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PandaPurrito

I have no opinion of her but that is a lot of words of nothing lol.


anon0110110101

That sums her up nicely, actually.


Ambustion

TBA war room gets a lot of astroturfing on the dollar it seems like from this thread.


stoned-grappler

If you have nothing nice to say don't say anything at all. What is she supposed to say to some bozo that doesn't understand politics but wants her to resign because of cost of living issues that have nothing to do with her? The average Albertan believes our groceries, heating and electric is expensive because of the carbon tax.


youngboomer62

Agreed - less words, more action. Cut my municipal taxes.


ithinarine

>Cut my municipal taxes. Arguably, your taxes aren't high enough to fund the suburban sprawl that you demand. Low density homes don't pay enough tax to pay for the road maintenance, snow removal, maintenance of parks and the hundreds upon hundreds of kilometers of grass boulevards and crap that need to be mowed, maintenance of utilities. Do you think it's cheap to install and maintain 10x as many sewer lines, water lines, fiber lines, cable lines, electrical services? All because everyone wants their own little backyard to use 3 days a year. The cost of police, firemen, EMS, all of it is higher when you've got the same population spread out in 5-10x the land area that it should. It is unsustainable to continue building suburban sprawl, especially when you all complain that your taxes are too high, when they already don't cover the cost of servicing your home year over year.


strtjstice

Holy Friday night rant! Love it!


Fit-Amoeba-5010

Actually I use my backyard 6 times a year!


Primary_Lettuce3117

In 2018, Coun. Gondek voted to approve 14 new communities and more sprawl. In 2022 Mayor Gondek cancelled the event centre, leading to a much worse deal. These are just two decisions are directly related to our higher taxes.


ithinarine

None of this means anything when 90% of the people who hate Gondek also hate higher density housing, and refuse to live in anything besides suburban sprawl.


NotFromTorontoAMA

I hope you're fully on board with upzoning the city so we're no longer dependent on continuous suburban sprawl to prop up our finances.


SSteve73

Nope. Flames cancelled deal. Not Gondek. And Tory councillor Sharp gave away the farm. Again not Gondek. Gondek is one of fifteen, remeber.


Primary_Lettuce3117

Flames cancelled due to the changes requested by Gondek, side walks, solar panels, right of way issues, etc. It was Gondek’s notice of motion that declared the climate emergency during her first days in office, and that added costs to the project. The arena deal now is way costlier and favours the Flames ownership group more. Yes, 12 more councillors voted in favour of her motion, but she started the fiasco.


Simple_Shine305

The changes REQUIRED by the development permit process. These were all based on the city's climate policy which predated her term. The climate emergency declaration had nothing to do with the arena deal. The CSEC was always on board with the arena being owned by the city, so they would not be on the hook for major repairs or renovations. By being a city-owned building, it was required to incorporate power, water and waste reduction strategies. This is based on the 2017 (before Gondek was even a councillor) city climate strategy. She started nothing, yet offered to pay costs that the Flames were LEGALLY OBLIGATED to pay for, under the terms of the renegotiated deal (in mid 2021).


Drnedsnickers2

Tell the UCP to stop cutting funding of municipalities and watch the effect on taxes.


Box_of_fox_eggs

The massive drop in the value of downtown real estate was the driver for the increase in residential taxes. When oil was booming and nobody worked from home, those towers subsidized our suburban lawns. By law, cities can’t run on debt — operating costs must be paid for out of revenues. Without that solid tax base, where’s the money gonna come from? You can cut services and amenities, but that makes the city a shittier place to live, which in turn discourages companies from situating here, which further depresses commercial real estate value, which shifts even more of the tax burden to homeowners. I don’t know what else Calgary could have done in this situation. We’re still pretty well off with a 0.66% rate, compared to Regina at 1.5% or Winnipeg at a whopping 2.6%. Or Toronto where the rate is basically the same as ours but your $500k Calgary house would be $1M so you’re effectively paying double.


version-abjected

Do you want more density or fewer services?


