Quote:
Originally Posted by thurmas
The neglect from the Katz years is still being felt and the lack of meaningful property tax Increases by Bowman has made the infrastructure deficit in a terrible state. Couple that with his unwillingness to stand up to the police and fps unions that gobble up so much of the cities resources you are left with a winnipeg that is crumbling and in worse shape than I can ever recall in my 38 years.
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Yes, you and Danny D Oh raise good points. I've anecdotally heard that Winnipeg's council has above-average influence and say in capital spending and infrastructure projects relative to other major Canadian cities. I don't know how true that is or how one would measure that, but it does seem to make sense intuitively. Too many plans and proposals made by technical professionals and consultants seem to get modified, overridden, or ignored by councilors who seem to have a lot of sway in capital planning. This leads to less-than-optimal outcomes. A small but good example of this is when the eastern leg of Bishop Grandin was constructed. IIRC the original plans called for Lakewood Blvd. and Island Shore Blvd. to be aligned, connecting Southdale and Island Lakes to Bishop with only one intersection. But apparently the local councilor at the time got involved as residents/developers wanted each subdivision to have its own "convenient" access to the "expressway", and thus the plan was modified to make two intersections which greatly reduce the flow of traffic on this heavily used section of road decades later.
That, combined with the fact that getting things done requires many councilors to be on board who often aren't, and you've got a poorly functioning democratic system that is bogged down in drama and petty interference, leading to little progress on major city-building initiatives.
In my opinion, there are too many visionaries with good ideas running for the single spot of Mayor thinking they can change everything with their one glorified vote on council. Too little attention is paid to councilor seats, who have nearly as much influence on council decisions. You could elect the most progressive and talented Mayor in history, only to have them be effectively useless if they cannot get the majority of often childish and incompetent councilors to agree to their plans.
Good mayors have vision and focus on city-building, but too many councilors don't care about city building and are in it just to appease vocal minority residents who care more about if their local park gets an extra garbage can as opposed to making a functional transit system, reducing homelessness, densifying existing neighborhoods, or other city-building initiatives. You need a progressive mayor and a progressive majority on council and a progressive provincial government to make real change. The moon, planets, and stars have to align in Winnipeg for real, tangible progress to take in a 4 or 8 year period unfortunately.
The fact that some councilors run unopposed in their wards while 10 to 20 people can run for mayor doesn't help and shows that most people who want change want to take the easy route and run for the big chair when most change will start by spending a few years in a small chair.
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