News   Apr 03, 2020
From the Editor: A Message to Our Readers
 7.3K     3 
News   Apr 02, 2020
Topping Off March 2020: What's Hot on SkyriseEdmonton
 7.5K     0 
News   Apr 02, 2020
News Roundup for April 2, 2020
 2.6K     0 

Municipal Politics

CplKlinger said:
I had a great talk with Cheryll Watson today. If you haven't yet had a call with her and have some burning questions or comments, you should schedule a call. She was very open and candid, and the conversation went both ways which I really appreciated. Here are her thoughts on the topics I raised.

1. Downtown

Downtown is an important source of tax revenue for the city, and everyone should be concerned about the possibility of it dying. The city needs to look at tax rates and red tape/bureaucracy, because she's heard from numerous business owners about them. The city also needs to repair its relationship with the provincial government; it's far too adversarial right now, and this is unacceptable given that it would be such an important partner in addressing concerns about downtown. From affordable housing to safe injection sites, the province has a lot of sway over the solutions for the homelessness and addiction crises facing that neighbourhood. The city's biggest asset is land. It should talk with social organizations to see what their needs are, where their clients are located, could get jobs, etc., and go off that to decide which land to give those service organizations. These organizations shouldn't be concentrated in one area, like Chinatown, but they also shouldn't be placed in random neighbourhoods for the sake of spreading them out.

2. Transit and transportation

She doesn't have a specific platform policy about alternate transportation, but it's definitely on her radar. She supports the idea of the bus network redesign (and bike lanes, while we're at it), but doesn't think it is well-positioned for future growth. She's also skeptical of the Valley Line; especially the west leg. She emphasized that she is all for public transit and the *intention* of the valley line, but not necessarily its execution. She said her attitude has shifted over time. She used to support the idea of a north-south and a east-west LRT line, plus ways of connecting Edmontonions to those networks. However, she worries that the VLW will have too little capacity and - crucially- be too slow. She does not see this as offering any improvement to the west compared to what is currently offered, and it should instead be built completely above or below ground. She does not think that the current design warrants the VLW's large cost or construction timeline. She instead supports 'microtransit'. I had to tease out a bit of an idea of what she meant by this, but this is the gist: BRT should be used along the VLW ROW until usage numbers justify putting tracks in, and people should be connected with the line via buses, biking, walking, on-demand transit, taxis/ubers, etc. She used the example of DATS, which is very much over capacitated and thus has large wait times. Overall, she wants something done to improve transit in that area, but wants to make sure that whatever happens offers the best value and service possible.

3. The VIA Rail station's location

This actually was not on her radar at all, and she'll look into it. I argued that it is far too remote, has minimal pedestrian/transit connections, and leaves tourists and visitors in the lurch unless they rent a car. It should be in a more central or southern location of the city, where people can get to and from the station without cars, where there are nearby amenities like shops or destinations, and/or close to the future high speed rail line's Edmonton station. it shouldn't just be a waypoint between Toronto and Vancouver.

I'm not a huge fan of her skepticism of the Valley Line LRT, but I'm definitely leaning towards voting for her instead of Sohi. I haven't been impressed by his lack of "organic" outreach (his campaign never responded to my email), and they didn't even send me a lawn sign even though I requested one twice over the spawn of a couple months. In contrast, I'm very impressed that Watson offers times where people can engage with her one-on-one, and I loved that she actually gave honest answers and explained *why* she thought that way, instead of sticking to a script. We had an actual conversation, and that is an important thing in my eyes.

Also, I told her about this site and sent her a link, so be on your best behaviour ;)
Click to expand...
Hi @CplKlinger, thanks for introducing me to this forum and for sharing your reflections on our conversation.

I see that our exploration of the topic of the West Valley LRT line is getting some attention. I'd love to continue to expand my perspectives on this transportation line and invite others to also book a conversation time with me. Here's the link to my calendar. https://calendly.com/cheryll/meeting-with-cheryll-30

I remain yours in curiosity and collaboration. ~Cheryll
 
CplKlinger said:
I had a great talk with Cheryll Watson today. If you haven't yet had a call with her and have some burning questions or comments, you should schedule a call. She was very open and candid, and the conversation went both ways which I really appreciated. Here are her thoughts on the topics I raised.