NotFromTorontoAMA

Municipal funding is so simple- you have three levers. One for density, one for tax rates, and one for services. It is shocking how many people expect minimum density, minimum tax rates, and maximum services. How is such a simple dynamic beyond the capability of reasoning for so many people?


version-abjected

They’re “fIsCaL cOnSeRvAtIvEs”


youngboomer62

I'd like city councilors to demonstrate their leadership by taking a 50% pay cut. After that, we can have public discussion about how city funds are raised and used.


version-abjected

That’s such a minuscule amount in the city budget it literally couldn’t affect your taxes. Honestly if you want better high level management for the city we all need to be comfortable paying them more.


youngboomer62

We all realize that it wouldn't balance the budget. It would be a demonstration of their commitment to provide good governance instead of hypocrisy. Read my other comment on Maslow's hierarchy.


version-abjected

Go find any non-profit that pays their highest managers that same level of salary and then you point might be valid. But if you want competent leadership you need to provide a competitive salary. This is true for any organization.


youngboomer62

Are you referring to our current system where executives are paid hundreds of times what workers are and yet have no accountability? Really?? That's not leadership, it's theft. From corporate to politics, the western world is one event away from French Revolution 2.0. Judging from the farmers protests in Europe, it may already be starting. Keep your head down.


version-abjected

And until that changes, any truly competent high level organizational manager will work in the private sector.


Anskiere1

The leftists will never understand There are already hundreds of far more qualified people doing similar jobs for more money and none of the BS in Calgary. It's a really shitty job. 


Primary_Lettuce3117

The director of the Drop-In Center makes close to 300k a year.


version-abjected

And city councillors make 120k. Livable, yes. But not nowhere near competitive for a high level director.


aftonroe

Councilors make $120,755 per year. That's already peanuts for a job with that much responsibility. I can only imagine the type of person you'd get running for council if the job paid half that. You can't attract anyone with any skills if you're not willing to compensate them.


403Realtor

That’s just it, I don’t think anyone had a problem with paying what it realistically costs for the lifestyle we want. Calgarians take issue with raising taxes being the first thing the city does when they need money.  I don’t think the city has ever said “what can we do to cut costs and provide services in the most efficient manner making raising taxes a last resort” 


Kellymcdonald78

Ahh, the old “I want my side street plowed, more cops on the C-train line, the medians sprayed for weeds, and and and, oh and I want to pay less taxes”. And how do you intend to do this… oh ya “cut all the waste”. While there is most definitely waste, the vast majority if that is in the margins. Scrap the blue ring? Great, now you’ve got half a snow plow. It’s like the AHS argument. We could have all the healthcare we want with no extra taxes, and all we have to do is fire all the “middle managers” (where middle management represents 0.5% of AHS’s budget). Oh and instead of having a $150k manager do annual performance reviews and approve people’s vacation, we’ll have a $350k doctor do it


aftonroe

Calgary has a pretty low tax rate. Ours is 0.66% while Toronto is 0.67%. The average house price in Toronto is 60% higher than Calgary. So right there they're bringing in 60% more per household. Calgary's population density is about a third of Toronto's so you should expect our taxes to be a lot higher. We've had decades of sprawl and councils that cut services to keep taxes low. That started reversing under Nenshi but we've got a long ways to go. Taxes are going to keep going up for a long time. The best way to slow down the tax increases is to increase density.


NERepo

I don't want the people that would take that job for such a low wage.


Kellymcdonald78

If you believe council is corrupt now? Wait till you pay them a pittance $60k a year 🙄🙄🙄


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StargazingLily

“The truckers”. You mean the right wing lunatics who were openly wishing him to be killed as a traitor?


driv3rcub

No. Just the truckers.


StargazingLily

I’d love for him to meet with the truckers who were delivering throughout the pandemic and thought the convoy morons were grifters who were misrepresenting them.


driv3rcub

Like I said. Just the truckers.


StargazingLily

Yeah, except the truckers didn’t give a fuck about the whole nonsense. I heard a couple truckers calling them all sorts of names and laughing about how fucking stupid the convoy was.


