{"id":36048,"date":"2025-03-27T16:57:47","date_gmt":"2025-03-27T20:57:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=36048"},"modified":"2025-03-27T16:57:49","modified_gmt":"2025-03-27T20:57:49","slug":"supporters-of-shelter-veto-say-mayors-voice-is-theirs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/supporters-of-shelter-veto-say-mayors-voice-is-theirs\/","title":{"rendered":"Supporters of shelter veto say Mayor\u2019s voice is theirs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Council chambers will filled last week as lawmakers considered a motion brought forward by Councillors Ron Weese, Rachel Gilliland, Wendy Gaertner and John Gallo to overturn a veto levied by Mayor Tom Mrakas on a Council decision which would have invited the Region of York to re-apply for a men\u2019s transitional and emergency housing development in Aurora\u2019s south end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Strong support in maintaining the veto came from dozens of residents, many of whom donned red and white for the occasion, and some wielding election-style signs bearing the motto \u201cOur Mayor, Our Voice\u201d to make their position clear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First to speak was Ward 5 resident Ken Chen who said the ongoing controversy regarding the Region\u2019s proposal has put \u201cAurora under siege.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe shelter proposal at Yonge Street is not just a bad position, but it is a full-blown attack on our community. Let\u2019s be clear: this proposal we\u2019re talking about today is attempting to ask York Region to resubmit a zoning application, for an application that doesn\u2019t comply with Aurora\u2019s planning and has been rejected by York Region during necessary democratic process,\u201d he said. \u201cDespite this veto and clear rejection, certain Councillors continue to push for this flawed project, trying to overturn the veto.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The continued debate on the matter, particularly to overturn the veto, he said, \u201cis a war on the people, a betrayal of our trust.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A similar perspective was offered by Ki Kit Li, who said he represented 3,000 community members as a lead with Aurora United, a group whose name was emblazoned on the signs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said the \u201cOur Mayor is our voice for many reasons\u201d including the veto, which was \u201cupholding the due process and democratic integrity and transparency.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A key issue, he said, was the proposed site on the west side of Yonge Street, just south of Industrial Parkway, is zoned for low density and the \u201cMayor did the right thing to uphold\u201d the Official Plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Council was heading in the wrong direction,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harbinder Thandi, who had previously spoken at the podium against the Region\u2019s proposal, said the Mayor\u2019s veto was upholding the democratic process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDemocracy is a government by people, a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation. That is what Aurorans have come to expect here today \u2013 that is what the Mayor has been trying to give the residents of Aurora. By using the Strong Mayor powers, this isn\u2019t something that we should be proud of; we should actually be sad that he had to use these powers\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cStrong Mayor powers can be used for transit, roads, utilities and servicing in relation to construction and maintaining infrastructure to support housing, including transit, roads, utilities and servicing. These are all of the reasons why our mayor has reiterated, whether it be in person or whether it be through Facebook, whether it be through other means of trying to speak to us Aurorans and let us know what is the reason he had to use the Strong Mayor powers \u2013 not to mention that he is the only member here that serves on the York Housing Board\u2026. Let\u2019s do something right and actually find a proper, suitable location instead of re-hashing and wasting everybody\u2019s time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The democratic process is what brought resident Joe Vesia to the podium as well, stating the motion to overturn the veto was \u201ccausing division\u201d in the community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSometimes in Q2 of 2025, York Region will be presenting Regional Council with the results of a region-wide selection. Let them do their job. Last fall, the proposed location was paid and York Region planted over 300 trees and shrubs. My question to you is, why are we here? Why are these four Councillors asking York Region to spend millions on building a new shelter in Aurora when York Region owns buildings that can and should be repurposed?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cInstead of causing division in the community, you should instead invest your time and energy on making Aurora a better place to live for your taxpaying residents.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Community division was also cited by resident Frank Ni, who has \u201csocial media has turned into a battlefield\u201d and if \u201cwe dare say no\u201d there are accusations of violating human rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSince when did saying no become wrong?\u201d he said. \u201cIt means we care about our Town, our families and our future. It means we want a solution that works for everyone because every single resident matters. I truly understand why some of you support this idea. Homelessness is the root problem and it is harder to see people struggling in the street. They deserve our help, our compassion, and our action but\u2026. Good intentions are not enough. How many times have we seen good intentions backfire finally?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about us saying yes to a better solution, which is why I stand with the Mayor\u2019s veto. Let\u2019s not just do what is easy, let\u2019s do what\u2019s better. Let\u2019s build a united Aurora where every voice and valued, not just because we have to but because we must do the right thing and do it right.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A similar viewpoint was voiced by Shaheen Moledina who said she was at the podium to ask Council \u201cto stop dividing us\u201d and allow the veto to stand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI feel that Council is creating division among the Town of Aurora instead of uniting us with this special meeting. This motion also fosters unrealistic expectations for Aurora regarding the situation and misleads the community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She cited the Mayor using his Strong Mayor powers to \u201cveto this situation because it has gone beyond what we expect as taxpayers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Council chambers will filled last week as lawmakers considered a motion brought forward by Councillors Ron Weese, Rachel Gilliland, Wendy Gaertner and John Gallo to overturn a veto levied by Mayor Tom Mrakas on a Council decision which would have invited the Region of York to re-apply for a men\u2019s transitional and emergency housing development […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-9nq","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-30 04:08:57","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36048","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36048"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36048\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36049,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36048\/revisions\/36049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}