The race for Mayor: Poll 1 June
 

Thought perhaps we could do a monthly poll leading up to the vote for Mayor on October 18th to see how sentiment changes as the race goes on.

With Dianne Colley-Urquhart declaring she's not running, this sausage party is now well underway and it looks like this could be the field of candidates going forward.

It is early, but many of us know the records or generally what many of what the candidates are about, even as full platforms have yet to be revealed. It will be interesting to see how people's preferences change as platforms are revealed and key election issues emerge.

So, based on what you know who is your current pick for Mayor, and why?

Right now the Moose is my choice. We need a change in Silly Hall. Out with the humans!

I'm voting for cowboy ethics because I missed the moose entry.

I'm thinking just to make things fair if we're going to do this do we want to set a close date on the poll so we can compare? Say let this one run until mid of july so we do one month blocks prior to the election?

Ya! Hopefully the moose runs THROUGH silly hall... runs over a few alderman! Every city needs something like that to happen.

Well, at this early stage I am leaning heavily towards Naheed Nenshi. None of the Aldermen who are running is up for the job IMO, and the assorted other candidates coming out of the woodwork seem to offer that derivative of "wiser use of tax dollars, citing the Calatrava-designed pedestrian bridge as an example of wasteful spending at City Hall" as the main plank in their platform. Nenshi will, I think, offer a more complete platform. I find him to be an insightful and convincing speaker and writer, even if I don't always agree with everything he says.

I am far, far more concerned about wasteful government spending at the Federal and Provincial level than I am at the Municipal level. Municipal tax burden is a tiny fraction of our overall tax bill, thus doesn't resonate with me a whole lot.

We're being watched, this thread just got posted on Twitter with the #yycvote hashtag.

I hope some new members come on board and add to our discussions here!

Craig Burrows? anyone? anyone?

I'm involved in a focus group this evening. I suspect it will involve the City in some way based on the survey I did last week. If it was about the election, that would be fabulous. :cool:

8:22pm Edit: The focus group wasn't about the election, but about one City Dept. Was fun and made $75 for the effort.

Looks like Nenshi's running away with it, at least on SSP.

Looks like the only question moving forward is whether the moose has the chance to catch Nenshi.

Apparently your vote is not confidential/private as @joshwhiteCGY has shared on twitter. Maybe you could add that note to the poll...

Yes indeed, but it actually looks like the moderator has changed that now. The next one I'll make the individual voter not visible, probably more effective that way. But I would encourage people to share why they support/don't support particular candidates as well.

I'm glad you voted for yourself. It would be a bit disconcerting if you were backing Bob Hawksworth or someone else!! :)

I support Nenshi because he has the best grasp on what I see as the most important issues facing the city:

- Tax policy
- Infrastructure financing
- Budget practices and accountability
- Infrastructure policies and priorities

It would be even more disconcerting if he voted for Joe Connelly.

The fact that Nenshi specializes in Not-For-Profit management is what makes him most attractive to me. That is what the city essentially is, a NFP. People like Connelly who use Business analogies might attract the kind of people that use ROB Magazine as spank material, but it's not, in my opinion a useful way to look at Civic Management.

Also, Nenshi understands what a platform and policy actually is. I'm getting tired of candidates making grand declarations like "I will bring the world to Calgary" and "I will make Calgary Safer" and think that is what passes for policy.

Looking forward to our new SSP member candidates sharing their's.

Exactly! There is a big difference between values and policies. Who doesn't want a safe city? Who doesn't want efficient transit? Good parks? A robust economy? In a city, people all pretty much agree on most things (not saying there are not conflicts).

What separates candidates is how they plan to address these issues. That is why policy matters. Everyone else seems to understand what their values are, but have no idea how to implement them in reality. Nenshi seems to be the only one who really grasps the ramifications of different policy options.

/\I wouldn't even call them values. They're more like little sound bites to catch the attention of voters. I just hope the average voter sees past rhetoric about "designer bridges" etc. and thinks long and hard about what kind of city they want, and whether they can spare a few extra bucks a month to invest in important infrastructure. And really, if it's all about taxes, none of the supposedly fiscally conservative candidates have an accounting background as far as I know, so who's to say Joe Connelly will spend your money more wisely than Naheed?

Saw this interesting sign at Sarcee @ 17th Ave SW:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4082/...e0a43318de.jpg

Not just for Mayor, but AS Mayor. :rolleyes: