Cal Wenzel suing Mayor Nenshi for $6M

[getbak]

Weren't the East Village and NMC already well under way before he was elected?

[CaptainYooh]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

He doesn't handle criticism very well, but he never really has, and it's not really a factor to consider him a poor mayor by any means. Pushing through revitalization of the East Village, his SPUR initiatives, pushing through the Airport Tunnel (which was a good idea IMO), pushing transparency through municipal and civic bureaucracy and advocating a City Charter, and his good relationship with the Tsuu Tina signal to me he is an effective mayor.

Love or hate his personality, when he is done as mayor, I think we're going to look back at his tenure and realize how much was actually accomplished with him at the helm.

Surprisingly or not, same political issues could be viewed differently.

East Village - this was all Bronconnier and, even that is not accurate. Bronconnier kinda stole the idea of how to re-develop East Village from one of the PPP proposals he called in 1998. Then he realized that the City can make more money doing it by itself and gave birth to CMLC.
Airport Tunnel - a road to nowhere... Questionable timing, questionable benefit, questionable use of public funds.
Transparency - good initiative, horrible implementation. The City is not one bit more transparent than it was at its darkest years of Al Duerr.
Tsuu T'ina relationship - is it him or Ric Mciver? Because both take all the credit for it
Charter - this is a tough one. So far, his relationships with Counties have been nothing but antagonistic and unproductive...

[Ozy_Flame]

Will have to agree to disagree then. And I suppose Nenshi is a polarizing figure like that.

[Addick]

How much are we to expect from a mayor in a Weak-Mayor system? Furthermore, to what great triumphs have our previous mayors lead Council? Lastly, it doesn't take a great leader to maintain the status quo, which Nenshi is helping end much to the chagrin of its benefactors.

[CaptainYooh]

Originally Posted by Addick

How much are we to expect from a mayor in a Weak-Mayor system? Furthermore, to what great triumphs have our previous mayors lead Council? Lastly, it doesn't take a great leader to maintain the status quo, which Nenshi is helping end much to the chagrin of its benefactors.

We should be thankful for a weak mayor system. It doesn't allow someone to do crazy stupid things without finding reasonable consensus from public representatives.

As far as previous mayors of Calgary, both Klein and Bronconnier have achieved far more of their own objectives than Duerr and Nenshi only because of their strong leadership qualities. Reminder, effective leadership can lead to both good and bad achievements. Klein has lead by adoration. Bronconnier – by fear.

[CaptainYooh]

It has just occurred to me that in the past 26 years, all four Calgary mayors (not counting Hartman) have been Liberal party members at the time of their respective appointments. Never thought of that trend before...

[MrMastodonFarm]

Both Klien and Bronco served full Three year terms, not really fair to say they did more in their terms when Nenshi is halfway through his 2nd term.

[PsYcNeT]

Originally Posted by CaptainYooh

It has just occurred to me that in the past 26 years, all four Calgary mayors (not counting Hartman) have been Liberal party members at the time of their respective appointments. Never thought of that trend before...

Unless this is one of those TheRebel expose things, AFAIK Nenshi wasn't a card carrying member of any of the parties.

[CaptainYooh]

I didn't go to the depth of checking if he's paid for his membership, but I did hear a very strong and persistent rumour that Nenshi was seriously contemplating running for Federal Liberals in the next elections if Harper would have won this time. His plan was to step down as a Mayor, let Druh and Andre fight over our next mayoralty, while writing a book.

In any case, most of his stated political views have been either Liberal or left of Liberal.

[Addick]

Originally Posted by CaptainYooh

As far as previous mayors of Calgary, both Klein and Bronconnier have achieved far more of their own objectives than Duerr and Nenshi only because of their strong leadership qualities.

Objectives such as?

[PsYcNeT]

Originally Posted by CaptainYooh

I didn't go to the depth of checking if he's paid for his membership, but I did hear a very strong and persistent rumour that Nenshi was seriously contemplating running for Federal Liberals in the next elections if Harper would have won this time. His plan was to step down as a Mayor, let Druh and Andre fight over our next mayoralty, while writing a book.

In any case, most of his stated political views have been either Liberal or left of Liberal.

