The Pit Solution

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How to fix the pit:

for people who like reading about policy

The city needs clear, easy to understand policies that are evenly enforced. When situations like the open pit on 4th st (known as ‘the Strategic Site’) happen it should be a cue to councillors that they need to start looking at policies that can be implemented to make sure that there is a clear guideline for city staff to follow when similar situations arise.

We can not continue with a council that solves issues on a case by case basis instead of making clear policies.

Here is my idea of the policy needed to address issues like the 4th st pit.

The City of Calgary has an obligation to uphold public safety and to maintain property values in neighbourhoods. They demonstrate this when they remove weeds that have overgrown or shovel walks that are not getting shovelled by the resident. When they have to intervene in the name of public safety and concern for neighbouring property values they bill that service back to the homeowner.

If a development project becomes delayed the city should have a policy mechanism to bring that project back to grade (ie- fill empty pits).  There already is this mechanism in the Municipal Government Act (546.1.b.ii), but it may need to be amended to detail exactly what the timeline would be before they took this type of action.

I propose billing the costs associated with this type of site restoration back to the owners of the property as a special assessment. This assessment would share a priority status on the properties title in the same ranking as property tax. This ensures that the city is paid as they become a registered creditor on title and receive proceeds from any sale before any lenders, other creditors, or the owner when that property is sold. The city could additionally force a tax sale of the property to recover its costs and bring the property back into the hands of the community or new developers. This is the same method the city uses to collect its municipal taxes in arrears and would ensure that the public purse will not be left on the hook for private projects that go bad.

The city must work with stakeholders to find the most workable policy that dictates that they will fill open pits where projects have stalled for an extended period, and that the associated costs are not born by the taxpayer. This will put pressure on developers and lenders to make sure they are financially responsible for their projects throughout the complete lifecycle.

These sites need to be converted to a safe, sustainable, and aesthetically acceptable standard in the interests of the public good.

In summary, the solution to the pit and future potential pits is to fill the excavation or hole and level the site as per the Municipal Government Act 546.1.b.ii, potentially amended to clearly state a timeline for action.  Then to bill the costs of this action back to the owners as a special assessment.

The nice thing about how this solution works is that it doesn’t add roadblocks to other development but instead puts pressure on lenders/banks (usually the actual money behind development projects) to make sure that they work on projects that will be completed.

Goals in office

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Whew! It’s been busy times, but great times on the campaign trail.

On the door step I am finding a lot of people who are responsive to my ideas for better inner city activation and vibrancy and are supportive of the campaign. I am learning that dog parks are a concern for some residents, especially those in condos who don’t want to have to drive somewhere every time their dog has to go outside. I am hearing a number of people who are not satisfied with the Sheldon Chumir Centre and would like an alderman who would help push the provincial government for a full service downtown hospital. Residents of Richmond/Knob Hill are concerned about how their community is changing and want to make sure that certain key principals are followed when new developments are built. In Killarney residents are concerned with current cut through traffic and how it may increase as new major housing developments are built around their neighbourhood.

I’ve been talking to local businesses and hearing a lot of frustration, and also hearing from different community associations who feel ignored.

I haven’t found people to be at all unreasonable in their wants for their communities. Mostly people want to be listened to and to hear how the city is planning to help them, or what the other side of the issue is so they can make compromises and find a middle ground. Although some people are very frustrated it has been a very positive experience hearing what people are concerned with and having conversations about Calgary.

I have set 5 goals for my term as Ward 8 alderman if I am successful in this campaign. I believe all these goals will help to increase the vibrancy if our inner city.

1. Improve turn-around times on licences and permits

2. Encourage expanded inner city public transit networks, bike lanes, and other non-car transport choices

3. Propose the appointment of an auditor general to oversee finances at city hall, find and eliminate waste/duplication, and preform cost benefit analysis

4. Work to increase housing options in the inner city

5. Promote the implementation of 360 peer reviews for city staff

1. Small local businesses give our city its unique flavour, support our culture, employ our citizens and contribute a large portion of our tax revenue. Across the country %85 of the work force is employed by small business. In Calgary business tax makes up %58 of our municipal taxes as businesses are being taxed twice by paying both non-residential property tax and business tax. As our small businesses suffer and close doors we lose a big part of what makes Calgary unique, we lose a significant part of our tax base, and we lose employers who are responsive this community.

