Susan Gapka launched her bid for a seat at municipal council on April 22. Armed with her pink Blackberry (Gapka is an avid Twitterer) and sporting a “Save Transit City” button, she chatted with supporters at Gladaman’s Den before giving a short speech.
Gapka, a trans woman who also ran for city council in 2006, is looking to snag the Ward 27 seat vacated by Kyle Rae, who has announced that he will not be on the ballot this fall. The race is a wide-open field; other contenders include Kristyn Wong-Tam, Enza Anderson, Rob Salerno, Ken Chan and Chris Tindal.
Gapka spoke about addressing homelessness and the problems of Toronto’s ailing public housing. She also said she would like to see term limits for councillors, a thinly veiled comment on Rae’s 19-year stint in office.
“Have we been satisfied with the last four years? The last 20 years in this area?” she asked.
She also highlighted the raid on CALM, a medical marijuana centre that operated for close to 15 years.
“Our police resources should be doing other things than arresting marijuana users,” she said.
Off the top, she took a moment to praise Gladaman’s Den.
“I think this is a really important reflection of what we want to see in the neighbourhood,” she said. “This is a local, street-level, independently owned pub.”
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