Bell: The fight in Calgary won't end until Calgarians sleep

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Start a column and someone at City Hall will send news to your scribes. Then someone else writes the news.

Then a third do the same.

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Tim Keane, Calgary's brand new planning king, the man seen as a visionary by all the wrong people in Calgary city hall, has resigned.

Personal reasons. It arrives here in April and leaves in May.

We wish him the best.

During the first planning gig in Atlanta, Keen had to go back.

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Here's a sentence from one message from Atlanta.

“He ran into opposition from the neighborhoods after he pushed for major changes to the city's zoning.”

Sound familiar?

You see it now, you don't think it was here now, Keane liked where Calgary City Hall was going.

But it also offered the results of an ultra-marathon public hearing, an avalanche of anger and a sense of where many Calgarians want to go when trying to sell them on citywide redevelopment.

This on-again, off-again battle has awakened all Calgarians from their slumber, of all things, from the most unpopular city council in city history.

A majority of City Council is still baffled by how it was shut down, allowing Calgarians to vote on city-wide rezoning not once, but twice.

When they win, they often seem arrogant and confident.

The script? They are smart. You are stupid. You don't understand it. As Calgarians, just suck it up and move on, because that's what Calgarians do.

But this story will not disappear.

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On his weekend radio show, Prime Minister Daniel Smith offers a glimmer of hope for what can be done now, but his advice unfortunately amounts to the square root of squat.

Smith says provincial law allows Calgarians to collect signatures on a petition for a plebiscite.

Unlike a recall campaign, the number of signatures required for a plebiscite is much smaller than for a mayoral ouster.

Instead of more than half a million names, there are about 130 thousand.

Unfortunately, on Tuesday, both the provincial government and Calgary City Hall confirmed that what Smith is talking about does not apply to the Citywide Rezoning Act.

Smith also said the rezoning would not trigger an imminent new law in which the provincial government could deepen the city's law.

In addition, Calgarians not voting on redistricting tells you what you need to know about Calgary city government.

When South Calgary councilor Dan McLean pushed for a plebiscite, he and others were told a public hearing was a much better way to gauge public sentiment.

That's why they hold a public hearing and don't care what the public has to say.

Look up the word “arrogance” in the dictionary and most city councils will have a picture next to the definition.

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Of course, the truth is that the city council didn't want a plebiscite because they didn't want to know the answer.

As you all know, McLean tried to go back to the plebiscite after the public hearing.

A councilor who doesn't want to toe the party line at City Hall said the Cowtown Kremlin is misleading people into thinking housing, buying and renting will be cheaper because of their scheme.

Putting a citywide rezoning on the ballot in the 2025 city election would give City Hall more time to come up with something better that Calgarians can accept.

McLean said people “turn out in droves” to vote on rezoning.

No bones.

Eight councilors voted against reconsidering the plebiscite.

I know you like names.

GONDEK. PENNER. CARRA. MIAN. SPENCER. THE PUTMANS. Walcott. DHALIWAL.

On Tuesday, McLean is ready to fight and in good spirits.

“What else will Mayor do to beat us over the head?” he asks.

“What's next?” Did they come up with stupid ideas?

“We are struggling. “Don't give up now,” he answered.

McLean is one of many councilors who believe Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's $228 million in housing cash for Calgary helped swing the vote.

He also sees a silver lining. Most Calgarians believe that urban political parties at least ensure people know where the candidates stand.

“You voted for people who didn't say it was part of their agenda, and it was,” McLean says, to some people in this town.

Sonya Sharp, another councilor who believes the redevelopment will shut out Calgarians, says the battle in this battlefield is just beginning.

Talk of rezoning as a big election issue, more interest in urban political parties, emails asking the prime minister to act.

“It's not lost on Calgarians,” says Sharpe.

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