Municipal Politics

[suburbia]

Originally Posted by Corndogger

Way more than the 55 CPS asked for? CPS doesn't need more officers, it needs to be blown up and a new police service started in its place.

I don't mean to be arguing for Bill Smith. Just pointing out that he did indeed wade into this one and has suggested that way more are needed in the CPS.

Personally, I lean towards the side of constraint - so Chabot or Nenshi on this file. Don't think I'd go as far as to your extreme view though.

[Corndogger]

"Andre Chabot says he's getting threats from Bill Smith backers"

Ward 10 councillor and mayoral candidate Andre Chabot said he's been getting threatening calls to his campaign from people identifying themselves as Bill Smith supporters.

Chabot also told Metro News he had a rock thrown through his campaign headquarters early in the race.

He said the calls have demanded he step down or risk splitting the vote with Smith, who has shown a slight lead over incumbent Mayor Naheed Nenshi in some polls.

"(They're saying things like), 'How dare you think that a Frenchman could get elected in this city as mayor?'" said Chabot. "No, I'm running on the principle that I believe that I'm a better candidate."

On Tueday, Rebel Media published an opinion piece that suggested Smith's campaign was in danger from vote splitting by Chabot.

Chabot said previously he had answered online trolls privately, but this time he fired back publicly via Facebook, asking for a one-on-one debate with Smith.

"If you want me to step down – set up a forum and have a one-on-one debate and take the gloves off and hash it out," said Chabot. "You tell me whether you still support Bill."

Full article at: https://www.metronews.ca/news/calgary/20...ing-threats-from-bill-smith-backers.html

[suburbia]

I actually miss Bigtime's great commentary and level-headed thinking on SSP. I just say this a few minutes ago - sharing here because of its direct relevance to the thread, but also for the nostalgia:

• Video Link

[suburbia]

Article on how reducing taxes for businesses will mean a massive jump in the tax burden that will be placed on all residential properties.

Calgary businesses want to pay less property tax: How much will that cost homeowners?
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/calgary-tax-ratio-shift-calculations-1.4328782

If you rent and think this won't impact you, think again, because home owner costs till be be passed on one way or another.

[suburbia]

Originally Posted by Corndogger

"Andre Chabot says he's getting threats from Bill Smith backers"

Looks like he's not a happy camper with how he is being treated. I'm up for one more debate - would love to see this happen!

https://www.facebook.com/Chabot4Calgary/posts/1474162852661107

[Corndogger]

Originally Posted by suburbia

Looks like he's not a happy camper with how he is being treated. I'm up for one more debate - would love to see this happen!

https://www.facebook.com/Chabot4Calgary/posts/1474162852661107

I'd like to see a lot more debates between the top three contenders but have each debate focus on a single issue.

[Tropics]

The current polling results are largely not a representation of the public opinion on the arena talks, city spending, or right vs left. Through the last two terms as mayor Nenshi has been unable to maintain his public persona as a cherubic and intelligent man of the people and instead his true persona of a narcissistic, know-it-all dictator has become more apparent. Too many slips on camera where he turned off his fake public persona and let the real Nenshi out, too many civil lawsuits where his true self proved to not be a restrained well spoken and reserved politician but instead a emotional, petulant demagogue who had duped a huge amount of his core support into buying into his fake image.

Almost without fail every group or person who had had to deal with Nenshi off camera and seen the real man behind the mask has come away with a very negative impression the the real man. He does not discuss, he does not listen, he does not compromise or work with people, he dictates. His stubborn refusal to work with people has alienated the City of Calgary government from the business community of Calgary. Yes the City should challenge the business community for actions the benefit both parties, but it should not ostracize the City completely through a complete lack of ability to have productive and constructive communications that move the city forward. Nenshi's Calgary has done this completely. The man has gotten to the point even his own council cannot stand him. With a mayor like that nothing gets done.

[suburbia]

Originally Posted by Tropics

Almost without fail every group or person who had had to deal with Nenshi off camera and seen the real man behind the mask has come away with a very negative impression the the real man. He does not discuss, he does not listen, he does not compromise or work with people, he dictates. His stubborn refusal to work with people has alienated the City of Calgary government from the business community of Calgary.

Are you talking about Nenshi or Bill Smith?