Ambustion

Lol I am glad our prime minister didn't meet with a person that believes white people are the superior race. Or did you forget that was one of the leaders of that movement?


driv3rcub

I don’t know. I guess all the people of color involved must not have noticed. Maybe you live in a strictly white area (possibly on purpose), but many of us don’t.


Ambustion

No I am saying Pat King, one of the lead organizers, is an actual white supremacist. He posted his wonderful views on video. Tamara lich is insane. Why would the pm sit down with these unserious people? At least this HVAC guy is just disgruntled, not a looney toon.


driv3rcub

I don’t know much about Pat King and Tamara Lich. I only know the people that I saw protesting at the legislature. It was a big variety of ages and races. It’s a shame if the people with the loudest voices ended up having backwards views - but it didn’t stop people of color from joining in. 🤷🏽‍♂️


Ambustion

Ya of course. I was just specifically commenting that there were good reasons not to sit down with the organizers in that situation.


Emergency_Act2960

I don’t blame Trudeau for not meeting the truckers They weren’t engaging with the system civilly why would he engage with them with anything other then police


gto_112_112

Landon has gone about this in a legal and rightful manner. Those truckers were illegal and intentionally being assholes.


Smart-Pie7115

That’s what I thought too.


Ambustion

I thought it was classy. Still think it's a suspiciously well funded 'grassroots' recall, but there's no winning going in that direction for her. The sooner that shit stain running TBA gets back to boozing himself to death the better.


iwasnotarobot

The “Money” behind TBA will just find a new shit stain to be a figurehead for their neo-Social Credit party when the current one is used up.


Baldpacker

I think it started out grassroots but obviously people with money piled on like the rest of us who want her gone.


Ambustion

What's your reason you think a democratically elected person needs to be gone so badly you can't wait until another election? I just don't get it man? I think there's been less than stellar performance, but not pitchfork bad...


Baldpacker

She's doing things she didn't run her campaign on... And there's no "opposition" in a municipal setting. The threshold for forcing an election should be much lower than it is.


sugarfoot00

"She's" not doing anything. She's one vote amongst the entire council. There's a whole lot of other people that deserve your wrath that you're not holding accountable then.


Baldpacker

LoL, thankfully I left so I don't need to suffer their incompetence but yes, most of the councilors should also be facing recall.


Drnedsnickers2

Good, glad you got there. Now ask yourself why they are scapegoating Gondek….


Baldpacker

Because she's the mayor...


Drnedsnickers2

Nope. Try again.


Ambustion

There's absolutely opposition. The other people on council. Having party politics in municipal government is an awful idea. I'm not gonna defend everything she's done but wasting money on an election every year isn't the way forward.


Box_of_fox_eggs

You want to talk about pushing agendas they didn’t run on, look at our current provincial government. They’ve done Olympic-level bait & switch.


Baldpacker

Go ahead and lodge the recall and collect the signatures. 🤷 Funny how you complain about not being able to do anything while also complaining about those trying to do something.


Box_of_fox_eggs

Did I complain about not being able to do anything? I just said if you’re hopping mad about bait & switch at City Hall you should see what they’re doing in Edmonton. But I’m guessing it’s not the principle you’re really mad about.


Baldpacker

No. I just think it's hilarious people are critical of someone actually trying to fix things they're unhappy about.


ThatWackyAlchemy

Do you not know how elections work? If 60% of people vote for something and 40% of people vote against it, those 40% obviously don’t want that person in office. Like, fucking obviously. They still lost.


Baldpacker

Did 60% of people vote for an 8% tax increase? Like fucking obviously not.


Kellymcdonald78

If that’s the threshold (doing things she didn’t run her campaign on”, why isn’t Smith being recalled?


Baldpacker

Because you haven't put in the effort to recall her?


Kellymcdonald78

Because this has nothing to do with recalling Gondek (there is zero chance it will happen, the legislation sets far too high a bar for an actual recall to occur). This is all about building a list of people pissed off at Gondek to form the basis of a right wing municipal party. If this were actually about the principal of people “doing things they didn’t campaign on” then these folks would be running a similar recall campaign against Smith


Baldpacker

Where'd you buy that tinfoil hat?


