Nenshi Responds to Bridge Criticism on Twitter

[pylon]

Originally Posted by MrMastodonFarm

Seriously pylon, that's your response?

I'd honestly love to see you address Bunk 's post before you take a sabbatical.

Also, what's with the whole not high brow enough for this website crap? No one is throwing their education in your face, no one. Are you honestly that sensitive about the subject that you take it that way?

When you say something like "fancy degrees" you're the one begging to be responded to in the way that table did to you.

The way you disrespected a man a lot of people here respect, what kind of reaction did you expect?

I will respond to this, because you bring up a valid point.

As per Bunk's comments. If he is in fact caring for his elderly parents in his own home, I will retract my statements about him "living in his parents basement." Fair enough, that is an awesome thing for anyone to do and I would do the same for mine, event though they all but abandoned me when I was a messed up teenager. Blood, is always thicker than water. I have constantly heard the parents basement rumours, an assumed them to be true, as I have never seen a retraction or correction on it. As for him being a tax paying Calgarian, I take that back too. But so am I, and since he has been in office, I have seen my taxes on my primary residence, and my rental go up as well, which doesn't make me happy.

I simply do not like Nenshi as a leader. He doesn't represent my voice, or my views on how I want the city run. He could be the coolest guy to throw a pint back with, but I do not like him as the face of this city. And no, it has nothing to do with the colour of his skin before anyone is stupid enough to make that assumption. He could be North Korean for all I care, if he could do the job right and move Calgary forward on the global stage.

To me the straw that broke the camels back was the occupy protesters. I was starting to warm up to him until that. They should have been removed in days, not months. He allowed trespassers to defecate, and squat in a public park because of his pacifistic attitude and demeanour. I think I speak for most Calgarians when I say they should have removed them much sooner, regardless of if the City ended up with a legal bill or not. I would have been more than happy for my taxes to contribute to it. Sometimes the right choice, can be an expensive choice.

In my opinion, this City is on the cusp of being a true global power house. I do not believe a man fretting about the Wifi bill in his office, or the fuel economy of the Mayoral vehicle, will do anything to forward that cause. Great, they are fiscally responsible, and cute little statements to make, but they will not move this city forward, and shake the stigma of a backwater redneck town. We need someone trying to keep the momentum of building this place up, not micromanaging the minutia. He has people working for him to do that.

I like my leaders to be strong, stoic, educated individuals. He is only one of those three in my eyes. If I met the guy face to face, I would shake his hand and say "Hi." but it doesn't mean I agree for one second with what he is doing.

So that is my response to Bunk and MMF. But I will leave the disclaimer that the above post was made by a High School dropout, so anything in it should be disregarded completely, and be considered of little or no value.

[MarchHare]

since he has been in office, I have seen my taxes on my primary residence, and my rental go up as well, which doesn't make me happy.

Didn't you profess to be a Bronconnier fan earlier in this thread? Didn't property taxes go up significantly during his tenure as mayor?

[3 Justin 3]

Originally Posted by Mr.Coffee

just an "in general" statement..

time to re-evaluate if your feelings are hurt by some guy on the internet you've never met.

[RedHot25]

Originally Posted by pylon

So that is my response to Bunk and MMF. But I will leave the disclaimer that the above post was made by a High School dropout, so anything in it should be disregarded completely, and be considered of little or no value.

Why did you include this? No one has brought it up but....you.

It makes it hard to consider your post when you throw this - in a rather passive aggressive manner I must say - at the very end.

[longsuffering]

Originally Posted by pylon

And with that, I make my final post on this website for the for-seeable future, as based on the thanks to that post, I am clearly not high brow enough for this site.

Oh Geez! Really? Never figured you for that sort of drama queen. You were rightfully called out for your post on Nenshi. Take your lumps like a man instead of running away because of hurt feelings.

You can dish it out pretty well. Guess you can't take it.

