2013 Calgary Municipal Election Thread

[_Q_]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

Hey your the one that wants to pay more money, you have a great opportunity to do this and lead the way.

Maybe some more people will follow your lead and you'll become a inspiration to your fellow citizens, a real hero type.

and if you did it every year of your career, lets say $2000.00 per year that you just hand over, over your entire career it would add up to a tidy $80,000.00

That's silly....

That's not how taxes work. Do I then get exclusive rights to use the park?

I just think that people that get butt-hurt over a 5% or 10% increase in taxes need to step back, take a deep breath, have a look at how much extra they are actually paying, realize that it's not THAT much money and move on with life. Especially if they receive a new service that drastically improves their quality of life.

[Ironhorse]

Originally Posted by Ironhorse

Unfortunate to see the vote splitting happening in Ward 9, and letting that putz Carra run away with it.

Originally Posted by Fusebox

He won more votes than all other candidates combined.....that's democracy bro. Get over it.

Correct; however, if you add up the vote split, he only squeeked through by 202 votes (1%). Technically democratic, but hardly a confident win, and more indicative of the alienation of nearly half his ward.

[Cuz]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

Conservatives and fiscal hawks (yes, I'm using that word) have nothing to complain about. They have a council that is probably going to be in their favour, and Nenshi has not as high of an approval rating as predicted (based on poll results). What more do they want?

I love people in the Sun comments section threatening to leave Calgary . . . Don't let the door hit you on the way out! I challenge you to move to an equal-sized city with lower taxes. Go for it!

Very good point about taxes. Just take a look at the tax rates in the Lower Mainland and the services you receive and they might have second thoughts...

[jammies]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

Hey your the one that wants to pay more money, you have a great opportunity to do this and lead the way.

Being willing to pay more in taxes if needed does not necessarily mean he wants to give the City all his extra money, any more than being willing to give to charity means I want to give Bob the Edmontonian hobo $40 to buy enough craft beer to get drunk on.

You're making a false equivalency, paying taxes and gifting money are not the same thing, and specifically, being willing to share a distributed burden doesn't mean you are willing to do it all yourself.

[Temporary_User]

Saying you are willing to pay more in taxes for more services without actually giving any extra money is the equivalent of a facebook "like" activist.

[woob]

Originally Posted by Cuz

For my ward, number 2, I am disappointed that it wasn't closer. Now I wouldn't call Magliocca's victory resounding, with only 32.8% of the vote (per Global), but he did garner 1891 more votes than his next rival, Shawn Ripley with 21.4%. When you look at the next two candidates Bernie Dowhan at 20.5% and Terry Wong at 17.7%, it shows how split the vote in the ward was, and by extension, the quality of the candidates which we can be thankful for. The only really outlier candidate was Richard Poon at 7.6%, which is a decent chunk of the vote (As an aside, check out his comments at transitcamp.ca if you want a good laugh).

Personally, I think the only reason Magliocca won was name recognition due to the sheer number of signs. I am skeptical how he will perform as councillor as I found his platform to be vague and not very polished, especially considering this was his third time running (I have previously mentioned this feeling). Furthermore, I did not like some of his tactics, mainly placing campaign literature on vehicles on private property, receiving two robocalls on the Saturday and Sunday preceding the election and having a beat-up old truck with campaign signs parked outside the polling station in Royal Oak on election day. Anyways, time will tell ultimately how he will perform.

He also wrote in colourful chalk on the sidewalks outside my voting station. Not sure if he did that at all the Ward 2 stations or not.

[_Q_]

Originally Posted by Temporary_User

Saying you are willing to pay more in taxes for more services without actually giving any extra money is the equivalent of a facebook "like" activist.

No it really isn't. Nice try though.

[Roughneck]

Originally Posted by darklord700

With the 3 newly elected Alderman and the 5 return the 52M worriers, Nenshi could have as many as 8 councilers not on his side which is a good thing.

4 more years of purple clown and who knows how many more years of Redford, I'm ready to declare myself freeman on the land.

Woolley is more of a Nenshi guy than any other candidate elected I'd say so he got a win there. If the recount goes Harpers way that would be another "Nenshi guy" elected.

You might as well pack up and head east to Saskatchewan, you're in for a rough few years.

[Regular_John]

Pfft, I bought a townhome in the suburbs, I've got a long commute AND no yard. As far as I'm concerned you're all 100% wrong.

Parasites, lattes, etc.

[Robbob]

In my ward there was a trustee that had signs all over saying vote Greg Humphreys. (Serena's Dad). So I get the ballot and on the feakin ballot it says Humphreys, Greg (Serena's Dad). I thought that was a bit odd. Are their rules to what you can put on the ballot?

If not Oilerz suck ballz might run for trustee.

[Roughneck]

Originally Posted by Robbob

In my ward there was a trustee that had signs all over saying vote Greg Humphreys. (Serena's Dad). So I get the ballot and on the feakin ballot it says Humphreys, Greg (Serena's Dad). I thought that was a bit odd. Are their rules to what you can put on the ballot?

If not Oilerz suck ballz might run for trustee.

There was a Stan "the Man" Waciak in Ward 9.

I'm actually surprised most people don't take advantage of this.

Vote 4 John "won't make you sick and kill you" Smith.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Robbob

In my ward there was a trustee that had signs all over saying vote Greg Humphreys. (Serena's Dad). So I get the ballot and on the feakin ballot it says Humphreys, Greg (Serena's Dad). I thought that was a bit odd. Are their rules to what you can put on the ballot?

