Calgary Municipal Politics

[Mountain Man]

Farkas has my vote, just hope I don't regret it.

 

[ByeByeBaby]

I'm baffled how so many people believe that Farkas has changed anything but his marketing.

There's a world where Farkas came into council as a headbanger nut, and then over the course of four years learned the nuance that the City needs to deliver services and became more pragmatic, and then ran on that pragmatic centrist platform, but people remembered his dumbassery from his first days in office and he lost, and he has continued to grow and is now running again. But that's not our world.

In our world, he was the exact same ideologue councillor on his last day in office as his first, and ran his first mayoral race on promising more of the same. He spent four years working in civic politics, attending council meetings, meeting with constituents and none of that changed his policies or outlook one bit. But apparently he changed his stripes completely 20 minutes after the polling results came in because he went hiking.

I don't think Sharp would be a good mayor, but I believe she at least believes in what she says (which is not an endorsement). Gondek is much better at policy than politics; she's wasted a lot of political capital on things with low impact and that's what she's been tarred with, even though the actual main job of getting housing built, buses run, and so on has been broadly done well especially given the incredible challenge of our city's growth. There's a lot of room for a better mayor, but in my opinion, there's not a better mayoral candidate running.

 

[trtcttc]

I'm baffled how so many people believe that Farkas has changed anything but his marketing.

There's a world where Farkas came into council as a headbanger nut, and then over the course of four years learned the nuance that the City needs to deliver services and became more pragmatic, and then ran on that pragmatic centrist platform, but people remembered his dumbassery from his first days in office and he lost, and he has continued to grow and is now running again. But that's not our world.

In our world, he was the exact same ideologue councillor on his last day in office as his first, and ran his first mayoral race on promising more of the same. He spent four years working in civic politics, attending council meetings, meeting with constituents and none of that changed his policies or outlook one bit. But apparently he changed his stripes completely 20 minutes after the polling results came in because he went hiking.

I don't think Sharp would be a good mayor, but I believe she at least believes in what she says (which is not an endorsement). Gondek is much better at policy than politics; she's wasted a lot of political capital on things with low impact and that's what she's been tarred with, even though the actual main job of getting housing built, buses run, and so on has been broadly done well especially given the incredible challenge of our city's growth. There's a lot of room for a better mayor, but in my opinion, there's not a better mayoral candidate running.

Don't really disagree that this could all be a farce with Farkas. His platform is quite different from the past, and not focused on stupid things like council pensions and other menial expenses. He's also not proposing things like property tax freezes even if it sounds good on paper. But things like zero-based budgeting would actually be useful. This isn't even a city only problem, many private company departments also have this spend it or lose it mentality.

Gondek is a good city administrator. Agree she spent her political capital on the climate strategy that is still dogging her. I did find during her term she is too much like an administrator. The role of council is in part, to challenge city administration, whereas she often aligned with their recommendations and it feels like there isn't a mayor but the city is just ran by the CAO.

Sharp is closely aligned with the UCP. Communities First in general, I hope doesn't get entrenched in city politics

 

[Red Star]

I'm baffled how so many people believe that Farkas has changed anything but his marketing.

There's a world where Farkas came into council as a headbanger nut, and then over the course of four years learned the nuance that the City needs to deliver services and became more pragmatic, and then ran on that pragmatic centrist platform, but people remembered his dumbassery from his first days in office and he lost, and he has continued to grow and is now running again. But that's not our world.

In our world, he was the exact same ideologue councillor on his last day in office as his first, and ran his first mayoral race on promising more of the same. He spent four years working in civic politics, attending council meetings, meeting with constituents and none of that changed his policies or outlook one bit. But apparently he changed his stripes completely 20 minutes after the polling results came in because he went hiking.

I don't think Sharp would be a good mayor, but I believe she at least believes in what she says (which is not an endorsement). Gondek is much better at policy than politics; she's wasted a lot of political capital on things with low impact and that's what she's been tarred with, even though the actual main job of getting housing built, buses run, and so on has been broadly done well especially given the incredible challenge of our city's growth. There's a lot of room for a better mayor, but in my opinion, there's not a better mayoral candidate running.

I get the impression that this is not a unique case in politics.

Call me a pessimist, but it seems to me that finding a politician that truly wants to affect change and make their society a better place is rare commodity. I'm very uninspired by the people I see running for office in this election. They appear to be charlatans and grifters more concerned with getting into a position of power than having a genuine ideological lean. I think they really enjoy being taken out for extravagant dinners by developers, or being flown to warm and sunny destinations for a conference or going on camera and bloviating about a ribbon cutting ceremony. Not to mention a relatively easy pay cheque and great benefits once you've reached a certain point.

In ward 8 (where I live) I've talked to Kent Hehr, Cornelia Wiebe and Gary Bobrovitz about their position on transit, infrastructure improvements, housing affordability and the homeless crisis and they all more or less gave me the same boiler plate answer. "Oh yeah... great question! We need definitely need more funding, more police, more transit, we need to build more houses and have more social workers."

"Wow...thanks guys. I never thought of that." I'll at least give Cornelia credit. She said she didn't have a strategy on how to address homelessness and that she'd figure it out once in office.

 

[Nimbus]

Bobrovitz will powerlift the homeless out of Ward 8. Make them another Wards problem.

Go Gary!