One of the biggest hurdles businesses face is what can be a climate of dismissiveness at city hall. In Edmonton the city can turn around in 30 days what can take us 6 or more months in Calgary. Business owners are paying for their leases as paper slowly moves its way from department to department. The business owner is kept in the dark as to what sort of regulations they might be told they need to follow and what degree of run around they will be given. We must streamline our processes to better work with the businesses that are so crucial to our city. This also applies to development projects. We should encourage inner city development by making clear, easy to understand policy that is followed evenly for all development applicants while working hard to deliver the best possible services as efficiently as possible.

2. Calgary is a car dependant city, but we can’t afford to continue this approach to community building. As we build new car dependant neighbourhoods we add to inner city congestion. One of the perks of inner city living should be the ability to move around the quickly and cheaply without needing a car. Our parking rates are soaring but we are not providing effective alternatives. Our current public transit system is great at moving people in and out of the core, but not at moving people around the core. An effective inner city public transit network can also greatly reduce the cost of living for people which adds to the diversity and vibrancy of a community and can help combat homelessness by making life more affordable.

Cycling is a healthy, zero emission, fast way to commute to and from work that gets cars off the road and reduces congestion. We need to increase commuter bike lanes and look to other cities for ways to keep our cyclists safe. Safety is often improperly framed as exclusively a police issue. Getting hit by a car is as equally a safety concern as crime is.

3. Cynicism in Calgary is rampant at times. We need to be proud of our city and proud of the work done at city hall. We will not be able to overcome our doubts of the city until we have an effective auditor appointed to review all spending of our municipal tax dollars. We are a wealthy city who can’t afford to clear our own snow. There is a disconnect as we see large amounts of money spend on certain projects, not enough money spent on some basic services, population and tax rate increases and budget shortfalls. Citizens need to know that their money is being handled properly. An effective, empowered auditor general would help give Calgarians a sense of security in how our money is being spent.

4. We will not combat the problem of expensive urban sprawl unless we provide a wide variety of housing options in the inner city. Diversity drives culture and vibrancy- mixed communities are strong communities. Having housing options at a variety of entry points that includes low income housing helps to make this city more affordable which also helps to combat homelessness. We also need to find ways to make living downtown a first choice for Calgarian families. As we face the reality that we are a major city that needs to provide urban housing options for families we need to work with good developers who understand what families will find attractive. We need to help make sure that those developers are able to efficiently build the projects we need them to build while making reasonable profits.

5. We will not retain the the best and brightest staff if we do not encourage and recognize the exceptional. 360 peer reviews can encourage exceptional staff by countering top down management and the potential for departments become stagnant and resistant to change. As city staff are encouraged to work in an environment that truly rewards the brightest and most ambitious we will be able to help change the environment that our front line city builders work from.

Thoughts on Key election issues

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A major focus for me in this election is that the city of Calgary asked us what kind of city we wanted, we told them, they did up the plans, and then the Aldermen voted to change those plans without saying much more in some cases than that the UDI (a Calgary developer think tank/ lobby group) told them to. There is something wrong with private interests overriding public interest- especially in an issue like neighbourhood development where there is so much at stake.

Through the huge public consultation process of ‘Imagine Calgary’ we told the City what we wanted with remarkable consistency of opinion. We want safe streets, we want walkable communities, we want a vibrant small business community, we want more green space, we want great public transit and we want an active core. City planners drafted the documents outlining how to follow through on what we asked for.  The Municipal Development Plan, for example, is a great document. When it came time for the vote on density requirements in ‘new communities’/green-field development, council decided to instead reduce previously existing required density levels. Higher density is important in the creation of the types of neighbourhoods that Calgarians asked for- and it happens to save us a lot of tax dollars. Lower density is important to sprawl developers because it makes them the most money- it also happens to cost us a lot of tax dollars to service.

