MF YYC Politics - there, I mega did it

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by btimbit

Not sure what to tell you, I gave you the answer, you didn't accept it. Shrug.

I'm sure they'd love to mount them on nice cheap steel poles if it was legal to do so

That answer proves my point though - there's no way fleet commonality is saving the difference in cost between a Ford Explorer and a Toyota Camry, and both would do that job equally well. Especially when you consider the other costs that are more expensive (fuel, tires, etc) and the likely better depreciation.

So while I'm sure fleet commonality is the official answer on that, they're prioritizing other factors over cost savings.

[SebC]

Originally Posted by btimbit

If it makes you feel any better, they pay for themselves

No they don't. Speeders pay for them.

[btimbit]

Originally Posted by bizaro86

That answer proves my point though - there's no way fleet commonality is saving the difference in cost between a Ford Explorer and a Toyota Camry, and both would do that job equally well. Especially when you consider the other costs that are more expensive (fuel, tires, etc) and the likely better depreciation.

So while I'm sure fleet commonality is the official answer on that, they're prioritizing other factors over cost savings.

Parts, mechanic familiarity and training, not to mention the huge bulk discounts from Ford, do indeed make up this difference. Plus those things print money anyway. The gap in price between a Camry and an F150 isn't as big as you seem to think it is either

But like I've been saying for a while now, they should all be replaced with EVs anyway. Or banned outright, #### photo radar

[powderjunkie]

Originally Posted by btimbit

In North America we tend to have more of a jack of all trades approach to emergency services. We take the approach of having every unit able to handle as much as possible, rather than a bunch of specialized vehicles.

For EMS, for example, most European countries will have several tiers of units unlike Alberta where everyone is simple either a PCP or ACP. Other than our Papa units, our ambulances have everything they need for any situation, whereas in Germany for example, you might have to call in several different specialist units that only carry what they need for a specific role. Life support units, mobile doctor cars, transport units, even specialized SUV's that act as an emergency pediatrician unit specifically for incidents involving kids

UK cops, for example, you have a few basic levels of police cars. Incident Response Vehicles, your average beat cop patroller is usually a small car with not much more than some traffic cones and a radio in it.

Armed Response Vehicles, bigger cars or SUV's that carry way more equipment for higher risk situations

Road Patrol Units, are usually bigger, faster, specialized vehicles that are pursuit-rated and carry heavy traffic equipment and usually stuff like ANPR.

In a lot of European countries police can't even transport criminals themselves, they call in a transport van for every person they arrest

In North America, for the most part, a regular police car encompasses all of the above, they want to be able to handle any tasks rather than call in and wait for specialized assistance

I’m not sure I’ll articulate my question well, but how frequently do you end up using ALL of that gear? Like is 50% pretty much daily/40% once a week/10% once a month?

And I’m thinking specifically of a more typical beat-cop; sounds like you might be a little more specialized?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[getbak]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1544374720476348425

[Yoho]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1544528470151204869

[Krovikan]

Originally Posted by bizaro86

As long as the vehicles that spend all day parked giving out photo radar tickets are full size trucks and explorers there is no wall of text that can ever demonstrate that the city cares about spending its fleet dollars responsibly.

Because that role absolutely does not require a vehicle of that size/cost.

I've been waiting for decades now for the city to show up to Regal Auction by a bunch of junkers and tow them to the side of the road. Plaster a bunch of pink stickers on the window, and sit a cop with a photo radar camera in it. Because that's how I'd do it, rather than obvious fleet vehicles.

They haven't yet, but, I keep slowing down every time I see a junked car on the side of the road.

[TorqueDog]

I'm surprised this hasn't been mentioned yet.

https://calgaryherald.com/news/local...st-in-property

Originally Posted by Calgary Herald

Councillor sanctioned for failure to disclose $300K interest in property

Integrity commissioner Ellen-Anne O’Donnell’s first investigation into Carra centred on a property at 66 New Street S.E., a 14,100-square-foot lot with a house backing onto the Bow River in Inglewood.

O’Donnell found that in 2015, after Carra had been on council for more than four years, he and his wife made a $300,000 down payment on the property to the homeowner, whose name was withheld.

“There was no written agreement or document of any kind setting out the terms of the transaction at that time,” wrote O’Donnell in her report’s finding of facts.

The commissioner found Carra worked in 2016 to get certain building restrictions lifted in Inglewood by bringing forward a notice of motion. He said at the time that he did not have a pecuniary interest, but did indicate he was “planning to build a house.” Carra failed to disclose his interest in the property for five more years, according to the integrity commissioner. At one point, the Carras paid an additional $36,000 toward the property. He disclosed “an interest in 66 New Street S.E. in Inglewood” on Nov. 10, 2021, shortly after being re-elected in last year’s municipal election.

O’Donnell noted in her report a complaint was brought forward to then-integrity commissioner Allen Sulatyky in May 2016 on this matter, but it was dismissed, according to the report. O’Donnell found Carra violated council’s disclosure policy and code of conduct, and that his violation was of “moderate severity.” She accepted his explanation that since he did not write down the agreement in a contract, and because he and his wife had paid the funds to a management company which held title to the property, he did not have a financial interest requiring disclosure to city council.

[OptimalTates]

O’Donnell noted in her report a complaint was brought forward to then-integrity commissioner Allen Sulatyky in May 2016 on this matter, but it was dismissed, according to the report.

That's probably the worst part of everything. What do you do when it the ethic commissioner is unethical or incompetent?

Same guy who was out eating with Magliocca right?

EDIT: Nope, that was Sal LoVecchio....