1. Downtown

Downtown is an important source of tax revenue for the city, and everyone should be concerned about the possibility of it dying. The city needs to look at tax rates and red tape/bureaucracy, because she's heard from numerous business owners about them. The city also needs to repair its relationship with the provincial government; it's far too adversarial right now, and this is unacceptable given that it would be such an important partner in addressing concerns about downtown. From affordable housing to safe injection sites, the province has a lot of sway over the solutions for the homelessness and addiction crises facing that neighbourhood. The city's biggest asset is land. It should talk with social organizations to see what their needs are, where their clients are located, could get jobs, etc., and go off that to decide which land to give those service organizations. These organizations shouldn't be concentrated in one area, like Chinatown, but they also shouldn't be placed in random neighbourhoods for the sake of spreading them out.

2. Transit and transportation

She doesn't have a specific platform policy about alternate transportation, but it's definitely on her radar. She supports the idea of the bus network redesign (and bike lanes, while we're at it), but doesn't think it is well-positioned for future growth. She's also skeptical of the Valley Line; especially the west leg. She emphasized that she is all for public transit and the *intention* of the valley line, but not necessarily its execution. She said her attitude has shifted over time. She used to support the idea of a north-south and a east-west LRT line, plus ways of connecting Edmontonions to those networks. However, she worries that the VLW will have too little capacity and - crucially- be too slow. She does not see this as offering any improvement to the west compared to what is currently offered, and it should instead be built completely above or below ground. She does not think that the current design warrants the VLW's large cost or construction timeline. She instead supports 'microtransit'. I had to tease out a bit of an idea of what she meant by this, but this is the gist: BRT should be used along the VLW ROW until usage numbers justify putting tracks in, and people should be connected with the line via buses, biking, walking, on-demand transit, taxis/ubers, etc. She used the example of DATS, which is very much over capacitated and thus has large wait times. Overall, she wants something done to improve transit in that area, but wants to make sure that whatever happens offers the best value and service possible.

3. The VIA Rail station's location

This actually was not on her radar at all, and she'll look into it. I argued that it is far too remote, has minimal pedestrian/transit connections, and leaves tourists and visitors in the lurch unless they rent a car. It should be in a more central or southern location of the city, where people can get to and from the station without cars, where there are nearby amenities like shops or destinations, and/or close to the future high speed rail line's Edmonton station. it shouldn't just be a waypoint between Toronto and Vancouver.

I'm not a huge fan of her skepticism of the Valley Line LRT, but I'm definitely leaning towards voting for her instead of Sohi. I haven't been impressed by his lack of "organic" outreach (his campaign never responded to my email), and they didn't even send me a lawn sign even though I requested one twice over the spawn of a couple months. In contrast, I'm very impressed that Watson offers times where people can engage with her one-on-one, and I loved that she actually gave honest answers and explained *why* she thought that way, instead of sticking to a script. We had an actual conversation, and that is an important thing in my eyes.

Also, I told her about this site and sent her a link, so be on your best behaviour ;)
Click to expand...

I've forwarded this post on to Cheryll Watson's campaign to see if there is any response to what was paraphrased on her position here specifically regarding West LRT.

I will update if I hear anything.

EDIT: OK WOW she already responded and made a post I see - that was fast. For the record - I reached out to Sohi and Krushell on issues and never got a reply to my questions.
 
Cheryll said:
Hi @CplKlinger, thanks for introducing me to this forum and for sharing your reflections on our conversation.

I see that our exploration of the topic of the West Valley LRT line is getting some attention. I'd love to continue to expand my perspectives on this transportation line and invite others to also book a conversation time with me. Here's the link to my calendar. https://calendly.com/cheryll/meeting-with-cheryll-30

I remain yours in curiosity and collaboration. ~Cheryll
Click to expand...
Hi Cheryll, welcome to the forum! It's very nice to see you here and that you're willing to talk with us. I personally will book a meeting with you in the next week or two to discuss the LRT viewpoint and much more about Edmonton as a young engaged citizen. I appreciate the candidness of your campaign and how open you are with the people you'd potentially represent as mayor and, if I was old enough to vote, that'd be an important quality to have when rating my choices.

Thank you and good luck with your campaign!
 
Cheryll said:
Hi @CplKlinger, thanks for introducing me to this forum and for sharing your reflections on our conversation.

