Calgary Civic Election Poll #3: The race heats up

[Flames0910]

Originally Posted by Cowboy89

Dick Haskayne (Haskayne School of Business)...

[Ashartus]

Just when we started to lose a few candidates, a few more come out of nowhere? Sandra Hunter, Dan Knight, Amanda Liu - no one I've heard of and I can't see any of them having a chance.

[c.t.ner]

Originally Posted by Ashartus

Just when we started to lose a few candidates, a few more come out of nowhere? Sandra Hunter, Dan Knight, Amanda Liu - no one I've heard of and I can't see any of them having a chance.

Okay, so it wasn't just me that thought it was weird that these people came out of nowhere. Phew.

[Bigtime]

I remember hearing about Amanda Liu in the Herald last week. Something about a focus on immigrants being integrated better into society, and that she doesn't speak much english. The other two you mention, no freakin' clue who they are.

[Muta]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

I remember hearing about Amanda Liu in the Herald last week. Something about a focus on immigrants being integrated better into society, and that she doesn't speak much english. The other two you mention, no freakin' clue who they are.

Dan Knight is actually this dude:

[cal_guy]

Originally Posted by 4X4

I dont give a fata whether the peace bridge or the overpass at seton and Deerfoot is used by more people. I'd rather have the peace bridge than the overpass because the people using the peace bridge are the residents of Sunnyside and Hillhurst, and they're using it to walk into downtown. That's one less car in my way, and besides, those people paid 3x the amount of taxes than the people in Cranston, and 100% more taxes than the people driving in from Okotoks.

The combined residents of Sunnyside and Hillhurst paid approximately $7.06 million in property taxes compared with $7.78 million in Cranston

[First Lady]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

I remember hearing about Amanda Liu in the Herald last week. Something about a focus on immigrants being integrated better into society, and that she doesn't speak much english. The other two you mention, no freakin' clue who they are.

I know that name. She used to call the office (WAP) all the time. IIRC she either doesn't have or doesn't know how to use email.



This guy....Grochowski, Antoni is running for both Alderman and Trustee in Ward 8....

He ran in Calgary - Glenmore and garnered 71 votes.

[4X4]

Originally Posted by cal_guy

The combined residents of Sunnyside and Hillhurst paid approximately $7.06 million in property taxes compared with $7.78 million in Cranston

Thanks for that. If you feel like getting picky and disregarding the point, why don't you add in the business owners' taxes, and then compensate for the fact that Hillhurst and Sunnyside combined are a fifth the size of Cranston, and then figure out how much less their road maintenance costs the City?

[mykalberta]

Anyone on the ridge that I walk by wouldnt be using that bridge unless they went out of their way to do so. The PI bridge by the curling rink is much more convienient.

I do find it odd that Hehr couldnt get more funding. I am thinking big left supporters are weary of donating money if McIvor is just going to walk away with it.

[burn_this_city]

If you wanted to get extremely picky you could figure out who has more plowed road. In the suburbs they only plow the main roads, not sure about the inner city neighbourhoods.

[Cscutch]

Originally Posted by mykalberta

Anyone on the ridge that I walk by wouldnt be using that bridge unless they went out of their way to do so. The PI bridge by the curling rink is much more convienient.

I do find it odd that Hehr couldnt get more funding. I am thinking big left supporters are weary of donating money if McIvor is just going to walk away with it.

In the long run I think the bridge will be more used by cyclists than walkers. Right now a lot of people on bike try to cross at 9th street and in the morning and afternoon it gets really congested. The cyclists coming down the path from Bowness, St. Andrews Heights, and Kensington will most likely cross the river on the new bridge. The same will go for the cyclists coming down 10th and 14th from areas such as Capitol Hill and Mt. Pleasant.

Chris

[yads]

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

If you wanted to get extremely picky you could figure out who has more plowed road. In the suburbs they only plow the main roads, not sure about the inner city neighbourhoods.

Same thing, unless you live on a major street. It was a blessing and a curse living on 14th street.

[Bigtime]

The Peace Bridge will be fantastic for cyclists, with its width and separation of bike/pedestrian lanes it will be the "go to" choice. I know I'll use it.

[4X4]

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

If you wanted to get extremely picky you could figure out who has more plowed road. In the suburbs they only plow the main roads, not sure about the inner city neighbourhoods.

I just moved from the hills of Bankview a few months ago, but the previous three winters were spent there. I don't recall my street, or even the freaky dangerous hilly streets being plowed once. We were lucky to get a layer of gravel once a week.

