Quote:
Originally Posted by Corndogger
I just noticed this forum and have been reading posts from the last few weeks or so. Korzym, I feel for ya! One would have to be blind not to realize that the city administration is engaging in social engineering to achieve what they want. Most of the posters here happen to agree with those goals so of course they think everything is fine. But that is not the case with the general public. Wasn't there a scientific poll from a month or so ago that showed Bronco's approval rating is *way* down? He and most people on council would not get reelected if the election were held now. Unless a miracle happens over the next 11 months they won't be reelected.
The comments being made about McIver being a single issue politician seem to conveniently leave out a lot of facts. McIver has supported a lot of projects that people here want so I'm not sure why they are so afraid of him. Trying to minimize tax increases doesn't have to mean we are going to receive less service or crappier service. We need to study how services are delivered and if there are more efficient ways of doing so we need to change delivery methods. Putting city council back in charge instead of the administration is another thing that most people would like to see. I could list a number of other reasons why big change is coming and you've touched on a number of them. People want bang for their tax bucks and that hasn't been happening this term.
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I'm not afraid of McIver, I just think he's full of it. Personally, I like Bronconnier as mayor. He has a vision that he wants to see realized and he's not afraid to do what it takes to make it happen. Yes he has ruffled a few feathers lately and yes we have seen tax increases that were un-heard of back in the Duerr days, but we've also seen him be the driving force behind a lot of projects during his time in the mayor's chair.... alot of which probably never would have happened had we had a less take-charge person in the mayor's chair or one who was more worried about the bottom line. That being said, I'm not afraid of a fiscal conservative winning the mayoral race, even if that means that Bronconnier would be out as a result.
What I don't like are "sound bite" politicians like McIver. I don't think he's all that much of a fiscal conservative... he just likes the way it plays in the media. Look at the Race City issue.... it's going to cost Calgary tax-payers millions in additional funds over the next few years to keep it open.... and McIver was the one who pushed it through council. Yet he is first in line at the microphones to go on and on about the spending at the City of Calgary and how he's been the lone warrior fighting against property tax increase. Well maybe we shouldn't have to lay off city staff Ric, but how many of them would still have the jobs for the $600,000 that council now has to find to pay for Race City? "No this, no that" all the guy says is no to spending on any issue he thinks will play well in the media. Sorry Ric, it's easy to blast others for their ideas when you never actually present any of your own...
Call me old fashion, but I will vote for a candidate with real principals. Like I said, like him or hate him, everybody knows where Bronconnier stands on the issues and which direction he wants to see the city move. (fortunately for me, it's a direction that I agree on). If he's going to lose, he'll lose because people don't like who he is and what he stands for, and I'm okay with that. However, if McIver wins, he'll be winning because of how he's manipluated the media, and how he delivers his fiscally conservative sound-bites. He'll be winning because he seems to get a free pass on the issues where he isn't a fiscal conservative... where he's just as liberal as the rest of them. As Corndogger pointed out.... he's supported a lot of issues that people on here (in our crazy liberal ways) also support.... But why doesn't the average Calgarian know that? In short, if McIver wins he'll be winning because of who people think he is, not because of who he actually is. If Bronconnier loses, so be it. But I want him to lose to somebody who has the guts to make a stand for what they believe in and take the heat from the public when what they believe in doesn't exactly jive with public opinion. I have yet to see this from McIver in his time as alderman. All I've seen is grand-standing on certain key issues and a fairly liberal agenda when the cameras are focussed elsewhere. This next election should be one by the person with the best vision for the City.... not the person who managed to weasel their way to the top.