Almost a year in Nenshi's job approval at 86%

[Mean Mr. Mustard]

Originally Posted by underGRADFlame

Thats not what I said. Should a department be asked to look for efficiencies, yes for sure. But and its a big but, when departments are under-funded to begin with, as both CPS and CFD are, I take issue with it.

The CPS is running computer systems from the early 90's, its basically dos, something that would cost over 8 million to upgrade, but now they have to put off this upgrade again. This is just one of the many many things that will suffer with the reduction of the budget.

What are the crime rates in Calgary relative to previous years? Would upgrading the computer systems have any net impact on increasing the number of boots on the street in terms of increased efficiencies?

What computer systems are you referring to - I know that hockeycop is on these boards and he might be able to answer the questions better but I have never heard of people complaining about the CPS computers.

There is only a finite amount of money to go around and at the end of the day there is no way to please everyone.

[Jacks]

Originally Posted by c.t.ner

I also think his overall image is really being helped by the Toronto Media's love affair with Nenshi. It helps that they seem to spend at least one article a month comparing him to the disaster that is the Fords. (Also when was the last time that a western mayor appeared on The Hour) Having a mayor that Torontoians fawn over is always going to make Calgarians happy.

I can assure you that most people from Calgary could care less if Toronto is impressed with our mayor, seriously.

[jar_e]

Originally Posted by Bunk

No essential services have been cut - overall many services have grown including transit and snow removal for instance. Police, fire, arts, recreation and all sorts of other services have all been maintained.

The City is however facing a budget shortfall - and so the mayor and Council have asked for about $140 million in efficiences. Like always, levels of service will have to be balanced against tax rates. Municipalities have only two financial tools to raise revenues - property taxes (of which the City only gets 50%) and user fees. So if for instance overall wages rise 2.5% to pay for that increase with property taxes, that means a 5% increase in taxes.

But the Mayor has promised to have a much more open and honest discussion about the budget and citizens' priorities. Budget consultation has been going on much of this year.

http://ourcity-ourbudget-ourfuture.blogspot.com/

But don't kid yourself, Nenshi said himself in an interview today or yesterday that services will be cut. There will be affects to citizens of Calgary...just a matter of when and what.

[SebC]

In a way this kind of makes me sad, because it means he hasn't managed to piss of the suburban leeches yet which means the inner city is still subsidizing their inefficient lifestyle.

Thanks, rest of council.

[shermanator]

Originally Posted by underGRADFlame

Thats not what I said. Should a department be asked to look for efficiencies, yes for sure. But and its a big but, when departments are under-funded to begin with, as both CPS and CFD are, I take issue with it.

The CPS is running computer systems from the early 90's, its basically dos, something that would cost over 8 million to upgrade, but now they have to put off this upgrade again. This is just one of the many many things that will suffer with the reduction of the budget.

Are any officers being lost?

During the election, Nenshi also questioned why the CPS had the 2nd highest expense per officer in the country. With not a tonne of knowledge on the situation, I would argue the issue is not necessarily funding, but inefficiencies within the department.

[chemgear]

For some reason, I am always pleasantly surprised how articulate he is (I should knoew better by now.) And I also have the horrible thought that we could instead be stuck with this guy:

[TorqueDog]

^ You leave Chris Farley alone.

[Thor]

Only 14% of Calgarians are racist?

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Thor

Only 14% of Calgarians are racist?

So if you don't support Nemshi then you're a racist?

Gotcha George, I hear that we're at war with West Eurasi again and East Eurasia are our allies.

[Sr. Mints]

I'm glad to hear this and good for him.

Even if in my mind he was ####ing up time and time again, I'd probably still give him the benefit of the doubt because I just plain like the guy.

[SebC]

For comparison purposes: GOD has an approval rating of 52%.

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally Posted by SebC

For comparison purposes: GOD has an approval rating of 52%.

His first week was awesome, but pretty meh after that.

[MelBridgeman]

Saw Mr. Mayor tonight out to support my friends movie premiere.....pretty good man and hes GSTROMP interview was pretty good.

[To Be Quite Honest]

Almost a year in Nenshi's job approval at 86% -

TBQH I would never vote for a black man!

[RedMileDJ]

Sorry...what has he done to get this approval rating? Serious. I don't see any big changes or a difference in the city.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by fotze

Anyone remember other Calgary mayor ratings in the past, I seem to remember them high as well.

I don't know what his approval rating was, but I think Bronconnier won re-election with something like 92% of the vote or something absurd.

I am a Nenshi supporter, so happy to see this. I do think that mayoralty approval ratings are higher in general though. There's no official opposition or anything shadowing your every move like other levels of government. As long as peoples garbage gets picked up, they have a CFD, CPS and CT to rely on things are good (generalising, before someone flames me for saying that). The reality is that voter apathy is huge at the municipal level.

[Mean Mr. Mustard]

I always find it odd that there is so much voter apathy on the municipal level because it impacts your daily life much more than Federal or Provincial Politics I find.

[c.t.ner]

Originally Posted by Jacks

I can assure you that most people from Calgary could care less if Toronto is impressed with our mayor, seriously.

You're totally correct. Nobody from Calgary would love an opportunity to take it to "The Centre of the Universe". It's not like anyone from Calgary has ever been painted as stereotypical redneck from anyone in Toronto. We all love hearing about the Maples Leafs Ad nauseam and how much more sophisticated Ontario is than Alberta. No red blooded Calgarian would ever take a little bit of joy in seeing Torontoians fawn over anything in Calgary.

[albertGQ]

They shouldn't have gotten rid of the $3 park and ride fee

[c.t.ner]

Originally Posted by Slava

I don't know what his approval rating was, but I think Bronconnier won re-election with something like 92% of the vote or something absurd.

Bingo. As Agent86 mentioned voter apathy at the municipal levels is always an oddity. It effects pretty much every element of citizens daily lives, but when it comes to voting with an incumbent mayor (and this tends to be the trend in Calgary) it's almost impossible to unseat the sitting mayor. If I recall correctly, Al Deur, Bronconnier and Klein all won re-elections in the 80-90% regions.

That's why last year's election was so important, because it basically means that Nenshi will be in the mayor's office until he decides to step down. It'll either take a scandal of epic proportions or a series of really embarrassing policies to unseat him. Even if MacIver was in the Mayor's seat it would be almost impossible to unseat him. It's also why alderman such as Dru Farrell (which based on most of the civic related discussions seams to be a target of much frustration with most Calgarians) can still retain their seat.