Bell: Gondek shovels the spin — Calgary's notorious city hall secrecy remains
Article content
Mayor Jyoti Gondek says nothing of substance.
Article content
No surprise.
Article content
Getting the facts for Calgarians from these folks downtown is far tougher than pulling teeth.
Article content
You'd think these folks were running a spy agency.
Article content
What is second nature, so obviously the right thing to do, a no-brainer with governments right across the country, is something almost nobody at Calgary city hall wants to talk about.
Article content
Article content
They nibble around the edges but when they are pressed on the issue they won't take a real bite.
Article content
Article content
Instead, life is so closed in the city hall cocoon, their operations so notoriously secretive, the city hall politicians will actually chinwag next week about how much we should know about what their boss paper-shuffler David Duckworth pockets carrying out orders in the Big Blue Playpen.
Article content
If you're on the Alberta government payroll and make more than $133,813 this year, then your regular salary, any other cash benefits above that wage and the employer's contributions to your pension and other benefits will be shown on the list along with your name and job title.
Article content
If you get the boot and score severance on the way out that payout is also known.
Article content
Article content
By the way, do we even know what Calgary top cop Mark Neufeld got in severance going out the exit door?
Article content
Ask city hall about it and they pass the buck to the Calgary Police Commission where city council members sit.
Article content
Taxpayers learn squat even if it's your money. City hall just hopes you tire of the constant struggle to get to the truth and throw up your hands and give up.
Article content
It is time to ask Mayor Gondek. The buck has to stop somewhere.
Article content
Gondek talks about how city hall could do a better job of being more open.
Article content
Alas, most of what she says is a word salad involving insider talk of city hall procedures that would give you instant brain freeze while taking a shot at Sonya Sharp, a councillor running for the mayor's job.
Article content
You're no wiser than when you started.
Article content
MEMO TO THE GONDEK BRAINTRUST. Friendly advice. The mayor is not following the plan on how to politically rehabilitate herself.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CBC
15 hours ago
- CBC
Alberta minister threatens to axe bike lanes. Can he make his case?
Social Sharing The provincial government that routinely demands Ottawa stay in its jurisdictional lane is keen to swerve into another jurisdiction's lanes. Bicycle lanes. Transportation Minister Devin Dreeshen has signalled he wants cities, particularly Edmonton and Calgary, to alter or remove any cycling lanes that impede automobile traffic — and avoid future bike lanes that do so. If they don't, Alberta might create the powers to do so itself. Alberta wouldn't be the first province to insert itself into the bike lane debate, following fellow conservative politicians in Ontario and, more recently, Nova Scotia. Whether it's dubbed ending the " war on cars" or fighting for " common sense," the fight over which road users get asphalt space has sounded similar across the country. But there are lessons in a new court ruling that struck down the largest province's bid to tear out bike lanes in Toronto, beyond the constitutional violations cited by the judge. Ontario launched its plan to dismantle Toronto bike-lane barriers by stating, repeatedly, that they worsen vehicle congestion by compromising vehicle space. It's the same logic Dreeshen applied last month, ahead of his meeting on the topic with Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek: "While we fund major infrastructure projects, like the Deerfoot [Trail], to improve traffic flow and reduce congestion, some local decisions are moving in the opposite direction, removing driving lanes." Cycle Toronto's court challenge of Ontario's "Reducing Gridlock, Saving You Time Act" got the courts to peel back the advice and research that underpinned Ontario's claims against bike lanes. Or, mainly, the lack thereof. "To the contrary, records produced by the government in this litigation show that the internal advice prior to passing Bill 212 was that protected bike lanes can have a positive impact on congestion and that removing them would do little, if anything, to alleviate gridlock, and may worsen congestion," Ontario Justice Paul Schabas' ruling states. Reaction pours in after Ontario judge blocks Ford's bike lane removal plan 3 days ago The decision refers to an engineering firm the province hired to study its car lane restoration. It reported: "While removing the bike lanes and replacing them with traffic lanes may increase the vehicle capacity along the immediate length of the roadway, the actual alleviation of congestion may be negligible or short-lived due to other confounding factors or induced demand." Induced demand refers to a well-travelled concept in transportation engineering that expanding road capacity will attract more automobiles, and therefore restore any congestion that briefly gets eliminated. (Meanwhile, Schabas also found that the health and safety risks to cyclists if they lost their barrier-protected routes through key parts of downtown Toronto was easily proven.) Would