Municipal Politics

[ChazYEG]

(In response to Nickel's announcement): "BIKElAnEs aRe PoOpOo aM i RiGhT gUys??" <--can this stop, like now? Literally the most over-used NIMBY headass quip there is, and Nickel and (most) of his base LOVE it, because of course they do!! A lot of them clearly don't understand what bike lanes are and what an urban and active daily lifestyle is, and don't get that it's people living in the dense core neighborhoods paying property tax and other taxes who cover a good chunk of the suburbs they live in and need active infrastructure to get to where they need to go. Of course they see bike lanes as unnecessary because a lot of them probably haven't ridden a bike since they were a kid and see them as just toys or workout equipment as opposed to a functional mode of transportation equally needing of infrastructure as their 2010 dodge grand caravan. Note from my internal editor: If you have a 2010 dodge grand caravan and you're cool and support urban investment or are open to learning about it then I love you! I wish I could vote, but I guess all I can do is promote who I like on my socials leading up to the election.

Also Nickel's announcement video was so strange, like it was all over the place and had no cohesive structure to the point that I mistook it for another Facebook live video until I noticed the campaign signs and supporters behind him lmao.

We're on the same boat about voting. Wish I could, but since I can't, I'll make the most of supporting the right people and beating Nickel as hard as I can, online or not.
And it's not just about him winning, but we need to stop these kind of people from becoming strong enough to actually hinder the city's progress any further.

 

[Platinum107]

We're on the same boat about voting. Wish I could, but since I can't, I'll make the most of supporting the right people and beating Nickel as hard as I can, online or not.
And it's not just about him winning, but we need to stop these kind of people from becoming strong enough to actually hinder the city's progress any further.

There's always gonna be the one old oil boom time establishment character in a higher public servant role, but it's when these people feel like they could win at a crack for mayor or premier that they should be shown otherwise by the votes we cast and the opinions we share.

 

[Kosy123]

I had a look over Nickel's issues with Edmonton on his campaign page. For all his talk over the years about being 'fiscally responsible' I love how he's still advocating for "rethinking" the Valley Line West. I guess fiscal conservatism doesn't apply to all the money already spent on the years worth of studies, planning, public relations, consultation, utilities realignments, tree cutting, appropriation, demolition, etc. And I mean, seriously, even if he gets into office (God forbid) what's he gonna do? The election's in October and Valley West will already be under serious construction by that point, no? I thought UCP types like him are all about 'creating jobs for the working man' — what, he's going to lay them off?

That's the thing I hate most about good ol' Mike. He's not a visionary — he's a regressive. Whether you like Iveson or not and whether you approve of his mayorship or not, it's hard to argue that he hasn't had some kind of a vision. To him anyways, he's tried to make Edmonton a more urban city, with heavy focus on public transit, multi-modal transportation, and a continued investment downtown. And again, whether or not you think he succeeded or is just riding off of Mandel's heavy-lifting, that's basically been his stated goal. But what does Nickel stand for? I honestly couldn't say. All I know is that he's against things. Against photo-radar, against bike lanes, against LRT, against lower speed limits, against a better more all-inclusive, urban Edmonton.

"Rethink" Valley Line West? incurring increased costs in the hundreds of millions over the future and jeopardizing future developments and investments along the area?
When it's in the middle of construction by mid-2021?

stfu Mike

 

[Edmcowboy11]

Well at least he's not stupid enough to question valley line south.

 

[archited]

Don't criticize him too harshly (just yet) lest he drop out of the Mayoral race and re-run for Councillor where he stands a chance of getting re-elected. Shhh... Let him think he is in first place for the time being and then like King Solomon we can pull the rug out from under him and fly home cheering a sane choice for Mayor all the way. Some signs for later "Hit the Pike Mike", "Me no likey Mikey", "A penny for your thoughts nickel, because they aren't worth a dime" and...
There once was a man Mike Nickel
who constantly appeared quite fickle
His "no" should'a been "yes"
His thoughts were a mess
"As a mayor" the idea makes me prickle

 

[Platinum107]

