The Ongoing Sean Chu Transgressions Thread

[killer_carlson]

I'm not sure this counts as a transgression. Many people in Calgary are asking for the process to be slowed down and more data considered.

[MrMastodonFarm]

I'll just leave this here.
http://www.calgaryherald.com/technol...203/story.html

Rookie city councillor Sean Chu thinks he’s found strong arguments against climate change: it’s cold in Calgary and icy in the Antarctic.

Chu, who is skeptical that man-made climate change is a real phenomenon, has been widely chided — by Mayor Naheed Nenshi, among others — for publicly questioning climate change this weekend, based on recent weather.

“So quiet from global warming alarmists about the ice stuck ship & yyc weather, it’s deafening. Is it b/c the weather’s been so freaking cold?” he said in a tweet, referring to a Russian research vessel that had recently been stranded in Antarctic ice.

[Tinordi]

Originally Posted by troutman

I read the other day that Portland (and Vancouver) are going to greatly reduce cycling budgets, as there has been no increase in cyclists commuting, despite huge expenditures.

Looking for that story . . . here is an older report:

http://www.oregonlive.com/commuting/...cycle_tra.html

I think ridership plateaued at 6% (still 10X the national average):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cycling...rtland,_Oregon

Not true.

[Tinordi]

"it's cold right now where I live, that means global warming isn't happening"

Told by the most self centered of ignoramuses

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally Posted by Tinordi

"it's cold right now where I live, that means global warming isn't happening"

Told by the most self centered of ignoramuses

[troutman]

Originally Posted by Tinordi

Not true.

What is not true?

BTW, I'm all for more cycling. Just reporting what I read. Trying to remember where I saw that - maybe Twitter.

[Tinordi]

Should civilization survive over these next 150 years we're going to look back at the dominance of motordom in public spaces with shock and horror and utterly ridicule statements that question the benefit of putting in safe corridors for active transportation to facilitate more congestion for drivers to sit in.

[burn_this_city]

Let's not hang the merits of his cycling opposition on his stupid global warming opinion. I think he's 100% right to question the data quality, poor decisions are made when the data is incomplete or low quality.

[Tinordi]

Originally Posted by troutman

What is not true?

BTW, I'm all for more cycling. Just reporting what I read. Trying to remember where I saw that - maybe Twitter.

That Vancouver and Portland are scaling back capital expenditures for bike routes AND that cycling trips have plateaued. Cycling is up in Vancouver over the last 5 years, has the highest share of bike trips in the country, has the lowest accident rate for cyclists by far of any North American city. Portland did stall at 6% (which is huge by American standards) but looks to be edging up again. Interestingly, Portland's ENTIRE bike network cost as much as 1 new mile of 8 lane freeway. But lets moan about bike infrastructure costs s'more.

[burn_this_city]

How much is one mile of 8 lane freeway? More or less than another irrelevant comparison?

[troutman]

This must be what I read (considering the source was an Op/Ed in the Sun- I will have to weigh it more carefully):

Going flat out — Portland and Vancouver spent loads on bike lanes … for very little gain

http://www.calgarysun.com/2014/03/09...ry-little-gain

According to bikeportland.org, cycling’s most admired city has finally hit the brakes on spending, having slashed the budget for neighbourhood greenway bike lanes, a priority of that 2010 cycle strategy.

After two decades of free-wheeling finances, it seems even Portland has realized there’s only so much spending you can do for a fixed minority of commuters — and with the Oregon city in the midst of a financial rough patch, infrastructure that benefits only 6% of citizens was first to go.

What both cities found is that the initial investment in bike infrastructure does attract new riders, but the point of diminishing return is quickly reached — and according to an 2013 City of Calgary report, Calgary is already approaching 4.7%, as measured on a May weekday.

When vaunted Portland can only attract 6% of commuters to cycling after building the best bike network in North America, can Calgary really do better?

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by Tinordi

Should civilization survive over these next 150 years we're going to look back at the dominance of motordom in public spaces with shock and horror and utterly ridicule statements that question the benefit of putting in safe corridors for active transportation to facilitate more congestion for drivers to sit in.

The people of today hardly care about the self-indulgent delusions of superiority of people trying to project their personal opinions onto the people of 150 years from now.

[OldDutch]

Chu gets reamed out by the mayor and apologizes.

EDIT: One positive is that whatever he hoped to accomplish on anything, his weight has diminished by this.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgar...eets-1.2568531

[NuclearPizzaMan]

Originally Posted by troutman

What is not true?

BTW, I'm all for more cycling. Just reporting what I read. Trying to remember where I saw that - maybe Twitter.

Things that do not jive with my world view are not true.

[The Yen Man]

I can't believe the guy tweeted something like that as a city councillor. Does he not understand what professionalism means? Or is he trying to be the next Rob Ford, and prove his street cred to the public.

[GaiJin]

While Chu's words weren't wisely chosen, it is hard to disagree with him about the cycle count.
7 st is a route of mine for work, sometimes I am down there for hours waiting for dock space. Sat through full morning rush a few times and saw maybe 20-30 bikes over the course of a few hours. Whats odd is that a few buildings on 7th street have installed bike racks in the docks,and the racks are for the most part empty.

[You Need a Thneed]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

Sean Chu and Ward Sutherland have been the only two members of city council that I have actually stopped following on twitter (I've always made a point of following all city council members regardless of my politics). I just couldn't take the idiocy anymore.

I've been tempted to unfollow Chu for a while. Maybe I don't see enough of Ward's tweets to think the same of his'.

I don't think I've read a single tweet or even retweet of Chu's that hasn't made me shake my head.

You can tell he's a guy that doesn't even care to learn about issues. He has his preconceived ideas, and will spout them off continuously.

He gives Helene Larocque a run for the money on being the worst councillor ever, IMO.

He goes well beyond, "let's study these bike lanes a little bit more". It's very obvious that he'd prefer to have no infrastructure for bikes anywhere.

Another one, that he even campaigned on, is that his ward wasn't the highest priority for transit. Whether or not that is true is completely beside the point. He actively campaigned on not fighting for his own ward. Especially, with his ward right on the NCLRT line, he should be actively fighting for better transit in his ward.

He has a habit of belittling any issue that he doesn't see as important, which is highlighted by his endless mockery of anything to do with bike infrastructure.

[shogged]

sean chu hasn't been in office for 6 months and its just one embarrassment after the other. the climate change comment was the worst though by far

[I-Hate-Hulse]

Here's his $138K campaign donor list (link) go to the embedded box... I can't be bothered to add up the Developers / Contractors on the list (and how much do you want to bet they had a hand in the $53K of "fundraising events") but I want to guess it's about 95% home building.

Do other candidates have developers as donors? - yes - here's the Sun's favorite Councillor Druh.

However, her list is at least diversified outside of the Developers - where as the pure concentration of them for Chu would seem to suggest his lips are firmly planted on the Developer's derriere.

[taco.vidal]

I heard an interview with Chu on CBC radio earlier this year where he was proposing that straddle buses are a solution into Calgary's transit woes. Sure, council should explore any reasonable options but this interview was ridiculous. He came across like a young student generating random ideas for a school project rather than a city councillor in a major city.
Cant find the interview but here is a tweet from a Herald reporter:

https://twitter.com/markusoff/status/429309756692365313