City of Calgary proposed ward changes - OLD THREAD with new info

[taco.vidal]

Calgary Herald article here:http://calgaryherald.com/news/local-...raise-concerns

Two different scenarios that would shift which of 14 existing wards many Calgary communities are located in were posted on the city’s website Monday. Citizens are being invited to share their thoughts on the proposals at five open houses, from July 21 to Aug. 4, or via e-mail.

Info on city website here:http://www.calgary.ca/CA/city-clerks...ommission.aspx

Check it out. Your community may be one of the ones being proposed to be moved around.

[Fuzz]

OH NO!

In both cases, I end up in Sean Chu's ward!

[MarchHare]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

OH NO!

In both cases, I end up in Sean Chu's ward!

That's good -- it means you can vote against him.

[Slava]

I like B better, but ward 8 looks weird and I also think that ward 13 should be just Fish Creek South. Canyon Meadows and Woodbine should be in 11 I think.

Really that portion could probably be split and we should have more than 14 councilors...but that ship has sailed I suppose.

[Regorium]

So my friend brought this to my attention today, even though the ward boundary changes were completed in March.

This abomination is what we ended up with.

http://www.calgary.ca/citycouncil/wa...dary%20PDF.pdf

The core is split into three wards. Somehow a person living in Victoria Park shares similar concerns to someone living in Lakeview. The core being split means that each ward will have a suburban majority.

The student vote (Varsity and U of C) are now separated into two wards, which nullifies their vote as well.

I'm so mad right now (as someone living in beltline), that I can barely see straight. Is our council completely corrupt?

[Finger Cookin]

The link to the city's website isn't working for me.

[nik-]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

OH NO!

In both cases, I end up in Sean Chu's ward!

What's the "If X wins I'll move to Canada" when you live in Canada?

[Slava]

I don't think that council got to design the layouts though. I think that they're designed to keep roughly the same number of residents in each one and things like that. The "student vote" is already divided because MRU is away from U of C, and besides that point students live all over the city.

[Regorium]

Originally Posted by Slava

I don't think that council got to design the layouts though. I think that they're designed to keep roughly the same number of residents in each one and things like that. The "student vote" is already divided because MRU is away from U of C, and besides that point students live all over the city.

No, city council doesn't. But they voted to pass it.
Look at ward 11. Explain to me how that makes any sense.

Take population from the southern communities. How the heck does snaking your way into the core make any sense at all?

[RedHot25]

Yeah, if I remember correctly, council had some input near the end of the couple of finalists...but it was a separate/independent committee that lead the review, examined things and came up with things. Basically its what Slava mentioned - trying to come up with boundaries that made each ward have the same-ish # of people living in them.

[Slava]

Ward 11 has always been weird though, IMO. Like I say above I don't know why 13 has the communities above Fish Creek, and they should go to 11. I went to one of the open houses on this and spoke with a representative (where they were taking input for the extreme minority of us that showed up), and he basically explained why that kind of change was going to make a mess because of the knock-on to the other wards.

[Regorium]

The link I gave shows the population in each ward. (ie. with a +/- 20% deviation, seems like they didn't even bother with any semblance of having the same # of people in each ward)

I understand how the process works. I'm mad about the division. Look at the opening post a year ago and those proposed ward selections and compare to what the outcome was.

[InglewoodFan]

Here's an editorial on it from late last year. The whole thing drives me nuts, council just doesn't give a damn about the perception of gerrymandering. http://calgaryherald.com/opinion/col...s-that-depends

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by nik-

What's the "If X wins I'll move to Canada" when you live in Canada?

If Sean Chu Wins I'm moving to any other ward. Does that work?

No, I wouldn't actually move, but I will call him an idiot any chance I get.

[Fuzz]

Looks like they easily could have put BLN form 11 to 7. Given the population discrepancies with 7 being so short and 11 being so much over. Weird.

[Zarley]

Ward 11 looks like it's been engineered to keep Pincott in office.

[frinkprof]

Originally Posted by Regorium

The core is split into three wards. Somehow a person living in Victoria Park shares similar concerns to someone living in Lakeview. The core being split means that each ward will have a suburban majority.

I'm so mad right now (as someone living in beltline), that I can barely see straight. Is our council completely corrupt?

I think this could have a positive outcome actually. Think of it this way: Beltline gets two councilors instead of one, Centre City gets three instead of two, (loosely defined) very-inner-city gets four instead of three. It's more councilors with a stake in the area, which I think will help out with ward politics type issues.

The suburban majority ward problem has always had the possibility of manifesting. Look at John Mar and the threat of Kevin Taylor. At least that problem hasn't gotten appreciably worse in this scenario. That issue is more of a general problem anyway in terms of Calgary and council as a whole.

As far as Ward 11 goes, avoiding having a "Frankenstein" ward is always going to be hard given the parameters. Ward 9 used to be very hodge-podge and seemed to just fill in the gaps between other wards. Ward 7 was also a bit odd in that way.

This is of course putting aside that bigger changes are needed in terms of intra-city and community governance for the big cities. For starters - why does Calgary have the same number of wards as it did when it was a third its current population?

[Kavvy]

Originally Posted by frinkprof

I think this could have a positive outcome actually. Think of it this way: Beltline gets two councilors instead of one, Centre City gets three instead of two, (loosely defined) very-inner-city gets four instead of three. It's more councilors with a stake in the area, which I think will help out with ward politics type issues.

The suburban majority ward problem has always had the possibility of manifesting. Look at John Mar and the threat of Kevin Taylor. At least that problem hasn't gotten appreciably worse in this scenario. That issue is more of a general problem anyway in terms of Calgary and council as a whole.

As far as Ward 11 goes, avoiding having a "Frankenstein" ward is always going to be hard given the parameters. Ward 9 used to be very hodge-podge and seemed to just fill in the gaps between other wards. Ward 7 was also a bit odd in that way.

This is of course putting aside that bigger changes are needed in terms of intra-city and community governance for the big cities. For starters - why does Calgary have the same number of wards as it did when it was a third its current population?

Some of the lowest taxes for a major Canadian City!
I kid I kid.... sorta

[Weitz]

Oh god I just realized the Druh is my ward Councillor.

The Horror.