But what I was getting at was just the sheer size of Cranston vs. Sunnyside. The neighbouthoods are arbitrary, my retort was simply that the neighbourhood one fifth the size is garnering the same amount of tax money, and obviously easier and cheaper to maintain.

[Ramsayfarian]

Originally Posted by mykalberta

Anyone on the ridge that I walk by wouldnt be using that bridge unless they went out of their way to do so. The PI bridge by the curling rink is much more convienient.

I've been saying that since they announced the Peace Bridge. Great bridge, bad location.

[burn_this_city]

Originally Posted by 4X4

I just moved from the hills of Bankview a few months ago, but the previous three winters were spent there. I don't recall my street, or even the freaky dangerous hilly streets being plowed once. We were lucky to get a layer of gravel once a week.

But what I was getting at was just the sheer size of Cranston vs. Sunnyside. The neighbouthoods are arbitrary, my retort was simply that the neighbourhood one fifth the size is garnering the same amount of tax money, and obviously easier and cheaper to maintain.

I was just being a shat disturber.

One thing to consider is the lifecycle cost of each community. The older communities will eventually require replacement of water, sewer, power services, re-surfacing of roads, replacement of sidewalks. Ripping up the water main in these older communities is much more expensive than a new installation in a clay capped field. Not to say they don't cover these costs with their taxes, but these kinds of things should be considered.

[Bigtime]

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

I was just being a shat disturber.

One thing to consider is the lifecycle cost of each community. The older communities will eventually require replacement of water, sewer, power services, re-surfacing of roads, replacement of sidewalks. Ripping up the water main in these older communities is much more expensive than a new installation in a clay capped field. Not to say they don't cover these costs with their taxes, but these kinds of things should be considered.

True, but wouldn't replacing those items in a simple grid pattern be cheaper and easier than doing the same in "no straight lines here" suburbia?

[burn_this_city]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

True, but wouldn't replacing those items in a simple grid pattern be cheaper and easier than doing the same in "no straight lines here" suburbia?

Not when you need to rip up roads, peoples yards ect. All the services in new communities are installed long before they put any asphalt down.

[Slava]

Crazy day. First let me get it out there that I'm now supporting Nenshi for Mayor! Pics to come (as promised to a particular lurker here, but not a poster!). I had some good talks with some friends in that campaign this morning and while I'm clearly disappointed with Kent Hehr dropping from the race, that is the way politics goes. As I've posted here before and said from the day Naheed entered I would support him should Kent leave the race. I'm glad that Nenshi released his donors this morning and I will not only be donning the purple shirt, but also a button and almost certainly a sign.

I'm sure that some of you are wondering, and yes I filed my papers on time and aid my $100. So did 8 others in my riding! If CP could just pull the ultimate jihad on October 18th that would be much appreciated!

[SebC]

Originally Posted by Rhettzky

A new mayor with no experience in the inner workings at the city would have a pretty steep learning curve. It's not like they can come into the role and start making wholesale changes. Someone that understands the system the way it stands now would have much more opportunity to cut the fat. The city is very complex and not as easy to change as you might think when you take into account the union environment.

And I'm not trying to say that I'm voting for Ric here but I could easily see a candidate like Higgins get bogged down in the process and become irrelevant if in the mayors chair.

Absolutely. Worth noting too that the city budget gets passed 3 weeks after the election. There's not a lot of time to get up to speed.

Originally Posted by Cowboy89

I think the real issue in this suburban vs. urban arguement is that in a perfect world Calgary never would have annexed communities as it spread outwards and then a central area with about 400,000 people in it would be the city of Calgary and the rest would be different suburban cities. Right now what happens is that the suburban vote outnumbers the urban vote and thus suburban issues get funded while being subsidized in some ways by the urbanites.

In that scenario each suburban city would pay their frieght of development while at the same time could allow the continuation of building massive homes with backyards as per demand. The urban based city of Calgary residents can continue to try and build a Vancouver-resembling inner-city without letting their choices be diluted by the suburban vote.

I think the inner city should separate. Who's with me?

Originally Posted by Muta

Related to your point, I can also say that there will be more grocery stores downtown in the near future. I know of one area that's definitely getting one.

Yeah. A lot of the inner city's population growth has been fairly recent. Even if some areas are underserved, they won't stay underserved forever. Vacuums in the market tend to get filled when demand is there.