Rivals square off again in Ward 35 race

It’s déjà vu in Ward 35 as two familiar faces meet again to battle for the coveted council position.

Michelle Berardinetti is running against Adrian Heaps in the Oct. 25 after losing to him by just 89 votes in the last election.

Moreover, she successfully sued Heaps in 2006 after he circulated election literature deriding her character.

One big issue the two old foes are clashing over this time around is bike lanes — car lanes were reduced to create bike lanes along busy Birchmount Road and Pharmacy Avenue.

Heaps, chair of the Toronto Cycling Advisory Committee, defends the move.

He told the audience at the West Scarborough Community Centre Ward 35 debate on Sept. 29 the bike lanes have made drivers slow down.

Berardinetti says they have to go, citing conversations she’s had with people who said they moved off Pharmacy Avenue because it was hard to get into their driveways.

Both agree, however, it will cost more money to remove the bike lanes.

The candidates also promise to expand and modernize transit in the community, attract investment for job creation and conduct a line-by-line review of the city budget to find wasteful spending.

At the debate, Berardinetti told the crowd Toronto has a spending problem, a declaration that raised loud cheers.

Heaps said he will continue to look for ways to increase revenue for the city.

Perhaps the biggest difference between candidates is their stance on taxes. Heaps has made no indication taxes are a platform issue. Berardinetti has.

“I’m more for constraint for taxes,” Berardinetti said. “We’re a very high-in-needs and low-income area.

“We really need to be careful how many taxes we’re implementing.”