[InglewoodFan]

I used to live down the block from that property on New St. It has been listed and flipped a few times, usually around $2MM due to the size of the lot, being RC-2, and being riverfront. It has a nondescript duplex on it that I always dreamed about knocking down to build a nice infill. My theory was always that there was some impediment to doing so as it was surrounded by newer builds but no one ever developed that particular site.

Carra used to live on New St in a different house years ago, not sure if he still does.

[btimbit]

Originally Posted by powderjunkie

I’m not sure I’ll articulate my question well, but how frequently do you end up using ALL of that gear? Like is 50% pretty much daily/40% once a week/10% once a month?

And I’m thinking specifically of a more typical beat-cop; sounds like you might be a little more specialized?


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I'm not CPS, I'm a different emergency service, but there's equipment in my truck I haven't used in two years. Sure glad you have it when you need it though

[corporatejay]

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

I'm surprised this hasn't been mentioned yet.

https://calgaryherald.com/news/local...st-in-property

The lack of documentation seems concering, as though it was trying to be concealed. Who just wires someone 300k with no paperwork.

[Bunk]

Speculating, but I believe it was his parent's property.

[Ducay]

Gondek is literally the worst. What has she done beyond trying to tackle giant macro issues that have nothing to do with municipal politics?

Makes Farkas look like knight in shining armour right around now. RIP my property taxes

[Krovikan]

Originally Posted by Ducay

Gondek is literally the worst. What has she done beyond trying to tackle giant macro issues that have nothing to do with municipal politics?

Makes Farkas look like knight in shining armour right around now. RIP my property taxes

Farkas as a person seems to be trying to reform his image, and I applaud him for his charity work; however, as a councillor, he was as incompetent as Chu. Listening to some council meetings those two didn't even know the basics of the job.

As for Gondek, her job is to be one vote in the council, lead the council meetings, be a public figure for the city, and lead negotiations with other cities, the province, and the feds. Most of the last part is really mundane stuff that we may or may not hear about.

But the question what has this council done for us? Good question, and it's freaken hard to figure out without a lot of research, frankly digging through council motions is a pain in the arse. What I know from the media:

- Build a net-zero initiative.
- Work on converting downtown buildings to residential buildings.
- Add green retrofit property tax loans (a lot of other municipalities already have these).
- Trying to develop a strategy to deal with security issues in transit
- Restore transit service, which become a serious issue in places like Mahagony.
- Approved 5 new communities (not sure if this is a good thing, I think sprawl is part of our issue with property tax cost).
- Pushed Enmax to accelerate infrastructure upgrades that they were very far behind (this affected me with three power outages this year... most probably wouldn't know)
- Working on a strategy to get new hotels ( didn't know this was an issue)

I'm sure that there are tons of little mundane stuff like pushing forward the green line, that doesn't get much attention or care. Unlike the Province and Feds, the city affects us the most, but most of what they do won't grab headlines.

Frankly, I'm glad Farkas is gone, the guy's grandstanding and no votes just got in the way of the council doing work IMO, next let's eject Chu.

[DoubleK]

Originally Posted by Ducay

Gondek is literally the worst. What has she done beyond trying to tackle giant macro issues that have nothing to do with municipal politics?

Her superpower is coming up with solutions that are desperately searching for problems.

Your Worship, indeed.

[Macman]

Will be interesting to see where this 3.1B is going to come from in the new budget this year and the next 25 or more years for this climate change initiative.

Is that not a ton of money to be adding to the budget? I heard this morning that a lot of city services have increased in cost as well and those have to be taken care of now as well in the upcoming budget.

They said in the article on the climate initiative that there is some money coming from outside industries but it’s still a large sum for the city. Maybe the Feds have said they’ll pay for it but I kinda doubt that, that’s just too much money.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Macman

Will be interesting to see where this 3.1B is going to come from in the new budget this year and the next 25 or more years for this climate change initiative.

Is that not a ton of money to be adding to the budget? I heard this morning that a lot of city services have increased in cost as well and those have to be taken care of now as well in the upcoming budget.

They said in the article on the climate initiative that there is some money coming from outside industries but it’s still a large sum for the city. Maybe the Feds have said they’ll pay for it but I kinda doubt that, that’s just too much money.

The $87 billion price tag, or $3.1 billion annually for the next 28 years, would be covered by all levels of government as well as stakeholders in the private sector.

https://calgary.ctvnews.ca/calgary-c...tegy-1.5976003

This isn't the city spending 3.1 billion per year, this is the cost in general to implement all the measures. It also says all levels of government. Much of it will be spent by businesses and individuals to meet the targets. I'd imagine much of the city spending will be replacement costs, so instead of replacing an old diesel bus with another one, it would be the incremental cost of replacing it with natural gas or electric. Same with building heating and cooling, a lot of it would have been done anyway, this is just summing the costs. But it's an easy headline to divide by 28 and say that's what our direct tax dollars need to cover, even if it isn't remotely true.

[Krovikan]

Originally Posted by Macman

Will be interesting to see where this 3.1B is going to come from in the new budget this year and the next 25 or more years for this climate change initiative.

Is that not a ton of money to be adding to the budget? I heard this morning that a lot of city services have increased in cost as well and those have to be taken care of now as well in the upcoming budget.

They said in the article on the climate initiative that there is some money coming from outside industries but it’s still a large sum for the city. Maybe the Feds have said they’ll pay for it but I kinda doubt that, that’s just too much money.

My understanding:

It'll be split three ways between the City, Provinces, and Federal levels - the city portion will come mostly from the non-operational spending; which will mean it won't affect property taxes.

Non-operational budget is mostly funded by the province and feds, so it's really just adjusting the priorities for that income stream.

[chemgear]

Originally Posted by Krovikan

which will mean it won't affect property taxes.