Quote:
Originally Posted by I-Hate-Hulse
The answer of course is that 'balance' between the two is what makes a representative democracy work. You can care about the community you live in, but you also have a duty to care about your immediate family.
Put simply - IMHO - Druh got away from that balance in recent years. Solving big picture issues like climate change and social inequity took precedence over the mundane day to day issues like rising crime and traffic.
If your elected representative for civic government doesn't respond to say, rising crime - who else should a citizen be turning to?
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If only there was a city department who's sole job it was to take care of this sort of thing:
https://www.calgarypolicecommission.ca/contact-us/
This is exactly what I mean, do you honestly think any councilor is unaware if/when crime is rising in their ward?
Do you think it's a good use of their time to have a meeting with someone so they can say "Hey did you know crime is rising in my ward?"
Should she be out on the street with a billy club, or should she be working with other officials on larger initiatives to solve the problem?
Balance means listening to a lot of feedback, not listening to individuals.
That's why they have staff, so they can get feedback from more people and take that into account in their decisions.
They don't have the time, don't need to, nor should they be speaking with every individual citizen in their ward.
They should be speaking with leaders of community associations, business organizations, and the like, groups that exist to take in feedback and bring it to the right people/leaders.
Councilors are not worker bees, they are senior leaders, and they should prioritize as such.