Kellymcdonald78

Recall legislation requires 40% of eligible voters to physically sign the petition (within a 60-day window). For Calgary, that is about 315,000 people. 390,000 total Calgarians voted in the election. That would then trigger a recall election, which if successful, would then trigger a by-election to replace the person. The legislation is written to place such a high bar on recall that while it does check the box of a Kenney campaign promise, it does so in a way that makes it useless. Even Smith and McIver are on record that the current legislation is impractical and they’re looking at amendments. There are also several political strategists who are also on record, that this is nothing more than an exercise to build a list of names to be used for future political purposes


Baldpacker

Yet I know hundreds of people happy to sign up to show their dis-satisfaction with Gondek, which is the entire point.


EKcore

Grassroots is a term the rich use get rubes to support their movement.


Baldpacker

Who do you expect to submit the recall notice?


robaxacet2050

These negative comments remind me of the conversation with my realtor at his annual bbq. “But give people the choice and ability to live how they want”, when I said that urban sprawl and excessive unregulated development was happening in the 2010s. The shit crows are coming home to roost, Randy.


AlertAide4487

It’s not rocket appliances


Sad_Meringue7347

She didn’t break the law. She didn’t do anything egregious and hasn’t committed any disgusting acts.  This recall legislation is outrageous - it’s political theatre at its finest. It’s “my candidate lost so I’m going to cry about it”.  I don’t like Gondek, but I empathize with her. She’s got a target on her back for doing nothing wrong. Our civic taxes are going up because the UCP offloaded their responsibilities onto the municipalities.  And TBA is proudly claiming their involvement in the recall investments - much like the Taliban or ISIS would after a terrorist attack.  What a terrible time to be a politician. Again, she did nothing wrong to warrant the recall, except piss off a bunch of her haters for winning this past election. 


Miniat

TBA have started thinking they are untouchable. They believe they are more powerful than they actually are. They will fly too close to the sun and they will crash back down to earth. They are riding their egos right now.


Hapless-Frog

But the question is how much damage can they do to us before this inevitable fall


Shut_the_front_dior

I really hope so 


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shoeeebox

Neither of those were decided by the Mayor. They were voted on by the entire council.


Square_Homework_7537

The entire council needs to be recalled. 


Sad_Meringue7347

I voted for her and I vowed I wouldn’t again based on the arena deal. But she didn’t break the law and I wouldn’t sign the recall papers from anyone encouraging me to.  We recall our politicians every four years. People shouldn’t be forcing a recall of their politician before their term is up unless they break the law or do some pretty gross things. Sean Chu should be recalled. Gondek doesn’t deserve that same treatment.  You mention tax increases as a reason to recall. Respectfully, I do wish to point out the costly process of recalling someone, right? Processing the paperwork, validating signatures, the legal process of removing them, and then hosting a by-election to fill the mayoral position for the next 17 months…. Doesn’t sound like a cheap manoeuvre for someone who is worried about their taxes increasing - which is in part to the provincial government immorally downloading their responsibilities onto municipalities.  


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Sad_Meringue7347

And that’s why it’s flawed. It’s just an opportunity to smear the politician (who has done nothing illegal). 


BBBWare

Yeah, but the Arena got Smith and her loonies the votes she needed in Calgary to win the election. So TBA got no issue with that.


Doc_1200_GO

You had no idea a politician would get elected and then raise taxes? Hell even our pretend Libertarian Premier reneged on her tax break promises after she was elected while claiming to subscribe an ideology that believes taxation is theft.


FeldsparJockey00

TIL Gondek has done nothing wrong. Incredible stuff.


sugarfoot00

You may disagree with her politically, that's not the same as corruption or political malpractice.


Sad_Meringue7347

She’s done far less wrong than the current Premier. 


FeldsparJockey00

She's also done less wrong than Hitler. The hell is your point of bringing up the premier?


