Airport tunnel $60-million deficit top to-do list
It was an election like no other this city has seen in recent memory. A stunning come-from-behind mayoral victory for long shot Naheed Nenshi a record voter turnout of 54 per cent and an uncharacteristically politically engaged electorate.
Along with the fresh mayor and sense of political revival come a handful of new aldermen. Each one is bringing new skill sets solutions and personality to the horseshoe table in council chambers.
Gael MacLeod’s mix of finance and non-profit experience helped her edge out 10 rivals for the hotly contested seat in Ward 4. Richard Pootmans a senior manager for Calgary Economic Development bested nine others to victory in Ward 6.
Urban designer and Inglewood Community Association president Gian-Carlo Carra narrowly won in Ward 9. Former schoolteacher and principal Shane Keating’s nice-guy persona pushed him to the top in Ward 12.
And flower shop owner Peter Demong ousted a longtime incumbent in Ward 14 with the help of the right-wing business lobby the Progressive Group for Independent Business.
Three of the five new faces are filling seats left vacant after aldermen Ric McIver Bob Hawkesworth and Joe Connelly sought and ultimately lost the mayor’s seat. Joe Ceci announced his retirement earlier this year. After five terms Linda Fox-Mellway lost her Ward 14 seat finishing a distant fourth in the 2010 civic bout.
It’s an aldermanic exodus that collectively resulted in a loss of 65 years of political experience overnight. But their departure marks the arrival of fresh blood new ideas and an untainted will to improve the city council and rebuild relationships with communities.
“First and foremost we have to all gut-check and realize we need a council that can work together in an unprecedented way” says Carra less than 24 hours after capturing the seat in Ward 9.
City hall’s top-down one-size-fits-all approach to communities isn’t working says Carra. He proposes a “neighbourhoods first” solution by creating community councils — similar to MacLeod’s “issues-advisory-committees” initiative.
“It’s about empowering people to solve their own problems” says MacLeod. “The other piece is to inform me as an alderman so the city is not making decisions that have impacts or outcomes that are unanticipated or that they’re unaware of. If you have community people engaged you can find out those things and solve those problems before they happen.”
Although he’s been pegged as fiscal hawk that will fill the void left by outgoing aldermen McIver and Connelly Demong says he doesn’t want to be pigeonholed.
“The fact of the matter is I really don’t want to start going into ‘Oh they’re liberal they’re socialists they’re conservatives” he says. “I think that is part of what happened with the last city council. It made it an awkward place to get things done.”
But before getting things done the new aldermen will have to address several other pressing issues as they adjust to their council chamber chairs city hall procedures and a new untested mayor.
“With so many new ones it might be difficult to manage council” says Lori Williams political science professor at Mount Royal University. “But it also means there’s more room for leadership.”
That leadership was on full display on the steps of city hall earlier this week. Less than 24 hours after his historic win mayor elect Naheed Nenshi unveiled his top priorities which include solving the looming $60-million deficit in the budget and approving plans and funds for an airport tunnel — issues new council members are cautious to tackle too fast and hesitant to support.
“It’s not about affording I don’t see the need for it — not just now but ever” says MacLeod referring to the airport tunnel (now referred to as the “96th Avenue underpass” by the incoming mayor) and its projected $150 million to $500 million price tag. “It’s a very short trip around and I just don’t see that the alternative routes are that big a deal.”
While the airport tunnel/96th Avenue underpass may face opposition from MacLeod the new Ward 6 alderman says a solid majority of the people in the ward favour the project — as does he.
“People were mad as hell about the Peace Bridge” Richard Pootmans says. “The tunnel is a completely different animal. It’s a truly heartfelt sincere belief that there’s an opportunity here that for once we can get ahead of infrastructure problems.”
As for the not-so-small matter of the $60-million deficit? Council has little time to address that issue. The city’s finance department currently putting the finishing touches on the 2011 budget will hand it over to council mid-November — just weeks before it needs to be approved to meet the year-end deadline mandated by provincial legislation.
But new Ward 12 Ald. Shane Keating cautions council shouldn’t rush the process. “I think that should be postponed for a little bit to really get us well versed and well educated in the budget process” says Keating.
Carra agrees with Keating that council has to take “a significant amount of time” addressing the budget shortfall. Council is inheriting a “bit of a mess” says Carra. “We are $60 million in the deficit hole and the scary thing is that I don’t think we really have a solid handle on what our debt is. We have a lot of challenges.”
Another huge and fast-approaching challenge is renegotiating a deal with land developers and homebuilders and deciding who ultimately should bear the cost of new suburbs. “The city cannot continue in the same direction as it has been and be sustainable or financially viable” says MacLeod. “So we have to rethink that and that’s what this whole negotiation process is with the developers.”
The current deal which expires at the end of this year has existing taxpayers on the hook for new water and sewer infrastructure which has accumulated into a massive $1.5-billion debt over the past 10 years — half the city’s total $3-billion debt.
“I’m a big believer that the user should pay” says Carra an urban designer by trade. “But I also think that the capital costs of the infrastructure is not the real issue. The real issue is the long-term carrying costs and making sure your infrastructure-to-taxpaying structure ratio is healthy enough to maintain that.”
