A familiar face is shaking up the race in Ward 11 University-Rosedale with the return of Mike Layton, the former councillor for the area from 2010-2022. He announced his return to municipal politics in a bid to regain his previous seat at City Hall.“I was the previous city councillor and I took a brief leave to take care of some kids,” said Layton.“We’ve got a great opportunity with this city council to build a better city, one with better public services, one that invests in affordability and sustainability and just getting the little things right.”Layton is also the stepson of Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow. He says the doesn’t mean the two always agree or that it should be an issue for constituents.“I’m pretty confident in my approach and how I can work with others on city council, whether or not they’re relatives or not,” he said.When Layton joined the race, incumbent Dianne Saxe made a last minute decision to withdraw her candidacy for Ward 11, moving instead to run in neighbouring Ward 14.The vacancy left by Saxe means the race in University-Rosedale is wide open with nine candidates vying for the seat, including Diana Yoon, a climate and affordability activist.“I was fighting against our former councillor, who has now left to run in a different ward,” said Yoon. “Even though there had been ups and downs, we remain focused on working with the neighbours about educating them. For example, we have a guide to tenant rights.”The ward is bounded by Ossington Avenue on the west, Bayview Avenue and the Don River on the east, the Canadian Pacific Railway and Yonge Street on the north, and Dundas Street on the south, and it includes some of the city’s most vibrant neighbourhoods – The Annex, Little Italy, Chinatown and Kensington Market – and some of the most affluent, including Yorkville and Rosedale.While it may be one of the wealthiest wards in the city, it also faces transit, infrastructure and housing challenges.“We can’t just clear encampments, that’s not solving the problem,” explained Yoon. “People need permanent pathways to be helped and be housed.”Protected bike lanes in the ward are also a hot topic for residents following the provincial governments legislation for removal or reconfiguration. Layton has played a key role in the past in advocating for bike lanes in the city.“That’s a really important thing, the overreach of the province and the waste of money that’s coming along with it,” he said.Along with housing affordability, high density development is also a critical issue in a ward that showcases some of the oldest, most architecturally significant and expensive housing in Canada and a need for vertical development – two sometimes opposing priorities that the new councillor will have to balance.“We have to make sure that we are not just swaying to the whims of corporate developers, and there is a lot of development happening in this area,” said Yoon.Election day is October 26.