Ongoing YYCCC (Chu + Farkas) Transgressions Threat

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

I completely agree, but sadly there are a lot of people that are fooled by this particular rand of snake oil

I don’t think it’s snake oil. There’s a sizeable contingent of voters who just want their taxes kept low and will vote for whoever promises to do that for them. Farkas does.

“Vote for me and I’ll resist change in your neighbourhood and keep taxes low” isn’t a platform that appeals to me. But it seems to appeal to a lot of older voters in the suburbs. And while it might be shortsighted and selfish, there’s nothing dishonest about it.

[nik-]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

I don’t think it’s snake oil. There’s a sizeable contingent of voters who just want their taxes kept low and will vote for whoever promises to do that for them. Farkas does.

“Vote for me and I’ll resist change in your neighbourhood and keep taxes low” isn’t a platform that appeals to me. But it seems to appeal to a lot of older voters in the suburbs. And while it might be shortsighted and selfish, there’s nothing dishonest about it.

Except he isn't that, so it is snake oil.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by nik-

Except he isn't that, so it is snake oil.

What do you mean exactly? Do you think if elected as mayor he will do a 180 and become Fork Out Farkas?

[Torture]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

I don’t think it’s snake oil. There’s a sizeable contingent of voters who just want their taxes kept low and will vote for whoever promises to do that for them. Farkas does.

“Vote for me and I’ll resist change in your neighbourhood and keep taxes low” isn’t a platform that appeals to me. But it seems to appeal to a lot of older voters in the suburbs. And while it might be shortsighted and selfish, there’s nothing dishonest about it.

Vote for me and I'll "keep taxes low" by resisting change and...continuing the model where we subsidize ever more sprawl and have to raise taxes to do so.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by Torture

Vote for me and I'll "keep taxes low" by resisting change and...continuing the model where we subsidize ever more sprawl and have to raise taxes to do so.

Under the guise of “hey, we’re putting the taxpayer money into what they want, roads”.

[Oling_Roachinen]

Originally Posted by puffnstuff

Sorry theres a what? A slate of candidates all tied together to Farkas?
Ugh.
To the googlemobile!

This has been the case for every election in Calgary and Alberta for decades now.

The Manning Centre always puts together a bunch of 'conservative' candidates, either hand picked or like-minded, to donate to and vote for.

It's no secret that it was Preston Manning who got Jason Kenney into politics in the first place.

It's no secret that Farkas worked for the Manning Foundation until he quit to run for Ward 11.

It's no secret (because of the tape that was leaked) that Cal Wenzel and 11 other companies donated $100,000 each to the Manning Centre during his meeting to discuss how to get 8 favourable candidates into City Hall to control the vote.

Originally Posted by Cal Wenzel on tape

"But you know when I talked to Dave Bronconnier, Dave is sitting there saying, ‘it doesn’t matter if you’ve got the mayor on your side or not. You need eight votes. As long as you have eight votes you can control whatever happens.’
“So for whatever and however, we have to ensure that we end up with the eight votes...”

“…in order to bring Preston on board, 11 of us put up $100 thousand, so a million-one, so it’s not like we haven’t put up our money and we are going to be there to put up again, and we are also supporting candidates.”

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calga...ings-1.1931535

It was also reported that the group of home builders planned to donate more than $1 million to help more developer-friendly candidates win. Roughly half of the money went to the Manning Centre, a non-profit corporation that focuses on conservative-oriented activities, and the other half went to the Manning Foundation, a research centre that is a registered charity.

When it comes to conservative candidates entering politics, you pretty much can't get anywhere without Manning being in favour of you. And I'm not saying there's anything illegal about it (mostly cause I don't want to get sued by a certain home building company! :P), afterall it's a conservative think-tank supporting conservative candidates.

[pepper24]

I would have preferred that the city gave the money back to taxpayers instead of towards a downtown plan. Some relief in property taxes would help out everyone not just downtown users after being hit by the pandemic.

Also, if a downtown plan is really needed and it might then why not wait until after Covid when we get a better idea of how downtown has changed post-pandemic. Will people still be working from home or will they all come back downtown? Will high oil prices get people back downtown again? How many retail businesses will still be left? A lot of questions we won't know until at least the fall or next year at the earliest.

With the plan going ahead though I really hope it does address expensive parking and the fact that after dark it's a shady place. Right now you can shop, eat and play outside of downtown with free parking without safety worries specific to downtown.

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by pepper24

I would have preferred that the city gave the money back to taxpayers instead of towards a downtown plan. Some relief in property taxes would help out everyone not just downtown users after being hit by the pandemic.

Yeah, that one-time relief of ~$160/citizen would have really helped I'm sure.

The City needs to invest in itself. Those projects can create jobs and put people back to work.

[Mazrim]

Originally Posted by pepper24

Also, if a downtown plan is really needed and it might then why not wait until after Covid when we get a better idea of how downtown has changed post-pandemic.

It doesn't really matter, because the core issue with downtown even before the pandemic is that it's a ghost town after workers head home. With all the jobs losses from oil prices it was happening anyways. We need more people living downtown. That creates demand for more varied businesses in the downtown core, which makes it more viable at all hours. This plan will help jump start that.

Originally Posted by pepper24

With the plan going ahead though I really hope it does address expensive parking and the fact that after dark it's a shady place. Right now you can shop, eat and play outside of downtown with free parking without safety worries specific to downtown.

