2013 Calgary Municipal Election Thread

[bizaro86]

I'm starting to hear discussions about the upcoming municipal election, and thought I'd get the ball rolling for the discussion on here, as we definitely have some of the best informed people in the city posting on Calgary Puck. The election is still months away, but there is lots to discuss.

-Will Nenshi run unopposed? Calgary mayors almost always win re-election when they run, but I'm definitely hearing some rumblings from the old white guy demographic about him. I've heard more than one person suggest that Dave Rutherford might run.

-What happens in Ward 2? Gord Lowe is retiring after 12 years, and Magliocca has run against him twice now. I was unimpressed by him last time, will Ward 2 get a good race going?

-What will be the biggest issues of the campaign? Homebuilders/zoning/development? Our newly raised taxes?

-Four year terms come in this time, any comments on that? Will it increase the quality of candidates, knowing they have 4 years of stability?

[Slava]

Really Dave Rutherford? I would love to see that race, from a pure political junkie point of view!

[Bmuzyka]

I would love to see someone fresh in Ward 2 who actually listens to his constituents

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by Slava

Really Dave Rutherford? I would love to see that race, from a pure political junkie point of view!

I've heard that from two people who are pretty connected to organizations that would be in a position to know. But the scuttlebut was that he's considering it, not that it's been decided.

I've also heard the Manning Centre is looking for flag bearer mayoral candidate for their initiative. Those two pieces of information seem like they could be related, as Dave Rutherford would certainly fit the Manning Centre mould.I definitely think it would be an interesting race, and that he's someone who could make it close with Nenshi.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by Bmuzyka

I would love to see someone fresh in Ward 2 who actually listens to his constituents

Agreed. I live in Ward 2 and am not much of a Gord Lowe fan, but don't think anyone who ran last time was qualified. Will be interested to see who announces. Has anyone heard any speculation?

David Yager (Wildrose provincial candidate) would be interesting, and would fit the storyline of this election.

[First Lady]

.... the burning question... Is Slava running again?

[Bmuzyka]

Originally Posted by bizaro86

Agreed. I live in Ward 2 and am not much of a Gord Lowe fan, but don't think anyone who ran last time was qualified. Will be interested to see who announces. Has anyone heard any speculation?

David Yager (Wildrose provincial candidate) would be interesting, and would fit the storyline of this election.

I considered running for a number of years, just to say I did it, my mom always said she would pay the application fee. Makes me wonder what kind of results could be had by a low cost campaign with an honest platform of actual representation

[First Lady]

Originally Posted by bizaro86

David Yager (Wildrose provincial candidate) would be interesting, and would fit the storyline of this election.

Doubtful. Especially since he is president. Actually even if he wasn't on the board, I don't see him getting "that" involved at the civic level.

[SebC]

Originally Posted by bizaro86

-Will Nenshi run unopposed?

Effectively, yes.

Originally Posted by bizaro86

-What happens in Ward 2? Gord Lowe is retiring after 12 years, and Magliocca has run against him twice now. I was unimpressed by him last time, will Ward 2 get a good race going?

Consider Magliocca the favorite this time.

Originally Posted by bizaro86

-What will be the biggest issues of the campaign? Homebuilders/zoning/development? Our newly raised taxes?

Smart voters will realize that these issues are intimitely connected. Taxes are going up because every house built under the current development agreement cost the city somewhere between $7,000 and $8,000.

Originally Posted by bizaro86

-Four year terms come in this time, any comments on that? Will it increase the quality of candidates, knowing they have 4 years of stability?

Given that a bunch of the newer candidates are developer stooges, it's hard to see that as an increase in quality.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by First Lady

.... the burning question... Is Slava running again?

Well I'm more or less in favour of disbanding the CBE (topic for another, less viewed thread), so no I won't run again. I am still hoping that someone takes on DCU here, and I would work hard for them, but I'm not holding my breath.

Are you running again? We need a CP candidate!

[First Lady]

Originally Posted by SebC

. Taxes are going up because every house built under the current development agreement cost the city somewhere between $7,000 and $8,000.

Do you have a link for that? I've been searching for this information.

[SebC]

Originally Posted by bizaro86

Agreed. I live in Ward 2 and am not much of a Gord Lowe fan, but don't think anyone who ran last time was qualified. Will be interested to see who announces. Has anyone heard any speculation?

Vincent St. Pierre has list of candidates (for all council positions) here... but it doesn't not include speculation. He has Magliocca and Bernie Dowhan listed for Ward 2.

[First Lady]

Originally Posted by Slava

Well I'm more or less in favour of disbanding the CBE (topic for another, less viewed thread), so no I won't run again. I am still hoping that someone takes on DCU here, and I would work hard for them, but I'm not holding my breath.

Are you running again? We need a CP candidate!

'fraid not. In fact I won't even be eligible to vote in this one.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Bmuzyka

I considered running for a number of years, just to say I did it, my mom always said she would pay the application fee. Makes me wonder what kind of results could be had by a low cost campaign with an honest platform of actual representation

Depends on how low cost? You want to raise about $100k to seriously contend for alderman. Can you do it cheaper? Sure, but you would have to have a great organization and work enormously long days (not that you wouldn't anyway!)

[SebC]

Originally Posted by First Lady

Do you have a link for that? I've been searching for this information.

2009 Cost of Growth Review

V. Summary
Based on infrastructure cost analysis, the total 2008/2009 acreage assessments is $131,289/HA or $7,294/unit. The actual cost to provide the infrastructure for growth is $282,510/HA or $15,695/unit.

As a result, the funding gap has been incurred at amount of $151,221/HA or 8,401/unit.

[First Lady]

Originally Posted by SebC

2009 Cost of Growth Review

That link is a .exe .... my work security isn't allowing it.

[SebC]

Originally Posted by First Lady

That link is a .exe .... my work security isn't allowing it.

Try again, I just replaced it with a PDF.

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by SebC

2009 Cost of Growth Review

That data is old. I have a friend who consults in the industry, and once case study they did acreage assessments (which went up in 2011 and 2012) were 2.5x bigger today than 2009.

[CaptainCrunch]

It would be nice to have an election with more then one strong mayoral candidate. It just seems like people lie in wait until the standing mayor decides that he's bored and moves on.

While I'm not sure that I want to vote for the sitting mayor again, I might not have a choice as we'll probably get a little person conspiracy theorist as the second place guy.

I am hoping for a serious shuffle of city council. I think the current one is horrible all around.

But then again we live in the great city of "Don't bother changing" which is in the province of "same ole sh%t"

[Ozy_Flame]

Only one mayoral candidate so far? Oscar Fech can't believe it!