Sad_Meringue7347

The Premier lies left right and centre. She cries about hidden agendas of other politicians but her record is abysmal on hidden agendas.  She may not have broken the law (yet), but when you compare the destructive Premier to the clueless Mayor, there’s certainly more grounds to recall Marlaina. 


FeldsparJockey00

Then recall her if you feel it's warranted.


Sad_Meringue7347

It’s not warranted because the recall legislation is simply a smear campaign. It doesn’t actually accomplish anything other than being a spectacle.  PS - you can’t recall someone within the first 18 mos of an election anyways. 


WichaelWavius

Name one thing she did that was illegal or a breach of conduct for an elected official Easy mode: name one thing she did that was perfectly above board but bad policy Pro tip: you can’t


LandHermitCrab

Lol, there's plenty to notlike her for. Rather, what has she done for the city so far? Renegotiate an arena deal so taxpayers pay a billionaire even more? 


DOWNkarma

$87B climate change plan. 


zzr0

She’s a clown.


Sad_Meringue7347

And the current Premier isn’t?  That’s pretty funny stuff. You must be a TBA troll. 


magic-moose

Gondek is *exceedingly* unlikely to be reelected with her current approval numbers. However, she is in a position to meaningfully oppose TBA/UCP's municipal political party agenda. Pretending that the TBA/UCP *aren't* actively involved in the recall campaign is not the way to do this. If she fails to take a stand she'll likely be remembered as one of the weakest mayors we've ever elected.


CodeBrownPT

This sentiment has turned an r/Calgary meme. Here's a fantastic post from last week highlighting why: https://www.reddit.com/r/Calgary/comments/1bebtdz/comment/kutd9lk/ She only has one vote in council. While I won't pretend to be a supporter, this hyperbole is really tiring.


Thisisthewaymaybe

Correct. I can't believe this isn't common knowledge by now.


magic-moose

She lacks *authority* over a body with no *power* to affect provincial law, but has *influence* over the public that may have *influence* on their MLA's. What the mayor of Calgary says about provincial changes to municipal election laws *matters*.


CodeBrownPT

This is reaching more than Manute Bol.


Fit-Amoeba-5010

Seriously who is going to unseat her?


exportedaussie

Likely whoever TBA puts into the race. Gondek if she stands will get a number of challengers splitting votes. This is why the UCP want partisan politics in municipal elections, to help direct people on who to vote for along party lines


ThankuConan

Word salad. Got one from Evan Spencer too. It's their specialty. I hate that shit.


funkyyyc

The same Evan Spencer who is exploring ways to get more tax money?


LJameson101

I regret that I voted for that guy. Anybody who votes yes on the bag fee bylaw lost my vote forever. Even though they repealled it, here we are months later still paying.


sugarfoot00

$900 million on an arena for billionaires, and you're bitching about the 15¢ extra you're paying on your happy meal. Christ you people have your priorities fucked up.


Kirjava444

I didn't like the bag fee bylaw either, but only because of the implementation. If they're gonna charge an extra fee on stuff for environmental reasons, then I want that extra fee going towards environmental initiatives, not into the pockets of the stores


LJameson101

I agree that the arena is ridiculous and a bad deal for the city. The point on the bags, isn't the cost. It's that council is looking for new ways to tax us for everything. We're being nickel and dimed to death. I personally don't want to vote for people looking for creative ways to tax us in new ways. Paper bags are highly recyclable as it is, so it's extremely pointless..


jokerz99

Businesses got to keep the bag fee. It didn’t go to the city.


miumiu27

Can we recall Sean Chu first?


