriers are addressed in a timely manner.
Candidate did not respond to our questions.
Candidate did not respond to our questions.