Is parking was free, there wouldn't be enough of it downtown. It's already cheap on evenings and weekends, which is coincidentally when you want more people downtown. The more people living and playing downtown on evenings and weekends, the safer it'll be.

[MarchHare]

Originally Posted by pepper24

With the plan going ahead though I really hope it does address expensive parking and the fact that after dark it's a shady place. Right now you can shop, eat and play outside of downtown with free parking without safety worries specific to downtown.

What safety worries are those? I've lived in the Beltline and worked downtown for 17 years and have never once thought it was shady or feared for my safety at any time of day or night. Of course, I'm a 6'4" man who weighs 200+ pounds, but my wife goes running alone along the river pathway three times weekly and has never felt unsafe doing so. Neither of us have ever been a victim of crime in our neighbourhood. The reputation of the core as being some kind of crime-ridden hellhole after dark is greatly exaggerated. Calgary, including its downtown core, is one of the safest cities in the world.

[Regular_John]

Originally Posted by MarchHare

What safety worries are those? I've lived in the Beltline and worked downtown for 17 years and have never once thought it was shady or feared for my safety at any time of day or night. Of course, I'm a 6'4" man who weighs 200+ pounds, but my wife goes running alone along the river pathway three times weekly and has never felt unsafe doing so. Neither of us have ever been a victim of crime in our neighbourhood. The reputation of the core as being some kind of crime-ridden hellhole after dark is greatly exaggerated. Calgary, including its downtown core, is one of the safest cities in the world.

As a much smaller guy I’ll say there’s pockets of the core I’ve felt uncomfortable waiting for the train at after dark in the past few years. Honestly most of the downtown LRT stations are rather devoid of life after dark, and despite being so close to the Stephan Ave bars/restaurants they aren’t the most inviting places to be waiting by yourself past a certain hour.

Having said that, I fully support this investment and hope it does revitalize the core, between the Beltline/East Village/Eau Claire we’ve got the makings of some great mixed use properties surrounding it, just a matter of extending those types of amenities north of the train line.

[Swift]

As someone from Dublin, I've always found the complaints that downtown Calgary is a scary place to be laughable. I used to work nightshift downtown without a car so when my shift finished at 3am and the next train wasn't until 5ish, I'd either be hanging out at the station or wandering around the streets exploring. I never once felt threatened and never had any intimidating encounters.

[The Familia]

Downtown really needs an overhaul in terms of basic infrastructure. Cut down the number of lanes, especially the one-ways. There is no need for 5 lane roads downtown anymore, especially as car traffic reduces. Sidewalks should all be widened and replaced where applicable. Some of them are in terrible shape. New and enhanced lighting, traffic poles, street furniture, trees, and landscaping would go a long way to making things feel nicer and safer. There should also be a permanent city crew sweeping up garbage and maintaining things 24/7. Stephen Ave and Olympic Plaza need their long overdue renovation. Continue investing in downtown attractions (Glenbow, Arts Commons, art gallery, new entertainment district. Continue adding more residents by converting the old office buildings into residential buildings. Encourage more retail, lower parking fees, and get the media onboard to advertise downtown and encourage people to go.

[bomber317]

Had a candidate knock on our door today.

Mask on his chin, I had no interest in talking to candidates that can't properly wear a mask. Politely declined a conversation.

[Weitz]

Originally Posted by The Familia

Downtown really needs an overhaul in terms of basic infrastructure. Cut down the number of lanes, especially the one-ways. There is no need for 5 lane roads downtown anymore, especially as car traffic reduces. Sidewalks should all be widened and replaced where applicable. Some of them are in terrible shape. New and enhanced lighting, traffic poles, street furniture, trees, and landscaping would go a long way to making things feel nicer and safer. There should also be a permanent city crew sweeping up garbage and maintaining things 24/7. Stephen Ave and Olympic Plaza need their long overdue renovation. Continue investing in downtown attractions (Glenbow, Arts Commons, art gallery, new entertainment district. Continue adding more residents by converting the old office buildings into residential buildings. Encourage more retail, lower parking fees, and get the media onboard to advertise downtown and encourage people to go.

Is agree with this if the traffic engineers here in Calgary could figure out how to operate traffic lights. But they can’t. And it’s sad.

[81MC]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calga...gary-1.6004298
How this deplorable character retained his position I’ll never understand. F you Joe, you lying thief.

[Regular_John]

Originally Posted by Swift

As someone from Dublin, I've always found the complaints that downtown Calgary is a scary place to be laughable. I used to work nightshift downtown without a car so when my shift finished at 3am and the next train wasn't until 5ish, I'd either be hanging out at the station or wandering around the streets exploring. I never once felt threatened and never had any intimidating encounters.

I’m not sure that particular 2 hour window in the middle of the night directly tracks with the other 22 hours of the day to be honest.

I mean it’s great that you personally felt safe waiting around for the train at that time of night alone… I’m sure there wasn’t another soul to be found either way as most folks are sleeping.

But I wouldn’t declare downtown to be inviting based on that metric much like I wouldn’t declare Deerfoot to be under-utilized because I can get from Airdie to the core in 15 minutes at 3:00am either.

Is downtown Calgary dangerous? No, not compared to Detroit.
Is downtown Calgary inviting? No, not compared to even the Beltline.

[Bigtime]

Livewire Calgary hosting a debate tonight between Jyoti and Jeromy:

https://twitter.com/user/status/1387272513109991427

[habernac]

He actually accepted? Holy crap.

[Bigtime]

Oh wait, the way that is worded maybe Farkas doesn't show?