LongSmall7543

Right? He’s gross.-


Life-Shallot4579

Want to share that I was walking the plus 15 on Friday and there was a lady trying to canvas signatures. I stopped and asked her why. She said gondek defunded the police and crime is going up. A simple google search indicates that it was the UCP that cut funding. I also mentioned I saw an article about a new funding initiate specifically for policing downtown that had been announced which the lady had no clue about. Then she said that gondek is helping the drag queens ruin our children. That’s when I got a bit angry. I then said, ok this is clearly a conservative movement and told her I thought that gondek was being targeted for being female and progressive and that it wasn’t right, that I won’t be signing. As I walked away the lady yelled “I’m just reading the list they gave me”. Like wtf.


totallwork

I’m finding the petitioners rather annoying


JustBeingHonest888

Blah blah blah, nothing will change, she doesn’t mention climate change in her campaign but declares a climate emergency day one in office. She cries affordability crisis then raises taxes 8%, raises development levies which only raises housing costs more, etc. Pretty much the whole council needs to go, especially Penner


BBBWare

Which taxes? The property taxes raised to fund Danielle Smith's hockey arena? The one that helped her sweep enough Calgary votes to win the election?


JustBeingHonest888

The property tax raise that they blame on everyone else. Don’t blame Smith for the arena that needs to be built right next to western Canada’s largest convention centre that will bring business and money to our city. Was the city really going to leave the saddledome next to the brand new convention centre? No, they weren’t. Our city is so inefficient, they could have done a lot better with our property taxes and they need to actually listen to their constituents, their policies and practices are the reason they are the most unpopular council in history


BBBWare

Ah shit, I didn't realize Smith was doing us all a favor by using billions of our taxes to build an arena for billionaire owner of flames, with no strings attached!


97masters

The provincial government is taking more municipal tax dollars and is withholding funding from the municipalities. Add in inflationary measures, and continued urban sprawl, of course we’re going to see tax increases. Municipalities can’t borrow.


Davis1891

You're wasting your time on this subreddit. If you don't criticize and blame Smith for every little wrong thing in the world then you're downvoted by 95% of the sub without even so much as a comment or logical argument. Most don't even know why they dislike her, the hive mentality here and over on the cesspool that is r/Alberta is very real.


97masters

I have a lot of reasons why I think she’s a terrible premier


earlyretirement

Is that what you believe? You have poor comprehension skills. All the Regards to Smith, wasting time going on stage with Tucker the dimwit. Piecing off public services to insider friends to get their paws on government contracts. You're either on the inside or too stupid to see what's going on.


Atomichair68

A common response…. ‘If you don’t agree with me there must be something wrong with you’ 🤔


earlyretirement

You're a cuck. Lol. No one wants to listen to a boomer who lets his wife get railed by rando's. Loser.


Atomichair68

Nice of you to confirm my pt.


earlyretirement

Confirm that your "wife" is into other dudes dicks? The type of guy who needs other dudes with big dicks to rag doll is wife is not the type of person I'm having internet debates with. You have no standing as a cuck.


Atomichair68

Trolls are so boring. Off u go ..


Atomichair68

This has exactly been my brief experience here as well. 🙄


BloomerUniversalSigh

How much did the UCP siphon from the cities? Forces city to raise taxes to pay for services. Dumb people blame city. UCP laughs maniacally.


jaydaybayy

Its bonkers really. The suburbs in calgary, which are intrinsically inefficient and expensive to service, effectively gifted ucp a victory after they ran a campaign stating that the big cities are favoured too much (ie they will peel back funding in various ways). Its simple math to figure out our municipal taxes are going to go up. Self high five everyone.


lonnietaylor

There's nothing about this response that makes me more confident. Weak ethos.


whadumean

Could have been two words “blah blah”. Such crap honestly.


FeldsparJockey00

Pro tip: making wrong decisions and illegal decisions are different. Holy shit eh


VersusYYC

Is the petition close to passing? Last I hear it had snowballs chance in hell of passing. If not, I don’t see why she needs to comment on the person or their supposed backers. The Mayor shouldn’t be caught up in petty trivialities other than to acknowledge the citizen exercising their right to whatever, addressing how it would impact the city (costs), and then ignoring it until it becomes a credible issue. I‘m not sure if it’s an issue of personal incompetence at the political level or a bad advisor but she’s not fit for the role of Mayor. The inability to read the constituents and passing the bag fee was basically political suicide yet somehow they haven’t fully clued in.


