“Hi Tiffany!” says one of the boys in a gaggle of kids on the playground as Tiffany Ford approaches in a pale pink blazer.This community, known as Firgrove, just southwest of the Jane St. and Finch Ave. intersection, is where Ford, 36, grew up.Ford — proudly raised by a single mother in public housing whom she credits with working hard to take her, often by bus, to programs and experiences outside of the neighbourhood — became the first tenant representative for her Toronto Community Housing development at age 18, became the Toronto District School Board trustee for the area in 2014, and is now running for council.With ward boundaries shifting amid election uncertainty, recent comments by incumbent candidate Giorgio Mammoliti, a longtime politician who has represented the area for decades, have polarized residents who live in Firgrove and in the wider Jane-Finch community. Ford says those comments validate the idea that new leadership is needed. Both Ford and Mammoliti are registered to run in a revised 25-ward electionMammoliti has been accused of dehumanizing residents in a video on the ultra-conservative website Rebel Media posted Aug. 10, in which he calls some living in social housing in Jane-Finch “cockroaches.”“One per cent of their population are a big problem to not only the residents in (Toronto Community Housing) but the much larger communities, he said, referring to those he says are criminals. “I see it like spraying down a building full of cockroaches. The cockroaches are just going to scatter. So start evicting them. They’re just going to scatter.”He continued: “I think we need to knock the buildings down completely” and build a mix of new housing. A second video of Mammoliti visiting Firgrove and reiterating his “cockroaches” comments was posted on the site Aug. 16.Mammoliti stands by the comments. “I’m not going to play these little political games wi ...
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