Quote:
Originally Posted by outoftheice
..... The main thrust of the report is to advocate for a plebiscite in Calgary using the following question:
Do you support the creation of a temporary surcharge on fuel and transit fares that will be used exclusively to fund the immediate construction of the North Central LRT to North Pointe and the SE LRT to Seton?
Ask the people... see if they're willing to embrace the concept. Have a city-wide debate where all the pros and cons are discussed and give people the time to make an educated decision and then vote on it. It would be nice if someone on council would be brave enough to champion new taxes but we all know that isn't going to happen. Championing a plebiscite though is an issue that is a bit more politically acceptable. The worst that can happen is that we are still stuck where we are today and we sacrifice either the north end of the city or the south east end to pay for a marginal improvement to what currently exists. The best case is that the city can move ahead with construction decades ahead of the timeline that is currently planned and the entire city can enjoy a massive upgrade in infrastructure.
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Any city wide plebiscite on NC-SELRT is doomed to fail if it includes tax increase provision.
NW, NE, SW, South Central, and East areas of the city will all vote 66-75% no to your question. The problem with a plebiscite is that there is absolutely no benefit to the vast majority of residents in the above areas.
North Central and deep SE areas of the city will likely only support the question by a margin of 5-10% over the negatives so support in the range of 55%, maybe 60% tops. Never enough support to get over the negatives from other city areas.
For an example of the effects of plebiscite WRT transit and traffic (which inherently only benefit a small fraction of the city), research the Keillor Road debate in the 1995 Edmonton municipal election.
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