Council decided to continue allowing one specific industry to make millions of dollars in profits selling Calgarians homes in neighbourhoods that are incredibly expensive to service. Our public consultation made it very clear that Calgarians do NOT want this type of city.

The density requirement vote was passed with a majority due to the vote of the incumbent Ward 8 alderman- who has said that he agrees to the principals raised by the Imagine Calgary process.  This type of duplicity is not unknown to Calgarians and it should make us angry that we cannot trust our council to do what we ask of them despite what they tell us.  Being lied to makes people tune out from the political process.

The people who live in the inner city pay higher taxes because we pay based on property value instead of servicing costs. This makes living in the most easy to service, efficient part of the city, also the most expensive option for people. Money is missing from this equation and its going to the companies selling us sprawl. Their argument is that this is a customer choice issue. This flawed argument is perpetuated to justify building neighbourhoods with the cheapest land costs that generate the highest profits for the companies that develop them.

I would argue that many customers would choose to spend less time in their car every day if they were given affordable, interesting, safe, inner city options.  There are smaller profits to be made pursuing this type of development because land costs are higher.  I would like to see real costs of servicing tied to new development so that customers are choosing from a level playing field that is fair to all tax payers.

The development industry has many very reasonable players who understand that some rules should apply to how communities are built so that they are the most efficient for tax payers and are responsive to the wants of Calgarians.  I would hope that with the right policies in place developers would find attractive ways to make profits by filling in our street level parking lots and the open pits that are destroying street life in the downtown and inner city with new places for people to live.

If real costs were passed on to the sprawl developers, and taxes were spent in the city relative to where they were generated, I believe customers would be more likely to choose to live in an efficient, safe, well serviced inner city.

I think inner city development and bringing our suburbs up to higher density instead of continuing to build out in new communities is not only the most economically responsible policy for Calgarian’s tax dollars, it also makes for the best type of city that is most responsive to what Calgarians have asked for.

Somehow council after council agrees to the rules that sprawl developers tell them they have to play by.  This happens with little or no public involvement.  The closed door meetings that resulted in the lowering of density requirements in new communities is a key example of this unfair influence.

Despite what some on council may be convinced of- we don’t need to be afraid that if we don’t spread out as largely as possible people will choose to live in Okotoks and pay taxes to that municipality.  With safe streets, different market entry points to home ownership, excellent inner city public transit and a vibrant small business culture we can expect a rise in the number of people wanting to live in the core.   Calgary stretches out far enough- there will always be plenty of single family houses here.  There is no need for us to spread into any more of our surrounding farm land.

I want to focus on a positive direction for Ward 8 and the inner city, and I also want to be positive about all of Calgary. We all know and love people who have made the choice to live in the suburbs. We should be mad that in order to appease one industry Calgary is set up so that affordable places to live happen to be found in neighbourhoods that require people to spend a lot of time in a car. No one really wins in that system except the people who sell those houses. We have told our elected officials what we want to see and they haven’t followed through.

I do not want to inflame people against developers. In this country most development projects are handled by private development companies. If we are going to build the inner city we want in Calgary it will done by the development industry. Finding allies interested in looking at new, successful, efficient, sustainable development projects will be crucial for an effective council. We must find developers who understand that the 1960’s view of a perfect neighbourhood was based on the assumption of an endless supply of oil and an indestructible environment. We are in a vastly different reality in 2010 and we need to start adapting how we build cities.

To build the strongest possible Calgary we need to focus on improving the core. We can do this by developing a strong inner city public transit network, keeping Calgary one of the safest cities in Canada with police foot patrols and neighbourhood policing and by encouraging small business development bringing vibrancy and unique local character to the city. In other words- following through on what Calgarians have already asked for.