Toni Smith, a democrat, was first elected to York City Council in November 1995 and was officially sworn in as a member of Council in January 1996.  Since that time, Toni has been re-elected for three consecutive terms and serves as the Chair of the Public Works Committee of Council. 

Toni grew up in Italy and graduated from Dorotee Nun's School In Rome.  Later, after Toni came to America, she enrolled in Empire Beauty School and received her teacher-manager certificates and is now the owner and operator of Antonietta Beauty Salon.  Toni lives at 825 Chanceford Avenue in the City of York, and is happily married to her long-time husband Ed Smith and has six children - Sandra, Mark, Steve, Mike, Tracy, and Todd, and is a proud grandmother. 

Problem Solver
Toni has worked to demolish rundown rental units in a drug-infested section of East Maple Street.  She has also raised $5,600 in private contributions to build a chain-link fence along Poorhouse Run where a 7-year-old boy drowned and was directly involved in drafting local legislation to combat prostitution.  Additionally, Toni was instrumental in raising $2,000 to benefit Community Progress Council programs by preparing and hosting banquets serving her locally renowned spaghetti dinners. Toni's famous spaghetti dinners were also provided free-of-charge to residents that attended a community meeting to encourage their participation in the City's Communities That Care process.
 

Toni has collaborated with city businesses to help in may ways - such as securing contributions of computers, funds for playground equipment, video surveillance cameras, and assistance for residents with special needs.  She worked to get push-button alarm systems for clients of ACCESS-York (an organization assisting victims of domestic violence) so they could activate an alarm to alert police if they are threatened.

Toni strongly supports community policing and donates her time in various ways.  For example, Toni has organized two gun buy back initiatives that resulted in the elimination of more than 800 guns from homes where they had the potential to cause harm to children.
 

Coalition Building
Toni strongly believes in York's diversity and brining neighborhoods together.  She enjoys rolling up her sleeves and working positively with the people.  Toni has raised money to renovate the Lincoln Park bandstand, budgeted money and raised private donations for the Martin Luther King Park and basketball court, and raised $3,000 for the Food Bank (a task force geared to eliminate hunger in York County by distributing millions of pounds of food annually to more than 300 York County food pantries and distributing agencies).
 

Advocating for the People
Toni understands people must feel safe in the city.  In keeping with that understanding, she was involved in saving the jobs of several policemen and firemen, and helped to keep a fire station from closing.  Toni is an advocate of regionalization and has actively lobbied the state legislature to approve true property tax reform.