Originally Posted by Corndogger

"Andre Chabot says he's getting threats from Bill Smith backers"

Ward 10 councillor and mayoral candidate Andre Chabot said he's been getting threatening calls to his campaign from people identifying themselves as Bill Smith supporters.

Chabot also told Metro News he had a rock thrown through his campaign headquarters early in the race.
[]
"(They're saying things like), 'How dare you think that a Frenchman could get elected in this city as mayor?'" said Chabot. "No, I'm running on the principle that I believe that I'm a better candidate."

From Chabot's public post:

https://www.facebook.com/Chabot4Calgary/posts/1474162852661107

This kind of thing can impact grass roots a heck of a lot, unless if Bill Smith can ride a Trump wave.

[Tropics]

Suburbia, you are talking about the words of wingnut supporters of a candidate (every candidate has them, you are evidence of that). I am talking about the actions and words of the candidate himself. Huge difference.

[suburbia]

Originally Posted by Tropics

I am talking about the actions and words of the candidate himself. Huge difference.

Yeah - that's why I was highlighting how Smith is supporting increasing residential tax by 50%.

What were your thoughts on Bigtime's video?

[Corndogger]

Originally Posted by Tropics

The current polling results are largely not a representation of the public opinion on the arena talks, city spending, or right vs left. Through the last two terms as mayor Nenshi has been unable to maintain his public persona as a cherubic and intelligent man of the people and instead his true persona of a narcissistic, know-it-all dictator has become more apparent. Too many slips on camera where he turned off his fake public persona and let the real Nenshi out, too many civil lawsuits where his true self proved to not be a restrained well spoken and reserved politician but instead a emotional, petulant demagogue who had duped a huge amount of his core support into buying into his fake image.

Almost without fail every group or person who had had to deal with Nenshi off camera and seen the real man behind the mask has come away with a very negative impression the the real man. He does not discuss, he does not listen, he does not compromise or work with people, he dictates. His stubborn refusal to work with people has alienated the City of Calgary government from the business community of Calgary. Yes the City should challenge the business community for actions the benefit both parties, but it should not ostracize the City completely through a complete lack of ability to have productive and constructive communications that move the city forward. Nenshi's Calgary has done this completely. The man has gotten to the point even his own council cannot stand him. With a mayor like that nothing gets done.

Great post. I wonder if his inability to remain fake all of the time is a large part of the reason why so many council meetings have been behind closed doors under his two terms? In 2010 he campaigned to do the exact opposite and for many this is one of his greatest failures.

Nenshi does have good ideas but they are all not good and the way he wants to implement them is often not collaborative when it needs to be. Ralph was great at throwing out trial balloons and then backing off when the public reacted negatively to them. Bronco was a master at getting enough of council to side with him so he could forward his agenda and he didn't have to rely on the administration coming up with fake data to sell it. If Bill Smith does win I hope he is the exact opposite of Nenshi in terms of how he deals with the public and council.

[Corndogger]

Originally Posted by suburbia

Yeah - that's why I was highlighting how Smith is supporting increasing residential tax by 50%.

What were your thoughts on Bigtime's video?

When and where did Smith say he supports increasing residential tax by 50%. You're spreading Nenshi camp lies.

[suburbia]

Calgary businesses want to pay less property tax: How much will that cost homeowners?
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/calgary-tax-ratio-shift-calculations-1.4328782

Calgary businesses still do pay the majority of city taxes, but their share has hovered between 55 and 59 per cent for the past decade.

Under the Chamber's plan, that distribution would be effectively flipped, over the next 10 years, if the relative tax bases stay the same.

Asked point blank if he would commit to those targets on those timeframes, mayoral candidate Andre Chabot hedged.
[]
"I did say (in the past) yes, that I would commit to doing it. Truth is, the answer should have been yes, I'm committed to doing my best."

Bill Smith offered a similar sort of answer.

[]"But I'd commit to working with the Chamber to make it happen."

Naheed Nenshi, meanwhile, staked out firmer ground in his opposition to the idea.

"This is one of the few areas on which the Chamber and I disagree, so I'm saying no," he said.

"And, of course, the reduction of that ratio means a massive increase in your residential taxes."

And there's the rub.

