MF YYC Politics - there, I mega did it

[MoneyGuy]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

Don Braid really starting to get into Rick Bell territory with his names for councillors (Tax-Crazies, Sane Six, etc.). What's up with that?

It’s a column, and columnists get some leeway. I guess it’s his new thing.

[Bigtime]

I'm going to go with he's getting diminishing clicks and is grasping at straws. He should go all "Dinger" and start rocking a pinstripe suit and fedora.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

I'm going to go with he's getting diminishing clicks and is grasping at straws. He should go all "Dinger" and start rocking a pinstripe suit and fedora.

The hamburgler look. Classy.

[Bigtime]

Originally Posted by Wormius

The hamburgler look. Classy.

Hey it worked for Rick Bell back in the day. LOL.

[fotze2]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

I'm going to go with he's getting diminishing clicks and is grasping at straws. He should go all "Dinger" and start rocking a pinstripe suit and fedora.

I assume its pandering to little old ladies and morons. Like Spendshi and Turdeau and the absolute lamest of all PeePee.

At least be a little bit disparaging.

That development really looks like those desolate business parks you see everywhere in Orlando, on steroids. People will live there?

do they have any sort of stagegate spots where they can slow down if it is looking like a disaster?

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Wormius

The hamburgler look. Classy.

It could be a low-rent Beetlejuice?

[Ashartus]

Apparently the province is considering implementing political parties for municipal elections (https://calgaryherald.com/opinion/br...ouncil-calgary).


In general I think parties are a bad idea, even if it does give you a better idea of what a candidate would vote for. But maybe in a sense we already have them since most of the council was supported by one of 2 large PACs last election. And maybe the UCP should consider that more than half of Calgary went NDP in the last provincial election if they think this will result in a council that supports them.

[curves2000]

I think Don Braids frustration mirrors that of a lot of Calgary residents. It's an ever increasing level of costs and a little bit of a tone deaf mentality. There is a lot of waste that could be cut and costs reduced yet they are not. EVERYBODY has been looking at ways of saving on expenses and cutting in their day to day budget, and by cuts, I mean actual cuts.

The city talks about cuts but doesn't actual do anything. Reducing a scheduled increase to some random departments budget is not a cut.

Looking at the new single use plastics bylaw, if you order a soup at a restaurant and go to eat it, find out there is no spoon, the only idiot in this scenario is you. Not the employee who can't ask you if you want a spoon, or a napkin, not the six figured salaried team of employee's + large benefit package who came up with this stupid concept. Only you!! As for something as obvious as a higher budget for road cleaning and snow removal for a winter city, no, we don't have that luxury.

This is a city council that has some members and a city administration that was patting it's self on the back for reducing red tape on expanded patios in Calgary during Covid. Completely forgetting just how hard and how much of a process it was and still is to literally put a park bench in front of a business for people to sit down.

This is what we get for massive increases in taxes?

[wireframe]

Originally Posted by curves2000

I think Don Braids frustration mirrors that of a lot of Calgary residents. It's an ever increasing level of costs and a little bit of a tone deaf mentality. There is a lot of waste that could be cut and costs reduced yet they are not. EVERYBODY has been looking at ways of saving on expenses and cutting in their day to day budget, and by cuts, I mean actual cuts.

The city talks about cuts but doesn't actual do anything. Reducing a scheduled increase to some random departments budget is not a cut.

Looking at the new single use plastics bylaw, if you order a soup at a restaurant and go to eat it, find out there is no spoon, the only idiot in this scenario is you. Not the employee who can't ask you if you want a spoon, or a napkin, not the six figured salaried team of employee's + large benefit package who came up with this stupid concept. Only you!! As for something as obvious as a higher budget for road cleaning and snow removal for a winter city, no, we don't have that luxury.

This is a city council that has some members and a city administration that was patting it's self on the back for reducing red tape on expanded patios in Calgary during Covid. Completely forgetting just how hard and how much of a process it was and still is to literally put a park bench in front of a business for people to sit down.

This is what we get for massive increases in taxes?

We get to watch the Flames in a new arena. That single change in the budget dominates all the other changes.

[fotze2]

Originally Posted by wireframe

We get to watch the Flames in a new arena. That single change in the budget dominates all the other changes.

Nah, I'm sure the rink will be the reason for future year increases.

[timun]

Originally Posted by curves2000

I think Don Braids frustration mirrors that of a lot of Calgary residents. It's an ever increasing level of costs and a little bit of a tone deaf mentality. There is a lot of waste that could be cut and costs reduced yet they are not. EVERYBODY has been looking at ways of saving on expenses and cutting in their day to day budget, and by cuts, I mean actual cuts.

First of all, I don't think Don Braid is frustrated in the slightest. His writing mirrors what the grumpy old codgers who still read the Herald want him to write.

Secondly, please elaborate on the "lot of waste that could be cut and costs reduced." People love to bitch and complain about how the City can cut costs, "actual cuts", and I rarely read any viable plans to do so.

So far you've:

• kvetched about the single-use plastics bylaw—which, don't get me wrong, I think is stupid too,
• kvetched about "reducing red tape" around allowing restaurants to have curbside patios,
• kvetched about the bureaucracy of the approvals process to get a park bench placed in front of a business, and,
• suggested that we increase the snow removal budget.

That's three complaints, not "actual cuts", and a suggestion to increase spending. This reduces property taxes how...?

[Mazrim]

Originally Posted by curves2000

I think Don Braids frustration mirrors that of a lot of Calgary residents. It's an ever increasing level of costs and a little bit of a tone deaf mentality. There is a lot of waste that could be cut and costs reduced yet they are not. EVERYBODY has been looking at ways of saving on expenses and cutting in their day to day budget, and by cuts, I mean actual cuts.

