Tensions are high at Calgary Open House

Calgary's blanket redevelopment discussions reached a new level Tuesday night at an open house in the city's southeast.

Landon Johnston, the man who started a petition to recall Mayor Jyoti Gondek, was among hundreds of people gathered at an open house in Lake Bonavista to share his concerns about the citywide rezoning.

“We're not happy with you,” he told Ward 14. Peter Demong. “You have to be a leader, you have to fight for us every day in the office.”

“We're tired of this administration and council shoving their agenda down our throats and telling us to accept it, and I think it shows that people are going to stand up and fight back against that,” Johnston added.

The city is considering increasing density in many neighborhoods that currently only allow single-family housing.

The proposed change builds on recommendations from the housing strategy approved in September.

Demong said it's clear that most of his constituents don't mind rezoning.

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“Is there no land in the city?” Are there no residential areas near the city center? Why are they infiltrating the rest of the city where people have moved — whether you call them NIMBYS or not — people have moved to the suburbs for a reason,” Johnston said Tuesday.

The 14th Ward councilor says it's all part of a bigger problem.

“I've said this to the province many times – when we see the population of Medicine Hat moving into the Calgary area every year, we need help,” he said. “We need help with infrastructure, we need help with housing, we need help, the province needs to be there and start helping us because it's huge.”

A public hearing is set for April 22, where the mayor hopes to clear up misconceptions and allow hundreds of Calgarians to share their thoughts with council.

“What I'm encouraging these people to do is really make their voices heard. They have the option to appear in person or by phone at the public hearing on Monday, April 22,” Demong added. “I encourage as many of them to write their concerns down and send them out so that their voices can be heard by the rest of the City Council.”

Johnston is absolutely hopeless.

“They say we have our word here, it's already passed,” he said. “There's nothing we can do about it, except to get rid of councilors who aren't willing to fight for us.”

The incident comes just days after a petition organizer told CityNews they planned to recall Demong.