Toronto Votes 2026: Beaches-East York council candidate Karsten Riedel answers our question

(EDITOR’S NOTE: Beaches–East York voters will cast their ballots on Monday, Oct. 26, in Toronto’s municipal election. Along with voting for mayor and school trustee, local voters will be looking to elect a new councillor for Ward 19 Beaches-East York.
There are 13 candidates running for the council seat in Beaches-East York. The seat is open as incumbent councillor Brad Bradford is now running for mayor in this municipal election. For this Question and Answer feature below, Beach Metro Community News reached out to the candidates who we could find contact information for and asked them to send their answers in by a set deadline. We are only printing the answers of the 11 candidates who responded by the deadline. Please note the candidates’ answers to the first two questions in this feature are also appearing in the Sept. 22 print edition of Beach Metro Community News.)

QUESTION 1: Tell us a bit about yourself and why your are running for city councillor in Ward 19 Beaches-East York?

Over the past 40 years, I have raised my family in Ward 19 as a single dad after my wife passed from cancer.

I have watched our great community with its beautiful waterfront, parks, ravines and neighbourhoods deteriorate over the years even while taxes relentlessly increased. We now face ridiculous affordability issues and congestion, poor, often unsafe and dirty TTC, greater safety fears, poor development and infrastructure planning, and threats to our beautiful waterfront, parks and ravines, not to mention basic services like potholes, snow removal and swimming pools.

I started work at age 11 delivering the Toronto Star. Since then I worked my way through U of T, earning a B.Comm, and Osgoode with an L.L.B.

I owned and operated a retail shop on Queen for seven years, and in addition a small construction company. I have built houses and midrise buildings in the ward.

I’ve spent a lifetime solving problems, meeting payrolls, dealing with trades, contractors, customers, employees and, of course, City Hall.
I have the academic and real world experience to actually get things done. I know what it means to take on a problem. I know how to find solutions in the real world. I know it takes will, energy and cooperation.

I want to make sure we don’t lose what makes our ward special. With my skill set and experience, I can get it done.

QUESTION 2: What changes, if any, would you advocate for at city hall to balance the need for more housing while preserving neighbourhood character?

Any new development must be focused neigbourhood by neigbourhood in our very diverse ward — often site by site.

Zoning plans are very important for the planned, proper development of any city. But deviating from those plans on an almost daily basis is not acceptable.

An 11-storey building may be accept-able at a major intersection above a subway, but that does not make it acceptable on a sensitive ravine. Or just on a street front previously approved for six storeys in compliance with the existing in-place zoning.

The City must encourage greater community involvement in these decisions and then stand firm once the proper decision is made.

Where a cluster of highrises is proposed or built, planning must insist that proper infrastructure services be provided prior to construction. Not after.

Affordable housing must be constructed by private industry standards and practices. I would push hard for changes in municipal law to ensure these objectives are met.

It can all be done.

QUESTION 3: As city councillor, what specific actions would take during your term to make Beaches-East York affordable for all residents?

Property tax increases without any improvement in services must stop. Unjustified increases in property taxes affect affordability for all of us. From the homeowner left with less disposable income to a tenant receiving a rent increase due to increased property taxes to our already struggling small businesses in our neighbourhoods who have to pass on those in increases in taxes to the community.

Development charges have increased exponentially in the past decade. These charges must be reduced dramatically to increase housing affordability, especially when the city does not use those development charges for their intended purpose.

Our young are particularly hard hit. In addition to a difficult job market, Toronto has become completely unaffordable for them and they are leaving our neighbourhoods, our city, by the tens of thousands. One study has shown 37,000 (net migration) of 24 to 34 year olds having left the city in a three-year period between 2022 and 2025. Let’s give them a little help to stay in our neighbourhoods.

I will push for free TTC and Bikeshare for all 25 years old and under to help relieve some pressure. We need to stop adding costs without looking at the people who actually have to pay them.

Let’s get it done!

QUESTION 4: As city councillor for Beaches-East York, how would you ensure infrastructure near Main and Danforth/Dawes can support the area’s major residential growth while minimizing pressure on transit and community services?

I have personally experienced the city collecting development levies and not applying them to infrastructure.

For example, I was required on a building to have separate storm water and sewage water systems throughout the building to the street. I would then be required to pay to have them joined outside of the building and connected to one big pipe under the street. Either the city must be forced to do it, or the developer must do it. Otherwise, no approvals for further development.

Until this crucial issue is resolved, one just can’t put everything into one big pipe and flood lower Beach neighbourhoods or just pour it into the lake. That’s what the city currently does and it is simply unacceptable. Of course, the principle applies to Main and Danforth/Dawes.

As well, the city must determine what additional TTC capacity and community services will be required to support the new residents. That means planning for transit, roads, parks, recreation and other community services before the buildings are occupied, not trying to catch up afterward.

Development charges should be used for the infrastructure and services required by that growth. The city must insist on the necessary infrastructure and services before development is approved.

It requires strong, experienced leadership and the resolve to stand firm. Let’s get it done.

Beaches-East York council candidates’ open house slated for Monday, Oct. 5

A public meet-and-greet with candidates running for council in the Ward 19 Beaches–East York municipal election will take place on Monday, Oct. 5, at Beach United Church.

The Beaches–East York Municipal Candidate Meet and Greet is being co-hosted by Beach Metro Community News and the Balmy Beach Resident’s Association. It will run from 6:30 to 9 p.m. at the church, 140 Wineva Ave., in the fully accessible Main Hall.

There are 13 candidates seeking the Ward 19 city council seat in the Oct. 26 municipal election. 

Eleven candidates have confirmed they will participate in the Oct. 5 event: Syeda Janna Ali, James Dann, Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, Natalie Johnson, Kevin Morrison, Karsten Riedel, Adam Smith, Austin Vieira, Jeff Wahl, Devin Wilkins and Jennie Worden.

The event will be a meet-and-greet, with candidates at individual tables, allowing residents to circulate and speak with them directly.