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by pylon

So as you have accused me of be-liitling people because of their education, which I have never, ever done, you just flagrantly insulted me, put words in my my mouth, and honestly, hurt me with that manifesto of yours. I in fact envy and look up to the higher educated, as I desperately wish I had done the same. You in fact did the exact reverse of what you accused me of and not only berated, but also humiliated me for my lack of one. You are a lucky man to have the education you do, but it certainly was not in any sort of field involving compassion or ethics.

Well look, my intent was not to humiliate you, as I think you're a solid poster on this board and contribute to it in a positive way. But you've on multiple occasions made snide comments about people's education, and I guess I just got sick of it.

Like I said before, I don't look down on people who don't have an education, because at the end of the day there are many factors that go into someones life...and even then, a post-secondary degree guarantees nothing. But that doesnt mean I can't respect someone for their education if they do have one. I seriously doubt anyone here voted for Nenshi because he went to Harvard, but I'll be honest with you, it doesn't hurt. Harvard is stupidly hard to get into....you either have to have the right connections, or you have to be one hell of a smart and talented person (and since I haven't heard of any Nenshi named wings at Harvard, I'm guessing he got it on merit).

And hey, if you're going back to school....all the power to you. Once you finish your degree, you'll probably realize why it would irk someone to have it trivialized.

And with that, I make my final post on this website for the for-seeable future, as based on the thanks to that post, I am clearly not high brow enough for this site.

Let's cut the teeny bopper drama. You and I both know you're not going anywhere. Are you really going to let some jerkoff be the reason why you leave a board you love?

[drhu22]

Nenshi may outwardly resemble a soft spoken jet puffed marshmallow, but to me he is one who genuinely speaks his mind, and backs up what he says without the political rhetoric and games we constantly get in politics these days.

To me he has shown his integrity, and that is a breath of fresh air.

PS: Pylon, most of us here have said things after too many 'pops' that we wish we hadn't. We won't hold you to it.

[Bertuzzied]

Wow so much drama for a Sunday afternoon!

It's a shame that there is not another Nenshi-type in provincial or federal politics. I won't mind calling him Premier or Prime Minister one day.

[drhu22]

Originally Posted by Bertuzzied

Wow so much drama for a Sunday afternoon!

It's a shame that there is not another Nenshi-type in provincial or federal politics. I won't mind calling him Premier or Prime Minister one day.

x2 (tentatively)

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Bertuzzied

Wow so much drama for a Sunday afternoon!

It's a shame that there is not another Nenshi-type in provincial or federal politics. I won't mind calling him Premier or Prime Minister one day.

No thanks

[drhu22]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

No thanks

You're welcome

[Bertuzzied]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

No thanks

There is no way he would be worse than Martin, Harper, Stelmach, or Redford.

Course that would mean he would not be our Mayor anymore. Imagine if Higgins or McIver were the mayor right now? shudder!

[Sr. Mints]

I'm glad Nenshi fixed his hair. I probably wouldn't have voted for him if he didn't.

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally Posted by pylon

I will respond to this, because you bring up a valid point.

As per Bunk's comments. If he is in fact caring for his elderly parents in his own home, I will retract my statements about him "living in his parents basement." Fair enough, that is an awesome thing for anyone to do and I would do the same for mine, event though they all but abandoned me when I was a messed up teenager. Blood, is always thicker than water. I have constantly heard the parents basement rumours, an assumed them to be true, as I have never seen a retraction or correction on it..

Why would he even have to respond to this?

Why does something as silly as this rumour deserve a statement or correction from our Mayor?

I don't care if it's true or not, that's his business.

I simply do not like Nenshi as a leader. He doesn't represent my voice, or my views on how I want the city run. He could be the coolest guy to throw a pint back with, but I do not like him as the face of this city. And no, it has nothing to do with the colour of his skin before anyone is stupid enough to make that assumption. He could be North Korean for all I care, if he could do the job right and move Calgary forward on the global stage.

You seem to have some antic image of what an leader should be, and you don't want/can't accept another version of leadership. I've watched council meetings with the man, and leadership abilities show. The way he can control a meeting is impressive.

...no once was suggesting the race thing...