So basically he isn't a capital "L" Liberal in the party sense, you just made it up.

Gotcha.

[CaptainYooh]

Sure

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally Posted by PsYcNeT

So basically he isn't a capital "L" Liberal in the party sense, you just made it up.

Gotcha.

No thanks, so Thanks.

[shermanator]

Would people rather have a mayor like Duerr, who was not polarizing at all, but really accomplished sweet #### all in his 12 years except in the name of keeping taxes low?

[Two Fivenagame]

How is Nenshi the villain here?

There is substantial evidence (the video) showing an organization, lead by Cal Wenzel, that is conspiring to counteract the efforts of an elected mayor by buying members of council.

Is this not a clear example of the wealthy elite actively degrading democracy?

[Ozy_Flame]

Originally Posted by shermanator

Would people rather have a mayor like Duerr, who was not polarizing at all, but really accomplished sweet #### all in his 12 years except in the name of keeping taxes low?

Hell no. Would rather have a mayor with a polarizing personality who gets #### done. Sometimes the best people to be productive are the ones with narcissist or sociopathic tendencies. Not saying Nenshi is on that extreme, but his personality is no reason to dislike him as a mayor.

[Lubicon]

Originally Posted by CaptainYooh

It has just occurred to me that in the past 26 years, all four Calgary mayors (not counting Hartman) have been Liberal party members at the time of their respective appointments. Never thought of that trend before...

I think that is fairly typical of municipal politics in general. The more local the government (municipal vs. provincial vs federal) the more 'left' the governments tend to be. Possible due to the fact cities deliver more 'people' services compared to other levels of government and are more visible to the public on a daily basis.

[Bunk]

Originally Posted by CaptainYooh

Surprisingly or not, same political issues could be viewed differently.

East Village - this was all Bronconnier and, even that is not accurate. Bronconnier kinda stole the idea of how to re-develop East Village from one of the PPP proposals he called in 1998. Then he realized that the City can make more money doing it by itself and gave birth to CMLC.
Airport Tunnel - a road to nowhere... Questionable timing, questionable benefit, questionable use of public funds.
Transparency - good initiative, horrible implementation. The City is not one bit more transparent than it was at its darkest years of Al Duerr.
Tsuu T'ina relationship - is it him or Ric Mciver? Because both take all the credit for it
Charter - this is a tough one. So far, his relationships with Counties have been nothing but antagonistic and unproductive...

Once Green Line funding is completed (likely by spring) you could argue Nenshi in 5 years is perhaps the city's greatest ever builder as mayor:

Airport Tunnel (will pay massive dividends)
4 regional recreation centres (Seton, Quarry Park, Great Plains & Northwest)
New Central Library
National Music Centre
Major Interchanges (Glenmore/Ogden and Bowfort/Trans Canada)
Instrumental in SW Ring Road deal (repaired relationship #1 priority from virtually day one in office)
Cycle Tracks (small $ but impactful)
4 Transitways/BRTs (North Crosstown, South Crosstown, Southwest, 17th Ave SE)
And a 40km LRT line once funded (I would guess March) that's 5 times the length of Bronconnier's West LRT

[Bunk]

Originally Posted by CaptainYooh

Tsuu T'ina relationship - is it him or Ric Mciver? Because both take all the credit for it

McIver and Redford were very good.

But put it his way, if Bronconnier was still in office the SW Ring Road would not have happened. Full stop. I can say this with virtually 100% certainty. There was a fair amount of work from the City side to make it happen this last go around. The relationship now, due to the Mayor, has probably never been stronger.

[Bunk]

Originally Posted by CaptainYooh

I didn't go to the depth of checking if he's paid for his membership, but I did hear a very strong and persistent rumour that Nenshi was seriously contemplating running for Federal Liberals in the next elections if Harper would have won this time. His plan was to step down as a Mayor, let Druh and Andre fight over our next mayoralty, while writing a book.

In any case, most of his stated political views have been either Liberal or left of Liberal.

You obviously get bad information. This is not even close to any sort of truth.
Now that I'm in the development industry I'm amazed the kind of absurd things people within this industry think are true of him.