I see that our exploration of the topic of the West Valley LRT line is getting some attention. I'd love to continue to expand my perspectives on this transportation line and invite others to also book a conversation time with me. Here's the link to my calendar. https://calendly.com/cheryll/meeting-with-cheryll-30

I remain yours in curiosity and collaboration. ~Cheryll
Click to expand...
Hey @Cheryll, thank you for checking out this website and taking the time to respond! It truly means a lot to me, and I'm sure many of the members here, that you make yourself available to Edmontonions and give us more than basic lip service. I hope that you stick around and continue to engage with the members here. Aaron Paquette has had a number of very successful engagement posts on Reddit, and I think being a bit engaged here could be similarly worth your time; both in terms of seeing what voters (and wannabe voters @Platinum107 :p) think on a number of different issues, and in terms of getting your name out there in general. When I talk with others about this election, I'll certainly discuss our call, and the fact that you followed up with a comment in less than a week!
 
Well this survey is scary. It shows Tony Caterina tied for lead in O-day'min despite the fact he doesn't seem to be running any campaign. He has no campaign website outlining his platform or anything regarding the issues in this new ward, no social media info and he didn't attend the one all candidates forum in the ward that I watched.

Screenshot_20210820-185017_Instagram.jpg


Note: this survey result came from a posting on Adrian Bruff's insta account. Not sure how sound the poll was.
 
Last edited:
Edmcowboy11 said:
For the size of our city the low floor line will do fine for the west valley line. Very similar to the LRT in Seattle. My support will go to any candidate that wishes to continue with LRT for the Valley line, to St. Albert, Heritage Valley, and Gorman.
Click to expand...
Bonus points if they come up with an actual plan for an East line that goes to Sherwood Park, in the long term (2040 or so)
 
Gronk! said:
I saw quite a few Mike Nickel signs in the Windermere area
Click to expand...

One thing I will admit Mike Nickel likely leads the candidates on - a higher percentage of his supporters take signs and proudly showcase their support than any other person.

While I considered just voting Sohi at one point solely for the purpose of ensuring Nickel not getting in, I'm not too worried about that anymore and feel he doesn't have nearly enough of the mass support to pull off a win even though it may look like he has a lot of widespread support based on signs.

Note: the views expressed here could be embarrassingly off the mark to the devastating impact of our city's future.


I'm actually more concerned now that Tony Caterina could win in O'day-min given there are several respectable candidates that could all split the vote.
 
TAS said:
One thing I will admit Mike Nickel likely leads the candidates on - a higher percentage of his supporters take signs and proudly showcase their support than any other person.

While I considered just voting Sohi at one point solely for the purpose of ensuring Nickel not getting in, I'm not too worried about that anymore and feel he doesn't have nearly enough of the mass support to pull off a win even though it may look like he has a lot of widespread support based on signs.

Note: the views expressed here could be embarrassingly off the mark to the devastating impact of our city's future.


I'm actually more concerned now that Tony Caterina could win in O'day-min given there are several respectable candidates that could all split the vote.
Click to expand...
I'm on the same boat, but the Federal election worries me more than anything, at the moment.
 
You know, I really never thought I'd say this but I think I might have to vote for Nickel. The crime issue is getting intolerable in the city and it really just doesn't seem to be anywhere near a priority for Sohi like it is for Nickel. While I'd worry about him getting in the way of infrastructure spending, I'm hopeful that council will override him on anything important like already approved LRT projects.

Even if worst came to worst I'm starting to come around to the idea that trading a 4 year delay in new capital spending for a safer feeling city would be worth it anyways at this point.
 
Last edited:
Aaron_Lloyd said:
You know, I really never thought I'd say this but I think I might have to vote for Nickel. The crime issue is getting intolerable in the city and it really just doesn't seem to be anywhere near a priority for Sohi like it is for Nickel. While I'd worry about him getting in the way of infrastructure spending, I'm hopeful that council will override him on anything important like already approved LRT projects.

Even if worst came to worst I'm starting to come around to the idea that trading a 4 year delay in new capital spending for a safer feeling city would be worth it anyways at this point.
Click to expand...
Well I gotta read more bout his platform but it seems his main solution is to hire more cops.
 
You must log in or register to post here.

Back
Top