By David RosAnthony Perruzza will take on five challengers in seeking a third term as city councillor for Ward 8. Perruzza who was first elected to city council in 2006 and defeated Peter Li Preti in a tight race in 2010, said that he is focused on providing more opportunities for young people in the ward.“We need to engage young people in productive activity, in mentorship programs, in job opportunities, and recreational activities, essentially getting them off the street, getting them active, getting them involved, and giving them the kind of skills that will get them to move on into a productive adulthood,” he said. “Really, it's providing a sense of hope to them.”Anthony Vescio, who is running for council against Perruzza said there needs to be better jobs in the area. “I believe that [the area] has been deprived in the last term of council, I believe that it's been deprived because there's no jobs for the young people in the area,” Vescio said. Vescio also cited the often poor maintenance of rental properties in the ward as an area of concern. “I've been having a lot of issues in terms of the housing here [often] the housing is not maintained and the tenants are not in a good set of mind,” Vescio said. “That's the response I'm getting at the door.”Princess Boucher, a mother of 7, who is running for city council also cites housing issues as one of the biggest issues in Ward 8. “I am connected to the issues of the people who live here on a daily basis because I am the one who lives in the Ontario housing, I am the one that goes to the food bank, I am the welfare recipient and I am also a single mother,” Boucher said. If elected, Boucher said she would like to provide safe, affordable housing for low income families and would like to increase the presence of security cameras at housing projects.Perruzza said that tenant issues were one of his top priorities when he was elected to city council in 2006 and continue to be a major priority, adding that he was instrumental in pushing forward the city's Multi Residential Apartment Building (MRAB) program. As part of the program, the city sends out auditors to rental properties in order to make sure that landlords keep the properties at the standards dictated by city by-laws. “I pushed early on when I first got elected because I wanted to implement a landlord licensing scheme to clean up the housing in the area,” Perruzza said. “Thousands of buildings across the city have been audited since that program started and housing has improved a little bit because of that.”Perruzza also said that he played a key role in passing the Yonge-University-Spadina subway extension, that will bring four new subway stops to Ward 8, adding that he felt this was one of his proudest achievements on city council. If re-elected, Perruzza also promises to expand property tax cancellations and water rebates programs for seniors. “Their pensions are simply staying flat while the cost of everything else around them are going up,” Perruzza said. “Things like energy costs, things like splitting costs, things like food costs and with their pensions essentially flatlined, it's becoming more and more difficult for seniors to hang on.”Also running for city councillor in Ward 8 are Thomas Barclay, Arthur Smitherman and Suzanne Narain. Barclay is a political science student from the University of Toronto grew up in the Jane-Finch area, Smitherman ran for city council in Ward 8 in 2010 and came in fourth with 268 votes and Narain, a substitute teacher and current Ph.D student at the University of Toronto grew up in the area and has been active in several community groups including Jane and Finch Action Against Poverty.