Shifting the tax ratio to the Chamber's target level could effectively mean flipping the 60/40 tax burden

So let's be clear. Smith and Chabot have both said they would try to do this - change the tax burden formula from 60% business and 40% residential, to 40% business and 60% residential. All other things the same, increasing the residential tax burden from 40% of the total to 60% of the total amounts to an increase of residential taxes by 50% (adding 20 on 40 is a 50% increase).

Only Nenshi stood firm on not shifting the tax burden to residential tax payers in the city of Calgary.

[McMurph]

Chabot's comment that his opponents are "a man who knows everything and a man who knows nothing" is pretty spot on. Unfortunately it is the only memorable thing he has said. The biggest loss in this 🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵 match between Nenshi and Smith is the belief that city politics should actually be about ideas and vision.

[Corndogger]

"'Has there been a bigger boondoggle?' Bill Smith pledges to re-evaluate Green Line route"

...

“What’s the purpose of the Green Line? To me, I understand there are two purposes: one to serve the north and the other was to serve the south. I don’t think that this solution serves either,” Smith said of Phase 1.

“We have to figure out, if we’re going to go south, let’s freaking go south, let’s get down there, let’s get to the hospital and let’s figure out a way to make it happen. Or, if we’re going to go north, let’s figure out a way to make it go north. But doing the piece in the middle just doesn’t make any sense.”

...

Incumbent mayor Naheed Nenshi, who is seeking re-election, criticized Smith’s plans on Thursday to re-evaluate a project Nenshi said boasts unbelievable amounts of consultation, overwhelming approval by council and high levels of excitement from citizens.

“What a remarkably, extraordinarily uninformed thing to say. Pausing this would mean saying goodbye to $3 billion in funding from the federal and provincial governments,” Nenshi said.

“It is shocking that someone who has never been to a consultation meeting on this, someone who has never been to a city council meeting where we talked about it, who’s never actually raised it at any of the multiple, multiple mayoral forums we’ve had, would suddenly out of the blue say goodbye to $3 billion in funding.”

Jeff Binks, the president of LRT on the Green — a not-for-profit group that championed the line — said pausing the Green Line and pushing it deep into the south or deep into the north would pit one half of the city against the other half.

“That’s a very worrying thing to hear. We’ve had five years of some of the most exhaustive consultations in the city of Calgary’s history,” Binks said.

Nenshi warned that there’s risk in electing someone unfamiliar with city hall’s big files.

“To have someone come in here who has honestly no idea what he’s doing, who has no staff around him or volunteers around him who understand how city hall works at a time when we’re in a fragile economic recovery, at a time when we’re building infrastructure and we’ve managed to get the most funding for infrastructure in history,” Nenshi said.

“This will make the transition in Toronto when Rob Ford came in look like paradise. There’s some real danger here.”

Full article at: http://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news...-pledges-to-re-evaluate-green-line-route

[milomilo]

Originally Posted by Corndogger

"'Has there been a bigger boondoggle?' Bill Smith pledges to re-evaluate Green Line route"

...

“What’s the purpose of the Green Line? To me, I understand there are two purposes: one to serve the north and the other was to serve the south. I don’t think that this solution serves either,” Smith said of Phase 1.

“We have to figure out, if we’re going to go south, let’s freaking go south, let’s get down there, let’s get to the hospital and let’s figure out a way to make it happen. Or, if we’re going to go north, let’s figure out a way to make it go north. But doing the piece in the middle just doesn’t make any sense.”

...

Incumbent mayor Naheed Nenshi, who is seeking re-election, criticized Smith’s plans on Thursday to re-evaluate a project Nenshi said boasts unbelievable amounts of consultation, overwhelming approval by council and high levels of excitement from citizens.

“What a remarkably, extraordinarily uninformed thing to say. Pausing this would mean saying goodbye to $3 billion in funding from the federal and provincial governments,” Nenshi said.

“It is shocking that someone who has never been to a consultation meeting on this, someone who has never been to a city council meeting where we talked about it, who’s never actually raised it at any of the multiple, multiple mayoral forums we’ve had, would suddenly out of the blue say goodbye to $3 billion in funding.”

Jeff Binks, the president of LRT on the Green — a not-for-profit group that championed the line — said pausing the Green Line and pushing it deep into the south or deep into the north would pit one half of the city against the other half.

