Municipal Politics

[MalcolmTucker]

Can't cut down trees on private property without a permit, have to replace apartment units when there is redevelopment, a fair amount of borough committee and sometimes city committee time is taken up with rejecting applications for driveway relocations or expansions (their secondary suites I guess). They still also ban stores besides convenience stores and small drug stores from being open on holidays.

I could go on if I had more time. Plus been a few years since I dealt with that stuff every day.

[simster3]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on...ng-home-business-owners/article20795900/

This is something I always thought needed to be rectified. Our property taxes are too low for the services and infrastructure that we are expecting from our city. I am also shocked at how low Van's property taxes are.

[Full Mountain]

Originally Posted by simster3

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on...ng-home-business-owners/article20795900/

This is something I always thought needed to be rectified. Our property taxes are too low for the services and infrastructure that we are expecting from our city. I am also shocked at how low Van's property taxes are.

Property taxes are one of the worst ways to collect taxes, I would rather see VAT's and income taxes replace, property tax.

I'd also like to see a move to a single income tax that would support all three levels of government, rather than having each level administer the taxes separately.

[DizzyEdge]

isn't the 'per $1000' a terrible way to compare taxes though? If a street has million dollar houses on it, or $10k houses in it, the cost of paving it won't have nearly that much difference. Average taxes paid compared would make more sense.

[Spring2008]

Only mayor in Canada that made the cut. I think he deserves to win. Only recommendation is to work with DBA to continue to streamline the permit process. With our cyclical growth patterns, supply really shouldn't be lagging large demand pressure spikes any longer than it needs to.

Calgary's Nenshi makes short list for World Mayor Prize

Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi celebrates his re-election as mayor at his campaign party in Calgary, Monday, Oct. 21, 2013. (Jeff McIntosh / THE CANADIAN PRESS)


Jordan Chittley, CTVNews.ca Writer
@jchittley

Published Saturday, November 1, 2014 7:26PM EDT
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21

Calgary’s Naheed Nenshi is among 26 finalists vying for the title of world’s best mayor after being shortlisted for the award.
The 2014 World Mayor Prize is awarded by the City Mayors Foundation. Its board of fellows will soon begin to read voter submissions, deliberate and ultimately decide if Nenshi will be the first Canadian to receive the distinction.
On Friday, a second round of voting by citizens ended along with the chance to submit supporting statements.
Nenshi, who was elected to a second term of office in 2013, is up against 25 other finalists from around the world, including the mayors of Sacramento, U.S.A., Haifa, Israel, Izmir, Turkey and Mangaung, South Africa.
The winner will be announced in January.
The award is given out every two years "to a mayor who has made outstanding contributions to his/her community and has developed a vision for urban living and working that is relevant to towns and cities across the world," according to the World Mayor website.
Anyone was eligible to vote for the shortlisted candidates. Votes must be accompanied by a "thoughtful supporting statement.” Approximately 80 Calgarians and others from around the world submitted comments for Nenshi.
"Mayor Nenshi is incredibly gracious and will take the time to speak with anyone that approaches him,” wrote Andrea from Calgary. “He represents the idea of government by the people and for the people.”
"He has a vision but more-so, the ability to implement the vision into reality … He's a people's person – he understands the ordinary person and their lives, their hopes, their grievances, their aspiration, their worries," wrote Asin from Dubai.
Frank from Calgary wrote a critical comment, urging the jury not to select Nenshi because "he has failed to take any initiative on the problem of affordable housing."
Past winners have included the mayor of Bilbao, Spain in 2012 and the mayor of Mexico City in 2010. Since the award began in 2004, no Canadian has won, but outgoing Mississauga mayor Hazel McCallion was runner up in 2005.

http://www.ctvnews.ca/mobile/canada/calg...ort-list-for-world-mayor-prize-1.2082915

[UofC.engineer]

Pretty Funny Article from Metro:

http://metronews.ca/voices/urban-compass...-sean-chu-method-to-the-rest-of-calgary/

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by UofC.engineer

Pretty Funny Article from Metro:

http://metronews.ca/voices/urban-compass...-sean-chu-method-to-the-rest-of-calgary/

LOL.

I got an automated call from him yesterday, wish us ward 4er's happy holidays or something. The thing is, I'm in Ward 7. Cities are tough!

[simster3]

http://news.nationalpost.com/2015/01/28/...yle-making-work-at-city-hall-impossible/

Interesting how they only interview the new comers.

[ByeByeBaby]

Originally Posted by simster3

http://news.nationalpost.com/2015/01/28/...yle-making-work-at-city-hall-impossible/

Interesting how they only interview the new comers.

"Mayor doesn't suffer fools gladly", complain local fools.

[Bigtime]

I know we are just a "bit" of a Nenshi echo chamber in here, but that was kind of funny they only went to Sutherland and Chu.

I know quite a few people will be actively working to get Chu out of office come the next election.

[monocle]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

I know we are just a "bit" of a Nenshi echo chamber in here, but that was kind of funny they only went to Sutherland and Chu.

I know quite a few people will be actively working to get Chu out of office come the next election.