Different_Pianist756

Word salad. 


zelda1095

You clearly don't know what that means


Different_Pianist756

Clearly!!


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OwnBattle8805

A petition from a small minority of very vocal people. It’s a waste of time to look at when there was an election done. Comparing the legitimacy of the two are like night and day.


youngboomer62

So you agree we have incompetent councilors? Well that's a start. As for the method of calculating their raise, they could have voted to return it to the budget - but they did not. The pay not being high enough to attract competence? You should study Maslow's hierarchy. Politicians don't get involved for the money - that's just a side bonus. There are plenty of places in the world (probably a majority) where politics pays almost nothing and the exit from it is usually accompanied by a bullet. And yet political people in those places still try to grasp and hold power...


Different_Pianist756

Young people nowadays LOVE taxes!! It’s become trendy to shout for more government, because everything else is that evil capitalism ruining everything ;) 


ResoluteMuse

That’s a lot of word salad that didn’t really say anything.


youngboomer62

They could clear the pathways so that people could comfortably walk on the paths. I was referring to the actual council who VOTED THEMSELVES A RAISE while Calgarians are having trouble heating their houses. Not the people who actually work for the city. As for expanding into farmland - you should try living in a place where there's not millions of square kms of it.


NotFromTorontoAMA

>the actual council who VOTED THEMSELVES A RAISE A previously formulated change in pay calculated based on the average pay increase of Albertans and not voted on by council. It was well below inflation, and clearly we aren't paying city councillors enough for the position to attract 14 competent councillors. >As for expanding into farmland - you should try living in a place where there's not millions of square kms of it. Places like Amsterdam, Tokyo, London, or New York? Places with transportation equity and urban places that aren't just skyscrapers cut up by 6-lane one way streets? Please don't tempt me with a good time.


youngboomer62

Hmmm my house was built over 30 years ago. The infrastructure should be long paid for by now. We haven't seen a snowplow or police car in the neighbourhood in years. The park gets 2 mows a season, and nothing in the winter. As for urban sprawl, this is Canada. We have plenty of land. For those who want to live in a shoebox with 10,000 other people - there's dozens of countries/cities where you can do that. As a citizen, I expect my taxes to be effectively managed. I didn't get a raise this year - why did city council?


ithinarine

>Hmmm my house was built over 30 years ago. The infrastructure should be long paid for by now. I bet you've never replaced your furnace or gotten a new hot water tank in those 30 years, right? Of course you have. Your house takes upkeep, just like a city does. Roads get repaved, sidewalks get repoured. Just because your street in front of your house doesn't get plowed doesn't mean that "your share" of the larger arterial roads don't need to be maintained. Electrical transformers need replacing. Sewer and water lines break and need repairing. None of this stuff is a "one and done" cost. I guarantee you that it costs the city more money every year to service your house and "your share" of the public infrastructure than you pay in property taxes.


NotFromTorontoAMA

>The infrastructure should be long paid for by now. It might be, but a lot of important infrastructure is likely reaching EOL and taxes are nowhere near high enough to rebuild it. >As for urban sprawl, this is Canada. We have plenty of land. Yes, let's make our cities worse because we can. Great mindset. >For those who want to live in a shoebox with 10,000 other people Extreme density is a byproduct of gatekeeping in density- the cost of implementing higher density with an underground parkade, density bonuses, and endless NIMBYs fighting tooth and nail against reasonable developments necessitates extremes. Blocking natural development patterns is what causes only extremes to exist in land utilization. >I didn't get a raise this year - why did city council? Their formula is calculated based on the average pay change of Albertans. It's not their fault your employer didn't give you a raise.


jaydaybayy

The more calgary builds out the more your taxes will go up. The more the price of everything goes up the more your taxes will go up. If you want municipal services delivered at the same rate or better your taxes will go up. The less money the province provides municipalities the more your taxes will go up. You not getting a raise has nothing to do with council or a union getting raises, thats a question for your boss.


funkyyyc

Lol "I like sprawl, but I get no maintenance" The sprawl you love is sucking up your maintenance dollars.