The city talks about cuts but doesn't actual do anything. Reducing a scheduled increase to some random departments budget is not a cut.

Looking at the new single use plastics bylaw, if you order a soup at a restaurant and go to eat it, find out there is no spoon, the only idiot in this scenario is you. Not the employee who can't ask you if you want a spoon, or a napkin, not the six figured salaried team of employee's + large benefit package who came up with this stupid concept. Only you!! As for something as obvious as a higher budget for road cleaning and snow removal for a winter city, no, we don't have that luxury.

This is a city council that has some members and a city administration that was patting it's self on the back for reducing red tape on expanded patios in Calgary during Covid. Completely forgetting just how hard and how much of a process it was and still is to literally put a park bench in front of a business for people to sit down.

This is what we get for massive increases in taxes?

I'm not sure how you expect anyone to respond to this. Nothing you mentioned has anything to do with the increase in taxes.

The residents of Calgary are definitely not ready for what actual cuts would look like. They expect high quality service but no increases in taxes. That's not possible. Even some of the things some departments have done as trials to reduce costs were met with very negative feedback from the public.

EDIT: looks like timun and I had the same thought there!

[timun]

Great minds think alike.

Quoting myself for truth:

Originally Posted by timun

As I've written on this forum before, there are a great many spoiled brats in our electorate who expect everything for nothing. They expect better service levels, and get apoplectic when they're given the bill for it. As I've also said before: any of the candidates in the last election who promised to cut taxes and keep service levels constant was either a liar or an idiot, or both.

Here's how an "actual cut" typically plays out:

"Taxes are too high, wah wah wah! You need to cut spending!"

*"Actual cut" made by City*

"No no, not like that, I meant cut something I don't give a #### about!"

*City cuts a minute fraction of budget on stuff people "don't give a #### about"*

"HoW cOmE sIlLy HaLl AlWaYs RaIsE tAxEs?!?!"

[Slava]

Originally Posted by timun

Great minds think alike.

Quoting myself for truth:



Here's how an "actual cut" typically plays out:

"Taxes are too high, wah wah wah! You need to cut spending!"

*"Actual cut" made by City*

"No no, not like that, I meant cut something I don't give a #### about!"

*City cuts a minute fraction of budget on stuff people "don't give a #### about"*

"HoW cOmE sIlLy HaLl AlWaYs RaIsE tAxEs?!?!"

So we can expect to see a cut sometime? Because all we’ve seen from a majority of these councillors is not only a rejection of cuts, but even a rejection of cutting back the increases.

[Roughneck]

My requests aren't unreasonable.

I want them to lower taxes, but also want a snow clearing program that rivals Montreal, road interchanges that rival Texas, transit that rivals Tokyo, and with density that rivals Greenland. Is that so much to ask?! Any half-decent administrator should be able to make that work and be happy to receive the very low salary I demand city employees have.

[timun]

What do you want cut, Slava? Again: just more kvetching about no cuts, about "not even a cutting back of the increases". So what do you want cut?





I'll make one suggestion: I never wanted them to spend a dime on the new Flames arena. But that ship sailed. I'm never going to forgive any of these council members for their stupidity on that one, and let's not forget: Braid's "Sane Six" also voted for that turkey of a deal. "Sane" when it comes to voting down a property tax increase, but where was that fiscal restraint and "sanity" when it came time to tell the Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corporation to build their own ####ing arena instead suckling on the teat of taxpayers? Hmm?

[Slava]

Originally Posted by timun

What do you want cut, Slava? Again: just more kvetching about no cuts, about "not even a cutting back of the increases". So what do you want cut?





I'll make one suggestion: I never wanted them to spend a dime on the new Flames arena. But that ship sailed. I'm never going to forgive any of these council members for their stupidity on that one, and let's not forget: Braid's "Sane Six" also voted for that turkey of a deal. "Sane" when it comes to voting down a property tax increase, but where was that fiscal restraint and "sanity" when it came time to tell the Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corporation to build their own ####ing arena instead suckling on the teat of taxpayers? Hmm?

I’ve already said the arena deal was bad, but like you said that ship has sailed. But here’s the issue for me. It’s not even about cuts, it’s about increasing spending less than what they have. When the budget originally came out this year it wasnt at 7.8% and Dan McLean (who I don’t agree with on basically anything) said it was more like 7.8%. Councillor’s wouldn’t consider any way to reduce that increase at all, and here we are again seeing no consideration of that.

[timun]

"It’s not even about cuts, it’s about increasing spending less than what they have." Siiiiiiiiigh, for ####'s sake...

Call it whatever you want: what do you want them to not spend money on? Be specific.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by timun

"It’s not even about cuts, it’s about increasing spending less than what they have." Siiiiiiiiigh, for ####'s sake...

Call it whatever you want: what do you want them to not spend money on? Be specific.

Yeah and here’s the thing, it’s not my job. I’m not going through the budget line by line to find the savings. But people whose job it is proposed things and they wouldn’t even consider them. Way to make the tough decision!

[GGG]

Remember in this budget a 6% hike is keeping taxes flat.

Unlike the provincial and federal government tax revenues don’t go up with inflation so each year the inflationary increase is represented by a 2-4% tax hike.

Secondly this year saw the % split between business and residential changed. This is not a spending increase so that was 2-3 %

So a 1.8% tax increase. Thats like the provincial government raising the bottom rate from 10% to 10.18%.