Don't criticize him too harshly (just yet) lest he drop out of the Mayoral race and re-run for Councillor where he stands a chance of getting re-elected. Shhh... Let him think he is in first place for the time being and then like King Solomon we can pull the rug out from under him and fly home cheering a sane choice for Mayor all the way. Some signs for later "Hit the Pike Mike", "Me no likey Mikey", "A penny for your thoughts nickel, because they aren't worth a dime" and...
There once was a man Mike Nickel
who constantly appeared quite fickle
His "no" should'a been "yes"
His thoughts were a mess
"As a mayor" the idea makes me prickle

Omg I can't Those are some priceless catchphrases there. The "his "no" should'a been a "yes"" line reminded me of this: You guys remember how Nickel was literally the only person on council to vote against the City Plan?? Apparently he said to CBC, quote ""It's very much administration's and the mayor's plan" and nothing else. I don't doubt for one second that if this mans gets in he'll try and remove the City Plan and put in his own, probably titled: "Nickel's City Plan: The first word's what a new suburban 2-storey will cost when we're done here!"

 

[thommyjo]

Nickel is playing classic politics. Same as Trump. Campaigning by playing to anger and frustration. People will always be pulled to their dislikes and frustrations over visions of what could be.

Abolish photo radar... easy attraction to drivers.

Stop bike lanes...easy attraction to downtown commuters and those who had the badly planned bike paths in their suburbs.

Stop valley west...easy sell to anyone west ednonton needing to drive downtown daily.

Just leaning into getting votes from people that didn't like Donny. Not actually casting vision for a better city.

I do agree with his assessments on middle management and consulting in COE though. There needs to be better fiscal responsibility so we have money to invest in streets, parks, transit, etc.

 

[archited]

We should be actively looking for someone who lives in Oliver/Rossdale/Grandin/Downtown precinct that could be encouraged to have political ambitions to run for council -- maybe someone on the Skyrise Cities site. We could thereby be more proactive in our promotion of the "ideal candidate". Someone who is growth oriented who understands the plight of Retail, Hospitality, and Office regression and the need to "streamline" both the council and the City administration. I know that I would support the "ideal" candidate to the max!

 

[ChazYEG]

We should be actively looking for someone who lives in Oliver/Rossdale/Grandin/Downtown precinct that could be encouraged to have political ambitions to run for council -- maybe someone on the Skyrise Cities site. We could thereby be more proactive in our promotion of the "ideal candidate". Someone who is growth oriented who understands the plight of Retail, Hospitality, and Office regression and the need to "streamline" both the council and the City administration. I know that I would support the "ideal" candidate to the max!

Call me up on that 4 years from now

 

[TAS]

Poor result for Edmonton, that is Mayor Iveson and all of council and its administration, from the C.D Howe Institute as we rated the worst of 31 Canadian municipalities in terms of fiscal transparency and budget reporting for this past year. Edmonton received an F, Calgary, Montreal, Ottawa and Winnipeg a B and Vancouver an A+.

Report is here:

Time for an Upgrade: Fiscal Accountability in Canada’s Cities, 2020 – C.D. Howe Institute

Outdated practices make the budgets of too many Canadian cities impossible for non-experts to understand. In this report, authors William B.P. Robson and Miles Wu grade the clarity, comprehensiveness, and timeliness of the financial presentations of 31 major Canadian municipalities, based on...

www.cdhowe.org

 

[CplKlinger]

Poor result for Edmonton, that is Mayor Iveson and all of council and its administration, from the C.D Howe Institute as we rated the worst of 31 Canadian municipalities in terms of fiscal transparency and budget reporting for this past year. Edmonton received an F, Calgary, Montreal, Ottawa and Winnipeg a B and Vancouver an A+.

Report is here:

Time for an Upgrade: Fiscal Accountability in Canada’s Cities, 2020 – C.D. Howe Institute

Outdated practices make the budgets of too many Canadian cities impossible for non-experts to understand. In this report, authors William B.P. Robson and Miles Wu grade the clarity, comprehensiveness, and timeliness of the financial presentations of 31 major Canadian municipalities, based on...

www.cdhowe.org

Here are some key points from the Edmonton Journal (headers added by me).

