Quote:
Originally Posted by esquire
^ I echo cyro's thanks. But to get down to the bottom line, though...
Obviously no mayor can eliminate suburbs. Not all 750,000 of us are going to live in downtown highrises, simple as that. But an urbanist mayor can ease off costly automobile reliance and make us less beholden to an unending need for more new or repaired roads by investing in transit. An urbanist mayor can help make the difference between a Whyte Ridge-style subdivision and things a little more like Garrison Woods in suburban Calgary, with some degree of density and walkability:
Bowman is a step in that direction, but he is not someone I'd consider a leader in that regard.
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And these are beautiful examples of relatively high density in comparison with the rest of the city. And we should be building stuff like this all day. But there are a few funny things about these developments in our city. The first is that they're already happening, they're just happening in all of the suburbs everybody hates so much. Secondly, developers love this stuff precisely
because of its density! Rowhousing and mixed-use development isn't just more sustainable for the city, it's a much better value for the land developer given that your denominator is growing. And lastly, this city is rife with fifty and sixty foot lots and there is almost no end to those who would be satisfied to split those lots and build two houses, each with a secondary suite. Or perhaps have each rezoned to R2 and have two legitimate suites on each. That's precisely what the city needs and calls for in its plans. But the biggest hurdle to this isn't councilors beholden to developers; it's councilors beholden to citizens who are abjectly averse to these sorts of proposals.
So you're right in that the mayor needs to set the tone. But we have to be realistic - the mayor isn't fielding calls from upset constituents all day long about the construction noise of the house being built next door in a mature area. And the mayor's job isn't going to hang in the balance if enough people get upset about 'over-development' which is hilariously what the citizens of River Heights think has happened because of some infill on old rail tracks. And they don't sit on the various community committees which is where most of this densified development goes to die. Sure, the mayor could get involved at the council level, but that almost never happens because this is politics - you don't go looking for enemies where you may yet have none.
I like Bowman as a choice; I really do. But I'll agree that he's no panacea. I just don't blame him for it, I blame the fact that we live in a democracy.