I would volunteer to any campaign that works actively to rid council of the Wenzel Weasels (TM). Did anything come of Wenzel's threatened lawsuit?

[MasterG]

It's too bad that articles like this never can go into enough depth to reveal what's actually going on here. This article makes it seem like Chu is a rational human being. All it does is provide a one-way sound-bite for people not paying attention.

I haven't paid attention to politics until the last couple years; but Chu might be one of the most misleading and confusing speakers that I have ever heard. Even when he has ideas that are reasonable, the way he explains them comes across as a crazy-person rant and usually result in him breaking a bunch of process rules during council meetings.

Although I do like his ability to relate most things back to bicycles being the source of all that is evil in the world. That is kind of funny:

I remember this from breakdown from twitter, reposted from CP:



And who could forget this classic from Twitter:

"So quiet frm global warming alarmists about the ice stuck ship&yyc weather,it's deafening. Is it b/c the weather's been so freaking cold?" - @seanchucalgary

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/dailybre...ests-cold-winter-evidence-161321140.html

I suppose Nenshi could do a better job herding these cats, regardless of how insane they are. Although I find it difficult to think of someone that could do it better than he is in such a divided environment.

[artvandelay]

I like Nenshi but his downfall is that he lapses into these moments of childish behaviour from time to time. This is expected by guys like Chu or Carra, but Nenshi is a smart fellow and his actions should be held to a higher standard.

What's the point of accusing council members of being "blotto" if he's unwilling to back up these accusations? and is this the 1920s prohibition era? having a drink at lunch or during a function is pretty standard procedure.

[You Need A Thneed]

Honestly, I have no idea way councillors are all up in arms about the Mayor not apologizing. Nensi said he's recieved complaints. Him not going into more specifics makes it seem like he thinks the complaints are a bit overboard, and aren't worth following up on.

Faux Outrage, IMO.

[DoubleK]

Originally Posted by You Need A Thneed

Faux Outrage, IMO.

Faux or not, Nenshi's lack of empathy is unbecoming.

Say sorry with whatever qualifiers and move on.

[Full Mountain]

Originally Posted by artvandelay

I like Nenshi but his downfall is that he lapses into these moments of childish behaviour from time to time. This is expected by guys like Chu or Carra, but Nenshi is a smart fellow and his actions should be held to a higher standard.

What's the point of accusing council members of being "blotto" if he's unwilling to back up these accusations? and is this the 1920s prohibition era? having a drink at lunch of during a function is pretty standard procedure.

The fact that some of the councillors can't see that a zero alcohol policy is the right way to go is the most shocking thing. The vast majority (99%+) of corporations in town require their employees to sign a D&A policy stating that they won't arrive to work inebriated or drink on the job. Why is it that the councillors think that they shouldn't have similar rules? Hell they make the city employees sign one, why not lead by example?And yes they are still on duty during that after work community event or late night council meeting, if they don't like it quit.

The fact is if he had backed up the complaints he would have opened himself up to lawsuits not to mention risked his reliability as someone that a citizen of Calgary can come to and bring these complaints to without risking being outed.

[artvandelay]

Originally Posted by You Need A Thneed

Him not going into more specifics makes it seem like he thinks the complaints are a bit overboard, and aren't worth following up on.

So why mention these complaints in the first place if he thinks they are overblown? It's schoolyard behaviour and it's disappointing to see the mayor partaking in this nonsense.

Originally Posted by Full Mountain

The fact that some of the councillors can't see that a zero alcohol policy is the right way to go is the most shocking thing. The vast majority (99%+) of corporations in town require their employees to sign a D&A policy stating that they won't arrive to work inebriated or drink on the job. Why is it that the councillors think that they shouldn't have similar rules? Hell they make the city employees sign one, why not lead by example?And yes they are still on duty during that after work community event or late night council meeting, if they don't like it quit.

Obviously if they're showing of hammered to official business it's a problem, but a zero-alcohol policy for white collar work is certainly not the norm in the corporate world - this isn't Utah.

[Ferreth]

Originally Posted by artvandelay

So why mention these complaints in the first place if he thinks they are overblown? It's schoolyard behaviour and it's disappointing to see the mayor partaking in this nonsense.



Obviously if they're showing of hammered to official business it's a problem, but a zero-alcohol policy for white collar work is certainly not the norm in the corporate world - this isn't Utah.

"The norm" is a moving target - out my last 4 jobs, 3 of them have a no alcohol during business hours policy - this extends to lunches - pretty much if you have a beer at lunch, you'd better not be coming back to work in the afternoon.

Personally, I don't give a rat's 🞵🞵🞵 if they have wine for dinner at City hall. Just stick to the cheap stuff, and don't get drunk.

[suburbia]

Originally Posted by DoubleK

Faux or not, Nenshi's lack of empathy is unbecoming.

Say sorry with whatever qualifiers and move on.

Empathy for what are you exactly looking for?

[Calgarian]

That article looks like a bit of a shot at Nenshi more than any sort of actual journalism. Gotta love the comments too, he's raising taxes! apparently people still think services should be free.