“That’s a very worrying thing to hear. We’ve had five years of some of the most exhaustive consultations in the city of Calgary’s history,” Binks said.

Nenshi warned that there’s risk in electing someone unfamiliar with city hall’s big files.

“To have someone come in here who has honestly no idea what he’s doing, who has no staff around him or volunteers around him who understand how city hall works at a time when we’re in a fragile economic recovery, at a time when we’re building infrastructure and we’ve managed to get the most funding for infrastructure in history,” Nenshi said.

“This will make the transition in Toronto when Rob Ford came in look like paradise. There’s some real danger here.”

Full article at: http://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news...-pledges-to-re-evaluate-green-line-route

Yeah, that's a great idea, re-start planning on a line which has been (over) studied to death for years and throw away the funding. I'm sure he'll find a cheaper way to build a railway, expert as he is on that.

The guy's an actual 🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵, completely unelectable. A pawn serving his donors.

Here's the thing about Nenshi - sure he can be overstated and I can see why people criticise him for being argumentative, and he'd do himself a favour to tone it down a little sometimes. But when he calls people out for being wrong, or dishonest, or stupid it's because they are wrong, dishonest and stupid. He's always the one with the correct facts while his opponents are there with misinformed opinions and falsehoods.

[Corndogger]

Originally Posted by milomilo

Yeah, that's a great idea, re-start planning on a line which has been (over) studied to death for years and throw away the funding. I'm sure he'll find a cheaper way to build a railway, expert as he is on that.

The guy's an actual 🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵, completely unelectable. A pawn serving his donors.

Here's the thing about Nenshi - sure he can be overstated and I can see why people criticise him for being argumentative, and he'd do himself a favour to tone it down a little sometimes. But when he calls people out for being wrong, or dishonest, or stupid it's because they are wrong, dishonest and stupid. He's always the one with the correct facts while his opponents are there with misinformed opinions and falsehoods.

I think his stance on this is going to cost him a lot of votes. The 🞵🞵🞵🞵 🞵🞵🞵🞵 conservatives will still vote for him but people who are more pragmatic won't. Even though I'm not a huge fan of this project I definitely do not want to repeat the mistakes of the past and build a surface only line that benefits no one in the long run.

What really scares me about this is what else will he want to cancel or scale back? Now his old PC roots are clearly showing and it's obvious he and his team haven't learned a thing about why the PCs were booted out of power. Most people--me included--do not want to go back to the days of doing nothing until a boom comes and then spending a ton of money to get only half of what we could have had if we had built when prices were cheap. 🞵🞵🞵🞵 that 🞵🞵🞵🞵. Any chance he had to get my vote is probably gone now.

[jawagord]

Originally Posted by milomilo

Yeah, that's a great idea, re-start planning on a line which has been (over) studied to death for years and throw away the funding. I'm sure he'll find a cheaper way to build a railway, expert as he is on that.

The guy's an actual 🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵, completely unelectable. A pawn serving his donors.

Here's the thing about Nenshi - sure he can be overstated and I can see why people criticise him for being argumentative, and he'd do himself a favour to tone it down a little sometimes. But when he calls people out for being wrong, or dishonest, or stupid it's because they are wrong, dishonest and stupid. He's always the one with the correct facts while his opponents are there with misinformed opinions and falsehoods.

Smith's comments are almost the same as the ones I posted on the green line route earlier this year, build the line south to the hospital, don't build two truncated lines that go nowhere. Guess I'll have to vote for Smith. Nenshi is lying his 🞵🞵🞵 off if he says the funding would go away, that's wrong, dishonest, stupid, smells of desperation?

[bt04ku]

Originally Posted by jawagord

Smith's comments are almost the same as the ones I posted on the green line route earlier this year, build the line south to the hospital, don't build two truncated lines that go nowhere. Guess I'll have to vote for Smith. Nenshi is lying his 🞵🞵🞵 off if he says the funding would go away, that's wrong, dishonest, stupid, smells of desperation?

So dig half a tunnel, or stop the train short of downtown?


Both options seem pretty dumb.

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by suburbia

I actually miss Bigtime's great commentary and level-headed thinking on SSP. I just say this a few minutes ago - sharing here because of its direct relevance to the thread, but also for the nostalgia:

• Video Link

‘Atta boy Bigtime!!!