Arguments:

"Final scores were based on a series of criteria related to the presentation of budgets and year-end financial statements, including date of approvals, date of release and how far into the documents results are presented. The study found the City of Edmonton’s documents failed 'to meet a minimal standard of transparency, usefulness and timeliness.' London, Ont., was the only other Canadian city to receive a failing grade. Calgary on the other hand scored a “B.” 'Both Edmonton and London presented budgets that were confusing and late, and their financial statements compared results to numbers that did not appear in their budgets, without explanation,' the institute said in a report released Thursday. C.D. Howe Institute CEO Bill Robson said the report card boils down to the quality and clarity of information provided to the public so that it’s easy to find and understand. He said Edmonton failed to make the financial details easily attainable and that is reflected in the low score. 'There’s no reason why a city or any organization shouldn’t be able to publish the numbers up front on a consistent basis where a person who is engaged … will be able to find them,” he said. “I am disappointed and the reason I’m disappointed is because it’s not hard to do much better.'”

Defences:

"But the city’s chief financial officer Mary Persson took issue with the criteria used to grade transparency and said she has reached out to C.D. Howe to highlight how the city is informing the public even if it doesn’t fit into the scorecard. For example, there is a separate financial report to citizens issued annually online that breaks down the budgets and financial statements. 'We do not believe that this score reflects the transparency and the work that we’ve put into making sure that the citizens of Edmonton actually have really good transparent information,' she said in an interview with Postmedia Friday afternoon. 'Right now this is a paper exercise that means if I just move something around, maybe not talk about what I use the money for, maybe I would score a better mark. To me, that is fundamentally flawed.' Aside from what is used to measure transparency, Persson voiced frustration with the accuracy of some of the scores. Edmonton scored a zero for including gross expenditures in the budgets, which she said is included, but just not in the first summary tables. Points were also taken away for the budget being approved 17 weeks into 2020 and not at the end of 2019, but Persson said those were budget adjustments as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and bylaw approvals. Edmonton operates on a four-year budget cycle and the 2020 budget was initially approved at the end of 2018."

Other context:

"Ward 1 Coun. Andrew Knack said he too has questions about some of the report findings, but isn’t against comparing the city’s operations to other municipalities and looking at ways to improve. 'I’m less worried about the final grade, I’m more interested in taking a look at how other cities do things and see what we can do better,' he said. Despite this failing grade, the City of Edmonton has received a Canadian Award for Financial Reporting for 26 consecutive years from the Government Finance Officers Association."

City of Edmonton receives failing grade for fiscal transparency in C.D. Howe Institute study

Edmonton scored a failing grade from the C.D. Howe Institute for fiscal accountability and transparency in its most recent budgets and financial statements.

edmontonjournal.com

 

[archited]

They should have consulted the Skyrise Cities crew -- we have been saying that all along. Having the rating justified by the C. D. Howe gives me a warm fuzzy feeling in my gut but an alarm headache in my head. As I said many posts ago the whole council should be changed out -- the gang that couldn't administrate.

 

[Avenuer]

They should have consulted the Skyrise Cities crew -- we have been saying that all along. Having the rating justified by the C. D. Howe gives me a warm fuzzy feeling in my gut but an alarm headache in my head. As I said many posts ago the whole council should be changed out -- the gang that couldn't administrate.

I agree with CFO Mary Persson in that it seems the Howe Institute didn't try hard to look at the Budget documents completely. As for the 2020 budget adjustments, a zero is a ridiculous score given the COVID impacts and necessary bylaws and associated timing required to adjust the capital and operating budgets. It isn't difficult to find budget information on the City's website, which refutes Mr. Robson's statement that 'There’s no reason why a city or any organization shouldn’t be able to publish the numbers up front on a consistent basis where a person who is engaged … will be able to find them.'

 

[TAS]

I'm not sure I understand the argument that COVID was a factor for Edmonton given that other cities are also going through the same pandemic and yet still scored significantly higher.

I appreciate Andrew Knack's response that he's interested in the city finding out what other municipalities are doing differently. Maybe some better practices can be adopted. Or maybe the city is operating fine and was graded unfairly- unfortunately its public image takes a bit of a hit with a national story such as this.

Maybe we need a War Room to combat such stories.

 

[Guy 1]

Kim Krushell has announced she's running for mayor.