 

[Red Star]

Also, in the case of Kent Hehr, the dude has been in provincial and federal politics since 2008 until he got Metoo'd in 2018, and now wants to enter municipal politics.

I get the impression that he doesn't want to get a real job, and sitting on council is a great way to ride out the final working years of his life.

 

[TooBizzy]

In ward 8 (where I live) I've talked to Kent Hehr, Cornelia Wiebe and Gary Bobrovitz about their position on transit, infrastructure improvements, housing affordability and the homeless crisis and they all more or less gave me the same boiler plate answer. "Oh yeah... great question! We need definitely need more funding, more police, more transit, we need to build more houses and have more social workers."

"Wow...thanks guys. I never thought of that." I'll at least give Cornelia credit. She said she didn't have a strategy on how to address homelessness and that she'd figure it out once in office.

I feel so much better about 8 after there was some consolidation around Nate.

Walcott is probably my favourite Councillor at the moment, he's not perfect, but he's accomplished a surprising amount for a first-term cllr, and it'll take some effort to fill those shoes. Excited to see Nate lead on Westbrook TOD, filling out the housing continuum, and taking material action on the climate through mobility and community resilience.

Back in my home Ward though... I'm just hoping to see Chabot finally go away

 

[TooBizzy]

I'm still quite torn for Mayor, especially given polling that shows a tight 3-way race. As someone who was shit-scared of Farkas in 2021, and volunteered with Gondek (who I saw as somewhat of an uninspiring liberal, exciting mostly as a more credible and capable alternative to Jeromy), both of them have really exceeded my expectations in the last 4 years.

Though I totally understand the concern over the legitimacy of Farkas' personality shift, I must say how impressed I am by the effort he's put in to win over my vote. Me, personally. He has been genuinely proactive and receptive to feedback through the campaign, and kept his door open to anybody, although it seems this has come at the expense of taking committal positions on most issues. I get the sense that Council will lead Farkas, rather than the other way around, which is concerning with so many fresh faces.

A vote with my heart would mean, despite her communications and organizational weaknesses, another 4 years of intelligent progressive leadership in Jyoti Gondek; the Mayor who began to dismantle Euclidean zoning, sparked our office-conversion program, and broke ground on the Green Line, despite the cards stacked against her. But, I fear that a Gondek mandate will come narrowly, and only further inflame the Herald editorial's widespread discursive hallucinations around issues like zoning, bike lanes, or social disorder.

It seems that Calgary, regardless of how reasonable I find it, is just in an anti-incumbent, vaguely right-of-centre, but also apathetic and disaffected mood right now. Perhaps it's best to have a Mayor embody that without completely shutting out the progressive electorate, or threatening to shut down the local economy. Or, perhaps it's best to hedge on continuity as we face some generation-defining decisions with a potentially inexperienced Council.

 

[O-tac]

The biggest reason I’m voting Gondek is her stance against the Ultimate Corruption Party. I fear for municipal democracy should a compliant mayor and council get elected.

 

[trtcttc]

I'm still quite torn for Mayor, especially given polling that shows a tight 3-way race. As someone who was shit-scared of Farkas in 2021, and volunteered with Gondek (who I saw as somewhat of an uninspiring liberal, exciting mostly as a more credible and capable alternative to Jeromy), both of them have really exceeded my expectations in the last 4 years.

Though I totally understand the concern over the legitimacy of Farkas' personality shift, I must say how impressed I am by the effort he's put in to win over my vote. Me, personally. He has been genuinely proactive and receptive to feedback through the campaign, and kept his door open to anybody, although it seems this has come at the expense of taking committal positions on most issues. I get the sense that Council will lead Farkas, rather than the other way around, which is concerning with so many fresh faces.

A vote with my heart would mean, despite her communications and organizational weaknesses, another 4 years of intelligent progressive leadership in Jyoti Gondek; the Mayor who began to dismantle Euclidean zoning, sparked our office-conversion program, and broke ground on the Green Line, despite the cards stacked against her. But, I fear that a Gondek mandate will come narrowly, and only further inflame the Herald editorial's widespread discursive hallucinations around issues like zoning, bike lanes, or social disorder.

It seems that Calgary, regardless of how reasonable I find it, is just in an anti-incumbent, vaguely right-of-centre, but also apathetic and disaffected mood right now. Perhaps it's best to have a Mayor embody that without completely shutting out the progressive electorate, or threatening to shut down the local economy. Or, perhaps it's best to hedge on continuity as we face some generation-defining decisions with a potentially inexperienced Council.

If Gondek gets re-elected, she's going to have less support in council as a lot of her allies are not running again. I feel like we'll be in grid lock and from some of her positioning with the province,I don't think she's shown an ability to negotiate effectively. I don't know if I agree with the opinion on Farkas. He wants to be mayor, and part of that is the power that comes with it. I doubt he'd just defer to council, he's keeping his positions open because Gondek and Sharp has clearly staked out the other sides.

On rezoning for example, Sharp is 100% repeal, Gondek is 100% support, so Farkas is staking out this "repeal but replace with something that takes into account infrastructure in the area and not one size fits all" middle position.

I don't think inexperience is a bad thing for council. There's still a large bureaucratic machine that has decades of experience. And there's no ministers like the provincial/federal government where incompetent ministers can hold a lot of power. For councillor, I think turnover is good. Brings fresh ideas and challenge to the status quo.