the rise and ebb in vehicle traffic behave any differently if the protective curbs for safer biking were removed in favour of an extra driving lane on 12th Avenue S. or Fifth Street S.W. in Calgary? Dreeshen emerged from his July 30 meeting with Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek pleased that she agreed with his interest in removing problematic bike lanes. "These bike lanes are not fixed," she told reporters after the sit-down. "If a bike lane is causing any concerns with congestion or parking, our traffic team is open to reviewing and making any necessary changes." The question, then, could come down to whether Calgary and Alberta could find a problem that Toronto and Ontario did not. In 2015, the city added its downtown network of temporary barrier-protected bike lanes on a few streets, as a pilot project. City officials measured the change in motorist travel times next to the bike-safety bollards. Along an eight-block stretch of Eighth Avenue S.W., there was no change in westbound traffic during the afternoon peak, and a 15-second decrease going the opposite way in the morning, according to a 2016 city report. What impact did the cycle lanes on Fifth Street have, for their 14 blocks? In the afternoon rush, commutes were up by 10 seconds. Morning travel times rose by 90 seconds along the downtown-spanning stretch of 12th Avenue S., including an added 13 seconds of delay at the intersection of two new bike lanes — but officials in that report pledged to review signal timing and road design before the lane would become permanent. Would these numbers justify the removal of bicycle lanes, having not persuaded council to do so back then? And what trade-offs are acceptable for creating a safe route for cyclists around the city's centre? The city also measures the number of cyclists (and other users) getting into and going through Calgary's business core. In that respect, the statistics show little before-and-after change, despite promoters' high hopes for a big boost to cyclist numbers. In 2014, before the protected bike lanes, the share of downtown commuters who came in or out on two wheels was 1.7 per cent. Rates rose before the pandemic to 2.7 per cent in 2017 — that still looks puny in relative numbers, but that's more than a 50 per cent jump in bike commutes. However, it dipped to 1.9 per cent in the 2024 transportation count. Dreeshen remarked on that figure after his meeting with Gondek. " So that means 98 per cent of people are commuting on a daily basis in their vehicles," he told CBC Radio's The Homestretch. "And obviously when you take away a driving lane for vehicles to put in a bike lane you're helping that small two per cent of commuters at the expense of drivers." Dreeshen is incorrect that it's two versus 98 per cent, as the non-cycling total also includes transit users and people walking into downtown; automobile drivers and passengers account for 59 per cent of downtown visits, according to city statistics. And there's another statistic that Gondek highlighted after seeing the minister: less than one per cent of Calgary's road surface is dedicated to bicycles. This certainly stands to become political fodder, coming into the fall's municipal votes. A conservative-aligned Edmonton mayoral candidate is echoing provincial rhetoric with a promise to halt any new bicycle lanes, and Calgary Coun. Dan McLean has said he wants the Eighth Avenue route axed and others reviewed. Meanwhile, the UCP issued a letter to members this week in Dreeshen's name, urging them to weigh in on a party survey's question about a potential bike lane crackdown — along with other questions inviting supporters to endorse existing UCP policies on taxes, school library content and private surgery clinics. "Of course, not everyone lives downtown. But many of us travel into the city for work, errands, or events, and we feel the impact too," Dreeshen's party email stated. This rhetoric gets at the heart of why provincial conservatives like to make hay about curbs and lane paint in a city's core, where voters tend to skew NDP or Liberal. Their own suburban and small-town base would likely be bothered by road space they can't drive on or park in, especially on a busy game night or lunch hour when they venture downtown. Just as planning the route for the Green Line LRT is supposed to be the city's jurisdiction, so is the addition and subtraction of bicycle lanes — though at least with the LRT, the Smith government can argue they're a funding partner. The Smith government's keen interest in downtown bicycle barriers comes alongside Municipal Affairs Minister Dan Williams' comments this week to Postmedia, about cities' business being provincial business. "Every single municipality in this province from the biggest cities to the smallest summer villages are creatures of legislation enacted by this legislature and this government has authority over those municipalities," he said. Technically, this is true, as it is in Ontario and elsewhere. It's not common, however, for provincial ministers or the premier to state this fact, given all its implications for interventions into the decisions of elected city or town councils. "I'd like to see the premier stay in his lane — and it's not a bike lane," a Halifax city councillor said about Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston's threats to crack down on a cycling infrastructure proposal he has opposed.