To me the straw that broke the camels back was the occupy protesters. I was starting to warm up to him until that. They should have been removed in days, not months. He allowed trespassers to defecate, and squat in a public park because of his pacifistic attitude and demeanour. I think I speak for most Calgarians when I say they should have removed them much sooner, regardless of if the City ended up with a legal bill or not. I would have been more than happy for my taxes to contribute to it. Sometimes the right choice, can be an expensive choice.

I wanted them gone that afternoon too, but imagine on the front paper of protesters in hand-cuffs being taken away by police is exactly what those free loaders wanted. Nenshi played the patience card on this one, it ended later then we all wanted, but it ended without relative incident.

A big win for the major IMO

So that is my response to Bunk and MMF. But I will leave the disclaimer that the above post was made by a High School dropout, so anything in it should be disregarded completely, and be considered of little or no value

Sigh... you totally undercut any good argument you might have made saying something like this man, just totally cut your point off at the balls.

I am not one to give anyone advice on stuff like this, but I think it would do you well to not wear your heart on your sleeve so much. The only one pointing out Education levels in this thread, is you. You're the only one who has said anything negative about Education (in either direction) in this thread. You brought it up, no one else!

[Bunk]

Originally Posted by pylon

To me the straw that broke the camels back was the occupy protesters. I was starting to warm up to him until that. They should have been removed in days, not months. He allowed trespassers to defecate, and squat in a public park because of his pacifistic attitude and demeanour. I think I speak for most Calgarians when I say they should have removed them much sooner, regardless of if the City ended up with a legal bill or not. I would have been more than happy for my taxes to contribute to it. Sometimes the right choice, can be an expensive choice.

Fair enough, that's a legitimate critique from your point of view of leadership and how the situation with Occupy was handled.

However, I would counter by saying that the situation with Occupy was far more complicated than it likely appeared. Trust me, there were many people at the City, including the Mayor, that at many points wanted to just get them the hell out - consequences be damned. However, it was just not that simple. First of all, it's the Calgary Police that are the ones that have such a responsibility. The Mayor (and Council) has NO authority at all to command the police to do anything. They are NOT the Mayor's personal strike force - and that's for very good reason. They are governed by the Police Act, and are not governed by Council. The police had very legitimate reasons for the approach they took and handled the situation very well.

Second, there were very good legal reasons to take the approach that was taken through the warnings, court injunctions and court orders to ensure a similar protest was not taken again. It was unprecedented in a legal sense where the occupation of public space was the expression. Very tricky and took time (more than anyone wanted) to sort out. In the end, Calgary took the same approach that practically every single other major city in North America took - and that is not by accident.

Third, what would have been accomplished by dragging out the protesters kicking and screaming in cuffs - since this is exactly what they wanted, would it have been good to give them that satisfaction? Instead they plopped down a peice of public art and left peacefully.

Although it might have felt satisfying to some to go in there and crack heads, it would have been extremely short sighted. In this case, the real courage was to NOT do that.

[Sliver]

Well articulated, Bunk. Just like the other times you explained this very easy-to-understand concept. Why First Lady, CC and pylon couldn't - and apparently still can't - grasp it is mind bottling.

[Flames Fan, Ph.D.]

Originally Posted by pylon

I will respond to this, because you bring up a valid point.

As per Bunk's comments. If he is in fact caring for his elderly parents in his own home, I will retract my statements about him "living in his parents basement." Fair enough, that is an awesome thing for anyone to do and I would do the same for mine, event though they all but abandoned me when I was a messed up teenager. Blood, is always thicker than water. I have constantly heard the parents basement rumours, an assumed them to be true, as I have never seen a retraction or correction on it. As for him being a tax paying Calgarian, I take that back too. But so am I, and since he has been in office, I have seen my taxes on my primary residence, and my rental go up as well, which doesn't make me happy.

I simply do not like Nenshi as a leader. He doesn't represent my voice, or my views on how I want the city run. He could be the coolest guy to throw a pint back with, but I do not like him as the face of this city. And no, it has nothing to do with the colour of his skin before anyone is stupid enough to make that assumption. He could be North Korean for all I care, if he could do the job right and move Calgary forward on the global stage.

