The stairs in the park issue is an indication of how bad the local councillor is for that ward. Great councillors push the city to get work done and take citizen suggestions into account. Generally speaking, the suburban councillors are conservative and tend to worry about taxation and cuts rather than try to get any investment into their wards beyond subways or road repairs. Parks, community centres and libraries are considered socialist entities. Other councillors are more effective at leveraging developments to get stuff built into their communities. A good example is John Filion. He represents Willowdale/NYCC and he has a super populated ward and yet lots of new parks, community centres and daycares are being built with Section 37 funds. In addition he is pushing for the Yonge street streetscspe improvement in the area. One may not agree with his politics but he is a strong councillor for his area and does a lot for the community.