If not Oilerz suck ballz might run for trustee.

I'm sure there are rules, but you can put a nickname or things like that. I don't think it was intended for things like "Serenas Dad", but more for people who prefer "Bob" as opposed to Robert or whatever.

[puckluck2]

Have got to love the butt hurt of the Calgary Sun..

http://www.calgarysun.com/2013/10/22...rent-surprised

The most popular choice, among only a quarter of eligible Calgary voters.

It’s a number to make any victory celebration hollow, knowing that behind all the handshakes, hoorahs and congratulatory hugs, there stands a city where the vast majority of citizens simply didn’t give a damn.

Naheed Nenshi got his second term, but as giddy as his closest followers may be, even Calgary’s charismatic mayor couldn’t inspire the masses to vote — and it was fabulous weather that ultimately saved this city from one of the worst turnouts in civic election history.

If not for the glorious weather, it’s likely a man who hailed his first win as a great day for #yyc democracy would have been explaining the worst voter turnout in Calgary history.

[Ozy_Flame]

"Nenshi and his purple army couldn't motivate voters."

No, I'm pretty sure the conservative movement is to blame for low voter turnout. Seems like the other 65% of voters who stayed home were all clearly going to vote for Jon Lord anyways!

[Slava]

Originally Posted by puckluck2

Have got to love the butt hurt of the Calgary Sun..

http://www.calgarysun.com/2013/10/22...rent-surprised

It is The Sun, but they do make a good point here. It is pretty bad that such a small percentage of people actually take the time to vote. I don't think its Nenshis fault (or any particular candidate), but 35% and under is pretty deplorable.

[octothorp]

Heh, that's bizarre. I guess everyone woke up and thought, 'we'll I really don't feel like voting, but it's a beautiful day outside so I guess there's nothing to do but stand in a polling station for a while.'

[polak]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

Haha, I'll play and list ones that are not:

-Arriva (although it was planned as 4 towers)
-Chocolate
-Colours
-Emerald Stone
-Montana
-Vantage Point
-Mark on 10th (under construction)
-Live on the Park (under construction)
-The River

That's just a few, but there are quite a few twins and triplets too.

Haha just giving you a hard time. There's enough suburban/urban debate at SSP.

[HockeyIlliterate]

Originally Posted by _Q_

I just think that people that get butt-hurt over a 5% or 10% increase in taxes need to step back, take a deep breath, have a look at how much extra they are actually paying, realize that it's not THAT much money and move on with life.

The "it's not THAT much money" argument is often used, but seldom right.

A 5% or 10% increase in taxes is a lot of money, particularly if one's income is not increasing by a corresponding amount.

A 5% or 10% increase in taxes is a lot of money, particularly if coupled with a similar increase in previous years.

A 5% or 10% increase in taxes is a lot of money, particularly if the increase is just the start of future increases, and the increase simply now sets a new "floor" on what future tax rates will be.

A 5% or 10% increase in taxes is a lot of money, particularly when the tax monies are used to provide a service that will be funded not only by taxes but by user fees as well (so if you want to actually use the service that your increased taxes paid for in the first place, you have to pony up even more money).

But, hey, maybe you are correct and those who don't like paying an additional 5% or 10% in taxes should just "move on with life." Perhaps they should just "move on" in general to somewhere else.

Of course, if they do that, and no one comes in to replace them here, Calgary will likely need to increase the taxes even more on the remaining population to provide the existing level of services, which may cause even more to leave, which would increase the tax levels even more. I'm sure that is a sustainable way to fund a city.

In fact, I think Detroit went down that path.

[Cowboy89]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

"Nenshi and his purple army couldn't motivate voters."

No, I'm pretty sure the conservative movement is to blame for low voter turnout. Seems like the other 65% of voters who stayed home were all clearly going to vote for Jon Lord anyways!

This is a huge pet peave of mine. Those who support the loser in every election always come at these discussions that if only those who didn't vote showed up, then they all automatically would have voted for their preferred candidate and blank candidate would have really won.

A ballot not cast, is an implicit endorsement for the result, hence why these people never bothered to show up!

The MRU prof last night on Shaw's coverage was guilty of this when describing Sean Chu and Joe Maggliocca's election wins, implying that only the extreme marginalized right wing voted for them and that ward 2 and 4 were really 75-80% progressive voters. Chance are if you forced all of ward 2 & 4 eligible voters to vote in a manditory voting process, the result would have been similar, since the apathetic probably would have still voted for these two candidates in similar proportion due to name reconition from signs.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by Slava

It is The Sun, but they do make a good point here. It is pretty bad that such a small percentage of people actually take the time to vote. I don't think its Nenshis fault (or any particular candidate), but 35% and under is pretty deplorable.

Maybe I am cynical but I can see why most people dont bother to vote especially in Wards with no real challegers. Nenshi and DCU were going to win and my school board choices didnt have any deal breakers so me voting last night did absolutely nothing. I can see why people just dont bother.

Also the cynic in me believes that even in the competitive wards the results it doesnt really matter who we elect. The minor shift to the right that occured really only changes the tax increase from 5% to 3%. Day to day over the next 4 years will change little. And if things do go screwy we can fix it in four years when outrage will drive turnout.

So I see why people stay home and certainly dont fault them for it.