To me the straw that broke the camels back was the occupy protesters. I was starting to warm up to him until that. They should have been removed in days, not months. He allowed trespassers to defecate, and squat in a public park because of his pacifistic attitude and demeanour. I think I speak for most Calgarians when I say they should have removed them much sooner, regardless of if the City ended up with a legal bill or not. I would have been more than happy for my taxes to contribute to it. Sometimes the right choice, can be an expensive choice.

In my opinion, this City is on the cusp of being a true global power house. I do not believe a man fretting about the Wifi bill in his office, or the fuel economy of the Mayoral vehicle, will do anything to forward that cause. Great, they are fiscally responsible, and cute little statements to make, but they will not move this city forward, and shake the stigma of a backwater redneck town. We need someone trying to keep the momentum of building this place up, not micromanaging the minutia. He has people working for him to do that.

I like my leaders to be strong, stoic, educated individuals. He is only one of those three in my eyes. If I met the guy face to face, I would shake his hand and say "Hi." but it doesn't mean I agree for one second with what he is doing.

So that is my response to Bunk and MMF. But I will leave the disclaimer that the above post was made by a High School dropout, so anything in it should be disregarded completely, and be considered of little or no value.

It's interesting that the straws prior to the one that "broke the camel's back" are distilled down to internet fabrications (living in basement / not paying taxes) and "I simply do not like Nenshi as a leader."

Usually the straw that breaks the camel's back is effective because it has been added to many prior substantive reasons. This camel appears to have a relatively weak back.

[Bunk]

Originally Posted by pylon

What has Nenshi changed for the better? What of his great ideas have been implemented?

I will say this though, the stuffy image Dave has by in the public eye is so far off how the guy is in real life. He is one of the nicest, down to earth and FUNNY dudes you could ever ever meet in real life. The mans knowledge of the history and inner workings of the city are mind boggling, even beyond what you would expect a mayor to have to know.

I've met Dave on a few occasions, and I agree, he is a very engaging guy. I think he was a very good Mayor for Calgary, particularly for the time he was Mayor. We desperately needed to catch up on infrastructure, and he was very, very good and getting things built.

As for your first comment, I thought for those that are interested provide a link to a document the Office of the Mayor put together at the end of his first year in office. This document tracks what has been done and what ongoing initiatives are underway on every one of his 12 main platform plank "Better Ideas" and the many promises and sub-ideas within them.


It's about 5 months out of date now, as there have been several other major things happen in the past 5 months such as:

• securing the funding for the 4 major rec centres
• the launch of the long term transit strategy http://www.routeahead.ca/
• work on the consolodation of the non-residential property tax and business tax
• a process to reform the planning and development system (really, really important to building a better city and something I've been working on: http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/ca...329/story.html )

The Mayor doesn't want citizens to forget what he promised in his very detailed platform, but instead wants people to hold him accountable for acting on them. As his staff, we have his campaign promises on our walls, continuously working toward them and other promises he's made since he's held the Mayor's chair. Fortunately I think, we've made a lot of progress on most of them (some are very long term, very complex structural changes). The biggest disappointment thus far being not getting secondary suites approved in every neighbourhood, and not much progress compelling the provincial government to change legislation on campaign finance and disclosure.

Link:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B3Yy...it?hl=en&pli=1

http://blog.calgarymayor.ca/2011/10/...-progress.html

[fatso]

Does Brent Sutter have any advanced education?!? Exactly!

[Bertuzzied]

This is pretty ingenious. I can't of another mayor who would think of this.

Alberta’s five political parties have one week to respond to an online city survey, called CitiesMatter.ca, sent by the mayor’s office after the election writ was dropped Monday.
The survey has 10 categories relating to the relationship between Alberta’s biggest municipalities and the provincial government.
“There is often a sad lack of discussion — on the provincial and federal levels — on the issues that affect us every day,” said Mayor Naheed Nenshi.

Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Ne...#ixzz1qIgxaOVL