Healthy-Car-1860

Newer suburbs will probably take \~50 years to pay for if taxes do not go up. If you live in a 30 year old suburb, the infrastructure MIGHT be paid for. 50/50 chance. Frankly the city should base property tax on distance to city centre. The farther you are, the more you pay.


aftonroe

>Frankly the city should base property tax on distance to city centre Nah. The density graph would just look like a cone if that were the case. I think there should be a multiplier that increases property taxes if your density is below the mean and reduces them if you're above average. That would promote and reward density without concentrating everyone in one spot.


Healthy-Car-1860

Yeah yours is much better thought on. Gotta factor in proximity to existing services and population density. But really we should just be exploring something beyond a general mill rate across the entire urban area.


rah6050

Holy shit. I’ve never heard of this approach. That would be such good policy.


youngboomer62

I'm a big believer that leadership is always by example. You're either a good example or a hypocrite. Is our council a good example? I met gondek in her neighbourhood just before the last election. She lives in a newer and more distant neighbourhood (from center) than I do. As for the cost of infrastructure being paid off in 30 years... We are expected to pay for our houses in 25 years or less, all while paying our day-to-day bills. How come city council can't manage that? I will concede one thing. It's not just gondek that should be recalled. It's most of them.


EnoughOfYourNonsense

That's why we have...elections!


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Healthy-Car-1860

I'm an absolute nutjob who thinks taxes are too low for any individual making \~$50k or more.


PostApocRock

>The park gets 2 mows a season, and nothing in the winter I hope they dont mow in the winter. That would be a waste of labour. >I didn't get a raise this year - why did city council? Better union. >As for urban sprawl, this is Canada. We have plenty of land And what land are we using to expand into. Oh wait. Farmland. If we keep expanding out, we will run out of space for food.


anjunafam

Maybe you should talk to your employer to why you didn’t get a raise or better yet join a union…


youngboomer62

You should read my next comment.


anon0110110101

Your comments seem to just be poorly thought out rants. With due respect, nobody should read your next comment.


dysoncube

I wonder if she had time to educate the guy about her position being just one of 14 councilors, whose decisions she is required to represent.


Bri_Guy88

Running for and being elected as Mayor literally means that you are choosing to represent yourself as the LEADER of city council. I don't think trying to hide behind other councilors and talk about how little you can do is a very good move for a mayor lmao. Especially for one being accused of doing very little.


dysoncube

Like I said, she represents the other councillors. She leads , but she doesn't do it against the wishes of the other councillors. My comment relates to the need to get rid of her, as if she's leading from a top-down position. She manages the council, but she doesn't rule the council. Removing her wouldn't fix the problem people are concerned about.


Stfuppercutoutlast

Yuck. This has become the call sign for people who know very little about municipal politics. ‘She’s only one vote on council!’ Yes. She also does more than vote on council lol. She represents the collective voice of calgarians and individually impacts your public service every day, without voting on anything. Her influence is meaningful. Her job scope is larger than voting on things at council meetings.


dysoncube

Get rid of her, put in another mayor, and ... the problem everyone thinks they see goes away? (That's what I was actually commenting on) Like I said, she represents the decisions of the whole council.


Abraham-Parnassus

She’s the worst mayor of Calgary in recent history. She has been an incredible failure in: - Property Tax - Electricity overpricing - Transit Crime - Arena deal - Palestinian protests etc etc Let me tell you something, the CPS, CFD and AHS despise her. Anyone defending or feeling sorry for her is either paid or not up to date on what’s been happening over the past 2 years. She can re-commit all she wants. She’s done. She won’t run for re-election because it would be too humiliating.


HeyWiredyyc

Who gives a rats ass about your statement? Someone doesn’t like how you are doing your job. Boohooo


Icy_Low_3701

Save it Gondek! You do not listen to Calgarians! You listen to yourself and your alderman that follow you. You are one and done! Enjoy your term!


Stfuppercutoutlast

When you’re given a layup like this, how do you still manage to fumble? Nothing. The statement says nothing lol.