Calgary Herald
a day ago
- Calgary Herald
Opinion: City's complex and arbitrary rules stop citizens from having input
Appeals of development permits have spiked, according to recent data released by the City of Calgary. Article content As a volunteer with Bridgeland-Riverside Community Association, I've participated in several Subdivision and Development Appeal Board (SDAB) meetings in my two years as planning director. The SDAB is a requirement of provincial legislation, which oversees planning processes. Article content Article content Article content Article content For community volunteers, SDAB hearings can be overwhelming. But with time, volunteers can learn the ropes and provide valuable input on development decisions. By doing so, there is an onus to prepare accordingly and participate appropriately. Article content But suddenly, in a recent hearing, I was denied the ability to speak. Article content The problem was twofold: I needed to identify myself at the start of the meeting, but I was not allocated the appropriate moment to do so by the Chair. The meeting unfolded as usual. Near the end, once both parties had provided their presentations and clarifications, I asked to speak. Article content And was told no. Article content Even though the letter I'd written for the case file was discussed by both parties, I was denied the opportunity to provide more information. All because a simple moment was missed by all those attending. Article content Article content This is not the only example of the difficulties Calgarians are encountering at the SDAB. Many have shared online their experiences with board members, who appear at times to arbitrarily decide who can speak, how they do so, and what they can provide as evidence. Article content While the SDAB has discretion, how that discretion is used is increasingly a matter of great concern, especially if more people with little or no experience are appearing before the board. Article content These concerns are in addition to problems encountered at the city's Planning Department, which include but are not limited to delays in processing, convoluted review procedures that minimize or trivialize community input, and development files that are incomplete or do not contain the correct information. Article content In one egregious case, an application was scheduled to go before city council without notifying the community association or the neighbours who were actively involved in the application. The vote was delayed, but only after considerable pushback.
Calgary Herald
2 days ago
- Calgary Herald
Impact of latest round of tariffs on Calgary dims economic outlook say experts
The latest round of tariffs imposed by the U.S. won't affect Calgarians and their businesses, but the resulting volatility has dimmed their economic outlook as further investments are paused as a result of the most recednt tariff announcement, experts say. Article content U.S. President Donald Trump once again slapped additional tariffs on many countries, including Canada, whose exports, barring products under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, will now be taxed at 35 per cent instead of 25 per cent. The levy and the exemption do not include sector-specific tariffs that were imposed in the spring. Article content Article content Article content Trump justified the import duty, which will be passed down to the U.S. consumer, by citing the flow of illegal fentanyl from Canada into the country, a claim that has been debunked by official reports. Article content Article content The trade agreement comprises most industries, and some companies that aren't included have voluntarily decided otherwise, said Mike Holden, chief economist at the Business Council of Alberta. Article content 'There's a bit of an administrative burden for companies to register as being compliant under the agreement,' Holden said. 'And some haven't usually been a part of it because the tariff that had previously been in place was around two per cent.' Article content As a result, he added, 'It's not going to affect too many companies in the Calgary area.' Approximately 85 per cent of Canadian exports qualify under the agreement, according to RBC. The real number is difficult to pin down. Article content Article content However, the announcement deals another blow to companies that are yearning for stability in the trade relations between the two countries. Article content 'It's hard to believe that it's only been about six months since all this has happened. I mean, it has been chaos,' Holden said. Article content By 'all this,' Holden refers to the saga of geopolitical uncertainty ushered in by Trump's return to the White House. Article content It began with a threat in February to impose a 25 per cent tariffs on all Canadian exports entering the U.S. with a reduced levy of 10 per cent on energy products. Trump reversed his plan a day after imposing them on March 4, citing Canada's renewed promises, including investing in more security at the border. Article content That, however, didn't prevent Trump from implementing tariffs on specific sectors, including steel, aluminum and auto-imports, industries that are linked to several others. For the next several months, the U.S. president kept waffling on his pledges to impose duties, only to reverse course and then reimplement them.
